I am currently working as a registered nurse and have two years experience primarily working in a cardiac intensive care unit. I have two bachelor's degrees with a fairly strong cumulative GPA around 3.65. Unfortunately, my only Cs in college were in Calc I, Calc II, and Discrete Math way back when I was a freshman in 2000. I realize one's science GPA is very important in the whole package of applying to dental school. As I understand it, math courses are counted into the science GPA. Including the Cs in my math classes, my science GPA is roughly 3.1-3.2. However, my BCP GPA is between 3.4-3.5. I'm curious to know if anyone has a similar cumulative GPA / science GPA discrepancy -- and how did that effect your chances in getting into dental school? Is anyone on this forum a nurse -- I'm curious to know how admission committees would value this experience? I'd appreciate any advice on how I can improve my chances of being accepted.
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Nurse to Dentist?
Started by edcampbe
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I am a non-traditional student and a medical technologist that applied last cycle. My prior 20 year work experience in the health care field did not seem to help me at all. I do not think that it holds much weight. I have a 3.53/3.51 GPA, and I applied to 17 schools and received 1 interview where I was waitlisted. My dat scores and the fact that I could not schedule a full load of courses is holding me back. One dean told me that I would need a 20+ on my dat to secure several interviews. Good luck to you.
There is a d-3 at Indiana that worked as a nurse for 15 or so years. I can't remember his name but it is possible to make that switch
Hi for anyone who has made the switch from RN to Dentist. How did you do it? I am currently transitioning from RN to dentist and will be starting dental pre-req's this August 2012. I have 8 pre-req's to take but I also want to apply for dental school in 2013. Is the a realistic goal and if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can obtain this, chime in 🙂 I plan to take 2 sciences a semester and which will take 4 semesters. Fall 12', Spring 13', Summer I & II 13'...but doesnt leave much time for DAT. Thanks in advance
A friend of mine that is in his first year at UTHSCSA received his RN before starting dental school. In fact, he got his acceptance on Dec. 1st - right before he received his nursing degree. So I know that it can be done, and would probably be a good talking point during interviews, I would guess. He used the DAT study program that is on this forum - I think he studied for 1 or 1.5 months before taking the DAT.
I posted on your thread, but there are two major flags. 1) you will need to take the labs with the pre-req science classes, and some schools require biochem, microbio, year of english, year of calculus. 2) You have not taken any of the pre-reqs before taking the DAT, which will affect your DAT scores.
Thanks. I didnt realize I was responding to you twice.
Well,
My friend graduated from a university, and completed his pre-req classes before starting nursing school.
Hi, I am a nursing student in an accelerated program. I am almost finished. I am thinking of finishing and getting my RN boards passed first but I KNOW my heart is in dentistry. I had previously applied to dental school, got an interview- I only applied to one due to financial shortage- but they said I needed more experience and a better DAT. I loath nursing. It is a poor fit. What should I do? I am thinking of taking my last nursing semester off and focusing on the DAT to better my score and re- applying. I am to have a meeting with the Dental school regarding this and discuss my options for transferring credits either to DH or DDS. I want DDS. I want Orthodontics. I chose nursing immediately after I was rejected. It was an 18 month program and I just anted my life to start- so foolish. What are your opinions?
