Advice for a future pre-dental student

[FutureOMS99]

Hi I am a senior in high school and I am in desperate need of advice from someone who has gone through or going to dental school. My dream job is to become an oral surgeon, but here's the thing; I am planning on going to the University of Michigan (a school that is very competitive in the sciences). While I like biology, I am not a science superstar, so I was wondering what GPA can I get away with and still get into dental school. I was wondering if there was some non-traditional approach that I could take to get around competing with pre-med students, but still complete all the dental school requirements in 4 years. Another thing, I was wondering how hard is it to become an oral surgeon? That is my dream job and while I wouldn't mind being a dentist, it is not my ideal. I know it's competitive, but is it doable? Thanks for all your help!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ashlander]

Hi I am a senior in high school and I am in desperate need of advice from someone who has gone through or going to dental school. My dream job is to become an oral surgeon, but here's the thing; I am planning on going to the University of Michigan (a school that is very competitive in the sciences). While I like biology, I am not a science superstar, so I was wondering what GPA can I get away with and still get into dental school. I was wondering if there was some non-traditional approach that I could take to get around competing with pre-med students, but still complete all the dental school requirements in 4 years. Another thing, I was wondering how hard is it to become an oral surgeon? That is my dream job and while I wouldn't mind being a dentist, it is not my ideal. I know it's competitive, but is it doable? Thanks for all your help!

1. you have plenty of time. so you are already way ahead of others. relax a little.
2. UofM must be difficult. aim for 4.0 tho. If you fall a little short, you will still be in good position. (3.6-3.8)
3. I guess you could major in economics or something and just do bare minimum for science, but you have to do very well. Otherwise, you will want to take upper bio courses.
4. I will be in dschool this fall, and have been doing some research on diff. specialties. I am not 100% on this, but normally 1 or 2 in a class of about 100 will get into OMFS. So yeah it will be extremely difficult to be the top 1 or 2 anywhere.

 

[teedoff00]

I was accepted and will most likely be attending UMich this coming fall. My GPA is not that great around a 3.4, it is possible to gain admission but by the time you graduate I would expect the average DAT score for admission to be around a 21. So make sure you kill it when you take it. As to the routes to take in Undergraduate education, there aren't really anyways (that I know of) to get around doing the pre-reqs for dental school (mostly science). But it is doable, I myself am not much of a "science superstar", more english/lit . But just keep you GPA up, kill your DAT, and try and participate in things like clubs, service, and research while you go through your undergraduate education.

Good Luck!

 

[FutureOMS99]

Thanks so much! One more thing, because I am a woman, is there any sort of advantage for OMFS because there are so few women in this career?

 

[doc toothache]

While I like biology, I am not a science superstar, so I was wondering what GPA can I get away with and still get into dental school. I was wondering if there was some non-traditional approach that I could take to get around competing with pre-med students, but still complete all the dental school requirements in 4 years. Another thing, I was wondering how hard is it to become an oral surgeon? That is my dream job and while I wouldn't mind being a dentist, it is not my ideal. I know it's competitive, but is it doable? Thanks for all your help!

Nice to know that you "wouldn't mind being a dentist". Between now and 3-4 years from now when you will be ready to apply to ds a lot of things can happen. By the same token, there is still a lot of territory that remains to be covered in 7-8 years before you will be in a position to apply for your dream job. One supposes, however, that there is nothing wrong with daydreaming.

 

[alanan84]

Competing with premeds will make you a better student. Don't shy away from it.

 

[doc toothache]

Competing with premeds will make you a better student. Don't shy away from it.

Competing with premeds is the least of her problems; competing with pre dents, now that's a different story.

 

[FutureDent020]

Thanks so much! One more thing, because I am a woman, is there any sort of advantage for OMFS because there are so few women in this career?

Your performance in dental school will determine your advantage, not your gender

 

[FutureDent020]

Competing with premeds is the least of her problems; competing with pre dents, now that's a different story.

very true

 

[uclaDDS101]

You never know. In high school, I definitely wouldn't have considered myself to be a "science superstar". But when I got to college, a lot of my science classes were really interesting (much more so than high school science classes), and as a result I did better in those classes. Competing with pre-meds isn't a big deal. In most of my science classes, a vast majority of students are pre-med. But not all pre-meds are geniuses; in fact, few are. I think that competing with these students for the few A's that are given out really elevated my academic performance. If a "not-so-amazing" high school student like me can turn into a successful science major with pretty decent stats, then I'm sure you'll do just fine. There's no need to be afraid.

 

[alanan84]

Competing with premeds is the least of her problems; competing with pre dents, now that's a different story.

No kidding, but I'll tell you what, some of those premeds are GUNNERS! It only feels that much better when you score higher in spite of them hoarding the old tests!