Dental School Timeline

[famousbanker]

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Hey guys,

I would like to apply to Dental School in the 2011 cycle, however I have some logistical questions. Specifically, I would like to know the best structure for a few of the prerequisite courses I have left to take.

From the research I have done, all dental schools favor applicants who have taken their courses at a 4 yr. university. This puts career changers at a disadvantage for the obvious reasons that have been bemoaned a thousand times over on this forum.

My approach has been to take as many prerequisite classes from a 4 yr. university as possible. My only criteria is they have to start after 5pm because that is when I get off work. For classes that are not offered from a 4 year after 5pm, I take them at a community college. This has caused many of my prerequisite classes to come from an eclectic group of universities.

Here are the prerequisite classes I have taken thus far:
1) Physics 1 (Tulsa Community College)
2) Chem 2 (independent study from OU),
3) Cell bio (Rogers State(4 yr. univ))
4) Anatomy (Tulsa Community College)
5) Chem 1 (Arkansas State University)

Next Semester I will be taking:

6) Physiology (Rogers State)
7) Microbiology (Rogers State)
8) Physics 2 (Tulsa Community College)
9) Organic 1 (Tulsa Community College)

I graduated 2 1/2 yrs ago. My bachelors was in psychology and my minor was business. I graduated with a 3.65 cum. I am currently working as a branch manager at a bank. I have impressive extracurriculars and leadership experience, however I will spare you a regurgitaiton of my resume on this post. I have all A's in science pre-req so far, so I guess my science GPA is 4.0.

Here are my questions:

a) Should I apply without having 2nd semester organic complete? I realize you can have courses in process, but I also understand that it will make you less competitive. OU also has BioChem as a prereq and before I can take biochem, I need to complete 2 semester of organic, so I have at least two semesters left after I apply before I will have all of my prereqs complete. This will easily be done before matriculation,(since you need to apply a year in advance to be competitive) but I would like to know if not having them done by the time I apply will be a major black mark, since I already have a black mark from taking science prerequisites at community college classes.

b) I generally do pretty well on standardized tests, so if I do well on the DAT, will this help to offset the time I spent in CC classes for science prereqs or do Dental Schools immediately qualify your application differently once they see the CC credit on your transcript.

c) If I were on an evaluation panel, my applications perceived weaknesses would be: 1) mix of universities prerequisites taken(Note* All science prereqs taken within 16 hr semester) 2) Independent Study for Chemistry 2(*This was taken through OU and was graded on 4.0 scale..Tests were
administered by a proctor.) 3) all prerequisites not complete at time of application.

Should I wait and apply in 2012? This just seems silly to wait a year since I will only have 1-2 classes left of prereqs after next semester? If I am going to apply May 2011 is there anything that I can do in between now and then in order to overcome my perceived weaknesses outlined above?

Thank you very much for your feedback. If there is anyone who is directly involved in the admissions/selections process on this forum, I would specifically love to hear your advice.

P.S. I am currently shadowing at a Dentist office to get experience in the field and I am attending a pre-dental simulation course at OU next month. Any advice as it pertains to additional extracurriculars would be much appreciated!...FYI I'm taking sculpting next semester and have played piano for 9 years(heard piano may be a good thing..yes?)

 

[Richardh]

Hey guys,

I would like to apply to Dental School in the 2011 cycle, however I have some logistical questions. Specifically, I would like to know the best structure for a few of the prerequisite courses I have left to take.

From the research I have done, all dental schools favor applicants who have taken their courses at a 4 yr. university. This puts career changers at a disadvantage for the obvious reasons that have been bemoaned a thousand times over on this forum.

My approach has been to take as many prerequisite classes from a 4 yr. university as possible. My only criteria is they have to start after 5pm because that is when I get off work. For classes that are not offered from a 4 year after 5pm, I take them at a community college. This has caused many of my prerequisite classes to come from an eclectic group of universities.

Here are the prerequisite classes I have taken thus far:
1) Physics 1 (Tulsa Community College)
2) Chem 2 (independent study from OU),
3) Cell bio (Rogers State(4 yr. univ))
4) Anatomy (Tulsa Community College)
5) Chem 1 (Arkansas State University)

Next Semester I will be taking:

6) Physiology (Rogers State)
7) Microbiology (Rogers State)
8) Physics 2 (Tulsa Community College)
9) Organic 1 (Tulsa Community College)

I graduated 2 1/2 yrs ago. My bachelors was in psychology and my minor was business. I graduated with a 3.65 cum. I am currently working as a branch manager at a bank. I have impressive extracurriculars and leadership experience, however I will spare you a regurgitaiton of my resume on this post. I have all A's in science pre-req so far, so I guess my science GPA is 4.0.

Here are my questions:

a) Should I apply without having 2nd semester organic complete? I realize you can have courses in process, but I also understand that it will make you less competitive. OU also has BioChem as a prereq and before I can take biochem, I need to complete 2 semester of organic, so I have at least two semesters left after I apply before I will have all of my prereqs complete. This will easily be done before matriculation,(since you need to apply a year in advance to be competitive) but I would like to know if not having them done by the time I apply will be a major black mark, since I already have a black mark from taking science prerequisites at community college classes.
unless your dat scores are high i wouldn't recommend applying to dental schools while you're not done with 2nd sem of o-chem. you want to be a strong applicant all the way where you will be admitted to the school of your choice in one cycle. so i wouldn't take any chances to make myself less competitive. i don't think it is a black mark for you to have taken lots of science pre-reqs at a community college classes. in my view, you have enough great reasons to support why you chose this path way rather than completing the pre-reqs at a 4 year university.


b) I generally do pretty well on standardized tests, so if I do well on the DAT, will this help to offset the time I spent in CC classes for science prereqs or do Dental Schools immediately qualify your application differently once they see the CC credit on your transcript.
i am not on adcom so i don't know how each dental schools look at a student's application but i can say that in general the schools will look at your dat scores then your gpa (both overall and science). upon doing so then i think they will study where you have completed your pre-reqs. so what i am trying to say is that doing well on dat and having a strong gpa are great advantages to you.

c) If I were on an evaluation panel, my applications perceived weaknesses would be: 1) mix of universities prerequisites taken(Note* All science prereqs taken within 16 hr semester) 2) Independent Study for Chemistry 2(*This was taken through OU and was graded on 4.0 scale..Tests were
administered by a proctor.) 3) all prerequisites not complete at time of application.
its good that you know your weaknesses. if you can give a legitimate reason/explanation i believe you shouldn't dwell on this too much. and also until the adcom brings this topic up, you shouldn't think about it. it will be best for you to emphasize your strengths and many achievements.

Should I wait and apply in 2012? This just seems silly to wait a year since I will only have 1-2 classes left of prereqs after next semester? If I am going to apply May 2011 is there anything that I can do in between now and then in order to overcome my perceived weaknesses outlined above?
apply as soon as you can. like i mentioned before your weaknesses are not something serious. you achieved strong gpa. with an excellent dat score, i think you will be fine. apply may 2011.

Thank you very much for your feedback. If there is anyone who is directly involved in the admissions/selections process on this forum, I would specifically love to hear your advice.

P.S. I am currently shadowing at a Dentist office to get experience in the field and I am attending a pre-dental simulation course at OU next month. Any advice as it pertains to additional extracurriculars would be much appreciated!...FYI I'm taking sculpting next semester and have played piano for 9 years(heard piano may be a good thing..yes?)

while you're shadowing at a dentist office, if you can get a letter of recommendation from him/her it will be strong plus when you submit your application 👍

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I would highly recommend you move this thread to the pre-dental forum. Non-traditional pre-meds aren't going to be much help.

 

[famousbanker]

while you're shadowing at a dentist office, if you can get a letter of recommendation from him/her it will be strong plus when you submit your application 👍

Richardh,

I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate your feedback