Dental as second career - 26 y/o

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
C

Carolina06

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
I graduated from Carolina (UNC) in Dec '06 w/ a Music degree. I was a couple of courses shy of a biology degree, as well as a chemistry degree. You can only earn a double major at Carolina. Anyway, in order to expedite my graduation, I finished the music major as it was the closest and easiest to completion, and at the time I had zero desire to work in any science or health related field. I have also worked since I was 14.5 in a restaurant, fine dining, as a cook then chef while in school full-time. My major GPA was a 3.5, but my science GPA was around a 2.5. I was taking on average 18-20 hours a semester while working and participating in a Symphony orchestra, volunteering for the children's hospital, and as an active member of my fraternity.

After graduation, I worked in finance for a while, but I hated the company I was with. Even though I am still very interested in finance and still consider myself a student of it, I simply don't want to make a career of it anymore. I have spent the past couple months studying for the LSAT and GMAT, but realize that I also have no desire to be a lawyer or to get an MBA (yet). With my strong science background and GPA, I think I have a strong chance to get into dental school, which was my plan as an undergrad before I got burned out on science classes. I have already and will shadow several local dentists and dental specialists to see if I really enjoy what they do (so far so good). After several stagnant and indecisive months exploring law, business, nursing, medicine, accounting, I am finally excited about a career move into dentistry. I plan to log a minimum of 200 hours w/ 2 general dentists, a prosthodontist, an OMFS, and an ortho. They have all agreed to allow me to come in as much as I'd like. I've also met the owner of a local dental lab and he's agreed to let me shadow some of their techs.

The problem is, I am very rusty on the basic science courses required for dental school admissions - also, I've noticed some dental schools require the science prereqs be taken within 5 years of application. Many of mine were exempted from HS AP credit or I took them very early on at Carolina, putting me past 5 years. Plus the DAT has a heavy science component.

So, the point of all this backstory is...

I am living in Wilmington, NC now, and am returning to UNCW this summer as a full-time student to take the science pre-reqs over. I estimate it will take me both summer sessions, this fall, spring, and maybe another summer session next year to complete these requirements. I may be able to earn another Bachelor's degree in Bio or Chem in the process, just depending on whether I get into dental school the first try.

I am going to retake:

General Chem 1&2 w/ Lab
Organic Chem 1&2 w/ Lab
Analytical Chem and Lab
Biochem
Microbiology
Cell Biology
Anatomy and Physiology
Physics 1&2 (may be able to use my Carolina credit, but I need to double check on this)

Sorry for the long backstory, but can anyone make any other recommendations on steps I need to take? Classes? I'm shooting for a 3.75 or higher in sciences - I've grown up a lot since my undergrad days and I'm not spread as thin as I once was, so I don't anticipate this to be a problem. What else should I do to make myself competitive? I feel like time is slipping away from me (I know it really isn't, but I'd like to be done ASAP).

Sorry for being so verbose, but I am extremely serious about this career move and I want to do everything I can to ensure I get into a great school. Carolina is my #1 choice, as its in-state, my alma mater, and considered "The Southern Part of Heaven" ;). Any opinions about other schools? Anyone have any experience w/ 3 year programs? I'm not opposed to moving for school - the change of scenery may be a good thing.

Thanks for all of your help. This is an excellent source of information. :thumbup:
Members don't see this ad.
 
Hey,
I would make an appointment to meet with Dr. Guckes at UNC. He's the dean of admissions and very helpful (and honest) about telling you where you stand and what would improve your application. It would be well worth the drive up from Wilmington and I think you can just call the admissions office to set something up.

A lot of people in the upcoming class are "non traditional" applicants, so taking some years off and a music degree shouldn't be a negative on your app. Do well in your science courses and study hard for your DAT. Dr. Guckes will have a lot more information for you though. It helps that you're instate!

Good luck!
 
Sounds like you already know exactly what you're doing. I'd follow the recommendation of the above poster and try to talk to the admissions dean at UNC since that's where you're interested in going, and maybe a few other places as well. I'd also suggest you hang around these forums, there's a lot of valuable information that floats around here.

As for three year schools, there's only one in the country, and that's University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco. Feel free to PM me if you want any more info on it, I'm a 1st yeear student there.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Good info. I have Dr. Guckes' email address, as well as Dr. Morano's address. The dental admissions office supplied them to me.

Do you mind sharing your GPA, DAT scores, shadowing experience, age, etc?

I'm trying to get an idea of the competition I'm going up against. Where else did you apply? Did you go to Carolina undergrad?

Its a good time to be in Chapel Hill - GO HEELS!
 
Thanks armorshell, I sent you a PM.
 
I have a ~3.1 GPA/sciGPA and my DAT scores are on Predents (see link to the side). I've shadowed a pediatric and general dentist and participated in several dental clinics/health fairs. I'm 23, brown hair, brown eyes and I like long walks on the beach.. just kidding, except for the age 23 part.

I applied to UNC, Pitt, NYU, UoP, Tennessee and Penn. I went to Duke undergrad (don't hate me.. I'm hosting a basketball party to watch Carolina hopefully win tomorrow!), but I took a year off between undergrad and dental school to do research for the NIH.

I would call the dental admissions office and get on Dr. Guckes' calendar because sometimes emails can be lost and he seems pretty busy between his admin work and clinic duties. Hope this helps!
 
Absolutely it helps. Every bit of information on this site is extremely helpful! Y'all are a wealth of great information.

And don't worry about the dook undergrad (you have to learn to spell it correctly now that you're in Chapel Hill), you've obviously seen the light ;)
 
i think it is a great idea that you are shadowing different dentists and specialists. but, i think it would be better if you can also do a little bit a assisting with the shadowing. i think assisting is much more interactive and you also get to see more.

everything else looks good and just like armorshell said. you seem like you know what you are doing.
 
Sounds like you have a great plan! One of the girls joining me next year at OUHSC is 30 and another man I met was in his mid-30's, so don't ever feel like your age will hold you back.

If you don't mind me asking, how long do you plan on taking to retake all the pre-reqs?
 
sublimeu4ea said:
If you don't mind me asking, how long do you plan on taking to retake all the pre-reqs?
Click to expand...

I am going to take a few this summer (max load is 8 hours per each summer session), but I will be carrying a minimum of a 15 hour course load, if not 18 or 19 hours beginning this fall, and carrying into the spring. I understand they don't like to see part time course loads when completing pre-reqs.

Also, I will likely take some "above and beyond" science courses to help distinguish myself. Among those are upper level Biology and Chemistry courses not included as prereqs (Biochem II, Genetics, Vertebrate Anatomy). I am still waiting to meet with a science adviser as well as a pre-health adviser.

I'm also trying to get in touch with the folks at UNC Dental to see what they recommend for me specifically. I may drastically alter my action plan after meeting with them.
 
Carolina06 said:
I graduated from Carolina (UNC) in Dec '06 w/ a Music degree. I was a couple of courses shy of a biology degree, as well as a chemistry degree. You can only earn a double major at Carolina. Anyway, in order to expedite my graduation, I finished the music major as it was the closest and easiest to completion, and at the time I had zero desire to work in any science or health related field. I have also worked since I was 14.5 in a restaurant, fine dining, as a cook then chef while in school full-time. My major GPA was a 3.5, but my science GPA was around a 2.5. I was taking on average 18-20 hours a semester while working and participating in a Symphony orchestra, volunteering for the children's hospital, and as an active member of my fraternity.

After graduation, I worked in finance for a while, but I hated the company I was with. Even though I am still very interested in finance and still consider myself a student of it, I simply don't want to make a career of it anymore. I have spent the past couple months studying for the LSAT and GMAT, but realize that I also have no desire to be a lawyer or to get an MBA (yet). With my strong science background and GPA, I think I have a strong chance to get into dental school, which was my plan as an undergrad before I got burned out on science classes. I have already and will shadow several local dentists and dental specialists to see if I really enjoy what they do (so far so good). After several stagnant and indecisive months exploring law, business, nursing, medicine, accounting, I am finally excited about a career move into dentistry. I plan to log a minimum of 200 hours w/ 2 general dentists, a prosthodontist, an OMFS, and an ortho. They have all agreed to allow me to come in as much as I'd like. I've also met the owner of a local dental lab and he's agreed to let me shadow some of their techs.

The problem is, I am very rusty on the basic science courses required for dental school admissions - also, I've noticed some dental schools require the science prereqs be taken within 5 years of application. Many of mine were exempted from HS AP credit or I took them very early on at Carolina, putting me past 5 years. Plus the DAT has a heavy science component.

So, the point of all this backstory is...

I am living in Wilmington, NC now, and am returning to UNCW this summer as a full-time student to take the science pre-reqs over. I estimate it will take me both summer sessions, this fall, spring, and maybe another summer session next year to complete these requirements. I may be able to earn another Bachelor's degree in Bio or Chem in the process, just depending on whether I get into dental school the first try.

I am going to retake:

General Chem 1&2 w/ Lab
Organic Chem 1&2 w/ Lab
Analytical Chem and Lab
Biochem
Microbiology
Cell Biology
Anatomy and Physiology
Physics 1&2 (may be able to use my Carolina credit, but I need to double check on this)

Sorry for the long backstory, but can anyone make any other recommendations on steps I need to take? Classes? I'm shooting for a 3.75 or higher in sciences - I've grown up a lot since my undergrad days and I'm not spread as thin as I once was, so I don't anticipate this to be a problem. What else should I do to make myself competitive? I feel like time is slipping away from me (I know it really isn't, but I'd like to be done ASAP).

Sorry for being so verbose, but I am extremely serious about this career move and I want to do everything I can to ensure I get into a great school. Carolina is my #1 choice, as its in-state, my alma mater, and considered "The Southern Part of Heaven" ;). Any opinions about other schools? Anyone have any experience w/ 3 year programs? I'm not opposed to moving for school - the change of scenery may be a good thing.

Thanks for all of your help. This is an excellent source of information. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

My story is similar. I graduated from UNC with a BA in math in 98 and a 2.5 GPA. I worked for many years in IT in healthcare settings, and I decided I wanted to see my own patients. I quit my job, and I went back to school fulltime at UNCG in 2006, taking the exact list of courses you posted (minus analytical and cell). I took roughly 16 hours per semester. I received virtually all A+'s, and my DAT scores are listed via my pre-dents link on the left.

If you really want to go to UNC, consider applying for the MED program after you retake organic. It can really help an otherwise average app.

Guckes is extremely forthright and easy to talk to.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
armorshell said:
Sounds like you already know exactly what you're doing. I'd follow the recommendation of the above poster and try to talk to the admissions dean at UNC since that's where you're interested in going, and maybe a few other places as well. I'd also suggest you hang around these forums, there's a lot of valuable information that floats around here.

As for three year schools, there's only one in the country, and that's University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco. Feel free to PM me if you want any more info on it, I'm a 1st yeear student there.
Click to expand...



you should honestly be getting paid by UoP or hired for a recruitment position...
i'll let them know how i feel when i get there
 
pharoh said:
you should honestly be getting paid by UoP or hired for a recruitment position...
i'll let them know how i feel when i get there
Click to expand...

No way, if they tried to give me any kind of benefit I would refuse it in a second, as that would completely jeopardize anything I said.

I try to tell nothing but the straight truth as I know it and I give only my honest opinions and observations about the school. Thanks for the compliment, but I do what I do here for the benefit of pre-dents, not for myself or the school.
 
regarding what Sarah said, I hear the MED program is a nice way to boost an application to UNC...
 
I will be applying for the MED program for next summer. What an excellent suggestion.

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know about it before now.

Thanks again for more excellent info!
 
I emailed Dr. Morano and Dr. Guckes. Hope to hear something back from them soon. I'll feel a lot better about it when they give me their opinions on what I need to do to become competitive.
 
If you don't hear from then within a week, I might call at set up an appointment with one of the secretaries in the admissions office. Sometimes emails get lost and a face to face meeting would be well worth the drive. Good luck!
 
Dr. Guckes emailed me back and said to focus on my science courses, do well on the DAT, shadow 3 dentists, and do volunteer work.

Any suggestions of types of volunteer work? Hospital dental clinics? If you assisted with a dentist rather than shadowed, would that be considered volunteer work (thinking that's a stretch).....

Looking for any suggestions.

Thanks again.
 
First I would volunteer with something that is important to you. Volunteer work in general helps communities and if its something you care about, it will be a much more rewarding and worth while use of your time. Do what you love and what you're passionate about.

To supplement your dental shadowing, volunteering at free dental clinics and health fairs will also boost your app. Contact pre-dental undergrad clubs (I don't know if Wilmington has one, but I know that Duke, UNC, and ECU have them) and get put on their listservs so you can know when opportunities arise. Also talk to local dentists because they may know when and where events may occur (or they may know someone who does). Some communities have a dental bus that goes to local schools and provides dental care to low income elementary students (maybe google your area and see if anything has been in the news..?). Opportunities abound. Good luck finding them!
 
Thanks for the heads up.

I found a mobile dental clinic in New Hanover county. I'm waiting to hear back from the coordinator. Hopefully I'll know something by next week. I have 12 hours of shadowing lined up for next week so far.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

E
Career Change
Replies
4
Views
493
ElViejo
E
L
WAMC 2025-26 Cycle
Replies
3
Views
251
macsak
M
R
Is US career Institute a good dental assistant program?
Replies
7
Views
1K
Chicago_predental
C
MKW_dental
WAMC: 2025-26 Cycle 4.0 GPA
Replies
16
Views
861
macsak
M
R
What's the most realistic path forward for me in the dental career?
Replies
5
Views
855
Rvting
R
Top