Accountant needs some advice

[anon123]

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I'm a junior at Binghamton University and majoring in Accounting with a 3.4 gpa. I never knew what i wanted to major in so I just went with my parents advice and took accounting. After hearing from guests speakers of how it is like to work in the Big 4 firms and doing some deep thinking, I'm not sure if I would enjoy a career in accounting.
I'm becoming more interested in becoming a dentist since some of my qualities such as helping others, interested in science and being an independent worker match up. The major problem is that I'm a junior now and haven't taken any Bio or Chem courses in college.
My school lists that these courses are required for dentistry school:
BIOL 117 & 118
CHEM 107 & 108 (or CHEM 111 and CHEM 221 or 280 or 341 or 351)
CHEM 231 & 332 & 335 (lab)
PHYS 121 & 122 (or 131 & 132)
If I just take these courses, would it be sufficient enough I get into a dentistry school? I would take as many of those classes as I can during the summer and winter and petition to overload credits if I need to. Has anyone ever been in the situation that i'm in and what did you decide to do? Is there any negative impacts of getting into dentistry school if it takes me 5 years to graduate with an accounting degree and complete the above requirements?
Any helpful advice or opinions is appreciated.
Thanks

 

[pacific2013]

I'm a junior at Binghamton University and majoring in Accounting with a 3.4 gpa. I never knew what i wanted to major in so I just went with my parents advice and took accounting. After hearing from guests speakers of how it is like to work in the Big 4 firms and doing some deep thinking, I'm not sure if I would enjoy a career in accounting.
I'm becoming more interested in becoming a dentist since some of my qualities such as helping others, interested in science and being an independent worker match up. The major problem is that I'm a junior now and haven't taken any Bio or Chem courses in college.
My school lists that these courses are required for dentistry school:
BIOL 117 & 118
CHEM 107 & 108 (or CHEM 111 and CHEM 221 or 280 or 341 or 351)
CHEM 231 & 332 & 335 (lab)
PHYS 121 & 122 (or 131 & 132)
If I just take these courses, would it be sufficient enough I get into a dentistry school? I would take as many of those classes as I can during the summer and winter and petition to overload credits if I need to. Has anyone ever been in the situation that i'm in and what did you decide to do? Is there any negative impacts of getting into dentistry school if it takes me 5 years to graduate with an accounting degree and complete the above requirements?
Any helpful advice or opinions is appreciated.
Thanks

Since when are you an accountant just because you are an accounting major?

Putting that aside though, you need to complete at least the bare minimum science courses which are intro to bio, Gen chem, O-chem, and Physics. But in order to be competitive you NEED to take upper-division courses such as Biochem, Anatomy, Physiology, Microbiology and if your school offers Histology (I heard it's helpful). D-school wants to see if you can handle those kind of classes first because you'll be taking those courses over in more detail but with a far faster pace. You would also need to do well on your DAT, such as 20+ in all sections.

Btw, schools do not care if you graduated in 3 years or 5 years as long as you had a heavy load of science classes and performed well.

 

[sketo43]

If you want to be a dentist, don't worry about spending an extra year or 2 to finish the prereqs. It's ok to do that. You will still have a very long career as a dentist.

After working as an investment analyst for a few years, I went back to school to take all the science prereqs. So you will be ahead of me!

In addition to the classes you listed, you will also need 2 semesters of English or writing classes. Depending on where you apply you may need another class or 2. A bunch of schools require a semester of biochem. A few require a semester of calculus, microbiology, anatomy or something else. You can take biochem and these other classes after the DAT. I don't think you need to take that many upper level bio classes to be a strong applicant - I only took biochem and A&P1.

Also, I think that your background in accounting will be very helpful once you are out in private practice. Good luck!

 

[anon123]

Thanks for all the help guys. After doing some more research I'm considering going into physical therapy instead. I'll be talking to the advisor on tuesday to get some more info. Right now I'm leaning towards PT because it sounds like a career that I'll really enjoy doing but I'll see how I do in some of the science classes during the summer before deciding on dental school or PT school.

 

[mityaz]

thats the determination 😉

 

[dentalWorks]

I'm a junior at Binghamton University and majoring in Accounting with a 3.4 gpa. I never knew what i wanted to major in so I just went with my parents advice and took accounting. After hearing from guests speakers of how it is like to work in the Big 4 firms and doing some deep thinking, I'm not sure if I would enjoy a career in accounting.
I'm becoming more interested in becoming a dentist since some of my qualities such as helping others, interested in science and being an independent worker match up. The major problem is that I'm a junior now and haven't taken any Bio or Chem courses in college.
My school lists that these courses are required for dentistry school:
BIOL 117 & 118
CHEM 107 & 108 (or CHEM 111 and CHEM 221 or 280 or 341 or 351)
CHEM 231 & 332 & 335 (lab)
PHYS 121 & 122 (or 131 & 132)
If I just take these courses, would it be sufficient enough I get into a dentistry school? I would take as many of those classes as I can during the summer and winter and petition to overload credits if I need to. Has anyone ever been in the situation that i'm in and what did you decide to do? Is there any negative impacts of getting into dentistry school if it takes me 5 years to graduate with an accounting degree and complete the above requirements?
Any helpful advice or opinions is appreciated.
Thanks

Your situation is very typical of many pre-dental / pre-medical students. Some students go to college and few years into it, decide to push for health care. Nothing wrong with that at all. So if it takes you 4-6 years to graduate, thats okay, they will underestand that you decided to switch into dentistry in your 3rd year. The MOST important thing is GPA, keep that overall and science GPA above 3.5 and you have a good shot of getting in.

You question: "If I just take these courses, would it be sufficient enough I get into a dentistry school?"
Typically, those are the required courses for most dental schools. However, some schools require a few more (like univ of michigan requires microbiology, biochemistry, psycology, and sociology).... If you just take the required courses (the ones you mentioned) and score a solid 20 on the DAT, then in my opinion you have a very good shot of getting in somewhere.

Your other question: "Has anyone ever been in the situation that i'm in and what did you decide to do?"
My situation is sorta similar (but not really). You see I DID graduate with a computer science degree, and worked in software engineering for approx 4 years. It was during those working years that I decided to push for health care. I haven't applied yet, but will this coming June. So your wayyyyy a head of me (and some of the other non-traditional students out there) cause you realized you wanted dentistry before you hit the job market.

Keep your grades high, rock those sciences courses inside/out, and during these times, try to get some shadowing done with some dentist.

Good luck