Going to Dental school 31 years old with BA in Business administration + pre-dentistry course

[lovetobecomedds]

Hi guys,

I am really desperate. please help me out to decide what to do. I give you a little bit of history of myself.
I am an immigrant living in the US for over 5 years. I am now 31 years old married for 7 years and have one month boy. I have been doing professional web development and computer programming for over a decade now. I hate coding and sitting behind the laptop days and nights debugging and coding.

All my family members (dad, mom, sister) they are all dentists! I studied industrial engineering but left when I was in Junior year. I always, ALWAYS wanted to become a dentist.

Now, I have my secondary education with a GPA 3.0 from a foreign country.
105 credits that I have passed in industrial engineering with rubbish grades! all are C or in the best case scenario B!


Since I am 31 years old starting a major in Biology to get an undergraduate degree and then apply for dental school would be a long and hard process. I haven't studied biology or chemistry at all so I think that would be hard to study when I am 31 years old.

I thought the easiest and fastest way for me to get into the dental school is to start a bachelor of Business administration and take pre-dental courses at the same time then apply for dental school in Junior year.

I have no idea if I can go to dental school with foreign secondary education transcripts and passing only pre-dental courses.

Please, help me out to decide. I am also financially limited and do not have much money to spend on college or Uni.

Is there any way I become a dentist and makes my dreams true in 6 or 7 years?

What major should I choose to go to dental school? does my plan for studying BA along with pre-dental courses is a good one or not?


Thanks in advance

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[lovetobecomedds]

anyone? 🙁

 

[Veni vidi vicii]

Since you already have a degree can't you just take the pre-reqs as additional courses? Taking the pre-reqs you could finish within 2 years, then take the DAT and apply to dental schools? Doing a major would require more time because you take way more courses, and you just need the pre-reqs. I'm not sure maybe contact your local dental school and they can advise you.

 

[Dentalman2017]

I will also graduate dental school when I am 35 years old. It isn't impossible, but it does take alot of work. I hadn't taken science classes for 10 years when I went back to school. I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the opinions you get in a forum. For what it is worth, what I would do if I were you is this:
#1 - meet with a pre-health advisor at your school
#2 - spend some time shadowing dentists before you start on your journey. Are you running from a career you hate, or to a job that you will love?
#3 - research the industry. Dentistry is changing fast. It's not all rainbows and butterflies. Who is to say you won't "hate" this job too?
#4 - if you want to "become a dentist" sit down and map out a plan for what that will look like and you decide whether it is doable to "make your dreams come true."

 

[JamesLee89]

here is what it is.

I am somewhat close to your age, 28, and I started taking pre-reqs for dental school last summer and I’m completely done except Biochem, which I couldve took over the summer but I wanted to take little more upper level science classes so I’m holding it off until the upcoming fall semester.

This was just my schedule since last summer.

Summer 1 - Gen Chem 1 & Bio 1
Summer 2 - Gen Chem 2 & Bio 2
Fall - Organic 1, Physics 1, Anatomy & Physiology 1, Microbiology
Spring - Organic 2, Physics 2, A&P2 (You should study and Take DAT at this stage)
——- this is where I am now but I am taking a break until the fall but you should,

Summer 1 - Biochem and apply for dental schools

Usually dental schools require few biology classes other than biology 1&2 so research what kind of classes are recommended by dental schools you are applying for and substitute them with Anatomy and Microbiology as needed. I took those because of required pre-requisities for upper level bio classes but every school is different.

Good luck!

 

[Tooth Ferry]

How will you pay for this? Only US citizens can get financial aid from the US government, limiting you to private credit-based loans. How will your family pay the bills? Is it doable? Yes, absolutely. Is it worth it, probably not.

Also consider that your lifetime earning potential will be severely limited and you will have no income while in school (realistically speaking). I would advise trying to find something else that could make you happy that doesn't require 7+ years of schooling and expenses.

If there is NOTHING else in the world that you could be happy doing, then by all means, go for it. Dental schools will happily take your money - tuition will probably be averaging the mid $80,000's and up by the time you could start.

 

[247_sandwich]

Hi guys,

I am really desperate. please help me out to decide what to do. I give you a little bit of history of myself.
I am an immigrant living in the US for over 5 years. I am now 31 years old married for 7 years and have one month boy. I have been doing professional web development and computer programming for over a decade now. I hate coding and sitting behind the laptop days and nights debugging and coding.

All my family members (dad, mom, sister) they are all dentists! I studied industrial engineering but left when I was in Junior year. I always, ALWAYS wanted to become a dentist.

Now, I have my secondary education with a GPA 3.0 from a foreign country.
105 credits that I have passed in industrial engineering with rubbish grades! all are C or in the best case scenario B!


Since I am 31 years old starting a major in Biology to get an undergraduate degree and then apply for dental school would be a long and hard process. I haven't studied biology or chemistry at all so I think that would be hard to study when I am 31 years old.

I thought the easiest and fastest way for me to get into the dental school is to start a bachelor of Business administration and take pre-dental courses at the same time then apply for dental school in Junior year.

I have no idea if I can go to dental school with foreign secondary education transcripts and passing only pre-dental courses.

Please, help me out to decide. I am also financially limited and do not have much money to spend on college or Uni.

Is there any way I become a dentist and makes my dreams true in 6 or 7 years?

What major should I choose to go to dental school? does my plan for studying BA along with pre-dental courses is a good one or not?


Thanks in advance

Save your money and do a WES evaluation (https://www.wes.org/) they will evaluate your degree and match it to a U.S equivalent.

Since U.S dental schools require your prerequisite coursework to be done within the U.S (even if you did them overseas), you may need to look at Extension Programs (UCLA/UC Berk for example), Post-Bac Programs, or as a last resort community college to satisfy the prerequisite requirements. I did a career changing post-bac in San Francisco before getting accepted to dental school in California. It took me 1 year and half to finish all the prerequisites and apply to dental school. A good number of my peers were in similar situations to yours.

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