Advice for high schoolers

[kaulitza]

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I was thinking about how I definitely did not do my research in high school which affected my life now.
Would the following be a good guide/advice for future high schoolers?

Don't apply to the 3+4 dental programs.

Enter college with AP credits (around sophomore in credit standing).
- after the fall semester 1st year you'd junior by credits
- after spring semester 1st year and summer 1st year you'd be a senior by credits
- then 2nd year fall and spring semester woul place you at basically being done, if not you'd still have summer of 2nd year to finish.

All that^ coursewise while doing dental research for 2 semesters in the first year and for the rest of the 3 semesters of college shadowing a dentist.

Take the DAT the summer of your 2nd year and apply for dental school then as well.

Thus, you'd be able to graduate college in 2 years and get a degree in 6 years as opposed to the 7 year program many dental schools offer.

Is this good advice for highschoolers? Thanks

 

[JLT223]

Most people want to enjoy college and not rush through it in 2 years. Don't recommend this at all.

Not to mention a ton of schools don't accept AP credits for certain courses.

 

[Graffix]

I second, @JLT223 . Yes, aspire to be great, but this is ridiculously fast. I am applying to dental school now after my 3rd year (came in with AP credits for almost sophomore standing) and still struggle to find enough time for me to enjoy college and travel. College is a once in a lifetime experience to learn/grow so much and its a waste to run though it so quickly.

 

[fogorvostan]

I could have graduated a year early but I chose to go for the full four years and don't regret a single moment. I studied abroad in China, joined a sorority, became president of the silliest club on campus, got involved in research, discovered a minor that I loved, and more during my junior and senior years. College is fun. Enjoy it and don't rush things.

 

[FlowerGirl35]

I could have graduated a year early but I chose to go for the full four years and don't regret a single moment. I studied abroad in China, joined a sorority, became president of the silliest club on campus, got involved in research, discovered a minor that I loved, and more during my junior and senior years. College is fun. Enjoy it and don't rush things.

Good for you. I'm against sororities for reasons I won't state here. From my perspective, I saw college as simply a means to an end. There are people like me that just want to get through the process so we can finally start living in the "real world,'' not inside the ivory towers.

 

[fogorvostan]

Good for you. I'm against sororities for reasons I won't state here. From my perspective, I saw college as simply a means to an end. There are people like me that just want to get through the process so we can finally start living in the "real world,'' not inside the ivory towers.

Cool

 

[1070752]

Agree with everyone else, take your time. There's really no need to rush college/university, it's only 4 years. Average life expectancy for our generation will most likely be in the 90's if anything. Are you really in that much of a rush that you can't spare 5% of your total life? Is graduating 2 years before the majority of people really that important?

Take your time, enjoy your summers (travel/explore), but also work and keep on top of your stuff. Stop rushing life, although we say "life is short", that doesn't mean you have to rush through your experiences (especially for things you'll only experience once).

 

[hellofuturedentists]

2 years seems a bit unreasonable. Not necessarily just for the "college experience," but because many schools have lots of requirements to be able to graduate. Some issues with the plan that I see are:
1. You'd need about 60 credits to get sophomore standing. If each AP class is about 3 credits, that's 20 AP classes. I don't know about your high school, but mine sure didn't offer than many different ones that you could feasibly take.
2. You would need to get a 4 or a 5 on all those tests. That's quite a feat.
3. Depending on your major, many classes cannot be taken concurrently with each other. They need to be sequential. You probably wouldn't have time in 2 years to even be able to do that.
4. Dental schools don't like if you AP out of pre-reqs, so you would have to take bio 1, bio 2, chem 1, chem 2, orgo 1, orgo 2, physics 1, physics 2 during college. Plus, many highly recommend higher level science courses, like biochemistry and microbiology, which may require orgo as a pre-req. This would be extremely challenging to fulfill in 2 years, all while making sure all your other graduation requirements are being accomplished.
5. Some universities may not let you graduate if half your credits are AP
6. This doesn't really give you any time to build EC's. You'd be a very one-dimensional applicant.
7. You'd be entering dental school at age 20. The average age for matriculation is already something like 25. There is a huge difference in maturity level that I've seen at those ages.

I guess theoretically you could pull it off? Maybe not though. I would not advise that. Graduating in 3 years seems like a much more feasible and cost-effective way to do it. Anecdotally, I've never heard of anyone graduating from a 4 year university in 2 years.

 

[derbear]

I could have graduated a year early but I chose to go for the full four years and don't regret a single moment. I studied abroad in China, joined a sorority, became president of the silliest club on campus, got involved in research, discovered a minor that I loved, and more during my junior and senior years. College is fun. Enjoy it and don't rush things.

Joining a fraternity was one of the best things I did

 

[kaulitza]

2 years seems a bit unreasonable. Not necessarily just for the "college experience," but because many schools have lots of requirements to be able to graduate. Some issues with the plan that I see are:
1. You'd need about 60 credits to get sophomore standing. If each AP class is about 3 credits, that's 20 AP classes. I don't know about your high school, but mine sure didn't offer than many different ones that you could feasibly take.
2. You would need to get a 4 or a 5 on all those tests. That's quite a feat.
3. Depending on your major, many classes cannot be taken concurrently with each other. They need to be sequential. You probably wouldn't have time in 2 years to even be able to do that.
4. Dental schools don't like if you AP out of pre-reqs, so you would have to take bio 1, bio 2, chem 1, chem 2, orgo 1, orgo 2, physics 1, physics 2 during college. Plus, many highly recommend higher level science courses, like biochemistry and microbiology, which may require orgo as a pre-req. This would be extremely challenging to fulfill in 2 years, all while making sure all your other graduation requirements are being accomplished.
5. Some universities may not let you graduate if half your credits are AP
6. This doesn't really give you any time to build EC's. You'd be a very one-dimensional applicant.
7. You'd be entering dental school at age 20. The average age for matriculation is already something like 25. There is a huge difference in maturity level that I've seen at those ages.

I guess theoretically you could pull it off? Maybe not though. I would not advise that. Graduating in 3 years seems like a much more feasible and cost-effective way to do it. Anecdotally, I've never heard of anyone graduating from a 4 year university in 2 years.

For some AP classes such as bio and chemistry, if you score a 5 you can exempt both bio 1107/1108 as well as chem 1211 and 1212 which knocks out 4 classes instead of 2
Thanks ^^ I appreciate your feedback and it's a very reasonable response. Your reasons clear up a lot of "what ifs" and how I should respond in case other people ask me about dental school.

 

[kaulitza]

Good for you. I'm against sororities for reasons I won't state here. From my perspective, I saw college as simply a means to an end. There are people like me that just want to get through the process so we can finally start living in the "real world,'' not inside the ivory towers.

thats me as well. the faster i graduate, the more tuition/fees I save 😀 and the faster I can start earning money to help my family

 

[bwc]

For AP credits, I would say use it to place out of a dental school prereq only if you are very interested in the subject. Many times, if you use AP credit to place out of a prereq, dental schools will expect to see you take upper level coursework in that same discipline so that they can see what kind of grade you would be getting in an actual college course.

There's no rush in trying to get through college quicker. You'd be getting out before all of your friends. While in high school, it may seem like a good deal to you, but once you are actually in college, there is a good chance that you will change your mind.

 

[confidentandgood]

I would say that this is good advice for those who are looking to complete college early or who have financial concerns, but frankly...

1. I don't think any high-schoolers can make a decision like that with utmost confidence.
2. AP credits won't do you any favors beyond basic pre-requisites (English, calculus, etc.).
3. Not everyone is capable of achieving stellar grades in a two-year period.

 

[hellofuturedentists]

For some AP classes such as bio and chemistry, if you score a 5 you can exempt both bio 1107/1108 as well as chem 1211 and 1212 which knocks out 4 classes instead of 2
Thanks ^^ I appreciate your feedback and it's a very reasonable response. Your reasons clear up a lot of "what ifs" and how I should respond in case other people ask me about dental school.

No problem. While I personally enjoyed the college experience, I know some people just want to get their degree and move on.
As for bio and chemistry AP's, you can exempt, but if you do that, it's pretty frowned upon if you don't take a lot of higher level courses to replace then. And even then, it's probably better and easier just to take the intro classes. If people ask, I think it'd be perfectly reasonable to recommend they graduate in 3 years if they just want the degree.