Full courseload?

[dentin0]

---

Members don't see this ad.

...

 

[threechins]

My guess is that the adcom want to see you can handle the rigors of dschool. Having a full course-load would be one way you can prove to them that you are capable.

At the university I attended, most people enrolled in about 16 units/quarter. That's what I did for most of 3 years. Senior year I did 20/quarter. I had a few quarters where I slacked off with 12 units.

I would suggest going full-load all the way unless there are extenuating circumstances.

 

[dmdluffy]

The majority of applicants are traditional students thus they take an average 16 credits per term for four years while they complete university. Some d schools explicitly state that they take into consideration of how rigorous a students course load (or lack of perhaps?) is in relation to their grades.

 

[dentin0]

I am not familiar with credit hours...so are 16 credit hours equal to 4 courses per semester or 5 courses per semester? thanks!

My guess is that the adcom want to see you can handle the rigors of dschool. Having a full course-load would be one way you can prove to them that you are capable.

At the university I attended, most people enrolled in about 16 units/quarter. That's what I did for most of 3 years. Senior year I did 20/quarter. I had a few quarters where I slacked off with 12 units.

I would suggest going full-load all the way unless there are extenuating circumstances.

 

[NDPitch]

I am not familiar with credit hours...so are 16 credit hours equal to 4 courses per semester or 5 courses per semester? thanks!

That depends on how many credits the courses are. Four 4 credit courses is 16 credits in that semester.

As far as course load matters, I'm sure it's nice to have a full one through all of college, but mine varied greatly. The most I ever took was 16. The least I ever took was 12. It averaged out to probably 14 or 15 credits a semester. Hopefully that's "good enough" for ad coms.

 

[YoHomey]

It's not necessarily the quantity but more so the quality. Generally schools want to see a minimum of 2 sciences courses per term with preferably 3 for full time students. For post-bacs especially ones who are working or raising a family, 2 is enough.

 

[dentin0]

Thank you!!!

 

[MuskieMan33]

The dental school I have been keeping my eye on, and probably the one that happens to be choice number 1 for me, likes to see course loads of 15+ sem. hrs. As well as EC's and volunteering and shadowing. I also know that they don't like to see classes over 5 years old. I'm sure there are some special circumstances though, and I'm sure its not automatic rejection if you can't meet this criteria. Everyone has different lives, issues, and things that come up.

If you've been off for a few years, I would think that it would benefit you the most to show them that you can go back to school full time, and still handle a full load, (probably 16-17+ hrs to show them your SERIOUS). At least would probably benefit you more than taking a night class and a summer class earning 12 hours a year. My 0.2, take with a grain of salt. Your best bet would be to contact the school and see what the best options are.

 

[dentalWorks]

Do American dental schools care about whether you have a full course load?? if yes, how many years are you required to have full course load? thanks a bunch!

my experience has shown me that high GPA is above all else, the most important criteria

Ofc, taking 18 credits and acing a 3.5+ GPA is nice, but if you can't hack that kinda performance, stick to lowering credits hours and just keep that 3.5+

IMO, more people get in with 3.5s (on 12-15 credits per term) than 3.1s (on 18-21) credits.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

Here at U of T we use a half-credit, full-credit system that doesn't indicate how many credit hours each class actually is. For example my first year math class was actually 6 semester hours a week (and thus 12 for the whole year), but I could only indicate that it was 3 per semester or 6 for the year since on the back of my transcript it denotes a standard conversion, stating that a fullyear course is 6 and a halfyear course is 3. This is regardless of how many hours of class, tutorial and lab sections that are included in the course (most science courses, with bi-weekly labs, 3 hours of lecture a week and a tutorial every week end up being 5 semester hours a week).

Certainly I took a lot of simple 3-hour-per-week lecture courses, but also many courses with heavy lab and tutorial components. But it's lost in translation in the conversion from a Canadian to an American credit system.

So on my AADSAS application it appears that I'm only taking 12 semester hours in a given semester (since I usually took 4 courses per semester), while in reality I'm taking more like 15-18.

A bit frustrating to say the least. I'm unsure if it's affecting me at various schools.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Here at U of T we use a half-credit, full-credit system that doesn't indicate how many credit hours each class actually is. For example my first year math class was actually 6 semester hours a week (and thus 12 for the whole year), but I could only indicate that it was 3 per semester or 6 for the year since on the back of my transcript it denotes a standard conversion, stating that a fullyear course is 6 and a halfyear course is 3. This is regardless of how many hours of class, tutorial and lab sections that are included in the course (most science courses, with bi-weekly labs, 3 hours of lecture a week and a tutorial every week end up being 5 semester hours a week).

Certainly I took a lot of simple 3-hour-per-week lecture courses, but also many courses with heavy lab and tutorial components. But it's lost in translation in the conversion from a Canadian to an American credit system.

So on my AADSAS application it appears that I'm only taking 12 semester hours in a given semester (since I usually took 4 courses per semester), while in reality I'm taking more like 15-18.

A bit frustrating to say the least. I'm unsure if it's affecting me at various schools.

Stop crying dude. You're a science student, not an arts student, so suck it up and live with the labs. Most people I know took 5 courses a semester, every semester, including 2-3 labs, and only got 15 credits for it.

Tutorials? Are you kidding me? These are optional and all they do is go through homework problems that you're having trouble with. It doesn't introduce new material. Why would that be counted towards credit hours?

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

Stop crying dude. You're a science student, not an arts student, so suck it up and live with the labs. Most people I know took 5 courses a semester, every semester, including 2-3 labs, and only got 15 credits for it.

Tutorials? Are you kidding me? These are optional and all they do is go through homework problems that you're having trouble with. It doesn't introduce new material. Why would that be counted towards credit hours?

Wow. Okay. I'm certainly a bit miffed by the fact that I can't accurately represent my classes on my AADSAS application, but I certainly wasn't "crying" about it. It was just confusing when I was trying to figure out how to put it all down.

When did I ever complain about having labs? I was just saying that I wasn't able to put down 4-5 credit hours for a lab course; instead I had to write 3. All I'm saying is, I'm unsure of how that affects how schools view me or my courses.

And as for tutorials, they've almost always been mandatory for me since they involve separate instruction and mandatory quizzes.

Where's all the anger coming from? Yeesh.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Wow. Okay. I'm certainly a bit miffed by the fact that I can't accurately represent my classes on my AADSAS application, but I certainly wasn't "crying" about it. It was just confusing when I was trying to figure out how to put it all down.

When did I ever complain about having labs? I was just saying that I wasn't able to put down 4-5 credit hours for a lab course; instead I had to write 3. All I'm saying is, I'm unsure of how that affects how schools view me or my courses.

And as for tutorials, they've almost always been mandatory for me since they involve separate instruction and mandatory quizzes.

Where's all the anger coming from? Yeesh.

No anger dude. You're playing by the same rules everyone else is. I don't want to get this thread off topic, but seems like most people I know who took science did more than you since they took 5 courses/semester + labs + tutorials, but it never fazed them, and they kept looking forward.

And yes, you did complain about labs. I hope that by reading your post again, and using some of that top 10 reading comprehension ability, that right after you said "When did I ever complain about having labs?", you will realize that you went off and complained about why you felt you were treated unfairly.

Let's end this. Not going to get anywhere. You're in a good spot man, and there are tons of people worst off than you. It's already hard enough for some people to get into dental school with mediocre stats, but they are still optimistic. You have a 3.8+ gpa with a 99 percentile DAT score, yet you go off on a rant on how unfair the system is. Get over yourself.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

No anger dude. You're playing by the same rules everyone else is. I don't want to get this thread off topic, but seems like most people I know who took science did more than you since they took 5 courses/semester + labs + tutorials, but it never fazed them, and they kept looking forward.

And yes, you did complain about labs. I hope that by reading your post again, and using some of that top 10 reading comprehension ability, that right after you said "When did I ever complain about having labs?", you will realize that you went off and complained about why you felt you were treated unfairly.

Let's end this. Not going to get anywhere. You're in a good spot man, and there are tons of people worst off than you. It's already hard enough for some people to get into dental school with mediocre stats, but they are still optimistic. You have a 3.8+ gpa with a 99 percentile DAT score, yet you go off on a rant on how unfair the system is. Get over yourself.

I wasn't complaining about having labs. I was complaining about the fact that I wasn't able to accurately represent my courses (such as lab courses) on my AADSAS application. That has nothing to do with the material of the courses I took, but rather with the way my school records academic records. Forgive me for saying this, but I honestly think YOU interpreted my post incorrectly.

And I apologise for going off on a so-called "rant" about the system. I think I expressed myself rather calmly actually. Only at the very end did I say I was a bit frustrated, and only because I wasn't able to put down anything besides "3" in the semester hour column on my coursework section.

It works the opposite direction as well. For example I took a neurobiology of respiration course that was only 2 hours of lecture a week, but I still put down 3 semester hours since that's what the conversion on my transcript states.

Chalk it up to my school not caring about semester hours and having an entirely different credit system. It's an unfortunate circumstance that I wish wasn't so.

And regardless of what grades or DAT scores I have, I consider myself lucky to have the opportunities and interviews that I do; and it certainly doesn't negate my right to voice my opinion. If you can think that's a detriment to my character, so be it. But I certainly wouldn't tell you to "get over yourself" for having an opinion, just because you had a high DAT score or something. That's morally presumptuous.

I know it's midterm season, and people are stressed, but it'd be nice if you wouldn't take it out on a simple post I made trying to relate to the OP.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

I just hope that you can look at the big picture, and not let these little things bother you. You're in a fine position buddy, and you will get into dental school. I hope that you realize that not everyone has your stats, and might think of you as an entitled person.

It's like a millionaire telling everyone he is poor because he won't be able to build an indoor pool inside his mansion. He is entitled to his own opinion, but there was no hint of compassion for less fortunate people when he runs his mouth like that.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

I just hope that you can look at the big picture, and not let these little things bother you. You're in a fine position buddy, and you will get into dental school. I hope that you realize that not everyone has your stats, and might think of you as an entitled person.

It's like a millionaire telling everyone he is poor because he won't be able to build an indoor pool inside his mansion. He is entitled to his own opinion, but there was no hint of compassion for less fortunate people when he runs his mouth like that.

In no way was I trying to draw attention to my application itself or anything; YOU did that. I started no argument.

If the tables were turned, and you were a 4.33GPA/30DAT applicant talking about how your application didn't go quite as you'd planned, I'd tell you, "Don't worry, you're fine," rather than "Stop crying and get over yourself."

I hope you don't let these little things bother you.