course load question

[studlyguy87]

Do you think taking 8 courses per year (4 per semester) is heavy enough or would it be frowned upon by dental schools?

thanks,

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[blankguy]

That is the normal course load for undergrad. You'll be fine.

 

[jackbauer!]

12-15 credits/semester is good.

jb!

 

[caffeinehigh]

Assuming you can graduate taking 12 hrs per semester I don't know why you wouldn't. Unless you want to try and graduate in 3 years and apply to Dental School "early" (but not really early since you would have a BS?)

Take 4 years, Take 12hrs per semester, Take some time for fun.... Dental School will come...

 

[phantasmagoriun]

Wow, at the college I went to, the minimum you could take was 16 credits a semester, with most people taking 18 to 20. If you wanted to take less than 16 you needed permission from the dean and your adviser.

 

[caffeinehigh]

Wow, at the college I went to, the minimum you could take was 16 credits a semester, with most people taking 18 to 20. If you wanted to take less than 16 you needed permission from the dean and your adviser.

Mind sharing what sort of super college you attended? That would give a min. requirement of 128 hours for 4 years.

At my University, 12-18 for undergrad is acceptable. More then 18 requires two signatures.

 

[phantasmagoriun]

I went to Bennington College in Vermont. And yes 128 was required to graduate. Plus we had to complete an eight-week internship during the winter each year called our Field Work Term. It was a b*tch of a college.

 

[wetsum3]

i think it depends on where you plan on applying to dental school. Most state schools don't care, or at least it doesn't factor into their equation. I know it doesn't at Ohio State. Everything is put into a formula like test scores and gpa and then you get a service score and a interview score. I think private school take a different approach at look at courseload a little closer. not sure how much it matters though even in that case. but i promise they'll ask you about time management in you interview and it is helpful to say that you fully challenged yourself during the semester. 16 hrs./sem. was considered a normal load at my school. I have some 18 and 20 hr semesters in school and that was a great answer to the question in the interview. i don't discourage you from taking 12 hrs. as long as you are filling the time with other meaningful activities. just get involved and that you arn't just using the semester soley to booze and relax.

 

[mrduckyquacks]

Some of these replies are surprising because I've always heard that schools want to see an adequate course load, which I just assumed was the usual 16 credits.

So scheduling 3-4 science courses per semester with 12-15 credits is okay? I completed all of my general education requirements earlier and now I'm stuck lumping all of the required science classes together.

 

[blankguy]

As I said before 4 courses per semester will do. If you want to go over that make sure you don't let your grades slip. No sense in going over if your grades are going to be sucky.

 

[Stilts]

It's way better to take 4 classes and get A's than it is to take 6 classes and get C's. Don't sweat the credit numbers as long as you graduate on time and do well in the classes you do take.

 

[Orgodox]

You should be fine but make sure you have some hospital or some type of volunteer work especially considering the relatively light load.

 

[firecracked]

Some of these replies are surprising because I've always heard that schools want to see an adequate course load, which I just assumed was the usual 16 credits.

So scheduling 3-4 science courses per semester with 12-15 credits is okay? I completed all of my general education requirements earlier and now I'm stuck lumping all of the required science classes together.

Remember that each school does credits differently. For some schools, each class is worth only 3 credits, hence 4 classes per semester = 12 credits. At my school (and most likely at yours) each class is worth 4 credits, so a standard workload is 16 credits.

So 12-15 credits at one school is equivalent to 16-20 credits at another school depending on if you're awarded 3 or 4 credits per class.

Just take 4 classes each semester, and you'll be fine.

 

[nwdmd]

It's healthy to have a few "heavy" terms, to prove to yourself that you can handle it (D school).

On the same note, it's healthy to enjoy your college years before D school, so don't kill yourself every term just to show off.

If you plan out your courses and find you don't need to take a full load every term, but still want your transcript to look consistently 'full', you might be able to get P/NP credit for shadowing/interning at a dental office.
(i.e. independent study or practicum credit).

 

[Curious 138]

on U of M's website, they said a competitive applicant should carry 16-18 credits a semester and 2 classes should be science/math. However, these are just recommendations...you should only take on as much as you can handle.