Can I apply to dental before organic chemistry?

[makushin]

Let me preface this by stating that I am post-bacc.

Unfortunatly my school doesn't offer Organic chem 1 in the spring semester, so I will have to wait until next year to take the full sequence. I will have the rest of the pre-reqs complete by the end of this spring semester. This means that next year I only have to take 2 semesters of organic. Then I will have to take another year to apply.

Is there some way to expediate this process, perhaps apply next summer before any organic? A friend thats currently applying suggested this to me. I don't see how I can take the dat without organic. I cant take organic next summer due to work.

Has anyone encountered this? I'd like to get things going faster!

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[Old School]

Let me preface this by stating that I am post-bacc.

Unfortunatly my school doesn't offer Organic chem 1 in the spring semester, so I will have to wait until next year to take the full sequence. I will have the rest of the pre-reqs complete by the end of this spring semester. This means that next year I only have to take 2 semesters of organic. Then I will have to take another year to apply.

You may apply in the spring before you take O-chem, but I would delay taking the DAT until you take a summer chem class. You can apply with AADSAS before you take the DAT, and they will forward your information to schools without the DAT scores.

I would not wait long after taking the chem before getting your DAT scores in, because of increased applicant numbers it's becoming more important to apply early.

 

[floydthefish]

Applying for Dental School is no problem. The problem is taking as much Ochem as possible before taking the DAT.

I'm a non-traditional application and wanted to do all my prereqs in two years and start D school the following year. This meant planning carefully to take as many classes that would prepare me for the DAT as possible. Unfortunately, I had to take the DAT before taking the second half of Ochem (finished the final on Wednesday!). It was very very very very very very hard to do the DAT without finishing that course. Basically I spent 6 weeks during the summer studying for the DAT, which included at least 2 hours/day of reading and working through problems in the Bruice Ochem textbook. By the time I was done I understood the basics, but never really got a high level grasp of carbonyl chemistry (~10 chapters of the text). The worst part was that I had to spend so much time studying Ochem, I didn't get to review other material that could have boosted my score higher. Then I was so burnt out on Ochem when I took it this fall, I may have gotten a B, which seems so silly because I'd already learned 90% of the material.

There's no way you could take the DAT without at least one semester of Ochem, in my opinion. And no one recommended that I take it without the second semester. It was just my own stubbornness and determination that got me through it. But I definitely payed a price - a long summer spent studying and lower DAT score than I could have had.

Hope this helps.

 

[dddsmack]

Yes, you can apply and take the DAT w/o ochem, just make sure your scores are good in the ochem section. It has been done many times.

 

[goosestuff]

I agree with Floyd. I'd even go one step further and say wait until you finish the second semester, if possible. Unless, of course, you turn out to be a whiz at synthesis. I found that, at least on the test I took, synthesis was a large majority of the types of questions asked.

Can you find another school to take orgo at this spring since you can't take summer courses?

BTW, I did it all as a post-bacc...

 

[makushin]

OK, turns out I can take first semester organic in june during a summer session, it will not conflict with my work. Then I will have to wait until spring 08 to take second semester organic, it is not offered during the fall semester at this school, and there are not other schools nearby.

Sooo... can I get accepted to dental school without an organic 2 grade, (assuming that all my other numbers are good enough)?

 

[dddsmack]

Yes, I did. Organic II is a great course to put off. But you better get a good DAT score.

 

[floydthefish]

You don't need to have the grade for Ochem II by the time you apply, but you will have to finish the course before June of the year you would start dental school. Some schools require biochem as well, which most people take after Ochem. Don't forget about that class too.