Dental Route/Retakes

Started by da0717
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da0717

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So I was pre-dental until my sophomore year of college before switching into accounting. I'm about to graduate with a BA in accounting and I realize that I don't like it and I'm considering switching back into dentistry. Currently I have taken these science pre-reqs:

Gen Bio 1: NC (taken as a first semester freshman)
Gen Bio 2: W (the first time)
Gen Bio 2 Retake: F

Gen Chem 1: B
Gen Chem 1 Lab: A

Gen Chem 2: B+
Gen Chem 2 Lab: B-

Calculus 1: C (taken as first semester freshman)
Psych Stats: B-

I know I still have to take organic chem 1, 2 physics 1, 2, biochem, microbio, cell bio, genetics, A&P, histology as well as the DAT. What options do I have and what route should I take?

1) Go back to my college as a non-degree student and retake these prereqs?
2) Enroll into a postbacc?

Additionally, I have read that apparently if you've taken a science pre-req 5 years ago, you have to retake it? Is this true? Can I use this to my advantage and start fresh?
 
With the amount of courses you want/plan to take you might as well do another bachelor's in biology lol also you'd have to retake and pass gen bio cause that's a requirement for all dental schools and at most schools you need to pass it in order to take upper level bio courses. And in my experience gen bio was a lot easier then upper level bio classes so if you struggled in that you might have to seriously rethink how you prepared for it.
As for the 5 year requirement that maybe school specific.
 
So I was pre-dental until my sophomore year of college before switching into accounting. I'm about to graduate with a BA in accounting and I realize that I don't like it and I'm considering switching back into dentistry. Currently I have taken these science pre-reqs:

Gen Bio 1: NC (taken as a first semester freshman)
Gen Bio 2: W (the first time)
Gen Bio 2 Retake: F

Gen Chem 1: B
Gen Chem 1 Lab: A

Gen Chem 2: B+
Gen Chem 2 Lab: B-

Calculus 1: C (taken as first semester freshman)
Psych Stats: B-

I know I still have to take organic chem 1, 2 physics 1, 2, biochem, microbio, cell bio, genetics, A&P, histology as well as the DAT. What options do I have and what route should I take?

1) Go back to my college as a non-degree student and retake these prereqs?
2) Enroll into a postbacc?

Additionally, I have read that apparently if you've taken a science pre-req 5 years ago, you have to retake it? Is this true? Can I use this to my advantage and start fresh?

So what is it about accounting that you dislike? It’s okay if you don’t like it, but just think about whether your negative feelings about it are related to the profession or your school experience. Often you get treated worse in school or as an intern than you will as a professional.

If you want my advice, I’d say to find part-time work and take a few classes at a time somewhere cheap and local. Like yasc said, you could probably just start fresh as a biochem, bio, or chem major. The reason you should work is because second degrees are ineligible for a lot of the aid and scholarships that you probably got the first time around. It will be a much more adult and lonely experience probably, but when I did it I found it to be more rewarding. I also found it easier to succeed in classes when I had less free time and couldn’t get lazy.
 
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With the amount of courses you want/plan to take you might as well do another bachelor's in biology lol also you'd have to retake and pass gen bio cause that's a requirement for all dental schools and at most schools you need to pass it in order to take upper level bio courses. And in my experience gen bio was a lot easier then upper level bio classes so if you struggled in that you might have to seriously rethink how you prepared for it.
As for the 5 year requirement that maybe school specific.
I read that science pre reqs are updated every 5 years. They accept old courses taken more than 5 years, but nonetheless I can use this to my advantage. Do you think I have a shot at getting into NYU dental?
 
I read that science pre reqs are updated every 5 years. They accept old courses taken more than 5 years, but nonetheless I can use this to my advantage. Do you think I have a shot at getting into NYU dental?


Your science grades with the exception of bio 2 aren't all that bad anyway.
Tbh we don't have enough information about you to figure out where you'd have a chance or not, it'll come down to a lot of things mainly your GPA, DAT, and personal statement.
On a sidenote unless you're on a HPSP scholarship going to NYU dental would put you in a huge amount of debt I'd recommend looking into other schools if possible.
 
I read that science pre reqs are updated every 5 years. They accept old courses taken more than 5 years, but nonetheless I can use this to my advantage. Do you think I have a shot at getting into NYU dental?

I had a lot of schools accept prereqs that were older than 5 years old. I even used some extremely stale AP credit for English composition.
 
Your science grades with the exception of bio 2 aren't all that bad anyway.
Tbh we don't have enough information about you to figure out where you'd have a chance or not, it'll come down to a lot of things mainly your GPA, DAT, and personal statement.
On a sidenote unless you're on a HPSP scholarship going to NYU dental would put you in a huge amount of debt I'd recommend looking into other schools if possible.
No offense but da0717's grades averages less than a 3.0 GPA currently (even excluding the bio 2 grades), which is pretty low compared to the average matriculated dental students. Unless @da0717 can change his/her life around and do really well from now on (A-/B+ at the very least), it'll be a very hard uphill battle .

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No offense but da0717's grades averages less than a 3.0 GPA currently (even excluding the bio 2 grades), which is pretty low compared to the average matriculated dental students. Unless @da0717 can change his/her life around and do really well from now on (A-/B+ at the very least), it'll be a very hard uphill battle .

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Yeah but he's only taken like 5 science courses. Most predents I know took that much in one semester. No one's saying it'd be easy and I'm sure OPs aware that it's going to be a struggle.
 
If I were in your shoes I would take a different approach.

Finish your degree. Find a job in accounting and give it 12 months minimum, I'd even say like 2 years maybe even with different companies. See if you truly dislike accounting before going back and investing 5-6 more years and $500k+ into your education.

This idea of the grass being greener on the other side is often disappointing to many people. At one point in your life you seemed to have an interest in accounting. You're so close, just give it a shot. Maybe you find out it's not so bad and it doesn't make sense to give up 5-6 years of wages in addition to all the debt associated with extra schooling.
 
are you graduating in the spring? If so, you should post-pone your graduation day until fall 2019. That will give you time to find a business-related internship for the spring and/or summer and help you decide if you actually like the business world or not. Also during the spring and summer, shadow multiple dentists. You haven't mentioned that you've shadowed so how can you know if you really want to pursue dentistry?
 
are you graduating in the spring? If so, you should post-pone your graduation day until fall 2019. That will give you time to find a business-related internship for the spring and/or summer and help you decide if you actually like the business world or not. Also during the spring and summer, shadow multiple dentists. You haven't mentioned that you've shadowed so how can you know if you really want to pursue dentistry?
I have shadowed a dentist actually for a couple of months. Additionally I have volunteered in the ER dept in a hospital.