My advisor saddened me :(

[DoctorSaab]

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Hey guys,

Today I met with my pre-dental advisor, and he kinda shattered my hopes 🙁

I am really counting on getting in early without an undergrad degree at either SIU or UIC. He said it would be a miracle if I got in. 😡

How bad is it?

 

[aphistis]

I don't want to give you false hopes, but for the most part it appears undergrad pre-professional advisors tend to be only marginally in touch (if even that much) when it comes to admission trends in schools. Stick it out, give it your best shot, and if the worst happens you can always give it a second shot once you have your degree the next year.

 

[StarGirl]

*pick your own 4 letter word* NO, apply...write an awsome personal statement, get some awsome letter of recs... make sure you're on top of things and get awsome grades from now on!

 

[zimaad]

I think a good approach is to look into the schools' statistics on the number of non-degree students they let in. I was surprised at the variation in schools I interviewed at. Some frowned upon it and basically none were in and some has 20% (info from current student about his class) that were non-degree. If either SIU or UIC allow students in and you have decent grades...go for it!!!

p.s. I'd agree that a lot of pre-health advisors have moderate at best communication with dental schools and their trends.

 

[NewNameForGoogleBot]

How does this shatter your hopes? Just finish your undergrad like everyone else and your chances improve exponentially.

I will agree that advisors are pretty wacky.

 

[Zurich5]

Yah, I say screw your advisor. What do you have to loose?? Spend another year in college....ohhh no! It's a lot of fun.

Apply, most advisors are quacks...you'll get much better information off of here.

 

[critterbug]

I am gonna step out on a limb here and say that the regulars around these forums probably know more than most pre-dental advisors. There is a wealth of information on these forums and for those with the patience to read and adsorb everything that is available here, you really don't need an "advisor". And this is coming from someone who had a GREAT pre-dental/pre-med advisor at my school. Its just hard to keep up with things that are so dynamic such as dental/med school admissions. Even if you do get paid to do it!! Pre-dental advisors are still good for assessing your personality/character for committee letter of evalauations. But thats about it IMHO.

The search tool is your friend. Do a search and read, read, and then read some more.

 

[zimaad]

Well...advisors are also good for gathering and sending out letters of recommendation to schools 😀

 

[drPheta]

Well, he's partially correct. The last I checked, many schools do not like to accept students who are not in their accelerated program without an undergraduate degree.

If you really want to get into dental school without graduating undergrad, really research every school. Call up the ones you're interested in and speak to the admissions committee. Be direct with your approach, and you'll get the answers you need.

 

[blankguy]

The problem with giving advice even among those whose job it is to give advice is that it can be opinionated. The best remedy is to run what is being told to you to as many people as you feel comfortable doing and get feedback. If there is something consistently being mentioned then chances are that is not going to be off.

 

[Thaxil]

My personal believe is to not let anyone tell me what I can and can not do. You have to decide for yourself what you want to do. Take the advice others have given and investigate you decision and never look back. Just based not percentages, non-degree admissions are slim, but also how many non-degree applicants are applying? Maybe everyone assumes failure before trying. Anyhow, do not pay attention to that d!ck of an advisor.

I think all counselors and advisor need to have attitudes adjusted frequently. I got sick of the bad attitudes ?counselors? would always give me when I needed some advice. Thus, I have not seen a counselor for years.

 

[blankguy]

I think the problem is that people forget the whole point is to get information from advisors but they end up immersing themselves into the attitude of the advisors instead of looking at everything with a clear head.

 

[thisisit]

One thing people failed to notice was that both UIC and SIU are state schools and the admission process is quite competitive. So as much as I agree with most of you on how undergrad advisers are clueless about these things, the guy (or gal) may have had a point.

Oh ya, guess who gets more of your money if you stay at your undergrad school for one more year?😀

 

[DDSdude]

Respect for and listening to the advice of pre-dent advisors on a scale from 1 to 10 is -10.

From what I have seen and heard they are very negative and feel that if you are not in the elite class of applicants you will not get in. I have yet to meet a positive advisor. They do not do their do-dilligence in learning about the reality of applying to dental school and are first to tear you down.

Don't listen to them and continue your goals of becoming a dentist!!

 

[blankguy]

Originally posted by DDSdude
Respect for and listening to the advice of pre-dent advisors on a scale from 1 to 10 is -10.

From what I have seen and heard they are very negative and feel that if you are not in the elite class of applicants you will not get in. I have yet to meet a positive advisor. They do not do their do-dilligence in learning about the reality of applying to dental school and are first to tear you down.

Don't listen to them and continue your goals of becoming a dentist!!

I wouldn't take such an extreme view. They also serve as contact people for dental schools. My alma mater he was involved in the premed society. Granted they may not be the most accurate in giving advice but then again how many people do they give advice to? Practically all the premeds, which is a lot of people.

 

[mmapcpro]

I sat down with the pre-professional adviser wednesday. After looking at my transcripts, my gpa, and listening to me tell him how I am taking the prerequisites for both med and dental school because I am still on the fence about which discipline I am going to pursue, it went sorta like this:

adviser: so you're going to take the mcat next spring?

me: I'm not yet sure whether I'm going ot take the mcat or the dat. I'm taking this year to shadow a couple dentists and a couple physicians (if I'm able to) so that I can witness procedures first hand and make a more informed decision as to whether I choose dental school or med school

adviser: your gpa is very strong, and if you can keep your grades up, I think you'll make a strong applicant to medical school. I think it would behoove you to take the mcat next spring because you can always take the dat any day of the year if you don't do well enough on the mcat for admissions.

me: well, if I decide to go to dental school, it's won't be because of an inability to gain admission to med school. Whatever field I choose is going to be because I WANT to pursue that route.

adviser: very well, then. is there anything else I can help you with?

uggh

 

[zimaad]

I actually have recently had some good luck with the predental/premed advisor at my undergrad. I'm an officer in the predent club and he's been using contacts outside at various dental schools to get ideas on things to do in our club and how he should advise. I think a big thing is that he realizes he doesn't know all the answers and points students to different places to get more info in addition to what he says (i.e. the predent club, dental schools, books, internet, etc)