Advice for Newly Decided Predent? :)

[meowjessica]

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I am thinking of going to dental school. However, I currently attend UCD and after my freshman year, I have a 3.34 GPA. Honestly it's not good enough and I will step it up most definitely. I am a biological sciences major. The thing is, I failed 2 CC courses over the summer.. I may retake them at UCD. I'm still new to everything because I just decided I want to go into dentistry.. so is there anything I need to know? 🙂

 

[autoclavemonkey]

I am thinking of going to dental school. However, I currently attend UCD and after my freshman year, I have a 3.34 GPA. Honestly it's not good enough and I will step it up most definitely. I am a biological sciences major. The thing is, I failed 2 CC courses over the summer.. I may retake them at UCD. I'm still new to everything because I just decided I want to go into dentistry.. so is there anything I need to know? 🙂

Explore, explore, explore! Look into dentistry more in depth to really confirm that this is the field you want to work in. Talk to career advisors, join pre-dental club, find shadowing/volunteer opportunities in dental clinic.

Also figure out when you want to apply (right out of college? take a year off after college? etc.) and plan taking your DAT accordingly. Probably would be more efficient to wait until you take all of your pre-req courses (gen. bio, gen. chem, and ochem).

Other than that, would probably help more if you have specific questions. Good luck!

 

[Red Stapler]

Hello!

In order to have a competitive application, it is recommended to have the following:

-Around a 3.5 GPA.
-A competitive DAT score. I'd say a round 19 is pretty good, others argue that it should be higher.
-At least some shadowing. Some schools require a certain number of hours, look into this.

Also, when it comes to the application itself(which, if you want continuous schooling, you should apply in the summer after junior year), you will need to write a personal statement(PS) as to why you want to be a dentist. SDN has a PS reading thread that you can send to one of the members listed and they'll help you with grammar and whatnot.

Save some money between then and now. Application cycles are expensive. Use the ADEA book and make a school list. Most recommend that you should apply to 10-15 schools.

This is sort of an overview, but if you have a specific question then I'll try to help out if I can. =D

PS: If you decided to take a gap year, you'd be in my dental class. xD

 

[shootingstar7]

If you attend a big college, there will probably be a "pre-health" advisor on campus. Find them and make them your friend! They will guide you through the entire process.

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