dental assistant or postbac

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

melovedrillz

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2008
Messages
36
Reaction score
0
Points
0
  1. Pre-Dental
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Hi guys,

now that I've been rejected by all the schools i applied to, here are some questions for you guys...

I have 2.8 BCP and 2.7 sGPA with 18AA (20bio 21 ochem 19gchem and 20 PAT)

Now it's at a point of time where I am too late to apply for some postbac programs and I know postbac is the best thing I could do to raise my chance of acceptance, but it's too late to apply. If i still want to do postbac it would take another 3 years before acceptance into dschool (if i get into one). this lag year + 1 year of postbac + 1 year of acceptance lag.

I was wondering if it would be better for me if I enroll in Dental assistant class and get licensed along working in a dental practice for a year instead of trying to get into a postbac and spend another 3 years.

Thank you
 
I would suggest trying for a postbac for next year, even if it is too late to apply to some, you might as well try. Also, maybe think about reapplying on June 1st - how early did you apply last time?

While I think my being a certified dental assistant and xray tech definitely helped my application, I'm quite sure that it helped very much - more that it showed how dedicated I was.

If you want an honest answer, call the dental schools they're interested in and they'll tell you what they think.
 
i applied in september. I really dont want to waste time (lag years)

xxx.orangecoastcollege.edu/academics/divisions/consumer_health/allied_health/program_information/dental_assisting_registered/

can anybody give me some input on this assistant program?
 
you can call up some deans for advice but they'll tell you to do a SPM/post bac. they want to know you can handle a rigorous course load. doing assisting is fine but i doubt it'll improve your chances as much as a MS degree.
 
so applying early + retaking DAT + dental assistant licensure is not as good as 1 year of postbac? SIGH maybe I should consider another profession since I really don't want to waste 3 years.
 
I just looked at the program, and I know OCC is a good school, and many other CC's in CA have great assisting programs ( I started my undergrad at Cypress), but that is an RDA (Registered Dental Assistant , kind of like what an RN is for Nursing) program, and I think if you did that it might be a bit much, and you wouldn't have the experience you'd want in time to apply again. If you do end up deciding to do dental assisting, I would suggest to only do a CDA (Certified) program, they're much shorter, and you can do them through ROP.

But, as the above poster said, I think more school is what might be your best bet, and you might not be too late to apply to some master's programs. They'd be two years, but you were planning on spending that much time anyways, and you could apply at the end of your first year.

Good luck!
 
melovedrillz said:
Hi guys,

now that I've been rejected by all the schools i applied to, here are some questions for you guys...

I have 2.8 BCP and 2.7 sGPA with 18AA (20bio 21 ochem 19gchem and 20 PAT)

Now it's at a point of time where I am too late to apply for some postbac programs and I know postbac is the best thing I could do to raise my chance of acceptance, but it's too late to apply. If i still want to do postbac it would take another 3 years before acceptance into dschool (if i get into one). this lag year + 1 year of postbac + 1 year of acceptance lag.

I was wondering if it would be better for me if I enroll in Dental assistant class and get licensed along working in a dental practice for a year instead of trying to get into a postbac and spend another 3 years.

Thank you
Click to expand...

Every school's GPA is weighed differently, i.e. harvard vs. no name small private college.

So, where did you graduate from, or are currently enrolled at?
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
sigh i've been doing good on QR and reading on practice tests.

QR: 16 reading: 17

I usually get 20s on both of them on all different kinds of practice tests...


should i even bother applying again this cycle...?
 
Last edited:
melovedrillz said:
so applying early + retaking DAT + dental assistant licensure is not as good as 1 year of postbac? SIGH maybe I should consider another profession since I really don't want to waste 3 years.
Click to expand...

I vote for applying early + retaking DAT + postbac. If you're not willing to put in the extra time and effort, then you could consider another career path. But if you really want to be a dentist bad enough, you will eventually reach your goal. You just need to be persistent.

Moe Lester said:
Interesting, isn't that school known for grade deflation?
Click to expand...

What do you mean by "grade deflation"?
 
Instead of all that lag time for a post-bacc, why not just apply to your local State U as a non-degree seeking graduate student and take upper level science courses starting this fall? Hopefully you do very well and get that GPA above a 3.0 and then you would be ready to apply next summer, avoiding a year of lag time.

How many credits have you taken? Would all A's in another 24-30 credits raise your GPA above a 3.0?
 
i dont know the difference between local state U's non-degree seeking grad vs postbac but postbac sounds more promising. please correct me if im wrong.

well its 3 years spent just to get into a dental school for 4 more years...
 
melovedrillz said:
i dont know the difference between local state U's non-degree seeking grad vs postbac but postbac sounds more promising. please correct me if im wrong.

well its 3 years spent just to get into a dental school for 4 more years...
Click to expand...

Since you graduated, taking classes as a non-degree student would just be considered an informal post-bacc. You would pick and choose which classes you wanted to take. This is different from the formal post-baccs which have a more rigid schedule.

The informal post-bacc through a state university would probably be much cheaper (most post-baccs I looked into were about $30,000/year). You would also avoid a year of lag time because you could apply and start taking classes this fall. The downside is you've got to basically do all of the scheduling yourself and there is no structure. If you think you would do better having a set schedule and you don't have a problem with the higher costs then apply to the formal post-baccs next year. Like you said, what's an extra year if you're still looking at 4 years of dental school.
 
could u tell me more specifically on the informal postbacc? would i be taking undergrad classes or grad? are there any classes i have to take? if i apply for the next cycle and start taking classes how would the adcomm know how im doing in those classes before they decide if they want me or not?
 
I'm only speaking from experience with my state university. I was able to register as a non-degree seeking graduate student and register for any graduate classes I wanted to take. You are responsible for figuring out your own schedule and what classes you are going to take (versus as formal post-bacc which has a set list of classes you will take).

So you could:
1.) Apply as non-degree seeking student and take classes in Fall 2009 and Spring 2010.
2.) Apply ASAP in May-June 2010 for admission for Fall 2011.

What is your overall GPA? I know most formal post-baccs I looked at required a 3.0. If you want to do a formal program, the Midwestern University Master of Arts in Biomedical Science Program has rolling admissions and requires a 2.75.

You could also try search here for more programs that are still open.
 
I did the same thing as mrduckyquacks - took a full course load as a non-matriculated student at UW for a year. It raised my overall GPA from a 2.8 to a 3.17, plus adcoms see that you can handle upper level courses. You pay by the class, so you can take only classes that you want to take and don't have to go through an application process. At UW you just had to print out a form for each class and have it signed by the professor before the quarter started - a pain, but definitely worth it.
Then you get assigned a student number etc.. and you can submit a transcript like you would any other school.

If I were you I'd sign up for some upper-level science courses, retake the DAT and reapply in June.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
so right now as of may 2009, i can sign up for classes for fall 09 and spring '10 AND apply for 2010 admission cycle?
 
I just got finished serving on an adcom. In my opinion your grades are way too low. It would be very difficult to significantly improve them with a postbac program. It would be best to get a master's degree in a science field. If you are in a master program, then that will be the GPA an adcom will look at.

If you went to postbac and took enough additional science hours to triple your current number and you made a 4.0 in all of them, your science GPA would only be 3.56.

If you entered a master's program and took that same number of hours and got a 4.0 then the adcom would see 4.0 as your GPA.

Assisting school will make a little difference, but it will be little. A new and better GPA from a master's program will make a huge difference. This will only work if you turn things around and excel in the master's program.
 
ou_jay said:
I just got finished serving on an adcom. In my opinion your grades are way too low. It would be very difficult to significantly improve them with a postbac program. It would be best to get a master's degree in a science field. If you are in a master program, then that will be the GPA an adcom will look at.

If you went to postbac and took enough additional science hours to triple your current number and you made a 4.0 in all of them, your science GPA would only be 3.56.

If you entered a master's program and took that same number of hours and got a 4.0 then the adcom would see 4.0 as your GPA.

Assisting school will make a little difference, but it will be little. A new and better GPA from a master's program will make a huge difference. This will only work if you turn things around and excel in the master's program.
Click to expand...

So does this mean i need to go for a degree-seeking formal 2 year program? a non-degree seeking will not help because it is still undergrad level courses?
 
question: if i attend a state college's nondegree seeking (extension) and take grad classes, would the gpa be any different from the grad gpa taken with a formal program? to my knowledge the only difference between extension grad classes vs a formal program is that extension doesn't give u a degree and its unstructured, which means i have to plan my own schedule and stuff. if thats the case, wouldn't my grad gpa at a state college and the grad gpa from a formal program be the same weight to the adcomm?
 
As long as you are taking relevant upper level science courses in the nondegree program, I don't see any difference between the formal and informal routes.

But like ou_jay said, it may be difficult to significantly raise your GPA with only a year of classes.

For example, if you had an overall GPA of 2.8 with 125 credits, and you took a year of classes (32 credits) and received all A's, it would only bring your overall GPA up to around a 3.05. An additional full year of classes (with all A's) would bring your overall up to 3.2. Your science GPA would probably change more dramatically since you have a smaller amount of science credits.
 
appleonius said:
there are many programs that offer a 1 yr, non-research based MS degree such as Nova, USF, Tufts, Barry, etc.
here's the forum on SDN
Click to expand...

I think his/her concern though is losing a lot of time... applying for a formal post-bac would mean that classes wouldn't start until NEXT fall (at least that's my impression).

It's true that even a full year of classes woudn't raise your GPA that much (like I said, I went 2.8 - 3.17) but adcoms do look at improvement and an upward trend. You can address the reasons for your low undergrad GPA in your personal statement, and then use your post-bac GPA to demonstrate that you can handle difficult classes. If you retake the DAT and do well, plus a year of classes, I think you'd have a good shot. However, it's still not a sure thing and IMO a 20+ is essential in this scenario.

If you don't think you can significantly improve on your DAT score, I'd probably go with the formal post-bac. Good luck 🙂
 
is it possible to take GRADUATE level classes, not just upper-level science class, in extension program? what i'm saying is IF i take GRAD level classes wouldn't it be GRAD gpa instead of being combined into undergrad GPA? Or non-degree seeking only allows you to take upper-level science classes, but not graduate level classes (like biol 201)?
 
melovedrillz said:
is it possible to take GRADUATE level classes, not just upper-level science class, in extension program? what i'm saying is IF i take GRAD level classes wouldn't it be GRAD gpa instead of being combined into undergrad GPA? Or non-degree seeking only allows you to take upper-level science classes, but not graduate level classes (like biol 201)?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how it works at other schools, but here advanced undergraduate courses (400 level) are also considered graduate level coursework. Undergraduate is 1-399, advanced undergraduate and graduate (400 level), and then graduate (500 level). There may be some restrictions so you should check with you school's registrar.

And for the GPA check out this thread.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
It's different for every student.

Your grades are low, so I'd just take some additional classes. I don't think most schools factor a "rigorous course load" in as much as, say, earning a 3.7 in your last 3 semesters. That's assuming it is upper-level Biology and Chemistry.

But don't knock Dental Assisting, either. Depending on where you are, the Dental community is very tight, and Dentists do play golf together and what not.

Get out there and get your name known. Get certified (why the heck not?!)

Get Dentists to pull for you, and just show that you are COMMITTED!!!

Every school I have ever asked about it has said the same thing: we want to see that you are committed and serious. If you have a 19 DAT versus and 18 that's not as important as spending a few months volunteering, getting certified, and introducing yourself to as many Dentists as you can.

Maturity is a big part of it. Soft skills are huge.

Too many people think it's all about keeping your mouth shut and that Dentists are high and mighty or something. Loosen up! Learn to feel comfortable telling a joke once in a while (within reason of course.)

All of this develops over time as you work in the field.
 
Last edited:
UCLA extension offers graduate level classes and if i take their extension graduate classes wouldn't I have graduate GPA and undergrad GPA on my transcript or something that adcomm will see? If that's the case, doing UCLA extension graduate classes vs. SMP or other master programs would be the same? just one is unstructured and the other one is? 4.0 at extension graduate classes would be getting all As and not get combined and "raise" my poor undergrad gpa right?


right now i'm applying for tuft's and temple's program. IF i don't get into either of them, what will be my best route to go to be able to apply with higher chance this coming cycle?
 
Last edited:
Are you sure it's too late for post bacc. program? You might want to search for state universities. I actually applied to post bacc. program late april of last year and started the following september. I got acceptance letter to the program about two weeks after I applied. It's a state university and they also had rolling admission for the post bacc. program. You might want to look for more schools and actually call the school to see if they still have space available.
 
hmmm let me get this straight...

post-bacc program = taking undergrad upper level classes to "raise" GPA

SMP/master = taking GRAD science classes for a different GPA from undergrad GPA.

is it?
 
I'll add another vote for a master's program or post bac. There are probably some schools around you that let you take courses without being officially enrolled. That way you can get the ball rolling and get some more courses under your belt.

I was in a similar situation as you and I didn't get any positive responses until after I finished my masters and completed more shadowing. They really want to see that you can handle the course work and unfortunately the only way to do this is to take multiple semesters of higher level courses.

Good luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

dentally curious
Microbiology M.S. or SMP for dental school
Replies
11
Views
1K
Big Time Hoosier
Big Time Hoosier
K
Dental Assistant in undergrad?
Replies
15
Views
5K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
R
Should I take microbiology before or after dental school application submissions?
Replies
3
Views
1K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
I
Chance for Dental after Med School Withdrawal
Replies
3
Views
2K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
M
Dental Biomaterials Master's Program
Replies
1
Views
158
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top Bottom