Applying without a Bachelors

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angrypredent

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I am currently in high school and I have taken many pre-dental requirements at a community college. I have been accepted into a 4-year institution and plan on applying to dental school next year. This would mean that I would only have 2 years of undergrad under my belt. Would this be a wise decision?

So far, I have taken: 2 semesters of Biology with lab, 2 semesters of Chemistry with lab, 1 semester of Physics with lab, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Calculus 3 and 3 semesters of English. All of these courses are CSU and UC transferable. From looking at many dental school websites, it seems like they will accept my credits because they are equivalent courses to those at CAL, UCLA and other UC's. Next year, I will be going to Cornell and plan on finishing up the majority of my pre-dental requirements and hopefully take some upper division classes.

Please let me know what you guys think of this. Essentially, I would be bypassing two years of undergrad this way and come out of dental school when I'm only 24.

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For some dental schools, you may have to retake majority of those classes since they do not allow prerequisites taken at CC. Reason for this? You know how easy it is at CC compared to other accredited 4 year university. ;) Just ask your favorite schools if they want you to retake them at Cornell.

By the way, I guess you somehow hated AP classes.
 
As of now, I'm only considering schools in CA and all of these take CC credits, I believe. I think when I look more into which schools I would want to go to, I'll compile a bigger list and find out their specific requirements. Do you know which schools don't accept CC credits? And, additionally, couldn't I just do EXTREMELY well on the DAT to prove that although I took CC courses, I have excellent grasp of the knowledge expected of dental students?

As a side note, my school doesn't offer any AP classes, which is why I had to take my classes at a CC.
 
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I think your plan is awesome, wish I had known I wanted to be a Dentist so early. But yeah, I agree with the above post, check with the DS's about the CC credit. Most of the schools I've looked at will accept it but they'll also want to see and sweet DAT score and upper level science classes at a University.
 
As of now, I'm only considering schools in CA and all of these take CC credits, I believe. I think when I look more into which schools I would want to go to, I'll compile a bigger list and find out their specific requirements. Do you know which schools don't accept CC credits? And, additionally, couldn't I just do EXTREMELY well on the DAT to prove that although I took CC courses, I have excellent grasp of the knowledge expected of dental students?

As a side note, my school doesn't offer any AP classes, which is why I had to take my classes at a CC.

Wow, you have done a great job. You should be proud of yourself.

Unfortunately, I do not know which schools do not take any CC credit.
But, I believe doing extremely well on DAT won't help you mak an exception on their minimum requirement rule.
 
I am currently in high school and I have taken many pre-dental requirements at a community college. I have been accepted into a 4-year institution and plan on applying to dental school next year. This would mean that I would only have 2 years of undergrad under my belt. Would this be a wise decision?

So far, I have taken: 2 semesters of Biology with lab, 2 semesters of Chemistry with lab, 1 semester of Physics with lab, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Calculus 3 and 3 semesters of English. All of these courses are CSU and UC transferable. From looking at many dental school websites, it seems like they will accept my credits because they are equivalent courses to those at CAL, UCLA and other UC's. Next year, I will be going to Cornell and plan on finishing up the majority of my pre-dental requirements and hopefully take some upper division classes.

Please let me know what you guys think of this. Essentially, I would be bypassing two years of undergrad this way and come out of dental school when I'm only 24.

Don't bother applying to USC, they will not accept anyone without a bachelors, I have been told.
UoP you will have a shot at, but can you explain something when will you be taking the DAT? Actually UoP has only accepted one student who only completed 2 years of undergrad. I think you should aim for 3 years undergrad, thats seems much more realistic. But if you think you are uup to it, go ahead and apply, but you need a very high DAT. UCLA also accepts very very few non-bach applicants. UCSF accepted a few.
GOOD LUCK
 
Realistically, I don't know how well I would be able to do on the DAT. However, this summer I plan on studying intensively and hopefully get a good understanding of the material since all I'll be doing is working and some shadowing.

Thanks for the advice thus far.
 
just to play the devils advocate.......

to bypass 2 years of undergrad, you would need to apply may 15th of your freshment year. that means you will need to take ochem your freshmen year and take the dat around june/july after you submit on may 15th. you can take the dat this coming summer, but you will have to self teach ochem. i heard on this forum that self learning ochem is quite a challenge. but, you seem like a pretty smart guy and might be able to pull it off. i dont know enough about your study habits.

you might also have problems with the amount of ECs. i think dental schools only want EC after high school. i didnt put any ECs i did in high school. if you have a strong dat and gpa, then you might not need so much ECs.

i think you know what you are doing and you should follow your plan.

however, i dont think schools will like what you are doing. i also dont think applying to only california schools is a good idea. you should apply to more schools.

i think applying your sophomore or junior would give you a much better chance. you dont want to under cut your college/university experience. why do you have to be 24? is 1-2 years going to make that much of a difference?
 
It really depends on how much you know, you will be at a disadvantage because you probably didn't take you bio and chem and at a very vigorous college.
 
There is also a limitation of CC credits you can take. It varies with each school, so it's best if you find that out first before you apply.

Good luck! :)
 
You are ahead of most pre-dental students out there, but you still need to find out some information for the schools you want to apply to.

Some dental schools only accept students with at least 3 years of undergraduate study or minimun of 90 credits. Some wont even look at your application without a bachelors, like USC stated above. I would recommend you buying the ADEA Guide and looking at all schools you are interested in.

You are in high school and have most of your pre-reqs done. If you stick to the same plan you have now and study like dental schools are going to close their doors soon, you can graduate in 2-2.5 years if you want. (Thats taking 20credits+summer courses)

1 question if ya dont mind, whats your GPA?

Good Luck to ya buddy
 
You are ahead of most pre-dental students out there, but you still need to find out some information for the schools you want to apply to.

Some dental schools only accept students with at least 3 years of undergraduate study or minimun of 90 credits. Some wont even look at your application without a bachelors, like USC stated above. I would recommend you buying the ADEA Guide and looking at all schools you are interested in.

You are in high school and have most of your pre-reqs done. If you stick to the same plan you have now and study like dental schools are going to close their doors soon, you can graduate in 2-2.5 years if you want. (Thats taking 20credits+summer courses)

1 question if ya dont mind, whats your GPA?

Good Luck to ya buddy

In terms of academics, I've been doing pretty well in all of my classes. So far, I've maintained all A's, but this semester I've been having some trouble with my calc-based physics class. And in Calc 3, I'm just trying to methodically do the problems, not even understand why I'm doing it because its so confusing.
 
In terms of academics, I've been doing pretty well in all of my classes. So far, I've maintained all A's, but this semester I've been having some trouble with my calc-based physics class. And in Calc 3, I'm just trying to methodically do the problems, not even understand why I'm doing it because its so confusing.

There is not such thing as non-calc-based physics, it's all calc-based.
Well good luck in whatever you do, applying will never hurt you.
 
There is not such thing as non-calc-based physics, it's all calc-based.
Well good luck in whatever you do, applying will never hurt you.

High school physics does not require knowledge of calculus... so yes, there is physics that isn't calc-based
 
There is not such thing as non-calc-based physics, it's all calc-based.
Well good luck in whatever you do, applying will never hurt you.

Wrong, there is non-calc-based physics, even at universities. I've taken it.
 
High school physics does not require knowledge of calculus... so yes, there is physics that isn't calc-based

Thats not real physics, thats just a lot of facts. ;)
 
Thats not real physics, thats just a lot of facts. ;)

Not quite, there is not much difference between the two except with non-calc physics many things are nonchanging, mainly nonchanging forces. The ideas and concepts are the same, just slightly different applications. Also deriving equations is seen more in calc physics.
 
I am currently in high school and I have taken many pre-dental requirements at a community college. I have been accepted into a 4-year institution and plan on applying to dental school next year. This would mean that I would only have 2 years of undergrad under my belt. Would this be a wise decision?
So far, I have taken: 2 semesters of Biology with lab, 2 semesters of Chemistry with lab, 1 semester of Physics with lab, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Calculus 3 and 3 semesters of English. All of these courses are CSU and UC transferable.
Essentially, I would be bypassing two years of undergrad this way and come out of dental school when I'm only 24.

It is difficult but doable and it does require exceptional credentials. Concentrate on your organic chemistry and plan to take your DAT after you finish the 2 semesters. You might even consider starting orgo this summer. You should consider buying the 2008 ADEA Official Guide to Dental School (see link). Keep in mind that for 2007 entering class there were only 27 enrollees (out of 4599) that had 91+ credit hours, not counting UTHSCSA (16) and Wisconsin (15), which reflect early admission programs. There is nothing wrong with CC courses provided they were designed for science majors rather than non majors.

https://access.adea.org/adeassa/ecs...st_id=&p_order_serno=&p_promo_cd=&p_price_cd=

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=500090


Realistically, I don't know how well I would be able to do on the DAT. However, this summer I plan on studying intensively and hopefully get a good understanding of the material since all I'll be doing is working and some shadowing.

Without organic preparing for the DAT this summer may be premature.
 
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