Advice/Planning For the Future

[aqz]

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Hey guys. First post here though I've been lurking since January.

Probably something you guys frequently get asked of/are tired of, but I'd appreciate any planning/advice anyone can offer.

Some background stuff...

Will be a sophomore this fall at University of Michigan, just finished orgo 2 w/ lab this spring. Freshman year quite uneventful, joined some pre-dental stuff but never really committed to anything. Majoring in biomedical engineering.

oGPA: 3.686 , sGPA: 3.695

DAT: Taking next summer, but after briefing through it, pretty sure I can bring myself to a decent score with some hard work, so not too worried about that.

My main prospective dental schools are Umich and Detroit Mercy (in-state), UoP (3 year program), and others based upon financial aid. Looking at Umich's statistics, only 8 accepted applicants have a graduate degree (7 masters, 1 PhD). Anyone know if that's because most applicants do not have masters or if that's because most masters/PhD's get rejected?

Like anyone, I'd like to get into dental school faster, so I might apply right after junior year, as I'm in position to graduate with a BSE in biomed and complete all my dental pre-reqs by then. In case of rejection, I can still obtain a masters degree my "senior" year, but does that really boost my resume for a second year application, meaning do masters degrees help?

Also, anyone from Umich/got into Umich Dental here? I heard connections are really useful these days...

 

[Canard]

There are no reasons why you need to obtain master degree anyways. As long as you keep up with your GPA in biomedical engineering and do average on DAT (ofcourse >20 is better but you have high enough GPA), I don't see the reason why you won't get in.

There are not many people with master's degree because there are not many people who wants to get into dental school after master degree and not because school reject people with master's degree. But there are people who didn't do so well in undergraduate but wants to prove to admission that they can handle the graduate level course level and pursue master degree in science heavy courses.

As for myself, I have BSc. and MSc. in Engineering and decided to come back to pursue dentistry so I guess I will be one of those a few 🙂

The # is everything in getting interview but I think you should be more active in extracurricular (pre-dent club, shadowing, volunteering, mentoring, leadership role in a club) if you already haven't done so.

Good luck!!