I will complete my bachelor's in a non-science major this fall, but gaps in my pre-requisites for dental school will require another full year of school. My question for people with relevant experience or knowledge of this situation is; would you recommend enrolling in a master's program to finish out the pre-reqs? (Physics and O-Chem along with some recommended courses, biochem etc) Or would simply completing the courses at a 4-year institution be sufficient. I'd imagine a masters would be looked on more favorably in every circumstance, but the only caveat to that is my non-science major would add some difficulties to enrolling in a master's of science say Biology for example, and would probably even add another year of school before applying, so two years post-bacc. I would vastly prefer to finish the pre-reqs in one year post-bacc, but I understand that a career in the medical field is for the long-term and if it would benefit me that much with admissions to complete a master's vs regular classes that that is the right choice. (My GPA and sGPA will both be slightly below average when I'm finished with everything, 3.3-3.5 both, so any boost would benefit.) Would completing a master's and possibly adding an additional year of school before applying to dental schools be worth the admissions boost vs just taking my pre-reqs (15 cr full course load) and completing those in a year. All advice welcomed, thanks in advance.
Finishing pre-reqs: Masters vs Classes only/no degree
- Thread starter thedocta
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I can't really say which one would benefit you more, but I'm sure someone else can chime in on that. However, I can tell you that I've taken the do-it-yourself post-bacc route and so far so good. I do have a graduate degree in business, but I think I would've been in the same situation as you where it would've added an extra year or so had I decided to enroll in a master's program. I don't think I'd be willing to add another year of doing prerequisites...but then again I'm 29 so I guess that makes a difference!
Good to hear that your method of post-bacc worked out, thanks for your input
From what I have heard, it depends on your current GPA and also how confident you are in the courses that you are going to take.
If you're GPA is quite low, <3.2, and you think that you will not get straight As/few Bs in the courses that you are going to take, Master's might be a good option since I've heard that graduate courses are a bit easier to get an A and will probably boost your overall GPA a bit. Plus, finishing a Master's with thesis shows commitment.
On the other hand, if your current GPA is really high, >3.5?, and you are confident at getting good grades for the classes that you are going to take, then there is no need for Master's and you can probably get accepted.
Forgot to mention, when are you going to apply? next year? and if you're doing Master's, when can you finish it? in 2017? If so, I would just choose Master's because there would be a gap year anyways if you're just taking pre-req courses.
Also, you have to factor in tuition. At my university, graduate students who TA can get free-tuition+$1000~2000 a month. Whereas post-bacc have to pay a lot for classes.
If you're GPA is quite low, <3.2, and you think that you will not get straight As/few Bs in the courses that you are going to take, Master's might be a good option since I've heard that graduate courses are a bit easier to get an A and will probably boost your overall GPA a bit. Plus, finishing a Master's with thesis shows commitment.
On the other hand, if your current GPA is really high, >3.5?, and you are confident at getting good grades for the classes that you are going to take, then there is no need for Master's and you can probably get accepted.
Forgot to mention, when are you going to apply? next year? and if you're doing Master's, when can you finish it? in 2017? If so, I would just choose Master's because there would be a gap year anyways if you're just taking pre-req courses.
Also, you have to factor in tuition. At my university, graduate students who TA can get free-tuition+$1000~2000 a month. Whereas post-bacc have to pay a lot for classes.
Really great information, thanks a lot. I'll finish my bachelor's this spring of 2016 and then I'll start my pre-reqs over the summer and continue into the fall and Spring 2017, which is the earliest I could begin applying to schools. My problem is that if I choose to go the MS route it will most likely take an additional year on top of that to get the required courses to even enroll in the master's program, pushing my application into 2018. My current science and overall are both right around a 3.2, not taking into account senior year grades. At the end of this year I should be close to a 3.3 overall but I'm not taking any sciences so sGPA would remain. I'm confident I could bring the science up relatively quickly in the pre-reqs because I only have around 30 science credits so far. From some GPA calculator number crunching I could realistically be around a 3.3-4 oGPA and 3.4 sGPA after one year post-bacc. So the decision then would be if pursuing the masters would be worth it at that point. But that also heavily depends on my DAT score which I'm not going to take until I finish the pre-reqs. Too many variables
I'm just thinking to myself it helps to hash out my plans. Thanks for your interest and any advice you can offer
