Non Traditional Pre-dental engineer looking for friendly advice!

[Non-traditional-Pre-dent]

Hey guys! Would love to hear some feedback on what y'all think about my timeline.
A little background- I graduated in 2015 with a BS in petroleum Engineering and worked for 2 years in oil and gas. Quit my job in the summer of 2017- had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I quit, but I took coding classes at the CC just so I wouldn't be doing nothing. July 2018, I made the decision to pursue dentistry. I go to UT Austin.

Fall 2018: Ochem1, Bio1, Bio lab, general chem lab
Spring 2019: Ochem2, Bio2, Genetics, Ochem Lab
Summer 2019: Study for DAT and apply by July 2019
Fall 2019/Spring 2020: Biochem, Anatomy&Physiology, Microbiology

Undergrad Engineering GPA: 3.0
Target Post Bac GPA: 4.0
Shadowing hours: 20 so far. Working on it
Volunteering hours: none so far
Already took: Gen Chem, Physics, Statistics, English, Math

QUESTION 1: I will not be a full time student in either the Fall or Spring semester, but I am taking a heavy science courseload. How do you think this looks like to dental schools (considering I'm not working and I don't have family obligations)? d?

QUESTION 2: I get done with the Spring semester in the third week of May and I plan to do 6 weeks of hardcore studying so that I can take the DAT by end of June/early July. I hear it takes a month for your scores to reach the dental school. If I submit my application by early July and my scores make it in by early August, will that be too late? (Considering Dental schools have a rolling admission)? Also is 6 weeks of studying for the DAT enough?

QUESTION 3: One of the things i'm really concerned about is showing dental schools my dedication. I know I'll have my 100 hours by the time I apply, but I need a way to show dental schools that I didn't just wake up one day and decide to apply. I feel like dental schools want to see at least two years of commitment and my plan is to get my prereqs and application done in one year. How can I improve my application because I feel like good grades/good DAT wont cut it. What else can I do?

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[daw05]

Hey guys! Would love to hear some feedback on what y'all think about my timeline.
A little background- I graduated in 2015 with a BS in petroleum Engineering and worked for 2 years in oil and gas. Quit my job in the summer of 2017- had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I quit, but I took coding classes at the CC just so I wouldn't be doing nothing. July 2018, I made the decision to pursue dentistry. I go to UT Austin.

Fall 2018: Ochem1, Bio1, Bio lab, general chem lab
Spring 2019: Ochem2, Bio2, Genetics, Ochem Lab
Summer 2019: Study for DAT and apply by July 2019
Fall 2019/Spring 2020: Biochem, Anatomy&Physiology, Microbiology

Undergrad Engineering GPA: 3.0
Target Post Bac GPA: 4.0
Shadowing hours: 20 so far. Working on it
Volunteering hours: none so far
Already took: Gen Chem, Physics, Statistics, English, Math

QUESTION 1: I will not be a full time student in either the Fall or Spring semester, but I am taking a heavy science courseload. How do you think this looks like to dental schools (considering I'm not working and I don't have family obligations)? d?

QUESTION 2: I get done with the Spring semester in the third week of May and I plan to do 6 weeks of hardcore studying so that I can take the DAT by end of June/early July. I hear it takes a month for your scores to reach the dental school. If I submit my application by early July and my scores make it in by early August, will that be too late? (Considering Dental schools have a rolling admission)? Also is 6 weeks of studying for the DAT enough?

QUESTION 3: One of the things i'm really concerned about is showing dental schools my dedication. I know I'll have my 100 hours by the time I apply, but I need a way to show dental schools that I didn't just wake up one day and decide to apply. I feel like dental schools want to see at least two years of commitment and my plan is to get my prereqs and application done in one year. How can I improve my application because I feel like good grades/good DAT wont cut it. What else can I do?

I don't know how much resident knowledge is in this forum for dental. It may be worth asking your question in the pre-dental forum. I think common to everything in the medical field: the process is competitive, work as hard as you can to get your GPA high, volunteer and do ECs. Realize it's a marathon.

 

[GenSurgONLY]

I don't know how much resident knowledge is in this forum for dental. It may be worth asking your question in the pre-dental forum. I think common to everything in the medical field: the process is competitive, work as hard as you can to get your GPA high, volunteer and do ECs. Realize it's a marathon.

I agree! My husband was pre-dental but switched to computer science! Lol
I think it’s more important to take one less class and get As then all 3 and get Bs or Cs. I am factoring in work as well for ya. I remember I took 21CRs one semester and somehow managed to get a 3.5 that year; however, if I was pre med then, definitely wouldn’t have done that because now I see how important a cum GPA is for med school.

Like Daw said, I think the pre dental forum will help you more because you have veterans on there that have started or been through the process. I would like to add that your course schedule looks similar to mine(although I am retaking my Gen Chem as per advisors’ suggestion b/c I got a C in it) and it was back in 2009 last taken.