Bachelors at cc to post bacc at university to dental school?

[futuredentalstudent29]

Hey guys. I’m currently in the second semester of my freshman year at a CC. My original goal was to become a hygienist so I’ve been taking my prereqs, but recently I realized that I really want to be a dentist. My original plan was to get a bachelors in hygiene at West LA community college, so that I could have a good job and save money as I work towards getting into dental school. There aren’t many programs that offer bachelors degrees in hygiene and the only reason I’m going for that is to knock out the degree needed for dental school while also being able to have a good job after. I’ve already finished almost all of my prereqs for that and only need a few more so I’m on track to apply for the next cycle.
After doing more research on dental schools, I realized that most of them have a cc unit limit and most require that you get a bachelors from a 4 year university.
So my question is, would it be a good idea to still get my bachelors at a community college, do a post bacc program at a university while doing volunteer/shadowing hours, and applying to dental schools? Should I just end up retaking the dental school prereqs at a university after getting my bachelors?
I’m planning to apply to several schools, but I’m really looking to ASDOH in AZ being my first choice. If I read correctly, they don’t seem to have an cc credit limit or anything like that.

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[sobertiger]

1. I would skip hygiene and just go straight to dental school. The time you save is more valuable as you will have a longer career in dentistry (more income) by switching early. It's not worth it to save up for dental school by working due to the opportunity cost.

2. Choose a major you're interested in (doesn't have to be bio, biochem, etc.), and a school where you can get a high GPA more easily.

3. Most schools are fine with cc courses so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Tufts and BU don't accept prereqs from CCs, but that's just off the top of my head. There may be a few more.

 

[futuredentalstudent29]

Thanks for the reply! I decided to go the hygiene route because I’m trying to think about a worst case scenario in case I don’t get in the first time I apply. I thought I’d be killing two birds with one stone by getting a bachelors and at the same time securing a good paying job to work in while trying to improve my chances of getting into dental school.

 

[sobertiger]

If you're really interested in hygiene I guess that's fine. But if you end up putting off dental school prereqs because of hygiene and have to do a post bac, that's unwise in my opinion. Will it take you longer to apply to dental school if you do hygiene vs. another major?

 

[doc toothache]

Community colleges do not/cannot offer a bachelor degree.

2015 Community College/Advanced Placement and DS Admission

For 2015 a few schools have become more lenient on their stance on accepting CC/ AP credits.

forums.studentdoctor.net

Dental Hygiene to DS

Here are some comments on the transition from DH to DS.

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[PerioDont]

curious whats your interest in ASDOH specifically? If it is at all possible I would look into moving to TX and seeing if you can become in-state and get into school there. tuition is much more affordable...I grew up near ASDOH and met many docs really struggling with loans from ASDOH. Looks like about 100k/yr COA. unless cost is not an issue for you, in which case I would actually recommend MWU-AZ, they have a better overall clinical experience IMO.

I also agree doing hygiene is not really worth your time.