I am a nervous wreck!

[amf22]

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Hello Everyone,

I have a few questions and hopefully with some answers I can calm my nerves.

Background information:
I currently work as a dental assistant, and have been in love with the dental field from my childhood. I spent so much time in the dental office for my braces and cleanings that it felt like my second home. Working in the field now I have come to realize that dental is my passion; and I want more than anything to become a dentist. However, my love for the field isn't enough. I am currently finishing my BS degree (just a basic liberal studies degree), and also taking science courses at a near by community college. I am not sure what my over all science GPA is but I have gotten so far 2 B's 1 C and 3 A's. My BS (general studies) GPA is 3.71. I have not taken the DAT yet, I have 62 hours of community service, and 2 letters of rec.---I just need one more. I also have obtained 4 years of experience as a dental assistant and have counted this as my "shadowing". I have worked with general, pedo, endo, perio, and oral surgery specialties.


It is 1:11 am, and I can't sleep. Thinking about the future is making me nervous and I have so many unanswered questions, that I fear the #1 thing I want is FAAARRRR out of reach.

Questions:
Will it hurt my chances if the science course I took were from a community college? (I know these courses are what matter the most)

Will having B's and C's hurt me? Should I retake these courses?

Should I have more community service hours?

Will my experience as a DA at least boost my chances of being accepted?

Any suggestions for preparing for the DAT?

I’m not sure of my timeline either. I still need to take organic chm, biochm, and the DAT. When should I start applying to schools? Should I start next year when the application opens in 2019?

I am freaking out so much, that it is hard to stay focused sometimes, because I am doubting my ability. Does anyone have advice? Literally my stomach is in knots.



***I think what I fear the most, is that I am going through all this trouble to pursue my dream of dentistry, and I fear I am not good enough to be accepted. And if I fail to get accepted, I will have nothing to fall back on. I'm getting my BS degree in something that I can't really use----its that basic. I just need some guidance. I have talked with other dentists, but they are all older and things have changed a lot since they were in school. I don't have anyone else to turn to.


If anyone would be kind enough to give me some feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time,
AMF22

 

[Pearl E. White]

Calm down! It's all going to be okay. I'll PM you here in a bit.

 

[Stanelz]

Having a C or two is not going to end your chances. Retake maybe if they are in a pre-req. Three of my science pre-reqs were at community college since I got my associate degree first and most schools accept cc credits, just make sure that all of your pre-reqs and science courses in general are not from CC. A lot take up to 60 credits of cc courses.

I am an assistant as well and I believe it is what helped me get in this cycle over last cycle because its the only thing that changed. With that said I don't think it gives as much help as we'd like it to but I was asked about it during interviews and it gave me a chance to show off a little but about how much I know about the dental field already. I don't think it is one of those things that completely amazes adcoms but it definitely helps your chances slightly at least. Don't think you can slack in school because you are doing so much extracurricular stuff, even if you did 1,000,000 hours of shadowing and assisting and saved ten people from death it does not matter unless your DAT and GPA are at a certain level.

Take each course knowing where you want to end up and be mindful that every A is going to help your chances a lot so don't slack. You still have time so let me tell you now to get your head in the game because if you go back to the dental forum you will see plenty of people that wish they could be in your shoes. There are people who are graduated from undergrad and struggling because they didn't take things seriously and now they are forking over tons of money for masters programs that may or may not help. Finish strong knowing that once you walk across that stage, its game over. Trying to improve your GPA after that creates tons and tons of hoops to jump through.

Don't stress, just do the best you can from here on out with the goal in mind. Visit the forums and see people struggling post-undergrad to remind you that you cant take things too lightly and you need to finish strong.

Don't spend years preparing for the DAT but really do pay attention in those science subjects that are tested.

Do a variety of volunteering and community service so your app looks good. Don't just do a little community service and a bunch of assisting and think thats enough. Be well rounded, volunteer at places maybe that have nothing to do with dentistry but tie into your passions...along with dental related experiences also of course.

I'm sure there is much more I could say so PM me any questions.

 

[Pearl E. White]

@Stanelz hit the nail on the head. But you can also PM me with questions 🙂

 

[MLC45]

Like the others have said you need to take a deep breath and relax. This is a long process and you can burn yourself out with worrying about “what might happen or what you should do”.

To answer your questions
1) depending on where you want to go for dental school determines if community college classes will hurt you. There are some schools that accept prerequisites from CC and some that won’t. Check with the schools that you want to apply at and find out what their rules are.

2)B’s and C’s won’t hurt you as long as you only have a few of them. Anything lower than a C should be retaken if it’s a prerequisite. (Yes that includes a C-)

3) I had an interviewer tell me once he thought applicants should have around 200 community service hours. I don’t think that’s a normal amount expected from applicants, but I think you should have more than 62. Aim for at least 100.

4) Being a DA can help if a slot is between you and another person with the same stats. I had an interviewer say to me that my GPA and DAT is more important to them than my clinical skills. Year 1 & 2 are all class work. If I can’t get passed those years then it doesn’t matter how good my hand skills are for year 3 & 4.

5) Bootcamp is a good program. They give you a list of things to study and a timeframe to accomplish it. I would check it out and see if it fit’s your style.

As for when to apply, I guess it all depends on when you can get the prerequisites finished and a good DAT score. Only you can decide that time line. Remember, you don’t have to have your prerequisites finished when you apply, only by the time dental school starts.