Importance of full-time status...

[digitalfortress]

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There were some similar threads but I couldn't really find a great answer yet. I didn't seriously thought about applying to dental school so I never bothered studying full-time (3 or 4 courses in the first year and half and spent the spare time working). Now I'm doing solid 5 course workload and keeping the GPA up for now, but I'm wondering what my past means as far as the admission is concerned. How bad would this affect my admission? Some schools let you drop one bad year, and some emphasize penalty in GPA calculations... but I'm not sure how severe is the penalty going to be. 😕

 

[dans105]

Nobody can answer this. Admissions committees are all different. Lots of "non-traditional" students get into dental school (me included), so yes, it is possible to get in. The only way to know if you WILL get in is to TRY. Penalty for what? For only going to school part time? I've never heard of such a thing.

 

[DDS.230]

Many people cannot go to school full-time even if they wanted to. In my case, I've been taking 2-3 classes a semester, working part-time, volunteering, and shadowing.

If you went to school part-time like I did, I guess you can show the adcoms what you did with the time you didn't go to school. Getting penalized for going to school part-time is something I've never heard of. Everyone has their own situations they must deal with, and won't be penalized for it.

 

[digitalfortress]

Right, but the problem is that I will be competing against other applicants that have been taking 5 courses. My grade sits around 3.6-7 right now and there are plenty of other applicants with similar, if not higher grades, but they have full course load. It's only logical for admission to favor that person rather than me. Considering dentistry is among the most difficult field to get into, I don't know if there are any special accommodations because I was working. (Not sure if there's even a place for me to say that) Some of the Canadian schools I'm looking into have the option of looking at 2-3 most recent grades so hopefully that'll show that I can handle full course-load... but in the competition where splitting hair matters, it may make a difference.

But point taken. What's done is done, so I just hope I can get serious shadowing hours.

 

[sacapuntas]

Being that I did a non-trad route, similar to many other non-trads, I worked near full time while taking the pre-reqs. I took between 9-14 credits for the semesters I did my pre-reqs. Granted, they were all science classes but my load was still never too crazy. I got A's in them all, and no one said a word about my A's meaning less due to having a lighter load. I think the grades you get in them matter way more than the course load.

 

[LaughingGas]

👍

Being that I did a non-trad route, similar to many other non-trads, I worked near full time while taking the pre-reqs. I took between 9-14 credits for the semesters I did my pre-reqs. Granted, they were all science classes but my load was still never too crazy. I got A's in them all, and no one said a word about my A's meaning less due to having a lighter load. I think the grades you get in them matter way more than the course load.

Op, assuming you get good DAT, you probably could land few interviews. If they ask you for your light load, you can explain it during interview.