End of Freshman year, pondering/obsessing the future...

[XXNOSCOPEXXDENTIST420]

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Howdy folks

Freshman at UF here. Finishing up the year weakly compared to my new standards, or well compared to the standards I had coming into the college in fall. I'm a Finance Major with Pre-Dental. I'm currently sitting around a 3.5 GPA, sGPA is a tad higher. Around two weeks ago, when I realized I was getting a C in my Biology 1 course, I had a fun crisis where i doubted my career choice, my major choice, whether or not I was smart enough to do dentistry, whether or not I was smart enough to do anything at all, whether I should become a hobo now or later, and also whether or not I was effectively utilizing my time and study habits.

Essentially I've spent a good deal of time since then reading these forums, finding a thread that terrifies me, then finding a thread that makes me feel a bit better, and repeating that cycle ad nauseum. Its been an exciting and important few weeks, and I'm coming out the other side with a much more dedicated and informed view in how I have to study and how I have to consider my responsibilities, desires, and chances with regards to dentistry and finance.

So I've decided to stop losing my God-Blessed mind over the best way to be in the first batch of applications and who to get my LoR's from in my freshman year and instead just ask a bunch of questions I have to you, the experts! Or the students pretending to be experts, or just whoever I guess?

Question 1: I'm probably gonna drop this C grade in Biology. First Exam was bad due to family issues, Second one looks to be bad due to demon test (For real, I studied like 2 straight weeks for this one exam on like 5 chapters. Got a friend who is a 3rd year biochem major who said this entry level biology was the hardest class she's had all year, nuts). Is dropping and taking the 1st year W on the chin better then the C/C+ gpa hit? Assuming I'm retaking this over summer at UF or in Fall and taking an extra finance course over the summer to compensate schedule wise

Question A: I have an opportunity to potentially begin a research opportunity headed by my biology lab TA. I recently found out that this kind of thing can be a boon for applications, as its something a surprising amount of people overlook when preparing for applications. What is research at this level like? How big of a help is it? How much research should I do for it to be significant?

Question Blue: Manual dexterity hobbies! I have been told this can be a good thing for applications. I play a lot of videogames but I'm not so stupid to think that I'm gonna talk about my dark souls speedrun or my LoL ELO on an application or in a PS. I briefly got in to origami and papercraft a year or so back, is getting into that again worth it? How far would I have to take it for it to make an impact? Is it a swan or a crane? I always forget.

Question Delta: Whats the difference between volunteering and shadowing? I plan on joining a pre-dental society seriously at the beginning of next year, and shadowing/volunteering ASAP through it. Is volunteering specifically charity work? How much shadowing is too much shadowing? How little shadowing isn't enough shadowing?

Question Cinco: EC! I'm currently a member of the intramural debate team, with plans to move on up to the Policy Debate squad. As mentioned earlier, I'm also planning on joining and participating in a pre-dental society on campus. I may or may not join a similar group for business related things. Does this count as sufficient EC?

Question Seven: My Major is Finance. Whenever I explain the pre-dental/Finance thing I always get a look and have to explain it. Its exasperating. Does a more "non dentaly" major like this make me look well rounded? Not committed? No effect? I would like to one day use my business experience to help in starting my own practice, or at least that's how I rationalize it. It is doubling as a back-up plan that doesn't involve me working in a lab or teaching at a high school, though I am unsure if I like where it would take me, financially well-off or not.

Thats it! Thank you for reading my Great Textwall of China born entirely out of panic and neurosis. Please answer any you can and I would really appreciate the help/advice! Maybe this will help soothe/inform others as well.

Also a last few misc. questions: I'm hispanic, is being a minority at all useful? Does study abroad look good? What about learning a second language?

Ok done for real now

 

[y3nd0]

1: A W looks a ton better than a C, and it won't be factored into your GPA. I would take that W, especially if you know you will do better the next time you take it.

A: I didn't do research at all, so I can't tell you what it would be like. If you're going to do the research though, people always say "quality over quantity". Stick to it for as long as you can and understand the research you're doing, as much as you can. No doubt, it will come up in an interview, and you wouldn't look too hot sitting there saying, "Um, I just cleaned beakers while I was there."

Blue: I've heard of people putting down "video games" as part of their manual dexterity skills on their application. Having manual dexterity hobbies is a bonus, but definitely not a deal breaker. Most people pick up the necessary hand skills while in school anyway. As for origami, do it! Forget the application process, it's good for your cognitive function as you get older anyway. 😀 But you can definitely put it down as a hobby. Since you asked... As far as how much you would have to know for it to be an impact... just know how to make a crane because you might get put on the spot. 😛 I listed origami as a manual dexterity hobby, and I also made very large contributions to society using origami and listed them under my community service... so at one of my interviews, my interview actually asked me to make him something complicated. I made him a flower, and even followed up post-interview with a rose and string of cranes. If you want to take origami "to the next level" to perhaps make you stand out as an application and to hear more about what I did, just PM me. 🙂
Just a heads up: the manual dexterity portion of the application is only 150 characters long... so definitely don't sweat it.

Delta: Volunteering is actually being active during your time. This does not necessarily have to be "charity work" like volunteering in the soup kitchen or pick up trash on the sidewalk. This can be anything: tutoring, volunteering at the library, etc. Shadowing is just standing around, literally, and watching the dentist do their work. Shoot for a minimum of 100 hours of shadowing. Too much shadowing would be around 400 hours. More than that and you'll be wasting your time (because you'd pretty much know the basic procedures in and out).
Just another heads up: good to have both shadowing and dental related volunteer work (like a sterilization assistant, or just doing things like setting up the clinic). I'd get started on shadowing first just so you know if dentistry is right for you (because if you don't like it once you shadowing, it ain't gonna get betta).

Cinco: Yes. If you're joining some kind of club, it's best if you become an important member of that group and not just a plain ol' member. That debate club thing sounds nice.

Seven: Dental schools like diversity, so the finance major will help you stand out a tad bit, but it's not a deal breaker.

Last question: being a minority is DEFINITELY helpful. Studying abroad does look good, but be aware that most, if not all, schools, require their pre-reqs to be done within the States. So if you're planning on taking your pre-reqs abroad, I wouldn't take that risk. Learning another language isn't helpful unless you are genuinely interested in it. I minored in Korean and it came up in one of my interviews. I'm sure the interviewer thought it was interesting because he saw how extremely passionate/interested I was in it. But certainly, don't do it if you don't want to...

Final words of wisdom: You're a freshman, so relax a bit. You have 3 more years to build a very competitive application and a 3.5/3.6 GPA is not bad by any means. 🙂 If you have any more questions you want to ask me specifically, just PM me.

 

[grivacobae]

You're doing pretty good so far, 3.5 GPA is not bad at all, my freshman year I got a 3.12, and I'm doing exactly what you are doing, Major in Finance and doing the pre reqs for dental school. Just make sure you Ace every pre req you can, for me now, the only thing looking up is my 4.0 sGPA, I'm hoping to keep it that way and having hat overlook my 2 C's I made freshman year and my 3.29 cGPA I currently have, hopefully gonna go higher!
It's also good that you are aware of what needs to be done and asking questions to increase your chances, and very smart on your part to take full advantage of SDN, it is honestly a god sent site that probably is the differentiation between average pre meds and the ones getting accepted. Good Luck!
And so true how you tell people you're majoring in Finance but trying to go to Dental school, and they just stare at you like you have no idea what you're talking about! haha but I just remember I use SDN and know quite a bit about the process now!