I'm taking the DAT this summer. I just completed my sophomore year, and Assuming my DAT and GPA are competitive, what are my chances of applying for next year and skipping out on my senior year?
applying without bachelors degree
- Thread starter maverick1
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http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=720725
1) most dental schools require BA/BS even if they dont explicitly say it.
2) they wont "wait" for you to finish.
conclusion:
apply senior year (earliest) or right after graduation.
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My opinion is to give it a shot. Call schools you might be interested in and ask if they require a degree. I know it's becoming less common to be accepted without one, but some schools still take younger students. If you have the necessary prereqs and scores, go for it! If you've got the money to apply, apply! At the very least, you'll get your name in at a few schools. So then, you'll technically be a re-applicant the following year, giving you a better shot.
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Your chances of applying are extremely high, if you are so inclined; acceptance is a different matter.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=602095
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This is the advice you should take.
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Go for it, the only thing you've really got to lose is the cash. If I had ever been in your position and felt my DAT/GPA were extremely competitive, I would have. I'm also assuming you have the vast majority of your core pre-requisites destroyed. It might also help if you've done well in at least a couple upper level sciences, since that would help demonstrate your capabilities further without having finished the degree
Right, your chances of acceptance are definitely slim. (read: not contradicting myself, just reinforcing the fact that in this already competitive process and you'll be handicapped to some degree by comparison, and as such your chances are automatically lower)
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I would make sure that your stats are not just competitive, but are awesome. I would imagine that the very select few that do get in without a BS have stellar GPA's and DAT scores.
If money is not an issue though... i would totally go for it.
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I applied with intentions of not getting a degree. I transferred and it added a semester to my undergrad. I was accepted to 3 schools without my degree. I have 2 classmates who are accepted after 2 years of undergrad at UOP but that school is more susceptible to those kind of applicants.
I was accepted to University of Michigan, OHSU, and UNLV. Only OHSU required me to get my degree. The others accepted me without my degree. OHSU didn't REQUIRE a degree but they hadn't accepted someone without a degree in 4 years. So basically they required a degree. Most schools do not require a degree. I was actually encouraged by the UNLV admissioms director to apply without my degree.
The thing about applying without a degree is that if you plan on specializing, most specialty programs require an undergraduate degree (like 85% of the programs). So now I decided to get my degree. I'm taking 24 credits in case I decided to do a civilian residency. I'm doing the military route and they don't require a degree for military residency programs or commission. The only branch that requires a degree is Air Force for both commission and residency programs (navy and army don't require it).
The undergrad degree is overrated and unnecessary unless you wanna specialize. The thing about military is it's a lot easier to get into specialty and you won't have debt. If you have a general practice set up for when you get out of school then don't worry about your degree. If you're planning on specializing in civilian sector you need your degree. If you specialize in military (excluding air force) you don't need it.
Hope this helps.
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I was in the same position as you after my sophomore year. I took my dat at the end of that summer and got a 27aa, 30ts, 25pat. My gpa at the time was around a 3.98. I knew my stats were strong enough to apply, even without the bs degree. In fact, I was encouraged to apply by a few admissions faculty that I knew. I was interested in applying to UCLA, Harvard, Columbia, and UPenn. However, after asking specific schools, I found that my top choice (Harvard) school would not allow me to matriculate without a degree. I ultimately decided to forego applying and to wait to apply at the end of my junior year.
Do I regret my decision? Not really. Yeah, it would have been nice to skip a year. But because I waited, I found myself to be even more competitive the following cycle. I have now been accepted to my top school and was offered scholarships to all the other schools. Also, it was kind of nice to have this relatively stress-free senior year of college.
Conclusion: Find out if your top schools require the degree. If they do, then you should wait.
...It's hard to say what your chances would be though, since it's definitely not just a numbers game.
