Degree or no Degree?

[eilrahcmi]

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im in my 2nd year of undergrad and was curious if dental schools accept you without a degree or if they only require 90 credit hours. ill obviously have than 90 credit hours when i reach my degree but is there a preference they have? i assume having an degree looks better. im majoring in psychology btw but thats besides the point.

 

[xdianaax]

well I don't know about medical because it says your pre-med, but in dental a degree is preferred, yes.

 

[chocolateeth]

how can you let them [the adcoms] know that you're graduating early, undergrad in 3 years?... graduate with a degree and let's assume.. with a decent GPA? thanks

 

[shane.]

how can you let them [the adcoms] know that you're graduating early, undergrad in 3 years?... graduate with a degree and let's assume.. with a decent GPA? thanks

Tell them.

When you fill out your application through AADSAS, there is a part where you can indicate if you will have a completed degree upon matriculation or not.

 

[chocolateeth]

what if you only want to apply to your state schools? do you still have to fill out the AADSAS?

do the state applications usually have that option? (where you can indicate if you will have a completed degree upon matriculation or not)

thanks 🙂

 

[doc toothache]

im in my 2nd year of undergrad and was curious if dental schools accept you without a degree or if they only require 90 credit hours. ill obviously have than 90 credit hours when i reach my degree but is there a preference they have? i assume having an degree looks better. im majoring in psychology btw but thats besides the point.

Unless you have stellar GPA's and DAT scores, acceptance with 3 years of college is rather difficult. For 2005 over 90% of the enrollees had completed 4 years or had a B.S. degree upon enrollment. Out of 4329 enrollees there were 11 (0.25%) with 2 years and 213 (4.98%) with 3 years. If you are interested in a particular school, in the next few days there should be a post with the statistics for most of the dental schools.

 

[clickytop]

It does happen but it's not the norm. You need excellent stats to get your foot in the door, you need to simply ooze maturity when you interview since you'll probably be younger than most applicants, and you would be wise to throw a ton of applications out there to improve your odds.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Nearly every school requires at least 90 credit hours be completed prior to entering dental school. Most applicants will have completed 120+ credits, and probably earned a degree along with it, so you will in a technical sense be underqualified when compared to the average applicant. That's not what you want to be when applying to dental school.

 

[chocolateeth]

3.6+ GPA
120+ credit hours before entering dental school...
a BS in Biology in 3 years (compared to 4 like many other people)
... and let's say 20 AA


all those still don't look good compared to other applicants?

 

[Sbosu]

if you have a B.S. in biology that would mean you have a degreee just like everyone else...or am I missing something here

 

[xdianaax]

if you have a B.S. in biology that would mean you have a degreee just like everyone else...or am I missing something here

You're right, that would make him on an even playing field with all the rest of the applicants.

 

[hotrod0917]

3.6+ GPA
120+ credit hours before entering dental school...
a BS in Biology in 3 years (compared to 4 like many other people)
... and let's say 20 AA


all those still don't look good compared to other applicants?

Bachelor's degree only evens it out, rather than being "better."

 

[Lingual View]

Unless you have stellar GPA's and DAT scores, acceptance with 3 years of college is rather difficult. For 2005 over 90% of the enrollees had completed 4 years or had a B.S. degree upon enrollment. Out of 4329 enrollees there were 11 (0.25%) with 2 years and 213 (4.98%) with 3 years. If you are interested in a particular school, in the next few days there should be a post with the statistics for most of the dental schools.

You need stellar GPA's and DAT scores no matter who you are. Don't be discouraged by the opinions of others. I have met so few people that support early applicants. The stats quoted are true but you have to keep in mind the percent of applicants that are applying early. I think that it is encouraging and impressive that 10% of dental students didn't have degrees. You can be certain that 10% of applicants weren't non-degree applicants. In my experience not even 1 out of 20 of my friends is an early applicant. That means that non degree applicants probably have really good acceptance rates when keeping in mind how many of them apply. These type of people are usually overachievers and have the stellar GPA's and DAT scores they need.


In summary, though it does happen and it is rare for a student to be accepted w/o a degree. I suggest it is more because the 2 or 3 year pre-dental applicant is rare rather than schools being biased to an undergraduate degree. The type of student who applies early and knows what they want to do can be quite an attractive applicant to a lot of schools. This is of course my opinion but I let you know what the truth is in a couple of months......In other words....I am applying after just two years of pre-dental education. I'll be the guinea pig. Good luck to you all!

 

[eilrahcmi]

You need stellar GPA's and DAT scores no matter who you are. Don't be discouraged by the opinions of others. I have met so few people that support early applicants. The stats quoted are true but you have to keep in mind the percent of applicants that are applying early. I think that it is encouraging and impressive that 10% of dental students didn't have degrees. You can be certain that 10% of applicants weren't non-degree applicants. In my experience not even 1 out of 20 of my friends is an early applicant. That means that non degree applicants probably have really good acceptance rates when keeping in mind how many of them apply. These type of people are usually overachievers and have the stellar GPA's and DAT scores they need.


In summary, though it does happen and it is rare for a student to be accepted w/o a degree. I suggest it is more because the 2 or 3 year pre-dental applicant is rare rather than schools being biased to an undergraduate degree. The type of student who applies early and knows what they want to do can be quite an attractive applicant to a lot of schools. This is of course my opinion but I let you know what the truth is in a couple of months......In other words....I am applying after just two years of pre-dental education. I'll be the guinea pig. Good luck to you all!

sounds fair to me 👍 good luck!

 

[doc toothache]

I think that it is encouraging and impressive that 10% of dental students didn't have degrees. You can be certain that 10% of applicants weren't non-degree applicants.

In summary, though it does happen and it is rare for a student to be accepted w/o a degree. I suggest it is more because the 2 or 3 year pre-dental applicant is rare rather than schools being biased to an undergraduate degree. The type of student who applies early and knows what they want to do can be quite an attractive applicant to a lot of schools. I am applying after just two years of pre-dental education. I'll be the guinea pig. Good luck to you all!

Check out the stats on admission based on pre-dent education at http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=424914

 

[Lingual View]

Sorry, I guess I needed to be more exact in giving out my statistics. Lets change the words "I think that it is encouraging and impressive that 10% of dental students didn't have degrees." to....I still think it is encouraging and impressive that 5.17% of dental students were admitted with only 2 or 3 years predental education. I didn't know we needed to be so precise. There is still ambiguity about exactly how many of those four year applicants didn't get bachelor's degrees. We also don't know what the applicant pool statistics are with respect to undergraduate degrees. Thanks for the link though doc toothache. I do appreciate your opinion/explanation of why the percentage is so low though I don't think it is the "more likely reason", as you said. Also, consider this, could an early application shows a greater conviction toward becoming a dentist than the average applicant? What I mean is, I have known since early in high school that I want to be a dentist. I graduated early and I have planned carefully and been very determined and definite in my course toward dentistry. I am not young and I am not trying to decide what I want to do. I have known for a long time and wasted a lot less time than most others....Scores and actual admissions/rejections will do the talking though. I'll let you all know.

 

[Lingual View]

Not trying to be argumentative, but in the world of statistics and in the eyes of the pre-dents here, 5% difference in who does or doesn't get accepted is a huge factor especially if they are thinking the statistical difference cuts there perceived chances pretty much in half. We don't want ot deflate someones hopes, but also don't want to mislead them either.

For those who are asking about the stats of getting in to school after only 2 or 3 years, they seem to be the more driven pre-dents and want to push forward - not waste their time like I did.

Thank you, very good and reasonable post.

 

[doc toothache]

.......I still think it is encouraging and impressive that 5.17% of dental students were admitted with only 2 or 3 years predental education...... There is still ambiguity about exactly how many of those four year applicants didn't get bachelor's degrees. We also don't know what the applicant pool statistics are with respect to undergraduate degrees. Thanks for the link though doc toothache. I do appreciate your opinion/explanation of why the percentage is so low though I don't think it is the "more likely reason", as you said. Also, consider this, could an early application shows a greater conviction toward becoming a dentist than the average applicant? What I mean is, I have known since early in high school that I want to be a dentist. I graduated early and I have planned carefully and been very determined and definite in my course toward dentistry. I am not young and I am not trying to decide what I want to do. I have known for a long time and wasted a lot less time than most others....Scores and actual admissions/rejections will do the talking though. I'll let you all know.

If you think that 224 out of 4329 (5.17%) is impressive so be it. While there may be some ambiguity about the numbers with 4 years (sine a bacc), there is no escaping the fact that ~92% were in the other 5 categories. Conviction is part of the equation, but there are other parameters (maturity, personality, etc,) that need to be entered into consideration. "Not young" is very relative, but if you are in your late 20' s you may have a bone of contention. In addition, you may have unique qualifications that will make your application stand out. In any case, your acceptance to dental school has little to do with generalizations made regarding acceptance sine completion of a bacc. degree and the challenge for those with only 2 or 3 years of college is reflected in the low admission stats.

 

[Chrono1984]

Don't forget that many of the non-degree enrollees were already in an accelerated program straight out of high school and guaranteed admission at their respective schools.

They only have to maintain certain grades and scores to matriculate - they don't compete with the applicant pool. But they are still in the statistics.

 

[LNinlove]

When I spoke with CU last year, I was told that they look at those without degrees as equally as those that have degrees. Also, some dental schools have programs that you can finish your degree in the first year of dental school. Not all of them do this, thus driving down the overall acceptance rate of those with 2-3 years of undergrad.

For me, I am in my late 20's, I have 130+ hours of undergrad, I have had plenty of work experience with management positions, volunteering, shadowing hours and the list goes on and on...I am also more mature than most of the younger applicants. I don't know if they take maturity into consideration or not though.

We all have our own strengths and weakness'.....

Here's to all of us that don't have bachelors degrees getting into dental school!! 👍

 

[Lingual View]

If you think that 224 out of 4329 (5.17%) is impressive so be it. While there may be some ambiguity about the numbers with 4 years (sine a bacc), there is no escaping the fact that ~92% were in the other 5 categories. Conviction is part of the equation, but there are other parameters (maturity, personality, etc,) that need to be entered into consideration. "Not young" is very relative, but if you are in your late 20' s you may have a bone of contention. In addition, you may have unique qualifications that will make your application stand out. In any case, your acceptance to dental school has little to do with generalizations made regarding acceptance sine completion of a bacc. degree and the challenge for those with only 2 or 3 years of college is reflected in the low admission stats.

Half of this website is speculation and generalization about what these admission's committees will think. These generalizations help to give confidence and motivate people to try harder and not give up. So, you're right these generalizations actually have nothing to do with an individual that gets in. All the talk in the world means nothing when it comes down to it. That said, it is understood that the extra-early applicants have a challenge. I was impressed by the 5.17% because I'd speculate that the 224 was probably representative of something closer to 50% of the extra-early applicants (i.e. there were probably under 1000 of these type applicants, we don't know though because it isn't reported, I just know what I see in the applicant pool around me). Do you get it? I've grown tired of this discussion and had it far too many times. My initial post was to try to encourage and motivate the OP but you who commented on my replies did not cease to disappoint in confirming what I said in my very first post, "I have met so few people that support early applicants." So take it for what its worth.

 

[LNinlove]

If I can ever do well on the DAT, we might find out how things work for the "early" applicant....

Lingual, I am with you man...