My plan

[Doctorman45342]

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Wassup SDN

I am currently a freshman Pre-dent. My plan is to finish my undergrad in bio 3 year years total. After sophomore year is over with, I will have completed all the required chem, math, and English but only bio 1&2 and anatomy. I plan on taking the DAT the summer after sophomore year (I may also take a biology class while I'm studying that summer, something like biochem, genetics, ecology ect.) After that I will start applying for dental schools while hopefully finishing my bio degree in the next 2 semesters (and probably the following summer.) My main questions are:

What bio class should I take that summer while I am studying for the DAT?
What classes should I take my sophmore year (other than Bio 1&2 and anaotomy)? Humanities? Sociology? ect.
Should I apply to dental school so early? How do schools factor in grades you make after application?
When does the application cycle start?

If you could answer any of my questions here I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[hs2013]

Hear me out, I am also a freshman majoring in biology and going for dentistry. I once posted this exact same thread, with a whole plan to graduate in 3 years. I was proud of myself and had a whole plan laid out, I was going to graduate in 3 years! Everyone that responded to that thread told me not to do it in 3 but in 4. Why? They said it would be easier, I should enjoy more of my college life, and enjoy the journey. At first I was like f*ck you guys, I know what I am doing and that I can do it with that kind of work load and get a good GPA. It would have been miserable, especially since I need to use college to better my study habits(which is surprisingly happening), not overload myself, and help prepare me for dental school. Plus volunteering, shadowing, and EC's and get a lot of hours and good involvement, that would be nearly impossible while taking the course load needed to graduate in 3 years and still do well. Plus the DAT and applications and such, doing it in 3 years would just feel like your rushing things and are always crammed for time. It's surprising how open your schedule gets from 3 years to 4 years, especially if you have credits coming in and I had 17. I feel like I can just have a more relaxed approach to my life this way, I still study everyday and well in advance of exams, have free time, am learning more about myself, getting better prepared for dentistry, having time to enjoy with friends, and do well. Trust me unless you have like 50 credits coming in, I would shoot for 4 years, it will make your life much easier, I don't think the stress of doing so many classes is worth the year saved.

 

[sjv]

You probably won't get that many answers because most applicants do take at least 3 years before applying so you're definitely in the minority.
1. Anatomy & Physiology, Molecular/Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics
2. You should take a look at individual requirements for schools that you plan on applying to so you can see if there are any other required classes such as Microbiology or Psychology.
3. I don't feel qualified enough to answer this question entirely. Your application would definitely be stronger if you took that extra year to do something productive to add to your application but gaining admission with your plan isn't unheard of. After you apply, you can update summer/fall grades with the academic update halfway through the year but they won't be seen for most of the cycle.
4. The application usually opens on the first Monday in June, this year is June 2nd, 2014. First batch of applications is usually mailed during the last week in June and subsequent batches are sent out each Friday after that.

 

[Doctorman45342]

Hear me out, I am also a freshman majoring in biology and going for dentistry. I once posted this exact same thread, with a whole plan to graduate in 3 years. I was proud of myself and had a whole plan laid out, I was going to graduate in 3 years! Everyone that responded to that thread told me not to do it in 3 but in 4. Why? They said it would be easier, I should enjoy more of my college life, and enjoy the journey. At first I was like f*ck you guys, I know what I am doing and that I can do it with that kind of work load and get a good GPA. It would have been miserable, especially since I need to use college to better my study habits(which is surprisingly happening), not overload myself, and help prepare me for dental school. Plus volunteering, shadowing, and EC's and get a lot of hours and good involvement, that would be nearly impossible while taking the course load needed to graduate in 3 years and still do well. Plus the DAT and applications and such, doing it in 3 years would just feel like your rushing things and are always crammed for time. It's surprising how open your schedule gets from 3 years to 4 years, especially if you have credits coming in and I had 17. I feel like I can just have a more relaxed approach to my life this way, I still study everyday and well in advance of exams, have free time, am learning more about myself, getting better prepared for dentistry, having time to enjoy with friends, and do well. Trust me unless you have like 50 credits coming in, I would shoot for 4 years, it will make your life much easier, I don't think the stress of doing so many classes is worth the year saved.

I am sure I will still have time to volunteer and shadow (not as much during the semester.) Honestly though, I don't really enjoy going out and socializing with my free time, I usually just study in my spare time and when I run out of stuff to study I start looking at material for future classes. Right now I am taking 19 credits and I still have way too much free time. Hopefully this will change once I start volunteering (hopefully this week 🙂)

 

[ILLchief]

I am sure I will still have time to volunteer and shadow (not as much during the semester.) Honestly though, I don't really enjoy going out and socializing with my free time, I usually just study in my spare time and when I run out of stuff to study I start looking at material for future classes. Right now I am taking 19 credits and I still have way too much free time. Hopefully this will change once I start volunteering (hopefully this week 🙂)

do yourself a favor ... go out and have a couple drinks and socialize. it will really show in your interviews that you can actually hold a conversation with a person rather than with a keyboard and textbook in your nose.

 

[Glimmer1991]

Did you come into college with a lot of credits? I came in with 30 and graduated one semester early (not all of those credits counted for stuff I actually needed, sadly). Had I really known I wanted to go into dentistry when I entered college, I'd have absolutely graduated in 3 years. Oh well. However, had I not come in with so many credits, I think graduating early would have SUCKED.

Consider, though, that you can apply and matriculate to some dental schools without a bachelor's degree. You would apply after your sophomore year. If accepted, you would essentially skip your senior year of undergrad. You just need to be a very competitive applicant and be on-track to finish all of your prerequisites by the end of your junior year. Once again, hindsight is 20/20 for me--had I known how well I was going to do on the DAT, I'd have applied after my sophomore year. By the time I got my scores, though, it would have just been too much of a rush to try to get LORs, my PS written, my application filled out, etc.

Not every school does that, but quite a few do. UNC, for example, will let you.

I applaud you for having such clear direction. What were your grades like last semester? Keep them very high. If I were you, I'd honestly try to accomplish the second option (matriculating without a bachelor's degree) instead of cramming everything into 3 years. I'm a person who is very serious about school, but that seems like a nightmare even to me. I would just foresee having no free time... which is very important to me! Even if you aren't going out and partying, I'm sure you like having time to relax and whatnot on the weekends, right? 🙂