Feedback needed:)

[Micro19]

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I'm looking for a little encouragement as well as advice🙂 To make a long story short-- I've wanted to be dentist my whole life, but have had extreme confidence issues when it comes to applying to dental schools. I've been out of school a long time now (I graduated with a BS in 2003), bringing me to a few questions.

I previously had all of the dental pre-reqs completed, but I finished my undergrad in 2003. I'm hoping I won't have to repeat all of college...yikes, in order to get into dental school.
Since my BS (in biology) I've gone on to complete an MS in microbiology. (the whole reason I went on for a masters is I didn't believe I had a competitive enough GPA (2.997)) I know...not good. On the up side, I completed my MS in microbiology with a 3.5 GPA. So my ultimate questions to you are:

1) Does anyone think I have a shot at this?? (with a hopefully okay DAT score)

2) Do I need to re-take a million classes before I apply?

3) Finally, what is the best way for me to re-learn everything in the DAT, that I did oh-so many years ago??

Any advice would be awesome. I know this is where I want to ultimately end up, and hope it's not going to take me a life-time to get there!

 

[Baylor2011]

1. Yes, you do...but you need more than an okay DAT score. I'd say you'd need a 22-23+ to be considered with that GPA.

2. I'm not sure if there's a rule concerning how recent your undergrad classes have to have been taken...will research this.

3. Best way is to study study study. Believe me, you didn't FORGET all of it, you just need a refresher. There are plenty of great study resources available. Some that most people will recommend are: Cliffs AP Biology review, DAT Destroyer, Math Destroyer, Hyperlearning MCAT Biological/Physical sciences review, Kaplan Blue Book, TopScore Pro, DAT Achiever, Crack DAT PAT, etc.

It's all in how you prepare.

 

[dentalWorks]

My opinion

1) Does anyone think I have a shot at this?? (with a hopefully okay DAT score)
Yeh you have a shot and a good one. I can't tell you what kind of DAT score you need because in all honesty, no one really knows lol. Your best bet is to call up some dental schools that your interested in and ask to speak with an admission adviser. See what they tell you

2) Do I need to re-take a million classes before I apply?
Some dental schools have a 5 or 7 year pre-req age. Most schools don't care about the age of your pre-reqs just as long as your DAT is not more than 2-3 years old. So just don't apply to those schools which have the 5-7 year expiration mark on the pre-reqs

3) Finally, what is the best way for me to re-learn everything in the DAT, that I did oh-so many years ago??
Well, you have a strong masters background, I imagine most of your biology, biochemistry, genetics, and research application stuff is covered.... I'd say your golden as far as biology goes. The general chemistry, organic, PAT, and math are going to be your most invested areas... A few days ago I posted a day-by-day 8-week study guide for the DAT (here http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=718263) You DO NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW the guide here, read it and hopefully it will give you an idea how to design your own studying program.

One final thing, relax, have confidence in yourself, your still young (I imagine less than 30 years of age) you can do this if you commit.

Good luck to ya

 

[Micro19]

Thanks so much for your encouraging words🙂 I'll definitely check out your link! Thanks again!