expiration of pre-reqs?

[boater]

Hello! I'm might apply to dental school next summer ('07) although I graduated from undergrad in 2004. In a different thread, somone mentioned that his acceptance to LLU was withdrawn because there is a 5 year limit on pre-req's at that school. Is this a common policy? Would doing well on the DAT prove that I've retained the knowledge? Thanks for your help!

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[Hardbody]

Hello! I'm might apply to dental school next summer ('07) although I graduated from undergrad in 2004. In a different thread, somone mentioned that his acceptance to LLU was withdrawn because there is a 5 year limit on pre-req's at that school. Is this a common policy? Would doing well on the DAT prove that I've retained the knowledge? Thanks for your help!

I have personally read on a lot of school websites that they do have a 5 year limit. I would be willing to bet that not every school has this policy though, so my advice to you is to call up the schools (soon) and explain your situation. See what they say and then plan accordingly. Obviously it would be a pain in the a$$ to have to take these prereq's over, but if you retained your knowledge they should come easy, and you could probably retake them at a community college.

 

[L8DYV]

Hello! I'm might apply to dental school next summer ('07) although I graduated from undergrad in 2004. In a different thread, somone mentioned that his acceptance to LLU was withdrawn because there is a 5 year limit on pre-req's at that school. Is this a common policy? Would doing well on the DAT prove that I've retained the knowledge? Thanks for your help!

The five year limit is news to me. Dont apply to LLU, unless you are seventh day person or can live without coffee, softdrinks and other caffinated beverages for four years. (I might be wrong about the softdrinks, but not the coffee part)

 

[Driller23]

Crap..I certainly hope most schools dont have 5-year policies, otherwise I am in deep ****. I took the majority of my pre-reqs back in 2001 which means this would be the first and last cycle I can apply to D-schools. If I don't get in this round, I will need to repeat most of the pre-reqs??? Wow...no way.

Plus, I have done pretty extensive D-school wesbsite surfing and not once have I come accross such a requirement. Anyone heard about this, aside from LLU???

 

[food4thots]

yeah it doesn't make sense..

this can get really messy for those that don't apply to dental school right after they graduate.

imagine you are retaking prereq's that are older than 5 years.. by the time you're done w/ those prereq's.. the prereq's you took 4 years ago is now expired.. and the you have to redo those.. it may get a little circular playing catch up if you get what i'm trying to say.

 

[speedy3816]

Yea, I would say to call up every school that you're intersted in applying and explain your situation and see what they tell you. This way everyone will be on the same page... better yet, maybe try emailing and then you'll have something in writing that you could use in case something came up... lest you end up like the poor fellow that is dealing with LLU right now 👎

 

[bionerd]

Yea, I would say to call up every school that you're intersted in applying and explain your situation and see what they tell you. This way everyone will be on the same page... better yet, maybe try emailing and then you'll have something in writing that you could use in case something came up... lest you end up like the poor fellow that is dealing with LLU right now 👎

yeah i'm confused with this expiration date thing. what about all those non-traditional applicants that majored in bio and maybe went to work, but now want to become a dentist. isn't having a good DAT score reflect your knowledge...that's just ******ed. 👎

 

[speedy3816]

yeah i'm confused with this expiration date thing. what about all those non-traditional applicants that majored in bio and maybe went to work, but now want to become a dentist. isn't having a good DAT score reflect your knowledge...that's just ******ed. 👎

good point about non-trads that already took the pre-reqs as part of their major... hmmm, maybe we can get someone that knows, or that has had to go through this to post in this thread.

speedy

 

[tinman831]

There are a few people here who took some of the prerequisites years ago and have had to retake them again in order to apply to dental school.

 

[AT12]

I graduated in 2001 and I will be starting dental school in the fall (Temple). Although I graduated 5 years ago, I went back to school and did a post-bac program to increase my science gpa (I took upper level science courses). In fact, schools that I spoke with did not like if you repeated any science courses.

I can only speak about two schools in particular (Temple and Columbia). I spoke to admissions deans at both Temple and Columbia about my application at different points in the admission process. When I mentioned in conversation that I graduated several years ago from undergrad, they both said it didn't matter. As many people have stated before on the forum, a strong DAT score and high GPA are really the two major criteria in the admission process (or at least in the beginning of the process to select individuals for an interview).

I would suggest that if you graduated several years ago, you may want to send an email to the admissions staff at various schools. You may want to ask them if they also want to see any additional courses since you graduated from college, etc.