Need Some Advice

[UMDeeMan]

Ok, here's the deal. I have 2 years till i graduate and all of you seem to be more help then my advisor at school here so I'm going ot give you may questions. Please let me know what you think and be honest.

1. Should I take a year off between undergraduate and applying to dental school? (Gain work experience, 100% focus on DAT exam, make money so I can afford the dental application process)

2. My major is kinesiology/exercise science with minors in chemistry and psychology. Do you feel the minors will help with admissions chances? (I know what major you have really doesn't matter)

3. Has anyone taken any courses from a junior college? How bad will this hurt me? (I took the classes because I wanted to get done faster. My average credit load each semester is 18 credits (15 low/ 24 high). I will have completed my degree in 2.5/3 years.)

4. Anything else you can offer? my gpa sits at about 3.4 cumulative but would be at about 3.8-3.9 if it wasn't for a crappy first year (technically it will have taken me 4 years then to finish my degree but I try not to dwell my past mistakes just to clarify).

Thanks for you opinioins everyone. I want to go to (in order of desire) U-Minnesota, UNLV, Marquette, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, NOVA, or Tufts. Thanks again and welcome the rookie to the site.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[UMDeeMan]

sorry about all the grammar errors and such, i'm not a ******. just don't preview. also i want to add that I only took 4 classes from the junior college, I work 35 hours a week while still taking an average of 18 credits per semester, and my final senior year, i only have to take 7 credits over the fall and spring semester to graduate. thanks again.

 

[primerz]

Originally posted by UMDeeMan
Ok, here's the deal. I have 2 years till i graduate and all of you seem to be more help then my advisor at school here so I'm going ot give you may questions. Please let me know what you think and be honest.

1. Should I take a year off between undergraduate and applying to dental school? (Gain work experience, 100% focus on DAT exam, make money so I can afford the dental application process)

2. My major is kinesiology/exercise science with minors in chemistry and psychology. Do you feel the minors will help with admissions chances? (I know what major you have really doesn't matter)

3. Has anyone taken any courses from a junior college? How bad will this hurt me? (I took the classes because I wanted to get done faster. My average credit load each semester is 18 credits (15 low/ 24 high). I will have completed my degree in 2.5/3 years.)

4. Anything else you can offer? my gpa sits at about 3.4 cumulative but would be at about 3.8-3.9 if it wasn't for a crappy first year (technically it will have taken me 4 years then to finish my degree but I try not to dwell my past mistakes just to clarify).

Thanks for you opinioins everyone. I want to go to (in order of desire) U-Minnesota, UNLV, Marquette, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, NOVA, or Tufts. Thanks again and welcome the rookie to the site.

1) That would be a wise idea. This is exactly what i did. I took basically a year off taking a couple of classes here and there and aced the DAT. I don't think this will hurt your admission chances one bit.

2) As long as you can keep a decent GPA and show that you can handle upper level science courses, major or minor should not matter. Make sure you ace the DAT though. In my opinion the minor you chose could only help your chances

3) When I applied to dental school I had 63 hours from CC and 70 hours from a 4 year college. Didn't hurt me one bit (accepted to all the schools i applied to).

4) Ace the DAT. Study hard for a month or two and nail it. I recommend taking Kaplan.

 

[koogrl]

I agree with the last post,
Only take a year off if you want to rest, spend time with family, grow personally, blah blah. If you do take a year off, rememebr, that is one year's of income. I did the same and am not regretting it at all. Of course I am anxious to start school, but working full time, spending time with family, playing, excercising, reading, just doing a lot of things I wasn't able to do while in school.

JC credits won't hurt you, prob won't help you too much either. There's nothing you can do about your JC credits anyway. As long as they see you can take a good science load all at once, that is fine

Study 1-1.5 months, hard-core for the DAT(without a job, etc.)I messed up my first time(17-19) and applied early. Took DATs end of December(20-21), and finally recieved letters for interview in January. Don't settle for anything lower than around 19. And most important thing, apply very early. Have your letters of rec ready to be sent out in June!!!

Hope this helps.

 

[stephlynn]

I'll answer the ones I know about


1. Should I take a year off between undergraduate and applying to dental school? (Gain work experience, 100% focus on DAT exam, make money so I can afford the dental application process)

I am graduating from undergrad in May... and start UCLA dental school in September. for me, this is a good enough break... plus... which is a BIG plus, I am taking a VERY light load this semester so it feels like I'm taking a break from Jan-Sept basically. I have time to work and make money and study for the DAT if I needed to.



3. Has anyone taken any courses from a junior college? How bad will this hurt me? (I took the classes because I wanted to get done faster. My average credit load each semester is 18 credits (15 low/ 24 high). I will have completed my degree in 2.5/3 years.)

I transferred to berkeley from a community college and i got into ucla and had no problem in the admissions process. My GPA is 3.7 overall (not much difference in science vs non-science)

4. Anything else you can offer? my gpa sits at about 3.4 cumulative but would be at about 3.8-3.9 if it wasn't for a crappy first year (technically it will have taken me 4 years then to finish my degree but I try not to dwell my past mistakes just to clarify).


I would do some volunteer work... I do lots of leadership and volunteer activities at my university out side of dentistry.... at my unterview they were very impressed with my work and well-roundedness (word?)

I'm sure you'll be fine... you are thinking well ahead!

I second taking Kaplan by the way...