Do Dental Schools (specifically NYU dental) view a reduced course load negatively?

[bella6561]

At a private liberal arts college in Connecticut, I have to take a reduced course load (3 classes a semester) in order to balance the rigor of the classes and my mental health, for which I have doctor-recommended accommodations.

Do Dental schools perceive this as one being unable to successfully tackle the load in Dental School? I was told that graduate schools aren’t supposed to discriminate against someone with anxiety/mental illness, but do they honor that?

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[DAT Destroyer]

At a private liberal arts college in Connecticut, I have to take a reduced course load (3 classes a semester) in order to balance the rigor of the classes and my mental health, for which I have doctor-recommended accommodations.

Do Dental schools perceive this as one being unable to successfully tackle the load in Dental School? I was told that graduate schools aren’t supposed to discriminate against someone with anxiety/mental illness, but do they honor that?

Even though dental schools are not supposed to discriminate because of something like that, there's really no way of knowing what goes on behind the scenes. Any reasonable school definitely should not! But even so, there's a way that the whole situation can be flipped to a positive! You realized you were struggling with something, got the help your needed, and made the changes to your schedule to make sure you can perform your best while still taking care of yourself, That's impressive in itself!

Nancy, Destroyers

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

At a private liberal arts college in Connecticut, I have to take a reduced course load (3 classes a semester) in order to balance the rigor of the classes and my mental health, for which I have doctor-recommended accommodations.

Do Dental schools perceive this as one being unable to successfully tackle the load in Dental School? I was told that graduate schools aren’t supposed to discriminate against someone with anxiety/mental illness, but do they honor that?

Discrimination in admissions aside, will you realistically be able to handle the course load in dental school? That is a fair question and a question that only you can answer. Learning the volume of material you are expected to learn in dental school is often like drinking from the proverbial fire hose. It’s also pretty lockstep curriculum, so you can’t really do a reduced course load. In my opinion, if someone is struggling to manage a full undergrad course load they will really struggle with the load in dental school. I think my busiest semester in dental school had 27 credits. It was not fun.

Big Hoss

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Discrimination in admissions aside, will you realistically be able to handle the course load in dental school? That is a fair question and a question that only you can answer. Learning the volume of material you are expected to learn in dental school is often like drinking from the proverbial fire hose. It’s also pretty lockstep curriculum, so you can’t really do a reduced course load. In my opinion, if someone is struggling to manage a full undergrad course load they will really struggle with the load in dental school. I think my busiest semester in dental school had 27 credits. It was not fun.

Big Hoss

Truth

 

[Mr.Smile12]

At a private liberal arts college in Connecticut, I have to take a reduced course load (3 classes a semester) in order to balance the rigor of the classes and my mental health, for which I have doctor-recommended accommodations.

Do Dental schools perceive this as one being unable to successfully tackle the load in Dental School? I was told that graduate schools aren’t supposed to discriminate against someone with anxiety/mental illness, but do they honor that?

Who told you this?

If your academic performance is satisfactory, you'll be fine. Did any of these issues appear earlier in your academic transcript in the form of lower grades?

If your mental health prevents you from completing the curriculum, that will be a significant concern and you can be rejected or dismissed.

If your mental health issues endanger the patients you take care of, that will be a significant concern and you will be rejected or dismissed.

If you require accommodations for your coursework, maintain the documentation and provide it after you have been accepted to the appropriate authorities so that accommodations can be made for you when appropriate for courses, but realize that it may not be possible to do that for clinical exams. Consider requesting accommodations for the DAT and any other standardized assessments you may have to participate in (Casper, virtual interviews).

Reduced courseloads in dental school happen usually because you fail classes. This is NOT desirable and is usually the one remediation chance you have before you are dismissed.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

Reduced courseloads in dental school happen usually because you fail classes. This is NOT desirable and is usually the one remediation chance you have before you are dismissed.

And based on what’s been posted here about NYU, since the OP asked about them specifically, they don’t seem to show a lot of mercy to those that fail.

Big Hoss

 

[bella6561]

Who told you this?

If your academic performance is satisfactory, you'll be fine. Did any of these issues appear earlier in your academic transcript in the form of lower grades?

If your mental health prevents you from completing the curriculum, that will be a significant concern and you can be rejected or dismissed.

If your mental health issues endanger the patients you take care of, that will be a significant concern and you will be rejected or dismissed.

If you require accommodations for your coursework, maintain the documentation and provide it after you have been accepted to the appropriate authorities so that accommodations can be made for you when appropriate for courses, but realize that it may not be possible to do that for clinical exams. Consider requesting accommodations for the DAT and any other standardized assessments you may have to participate in (Casper, virtual interviews).

Reduced courseloads in dental school happen usually because you fail classes. This is NOT desirable and is usually the one remediation chance you have before you are dismissed.

I'm a 4.0 student, but I've taken a reduced course load for about 3 semesters already since that was more conducive to maintaining my mental health. I'm being mature about my decision to put dental school on hold for now. Realistically, I think it would be very difficult for me to handle the amount of classes that are required each semester. This is not because I don't think I can learn and understand the material, but because of the amount of stress that it would impose on me given the limited amount of time you need to master it. I'm pursuing another career in healthcare, but it is unfortunate that I'll have to let Dentistry go for now. It's something that I want to do given that I have a personal connection to it. However, it just doesn't seem feasible for me given the amount of anxiety that I experience on a daily basis.