new member /non-traditional intro

[sengineer]

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Hi

I just wanted to introduce myself and my situation. I have read quite a few threads and a lot of other personal situations are inspiring but I would like to get some opinions or guidelines on mine. I am 35 years old having worked as a software engineer for about 3 years now and prior to that a few dead end jobs. Dentistry was always a preferred choice for me but when I started my undergrad about 6 years ago I was headed down that line with a biology major and within the first year, a chain of personal family issues cropped up that just threw me off and I made the mistake of listening to others and chose a career that I could just finish within 4 years and start work. I am married with 3 kids and my wife works and we have pulled through the years of college and work and kids, successfully, and now after seeing me depressed with my job, my wife has urged me to go forth with the dentistry path. My undergrad gpa was putrid with a 2.80 at the time of graduation and this was mainly due to the first few years as I had As pretty much in my final year but was not enough to raise the gpa over 3.3. I have general biology with a C, physics with an A, all math with As and plan to do both org and gen chemistry in the fall. My question is whether it makes a difference whether I go back to the university ( which is held high) or to a community college and redo biology as well. Also I will start studying for the DAT in the summer.

Best of luck to all who are journeying down this path and congrats to those who are almost done

 

[flyingforever]

Hi

I just wanted to introduce myself and my situation. I have read quite a few threads and a lot of other personal situations are inspiring but I would like to get some opinions or guidelines on mine. I am 35 years old having worked as a software engineer for about 3 years now and prior to that a few dead end jobs. Dentistry was always a preferred choice for me but when I started my undergrad about 6 years ago I was headed down that line with a biology major and within the first year, a chain of personal family issues cropped up that just threw me off and I made the mistake of listening to others and chose a career that I could just finish within 4 years and start work. I am married with 3 kids and my wife works and we have pulled through the years of college and work and kids, successfully, and now after seeing me depressed with my job, my wife has urged me to go forth with the dentistry path. My undergrad gpa was putrid with a 2.80 at the time of graduation and this was mainly due to the first few years as I had As pretty much in my final year but was not enough to raise the gpa over 3.3. I have general biology with a C, physics with an A, all math with As and plan to do both org and gen chemistry in the fall. My question is whether it makes a difference whether I go back to the university ( which is held high) or to a community college and redo biology as well. Also I will start studying for the DAT in the summer.

Best of luck to all who are journeying down this path and congrats to those who are almost done

A dream is always a dream until you pursue it. I say go for it. I say start with few classes per semester and work part time because you have a family. Get atleast 3.2 sGPA and repeat your Cs.

 

[sengineer]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

 

[dentalWorks]

Hi

I just wanted to introduce myself and my situation. I have read quite a few threads and a lot of other personal situations are inspiring but I would like to get some opinions or guidelines on mine. I am 35 years old having worked as a software engineer for about 3 years now and prior to that a few dead end jobs. Dentistry was always a preferred choice for me but when I started my undergrad about 6 years ago I was headed down that line with a biology major and within the first year, a chain of personal family issues cropped up that just threw me off and I made the mistake of listening to others and chose a career that I could just finish within 4 years and start work. I am married with 3 kids and my wife works and we have pulled through the years of college and work and kids, successfully, and now after seeing me depressed with my job, my wife has urged me to go forth with the dentistry path. My undergrad gpa was putrid with a 2.80 at the time of graduation and this was mainly due to the first few years as I had As pretty much in my final year but was not enough to raise the gpa over 3.3. I have general biology with a C, physics with an A, all math with As and plan to do both org and gen chemistry in the fall. My question is whether it makes a difference whether I go back to the university ( which is held high) or to a community college and redo biology as well. Also I will start studying for the DAT in the summer.

Best of luck to all who are journeying down this path and congrats to those who are almost done

I am an ex-software engineer as well. decided to go into dentistry about 3 years into the job (very much like you). I graduated with B.S in computer science in '04 with a 3.0 GPA (similar to your GPA).

Anyways, you will hear 2 schools of thought regarding the community college vs university and I'll try to summarize them and give my opinion to both:

1) Forget CC and just enroll into a university. This is the most ideal option, however, universities are more costly, and many times, they don't offer evening classes (especially for the classes you need). You being a family man, I am guessing you will continue to work and go part-time to school (right)?..... so I am not sure if university is even an option for you

2) Go to CC and take your basic pre-dents there (general chems, orgos, physics). However, if you go with this option, its best to (later on) enroll into a university and take upper level biology courses.... Assuming you do well in both CC and university, this should erase any doubt about the difficulty of your CC curriculum.

There is another thing to keep in mind, a few dental schools will not accept CC credits.... You need to be sure which schools you are interested in (I am guessing your current state schools), see what their CC requirements are.

I personally wouldn't retake any pre-dental course that you have a C (or higher in). Thats a waste of your money and time. Do you wanna prove yourself and do better? you take harder classes and ace them, not repeat old material you've covered already.

 

[sengineer]

thanks for your response...
I did finally decide to do the classes at a university and at this point I have to consider going to a different university due to cost and distance as well. I was previously at the best rated university in the state and now have to consider two others. Now I wonder if this has any impact as well and if so then I should just go back to UofM.
The problem is that I know the professors for some of the classes I have to take and both of them are horrible, but one more tolerable than the other. I know of many students who have enrolled in classes only with professors they like or on some recommendation and classes where they know someone else has already pursued. It always bugged me until I redid biology with this professor and he/she gave me the exact same grade...
anyway just thought I would ramble a little.

Thanks again for the words of advice..will definitely pursue higher classes instead.

 

[sengineer]

are there many universities out there that do science and lab classes at night cause I would love to be near one that does? I have checked my local campuses and the best are labs that are offered early evening.

 

[sengineer]

ok, actually found some now that are late.

 

[BombayBDS]

Hi

I just wanted to introduce myself and my situation. I have read quite a few threads and a lot of other personal situations are inspiring but I would like to get some opinions or guidelines on mine. I am 35 years old having worked as a software engineer for about 3 years now and prior to that a few dead end jobs. Dentistry was always a preferred choice for me but when I started my undergrad about 6 years ago I was headed down that line with a biology major and within the first year, a chain of personal family issues cropped up that just threw me off and I made the mistake of listening to others and chose a career that I could just finish within 4 years and start work. I am married with 3 kids and my wife works and we have pulled through the years of college and work and kids, successfully, and now after seeing me depressed with my job, my wife has urged me to go forth with the dentistry path. My undergrad gpa was putrid with a 2.80 at the time of graduation and this was mainly due to the first few years as I had As pretty much in my final year but was not enough to raise the gpa over 3.3. I have general biology with a C, physics with an A, all math with As and plan to do both org and gen chemistry in the fall. My question is whether it makes a difference whether I go back to the university ( which is held high) or to a community college and redo biology as well. Also I will start studying for the DAT in the summer.

Best of luck to all who are journeying down this path and congrats to those who are almost done

Great decision! You won't regret it.
All the best.

 

[7 Iron]

are there many universities out there that do science and lab classes at night cause I would love to be near one that does? I have checked my local campuses and the best are labs that are offered early evening.

Yes, check your local universities for times. If you have a large state school nearby like me, then that's probably your best shot.