Hi so I have got a burning question that I've needed to make a decision on for quite a while. I'm aiming to do predentistry and need to pick a major. If I do bio/biochem I could potentially grauduate in 3/3.5 years before applying to dental school and that's something that is appealing to me. On the contrary, I feel the need to pick a major that interests me. I've always been very into engineering and have been heavily leaning toward a bioengineering degree. My issue is that I'm well aware that engineering students typically have lower gpas due to a rigorous curriculum and i need to know how much dental schools take that into account. Will they be more lenient about lower gpas from engineering students or is it irrelevant? How much leeway do I have for a lower gpa? I also am very curious as to how many people even pursue a path like this? Could anyone tell me if its worth getting a bioengineering degree and how applicable it is (if it is at all ) to the field?? My dad owns a dental technician/engineering firm where they make implants and crowns and do a lot with 3D printing . Would having a bioengineering degree be useful if I wanted to apply my knowledge to both fields? I'm also curious to know what one learns from getting a bioe degree. Thanks!
Bioengineering in dentistry
- Thread starter dstein20
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Speaking from personal experience, and from what my friends warned me in the past, NEVER do an engineering degree if you're planning for some kind of professional school in the future. The stress level and workload of an engineer is much higher than other majors, so struggling to maintain a good GPA for later applications is something you need to decide if it's worth it or not to you. Also, AFAIK, "bioengineering" refers to engineering concepts that apply to biology, but not necessarily healthcare (e.g. making drugs more effective via modifying fluid dynamics of a drug delivery system). Your school may mix that up with biomedical engineering, which does have more of a healthcare application.
I can't say how much adcoms balance your GPA versus the difficulty of the major, but they do want to see "well rounded students". If your workload at school is preventing you from doing extracurriculars, then at least you can always change majors.
Of course all this doesn't matter if you really want a "backup" plan and go into the bioengineering field. The choice is ultimately up to you.
I can't say how much adcoms balance your GPA versus the difficulty of the major, but they do want to see "well rounded students". If your workload at school is preventing you from doing extracurriculars, then at least you can always change majors.
Of course all this doesn't matter if you really want a "backup" plan and go into the bioengineering field. The choice is ultimately up to you.
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Hmm. Interesting since engineering graduates have the highest rate of acceptance than any other majors.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2014-majors-and-ds-admission-trend-2005-2013.1065182/
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Except wouldn't you need to perform well academically in the major? The workload isn't a fit for everyone, so not all students may succeed in an engineering degree.
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1. You would need to perform well academically in any and all majors.
2. Do all students succeed in other majors?
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Which leads to my statement, since engineering seems to be the major/school with the lowest retention rate in some universities.
Of course @dstein20 could prove me completely wrong and do extremely well in that major. I'm just speaking from personal experience.
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That would be science, technology, engineering, and math.
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My piece of advice to you is to pick a major that best suits your strengths. I graduated this May with a degree in biomedical engineering and am applying to dental school this cycle. Conventional biology classes were actually more difficult for me than my engineering courses and I ended up graduating with a 3.74 (and yes, I still had a social life). It all depends what classes you believe you can do the best in and how much work you are willing to put in! I am not sure if schools take into account an engineering major when it comes to your GPA, but on an interview they did mention that it added diversity to my application.
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If you have a legitimate interest in engineering, why not? I would even parlay your interest into a research project with the faculty at the BME department. Perhaps this leads to a neat application in the field of dental research and gives you a thing or two to fully discuss in your personal statement and interviews. As with any engineering pursuit, you need to have a firm foundation in the applied maths including calculus, differential equations and linear algebra. The rest should fall into place once you've mastered the math.
hey so because u r doing exactly what im planning on pursuing, can u tell if you plan on applying what knowledge u got from ur bioe degree to the dental field in any way? That's what seems to be most interesting to me but if I also hear that you only learn the very basics of bioe with a bachelors and it's very hard to apply and use without a masters. What do u think?
y do u say this? I have taken AP physics in high school and i didn't love it but i didn't hate it but how is this related?
Because physics is an important part of engineering. I'm sure you're aware of this already, but physics is no cake walk. Just make sure you know what you're signing up for. I personally wouldn't do the bioengineering, but everyone is different! If you like it, go for it 
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I focused on biomaterials within biomedical engineering. Because of this, I had a strong research background (and actually did some research projects on dental implant materials and strength testing) so it can definitely be applicable depending on what you choose to pursue. I got multiple questions in an interview about going into academic dentistry and one doctor kept talking about how biomaterial research was becoming a big deal within the field. I'm sure not all programs are the same when it comes to this, but I felt comfortable with the knowledge base in biomedical engineering that I had. I currently work at a healthcare software company and had another job offer when I graduated that was more laboratory based. If it is what you want to do, I would say go for it!
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I'm the perfect person to answer this lol.
I have a bioengineering degree from a good school, did research in undergrad. I have a slight 'below average' gpa, a lot of extracurriculars. Right now I have five pre-dec interviews so I don't think the degree would hinder you at all as opposed to 'conventional' like bio/biochem.
I have a bioengineering degree from a good school, did research in undergrad. I have a slight 'below average' gpa, a lot of extracurriculars. Right now I have five pre-dec interviews so I don't think the degree would hinder you at all as opposed to 'conventional' like bio/biochem.
Yes! this is exactly the kind of material I literally get excited over and want to pursue. that was helpful thank you!
Haha that is comforting, appreciate the insight
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I have a bioengineering degree from a good school as well. I received 4 pre-december interviews (nyu, penn, ucsf, and temple), two in September and two in November, and my GPA is well below the average accepted GPA. I'd say if you are interested in bioengineering it is a fantastic major for pre-dental student because bioengineering is essentially the practice of all disciplines within engineering to the human body - dentistry falls in this category, so in a sense dentists are extremely specified biomedical engineers.. You just have to be willing to put in a lot more work for a lower gpa to do this major.
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Yes, I agree with rvafa. You will be putting twice the hours and end up with 0.2-0.3 lower than other majors and end up with a bioengineering degree. The pros are that you will stand out, possibly have good research experience depending on how you end up, become refined in using reason and logic to solve problems, and have a totally different academia and life perspective in the end. Worth it IMO.
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i did it. graduated w/ 3.5 bioE at top 20 univ. applied to 22 schools, received 14 interviews, attended my top choice. if i recall correctly (6+ years ago), adcoms loved the fact that I did engineering and had a few engineering papers.
