good overall/science GPA but courseload is various

[blankman321]

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my overall GPA is about a 3.7 and my science GPA is around a 3.8 but the catch is that I took most of these courses at a community college and most of these pre-requisites were done part time while working full time. I did a year of community college with good grades then worked for a year and then took courses for the summer and then took the year to work and then took 14 units over the summer and so on.

My concern is that will the adcom see this as an easy way into dental school considering dental school is a full time requirement. I am enrolled full this spring quarter, summer quarter, and fall quarter but since i plan to submit my application this june, will they see that I am taking a tougher courseload. I have yet to take the DAT but even if I do well on that, will that remove the concern the adcoms think about my courseload.

I am not sure if I am thinking way into this or not, I have heard ppl say that GPA/DAT matter but others said they got denied bc they thought the schedule was easy

also what are the list of OOS friendly dental schools that typically accept students (besides the competitive ones like Harvard, Columbia, etc.). I am a CA resident

 

[jnines]

the first question that comes to mind is did u receive your bachelors?

 

[blankman321]

sorry forgot to mention that, I am in the processing of finishing it now. According to my transfer counselor I am projected to finish winter 2014.

 

[DHallenbeck]

I am not sure if I am thinking way into this or not, I have heard ppl say that GPA/DAT matter but others said they got denied bc they thought the schedule was easy

also what are the list of OOS friendly dental schools that typically accept students (besides the competitive ones like Harvard, Columbia, etc.). I am a CA resident

I don't have a good understanding of your situation, so I don't have any good advice to give. But as far as OOS friendly schools, you should definitely consider BU, Tufts, NYU, LECOM, Midwestern AZ and Midwestern IL. LECOM and the Midwestern programs are relatively new. And any private school that accepts alot of OOS schools usually have the price tags of 90-100k. Good luck!

 

[blankman321]

sorry if my situation sounds confusing, I have been working and doing part time classes except for this year so basically the question I am asking is: Does courseload really matter if every other part of the application is great?

what about OOS schools that are public that seem to accept a fair amount of OOS students

 

[blankman321]

Thanks for the reply UCSFx2017, attending CC was largely due to my father's job which required to move a lot with him and financial constraints. Now that i have saved alot of money, I can attend full time studies now for the next three-four terms. My concern is that even if I take these full courseloads, is it a case of too little too late since the adcoms prefer to more terms with full time courseloads (I only have about 3 terms with 15+ units courseloads and 2 terms with 2 pre-requisites classes in each term).


Should I postpone my application till next year and have more terms with full time courseloads or I should I just hope for the best this year? I was hoping my work and part time classes can show I can handle multiple stuff at one time.

 

[UCSFx2017]

sorry if my situation sounds confusing, I have been working and doing part time classes except for this year so basically the question I am asking is: Does courseload really matter if every other part of the application is great?

what about OOS schools that are public that seem to accept a fair amount of OOS students

Schools will consider everything. 18 credits per semester is already low in comparison to dental school. Work-to-credit ratio is also incredibly different between undergrad and dental school because you're in class or lab from 9-5 for five days a week and also studying during the evening in dental school. If I assume that you're also taking easy filler classes and taking them at a CC, the disparity in terms of difficulty between undergrad and dental school is even greater. You want to incrementally push yourself to take undergraduate courseloads best representative to that of dental school. The whole point of evaluating your undergraduate history is to see if you have the propensity for handling courseloads similar to that of dental school and the basic working knowledge necessary for what you learn in dental school.

Thanks for the reply UCSFx2017, attending CC was largely due to my father's job which required to move a lot with him and financial constraints. Now that i have saved alot of money, I can attend full time studies now for the next three-four terms. My concern is that even if I take these full courseloads, is it a case of too little too late since the adcoms prefer to more terms with full time courseloads (I only have about 3 terms with 15+ units courseloads and 2 terms with 2 pre-requisites classes in each term).


Should I postpone my application till next year and have more terms with full time courseloads or I should I just hope for the best this year? I was hoping my work and part time classes can show I can handle multiple stuff at one time.

With that said, I think you'll be fine. I think three semesters of full courseloads as opposed to the normal six is probably fine. I think your situation is understandable since you were working and taking classes. Although I haven't seen your full record and was never on the admissions committee, I would apply. Do well on the DAT and then I don't think your CC history will matter that much.

 

[Glimmer1991]

My course load has varied from 12 hours-17 hours a semester. However, I have only had one B in college (a B+ in gen chem my very first semester) and have had As ever since. Do I think that 12-credit-hour semester is the greatest thing ever on my application? No. I came into college with 30+ credit hours from AP classes, though, and I was able to do it. Looking back, I should have probably tacked on another class, but it was a semester during which I was taking organic chemistry and genetics at the same time. I sort of wanted to give myself a lot of room to work with in those classes.

From what I gather, course load seems to be one of those things they would consider mostly if you're "head-to-head" with another applicant. If you both have the same GPA/DAT/etc, they may consider who had the harder course load. Rock the rest of your application and I doubt it will be given much thought by adcoms. Oh, and for those semesters with a low number of credit hours--you had better be making good grades!

 

[blankman321]

thanks for the replies everyone, they've been useful

so for summer I am registered with two upper division courses in my major and I can enroll in two upper division biology courses. does it matter what type of biology course it is, as long as it is 300 level and above? Some of the dental schools I am applying to require biochemistry but unfortunately this is not offered till spring of next year. I can take it at another school but considering, I have 6 schools I have attended, I do not want to give the adcom the impression that I like to hop place to place, even though most of this was bc of family jobs/situations.

there is a dental hygiene class I really would like to take, since it is both interesting (from what the classmates told me) and its upper division. will this help show the adcom committee, or just another useless class.

open to any suggestions or what upper division courses I should try to take (already took anatomy, physiology, and microbiology at my CC, they were offered there)

 

[dans105]

You might try explaining (or at least mentioning) in your personal statement why you did the work+school thing so they know it wasn't just because you were lazy or were waffling about school. Don't write it as an apology though, use it to show something positive about you. Who knows, they may respect you more for your maturity and ability to juggle multiple responsibilities.