dentistry and dui

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ossiferb0b

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sigh.. i'm finishing up my last semester for a literature degree from a respected university with about a 2.5 gpa. i need all the science pre-reqs. still. i chose literature without knowing what roman or greek mythology was, let alone 10th century old english poetry, and worked a job since i was 16. no excuses, but i was quite uninterested in so much literature and my gpa shows; and i have little math under my belt besides the basic requirements that my liberal arts university required. furthermore, with all being said... i have a recent dui charge at age 24, first offence. so here are my 4 questions... 1. how much math will i need before applying? 2. will my dui screw over my new dentistry dream forever? 3. if i'm finally mature to get A's on my science pre reqs AT A WELL KNOWN COMMUNITY COLLEGE and excel in the entry exam with help of multiple prep courses... do i have a fair shot getting into a program? and 4. if it came down to it, would i be able to at least get accepted in poorly recognized school in a state like kentucky and be able to be licensed to work in california where i'm a resident? i would really appreciate any response from here first before inquiring with the board etc. thank you all and Godbless.

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Wow...first post read today and already a troll? With a 2.5 GPA, the DUI is the VERY least of your worries. :rolleyes:
 
i agree with sugar.....forget the dui, you can explain that IF they ever bring it up. get the grades/DAT first. good luck.
 
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If this post is serious (I assumed it was until I read the part about Kentucky), here's what I say:

1. One year of college-level calculus

2. Usually not; you do need to declare felonies, I believe, but that sort of thing rarely comes up in an interview. Have a good speech about acknowledging the error if it does.

3. All your courses need to come from a 4-year university, however respected the CC is. As for your shot, a 2.5 GPA will probably not get you into any dental schools. It has happened with 25s on the DAT and the most astounding app they've ever seen, but I would recommend at least a 3.3-3.5 and 20+ for consideration.

4. There are no safety schools; all dental schools are equally competitive. This has been discussed over and over...the application process is very different from undergrad!

What are your backup plans if you decide to take another direction? If you love dentistry and are also willing to consider dental hygiene, you're guaranteed a job and probably $50/hr in Cali (and you can go to a CC for that, probably with the requirements you already have.) Also, visit a dental lab and see if you like that kind of thing.

Best of luck!
 
If this post is serious (I assumed it was until I read the part about Kentucky), here's what I say:

1. One year of college-level calculus

2. Usually not; you do need to declare felonies, I believe, but that sort of thing rarely comes up in an interview. Have a good speech about acknowledging the error if it does.

3. All your courses need to come from a 4-year university, however respected the CC is. As for your shot, a 2.5 GPA will probably not get you into any dental schools. It has happened with 25s on the DAT and the most astounding app they've ever seen, but I would recommend at least a 3.3-3.5 and 20+ for consideration.

4. There are no safety schools; all dental schools are equally competitive. This has been discussed over and over...the application process is very different from undergrad!

What are your backup plans if you decide to take another direction? If you love dentistry and are also willing to consider dental hygiene, you're guaranteed a job and probably $50/hr in Cali (and you can go to a CC for that, probably with the requirements you already have.) Also, visit a dental lab and see if you like that kind of thing.

Best of luck!


hey, you are not alone...if they ask you, you let them know that you have a DUI. Don't hide it...They want to make sure that after you graduate that you can get your license from the state...DUI should not cause any problems with that regard. bare in mind that the person that is interviewing you could have a DUI as well:eek:
 
hmm.. 1 year of calculus??? how come 1 year of calculus is not listed on the requirements on dental school websites, but listed as a "reccomended" course??? i already know my gpa is horrible thanks everyone.. but i was thinking it's time to grow up and get A's.. which leaves me a bunch of pre reqs to go after, and the entrance exam as well.. but the physics, bio, and chem courses all must be taken at a university???? is it a MUST?? being in my situation, does it seem unrealistic because i thought i could take the rest of my science courses at a legit community college... am i out of my mind? sigh... and it may be a troll, but this isn't a joke why thank you.
 
ok heres the deal, you have a 2.5 gpa, what they want to see is an upward trend. If you were to take your prereq's at a CC and then go to a 4 year university and take classes like p-chem and biochem they would probably be able to look passed the CC classes if you did good in the upper division courses. The problem that you have is you already have a low gpa, so going to a community college will not look near as good, you want to really impress them and the best way you can do that is by going to a 4 year university. There is really no such thing as a well known community college. I wish you the best of luck and I really hope that you get in to dental school but I truly believe taking the rest of the prereqs at a community college is a bad idea due to the fact you don't plan on taking upper division courses at a university. Btw, to the people who say you can't get accepted into d-school by taking prereqs at a community college it would be smart to look at the many acceptances last year from people who completed their lower division science courses (including ochem) at a community college.
 
hmm.. 1 year of calculus??? how come 1 year of calculus is not listed on the requirements on dental school websites, but listed as a "reccomended" course??? i already know my gpa is horrible thanks everyone.. but i was thinking it's time to grow up and get A's.. which leaves me a bunch of pre reqs to go after, and the entrance exam as well.. but the physics, bio, and chem courses all must be taken at a university???? is it a MUST?? being in my situation, does it seem unrealistic because i thought i could take the rest of my science courses at a legit community college... am i out of my mind? sigh... and it may be a troll, but this isn't a joke why thank you.

Get your act together at a 4 year institution. Community college credits aren't even accepted by all schools. You may have to start from scratch or retake some of your courses. I don't think there is such a thing as a "well known community college"
 
i'm already about to graduate from a university with over 120k invested. i can't go to any more universities... so i want to redeem my degree by getting A's and more A's in the rest of my pre reqs at a community... is this out of the question. i need ALL the pre reqs so a 2.5 gpa can greatly increase by the time my pre reqs are done.. give me the benefit of the doubt people.. if i get b's and c's in my first couple pre reqs then i will know that it's not for me, but i want A's in a comm college... what does anybody think?
 
Hate to be a downer, but then, this field isn't for everyone and you seem to have quite a few strikes against you already.

First, you can't take all your prereqs at a CC and get into quite a number of dental schools. This doesn't mean you can't get in at all, but many dental schools require that at least some % of your prereqs be from a 4 year university, so doing them all at CCs means limiting your chances even further.

A DUI may not be a huge issue to get into dental school, but it could be. That, coupled with bad grades and an all CC prereq list may all work against you, but DUIs often make getting a license AFTER dental school harder. Again, not impossible, but it may mean some schools might not want to bother educating you and spending all their effort on someone who can't practice.

Lastly, I hope your attitude about changes a little now that you've matured to the point where you are ready to get A's. To say things like "get accepted at least to a poorly recognized school in a state like kentucky..." shows a certain lack of maturity and makes me feel bad that you mentioned you are a californian. Californians get enough grief about being superficial, egocentric, and generally vapid...you really aren't helping the cause. As a fellow native Californian, I hope you can extend your horizons along with your grades.
 
I'm going to be brutally honest with you, ossiferb0b. Judging from your comment (especially your arrogant shot at Kentucky U), how you are rejecting everyones advice to help you out, your 2.5 gpa and your DUI I see a person who doesn't really give a damn about anything. You may or may not give a damn but adcoms would probably assume the same thing. There have been people who have a GPA like you but they cared about their future and made every effort to better their chances, some of them making it to D school. Now to your question:

You will have to go to a 4 year college and ace all your pre-reqs and maybe even additional courses like biochemistry to show adcoms that you do care. If you don't want to do this then you'll have to look into a different career. Sorry.
 
i'm already about to graduate from a university with over 120k invested. i can't go to any more universities... so i want to redeem my degree by getting A's and more A's in the rest of my pre reqs at a community... is this out of the question. i need ALL the pre reqs so a 2.5 gpa can greatly increase by the time my pre reqs are done.. give me the benefit of the doubt people.. if i get b's and c's in my first couple pre reqs then i will know that it's not for me, but i want A's in a comm college... what does anybody think?

You keep asking what we think and so we ARE telling you what we think; please listen to us. (If you ask our honest opinion we won't necessarily tell you what you want to hear.)

WiredNerv (and everyone else) pretty much said it all. There have been people who've been accepted with one or two courses from a CC, but it's rare and was matched with a stellar GPA (3.5 and above, in most cases.) You may be in debt, but you can go to a CC all you want and simply not have any acceptances; it would be a waste of time and money. If you are passionately sure that dentistry is the only career you want ever, you'll need to take out more loans like everyone else who has had to slop through hundreds of thousands to get there.

What other career options do you have? I swear, staying at the CC you're at now and getting your hygiene license guarantees you an excellent dental-related career for life.
 
With a 2.5 GPA, it makes me wonder if you're up for the challenge. I know you took literature which is pretty different from the sciences. But do you feel you have what it takes to get A's in Bio, Chem, Physics ect? Why don't you start with a science class or two, and see how you do/if you like it. If you hate the science classes/can't hack it, then that will give you a pretty good indication that you probably wouldn't be accepted/be able to handle dental school.
 
I'm going to be brutally honest with you, ossiferb0b. Judging from your comment (especially your arrogant shot at Kentucky U), how you are rejecting everyones advice to help you out, your 2.5 gpa and your DUI I see a person who doesn't really give a damn about anything. You may or may not give a damn but adcoms would probably assume the same thing. There have been people who have a GPA like you but they cared about their future and made every effort to better their chances, some of them making it to D school. Now to your question:

You will have to go to a 4 year college and ace all your pre-reqs and maybe even additional courses like biochemistry to show adcoms that you do care. If you don't want to do this then you'll have to look into a different career. Sorry.

I totally and 100% agree. You keep stating how you are ready to be "mature" and get As and good grades but saying things like "I already know my gpa is horrible thanks everyone..." doesn't show any maturity whatsoever. If you are serious, start showing it.
 
Just to add, I agree with most others comments, however, every single one of my pre-reqs have been taken at a community college. Not everyone is in the financial position for a four-year.

However, that said, I think you really have to do VERY well on your DAT for the adcoms to overlook the fact that all your prereqs are at a CC.

And in your case, as your GPA is very low to begin with, it may be worth taking them at a four-year because you have that much more to prove. Or possibly taking your pre-reqs at the CC and then taking a good chunk of upper division biology or chem classes at a four year, both to pull up your GPA and to show that you can handle that caliber of work.

Just my two cents for what its worth. While I feel that CC's are frowned upon, they are not out of the question except for at a few specific schools. BU, Tufts and Temple all come to mind as schools I did not apply to because they do not accept CC work.
 
i'm already about to graduate from a university with over 120k invested. i can't go to any more universities... so i want to redeem my degree by getting A's and more A's in the rest of my pre reqs at a community... is this out of the question. i need ALL the pre reqs so a 2.5 gpa can greatly increase by the time my pre reqs are done.. give me the benefit of the doubt people.. if i get b's and c's in my first couple pre reqs then i will know that it's not for me, but i want A's in a comm college... what does anybody think?

Your local state university probably isn't too expensive. Judging from the 120K in debt I would guess that you went to a private university? I did the same thing- private 4 year university, same amount of debt, degree in Art History. THEN I went home and took 2 years of undergrad pre-req at my local state school for something like 6K total for 2 years. So don't let the money stop you.

Also I found that the larger university had a completely different teaching style (curved classes and multiple choice exams!) - you can get A's at a 4 year university - So don't be afraid to try.
 
You are screwed. You should have thought of that 120k investment during your first few years of college as you sabotaged your chance to do anything with yourself. As has been previously stated, going to a community college will not cut it, not with your grades. You couldn't break a 3.0 in an English program, what makes you think you can get a 4.0 in a hard science program?

If you truly want to throw the dice and follow this inclination, be prepared to pay tuition at a university for probably 3 years in order to get the pre-reqs completed and a few extra upper level courses in as well. Also, be prepared to spend ungodly amounts of time studying to get the grades you need. Your 120k in student loans will collect interest, you will accumulate more loans and if you are lucky enough to get into school, you will end up with yet another 200-400k in loans on top of what you already have.

It is a huge sacrifice and a large gamble for you. Schools are at an all time high for competitiveness. A decade ago, your situation wouldn't have been so difficult. Anyways, whatever you decide, good luck...
 
At least you know not to apply to the Cali schools with that DUI. UCSF and UCLA MIGHT overlook it if you had a 4.2 GPA and 21/21/24 DAT. Even with that, UOP and LLU have 1000s of applicants who would actually attend if accepted and they would shred your app based on your decision making history. Having said that, Kentucky has 2 amazing dental schools. Most of us would be very happy there if we made it there. Louisville is in many applicants' top 5 d-schools.
 
At least you know not to apply to the Cali schools with that DUI. UCSF and UCLA MIGHT overlook it if you had a 4.2 GPA and 21/21/24 DAT. Even with that UOP and LLU have 1000s of applicant who would actually attend if accepted and they would shred your app based on your decision making history. Having said that, Kentucky has 2 amazing dental schools. Most of us would be very happy there if we made it there. Louisville is in many applicants' top 5 d-schools.

Agreed for the most part. However, stats aside, the DUI wouldn't really affect him at UoP or UCSF. They don't ask for anything but whether you've had felonies which is on AADSAS. First time offense, I wouldn't think is a felony, but I'm not 100% about that.

But yeah, the stats are going to blow it for most cali schools, I agree.
 
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