HELLO to ALL Pre-Dental Students!

[La Belle]

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HI Pre-Dental Students,

I'm new in this forum and I have read a lot of your posts and everyone seems to be so helpful and it'll be greatly appreciated if anyone can help me.

I haven't decided on my major since I'm really indecisive with what I want to do with my life. However, pre-dental seems interesting. I'm in college, sophomore standing but my third year. I was wondering if anyone can kindly help and tell me what I have to major in college for dentistry, and a little outline of the courses that I need to take. That will be really helpful, thanks!!! Any useful links to courses/ schools and programs, will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Also, I was wondering if dentistry programs are highly competitive? What do they look for in a student?

Also, I want to be honest. I have failed a course in science, and I know science is core for pre-dental, would that give me no chance of entering the program even if all my other grades are good? This has been on my mind since forever and it have been a huge obstacle for me to do anything! I'm frustrated and I know I have made a mistake and I know pre-health fields are demanding fields but not all students that are pre-health majors are perfect right? It'll be great if someone can reassure me that everything will be okay and it'll be great if a dentist told me that he/she made it even they failed a course. It's not the end of the world right? SORRY FOR RANTING but clearly, you KNOW I'M WORRIED. *Also, I hope I didn't offended anyone about "being not perfect," the point is no one is perfect and I just hope that one course that I failed didn't ended my career you know. And if I did offend anyone, I apologize in advance!

Last question, is school recognition important? Like for instance, I'm a state university student and would that be an obstacle to transfer/applied to other schools? Because I know some schools have rules about how hard it is for state schools to transfer to other schools.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Again, thank you for reading and listening. You are probably annoyed by now about my little ranting, sorry if I annoyed anyone! MUCH THANKS!

 

[utahdent123]

First of all you can major in whatever you want to. I have classmates that majored in Political siciene, Pharmacology, Chemistry, Bology, Medical biology, so on and so forth. However most of my classmates majored in a Science, mainly because most of the pre-reqs are the same so it just made sense.

As for the courses you will need to take regardless of your major. It all depends all the school you would like to attend, but generally the following courses are needed: General Chemistry I and II, Organic Chemistry I and II, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Physiology, Anatomy, Physics I and II, and Upper division writing course. This list is by no means complete, some schools require calculus, some schools don't require all those courses. I can tell you though, having those courses before dental school will help you tremendously.

Dental school is highly competetive. My school had over 3000 applications for 70 seats. They over extended and so our class is atually 85 I think. Anyway, the point is there is competition. But failing in a science course is not the end of the world. If the science course was a pre-reg then you would have to retake it.

School recognition is not really that important. It will be very rare that a patient will care where you went to dental school. Of course, to some people it does matter.

Finally, make sure you get some exposure to the field of dentistry. Not just your 6-month check up visits. It is beneficial to spend a good amount of time observing. Make sure it is what you want to do and whether you think you can do it.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

That summed it up nicely Utahdent123. As far as the science class is concerned, you probably have to retake iti f you failed it on the university level. Usually if a student does poorly in a class but still passes then I'd recommend to not retake and just take a higher level course of a similar subject to show that you are no incompetent. For example someone I know got a C- in Organic Chem and she is now taking Advance Organic Chem and doing well.

 

[superfinger45]

That summed it up nicely Utahdent123. As far as the science class is concerned, you probably have to retake iti f you failed it on the university level. Usually if a student does poorly in a class but still passes then I'd recommend to not retake and just take a higher level course of a similar subject to show that you are no incompetent. For example someone I know got a C- in Organic Chem and she is now taking Advance Organic Chem and doing well.

Some dental schools have a min. grade of a C or better for prereqs. If your friend who got the C- is planning on D school she may have to retake the Ochem class, either way doing well in advanced ochem dosent hurt the application.

 

[La Belle]

I was wondering, if you guys don't mind me asking, what are all of your majors? And how do you guys go about finding experiences in the dental field? Like ask a dentist if you can volunteer and shadow??? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you all to all who reply! I truly appreciated all of your help and I wish you guys the best in all your future endeavors!

 

[StayinNCali]

Exercise Biology major guarantees that you will take the "oh so important anatomy" suggested pre-req at most major schools; and just ask dentists directly for a shadow. Some "shade-y" dentists will say no but I did 16 shadows that way. Why compete with other students for the internships and shadows that are set-up through the school- just do your own serach-work and there is no competition.

 

[cherr1pop]

Biology major just cause it's all the prereqs for dental school... like the required pre-reqs and i can take 'recommended' pre-reqs for upper division credit for a degree... but i'm thinking of minor in neuroscience just cause i'm working in a neuroscience lab right now... but a lot of dental students i know minored in non-science like international relations, business, polisci, etc.
I think most pre-dents usually end up going for a biology degree cause it's just all the prereqs without maybe 1-2 classes and then maybe pick up a minor..

 

[La Belle]

Alright, biology major it is. I was checking my pre-health program at my school and the adviser there recommended that those who are planning to go into dentistry should not major in general biology but do major in biology but have some sort of concentration. They advise that the "concentration" will boost applications. I was wondering if you guys had anything like that at your school. If so, what concentration do you guys recommend taking that looks good for dental school? Also, what are the most popular minors that pre-dental students take to boost apps? Chemistry?

Also, how do the dental school know that you have shadowed at a dentist's office? Do you have to keep recording and then when application arrives you send them in? Is there a written section provided on the application for that?

Thanks again for replying. You all are probably tired of hearing thanks after every post but I'm truly grateful for your help, you get the gist.

 

[utahdent123]

How will the dental schools know you actually observed in an office? Well, when they ask you about your experience you can tell them. It's the honor system for the most part, I think there was like one school that required a Dentist to sign a letter saying I observed and how much so. Other than one school they just asked me about what I liked about the profession. By observing you will be able to gain a lot of that insight so that you sound like you have really thought this out.

Bottomline: Get a bachelors degree (preferrably a science because it will prepare you better for the courseload 1st and 2nd year) try to keep Science GPA and Overall GPA > 3.5, Observe in a dental office as long as it takes for you to know it will be the right profession for you and why it will be, do some community service, get some professors to write letters of reccomendation, study hard for the DAT, score > 19 in all sections, research which schools accept applicants with similar stats as you, and finally APPLY AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE...ie May 15thish. If you follow this advice you will without a doubt get into a dental school somewhere.

 

[La Belle]

^ Thanks Utahdent123, I see a really clear picture of what I have to do now. (sorry, I don't know your name, my name is Jessica, nice to meet you!)

It seems like everyone chose to be biology majors. What concentration did you guys choose?

Concentrations in:
Botany
Cell and Molecular Biology
Ecology
Microbiology
Physiology
ETC.

 

[sloken]

Me:
Animal Biology major - satisfies most of my science prereqs
Human Kinetics minor - this was more for personal interest, since i get to take a few courses on athletics training and injury treatment (ie. taping ankles) but I do get some anatomy from it.

I really enjoy both of my programs, and while it seems like my major was picked to fulfil dent requirements, I actually chose it before dent was my definite choice. In short, do something that interests you while just making sure you get thsoe pre-reqs done.