4th year students (do we have to graduate?)

[lundon22]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I'm in my fourth year of undergraduate and contemplating graduating. I am about 18 credits shy; however, if I decide to take those meaningless classes I won't be able to take the second half of BioChem (and other classes that would prepare me for dental school). So, what do I do? Do I take stupid classes just to graduate? Or do I take BioChem/Histology/Micro etc and NOT graduate, yet greatly prepare myself for dental school? What are you guys doing?

 

[syn_apse]

graduate, duh

 

[lundon22]

i would rather take classes for dental school than evolution/animal behavior and stupid classes that will NOT help me in dental school!

 

[howui3]

I think you should graduate. First, look at the number of students that matriculate to dental school without a baccalaureate degree. You will notice it is a very very small percentage, one or two students per school.

Second, although histo and microbio will greatly prepare you for dental school or even medical school, they are both part of first year dent/med school curriculum. You will be taking those classes again, and most school do not require histo or mircobio they simply recommend.

Plus, if you decide to change careers a college degree never hurts.

 

[syn_apse]

howui3 is right (of course)
i thought my "graduate, duh" was an obvious explanation (it wasn't)
it's friday (thank god)

 

[lundon22]

what if December 1st you find out your accepted, do you have to graduate? I heard its all on a conditional basis

 

[lundon22]

syn apse is a douche

 

[syn_apse]

Douche bags are hygenic products, I take that as a compliment!

 

[Flipper405]

I think they usually say your acceptance is conditional on completing a degree.

 

[SMC2UCLA2_]

syn apse is a douche

ure a douche. He answered your question and you should be able to make this sort of logical conclusion yourself.
Look around, while you may think you will be dedicated to dentistry the rest of your life at this momment, things may change in the future and without a college degree you are nothing. You would have to go back to finish your degree which is a royal pain in the ass.

Get your god-damn college degree you douche.

 

[Sprgrover]

i would rather take classes for dental school than evolution/animal behavior and stupid classes that will NOT help me in dental school!

Those classes will more than likely only prepare you for the first semester of your first year which is heavy with basic science courses. After that you enter into foreign territory, such as radiology, GRD (if you haven't already started that in your first semester), pharmacology, and so on.

I say focus on graduating. A degree - in anything - will bode very well for you when you apply.

 

[litlmisa]

not to mention~but it might be nice taking a term of "stupid" classes as a little bit of a break from heavy science classes

always look for the bright side 😉

 

[supahdupah22]

Take everything and become a walking encyclopedia. Personally I would take the classes that would best prepare me for dental school over the regular semester and the not-so important courses during the Winter or Maymester. That is if you have time

 

[SuperC]

I have not taken an Evo course directly, however I did take a comparative anatomy course that was very helpful. Aside from the anatomy, we covered a ton of evolution. Evolutionary concepts can have a huge impact on your research (if you do/want to do research). Understanding what structures/pathways/mechanisms are conserved can help amplify the importance of certain body functions.

One portion in particular you should find interesting is evo/devo of oral structures. I wrote my term paper for the class on the evo/devo of teeth which was pretty cool. It is one of the many things we have yet to understand.

You HAVE to graduate, but the people that designed your major are not *****s. These classes can give you a deeper, clearer understanding of biology
-C

 

[aphistis]

I think you should graduate. First, look at the number of students that matriculate to dental school without a baccalaureate degree. You will notice it is a very very small percentage, one or two students per school.

Second, although histo and microbio will greatly prepare you for dental school or even medical school, they are both part of first year dent/med school curriculum. You will be taking those classes again, and most school do not require histo or mircobio they simply recommend.

Plus, if you decide to change careers a college degree never hurts.

Best advice on the thread.

And, enough with the name-calling already.

 

[Sweeti8286]

You've gotten this far....does your school offer the "stupid classses" during the summer? If so, then you can take those in the summer and graduate and in the meanwhile do the biochem/histo/micro/etc. I can tell you those classes will help you out A LOT in dental school. Also, getting that degree would offer you an alternate route in case things don't work out the way you want it to. I say don't burn any bridges and get that degree you worked for the last few years.

I'm in my fourth year of undergraduate and contemplating graduating. I am about 18 credits shy; however, if I decide to take those meaningless classes I won't be able to take the second half of BioChem (and other classes that would prepare me for dental school). So, what do I do? Do I take stupid classes just to graduate? Or do I take BioChem/Histology/Micro etc and NOT graduate, yet greatly prepare myself for dental school? What are you guys doing?

 

[AUTigers]

I'm in my fourth year of undergraduate and contemplating graduating. I am about 18 credits shy; however, if I decide to take those meaningless classes I won't be able to take the second half of BioChem (and other classes that would prepare me for dental school). So, what do I do? Do I take stupid classes just to graduate? Or do I take BioChem/Histology/Micro etc and NOT graduate, yet greatly prepare myself for dental school? What are you guys doing?

I'm the type of person that likes to finish what I start, short term or long term, when given a choice. I say that you should graduate. What if something happens during your dental school career and you aren't able to finish that? Then you are just stuck with about 100 hours of undergraduate work and no degree to show for it.

 

[DIRTIE]

I didn't graduate and either did a third of my class. A lot of D schools really don't care, even though on their little FAQs it always says prefers bachelors, bogus I must say. They are all about looking good when they publish their little stats in whatever ADEA book or whatever. Do you really think that a person with a spanish degree having only taken the bare minimum prerequisites is going to do better than a bio major that fell 2 classes short like me, maybe, maybe not, I doubt it though, if so its not because they got a bachelors I will tell you that.
I will say that you may be sorry in the end if you want to specialize because many programs are masters degree granting and the graduate school won't let you in without a degree, not all, but some, kind of funny how that works.
Schools that I know when it comes down to it don't care are the following, at least here are a few:
UNLV, ASDOH, Temple, Nova, Indiana, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Case, Marquette, Maryland, VCU, Pacific, Loma Linda, Creighton, USC, and many more.

 

[JUSTINDENT]

Best advice on the thread.

And, enough with the name-calling already.

Sent them a private message bill?

 

[jpollei]

i would rather take classes for dental school than evolution/animal behavior and stupid classes that will NOT help me in dental school!

Graduate. I found that my DDS classmates that had taken "dental courses" before D-school (i.e. gross, histo, biochem, etc). had about 1 week's advantage on everyone else. In the end, grades had very little correlation with previously having taked those classes. After 3+ years in D-school I graduate no questions asked if in that situation.

 

[ElDienteLoco]

If you don't care to graduate, take some business classes instead.

I decided to take Accounting, Human Resource Management, etc. instead of a load of P-Chem to finish my degree. About the whole specialty thing...Don't you think that a DMD qualifies you to enter graduate school? From my sources, I'm pretty sure an undergraduate degree or absence thereof will not keep you out of a specialty program. You might have to take the GRE, but last time I checked a doctorate will work in the absence of a BA in English. If you have a 95 on part I and top of your class, do you think the endo director is going to choose someone else because of their command of Medieval Arabic Anthropology?

 

[lundon22]

I guess I agree. My sister went to Ohio State and said they covered the full year of Biochem she had in undergrad in ONE-TWO weeks! Not to mention in much more detail. So, I guess I will only take the first half of Biochem and work on graduating during the spring. Possibly take some business classes! Thanks everyone for all of your advice 🙂