OMF, not sure if I should focus premed or predent in my senior year eek

[ijustwannasaveppl]

deleted bc I shared too much personal info lol

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[2thPirate🦷]

(cross posted to predent reddit)Hey guys, so long story short I just want to be in rural medicine, have low stats, and am about to graduate.

I've taken the mcat 2x and done not so great on it, was still getting ready to go ahead and apply to med school during my gap year but I really began feeling called to dental. I've completed all of the prereqs except microbio, and I haven't taken the DAT yet, got a 20 on a practice one. I have 50ish hours of dental shadowing and 100 hours shadowing an OMF with a dual dds/md degree in a hospital setting. I have taught dental hygiene classes to foster kids and with a prison ministry. The rest of my volunteering is more hospital/medical, or nonclinical things like helping 4-H kids show their animals lol.

I'm a graduating senior, my gpa is 3.4 with 3.1 science (rough I know) and I have clinical research, poster presentations, etc, but those are more in the medical field as a whole. I'm worried that I won't be competitive for dental school with these low stats, or that dental schools will see that I took the mcat and think I'm not serious about dental. I really am interested in OMF and would love some advice on what to do! I'm from a small town without any medical providers and would love to help in another small town in some capacity! Thank you so much!

On the surface it seems like you have some good ECs going for you, with the volunteering and the research. I can tell you from experience that a lower GPA won’t hold you back as long as you do well on the DAT, so focus on scoring as well as you can! As for the MCAT part, I’m pretty sure schools can’t see that you took that or had any interest in med school, unless you tell them. If I were you, I wouldn’t tell them, the MCAT and med school are behind you now so focus on the fact that you’ve chosen dentistry and explain your passion for wanting to serve in those rural communities, that’s a pretty big factor for certain schools. What’s your undergrad school by the way?

 

[2thPirate🦷]

thank you so much for the advice! I'll probably get doxxed lol but my undergrad school is Baylor

Haha don’t worry, undergrad schools are talked about a lot around here lol. I assume you were some sort of STEM major?

 

[njfuturedds]

Echoing what was said earlier about the DAT. Get a killer score and you have a good shot. Depending on what the research is on, it still could be useful, especially for schools that are more research-based. Personally my research has nothing to do with dentistry, medicine, or cellular or molecular biology but I still mention it as it shows passion for science and research. You have pretty good ECs and I wouldn't hesitate to include those in your application (imo), because volunteering is volunteering. I don't think any of the pre-med stuff will hurt you, but with that being said, you should think about your answer to "why dentistry and not medicine" in case it gets asked to you when you interview (& don't mention taking the MCAT twice and not scoring where you wanted as part of that reason!)

Also, microbio isn't a requirement to every school, but if you can feasibly do so and it fits into your future plans (ie this semester or post-bacc courses) then I say absolutely go for it because it'll let you apply to some more schools. But you don't need to have taken the course before you apply to schools, you just need to have it in before you matriculate.

 

[ijustwannasaveppl]

Echoing what was said earlier about the DAT. Get a killer score and you have a good shot. Depending on what the research is on, it still could be useful, especially for schools that are more research-based. Personally my research has nothing to do with dentistry, medicine, or cellular or molecular biology but I still mention it as it shows passion for science and research. You have pretty good ECs and I wouldn't hesitate to include those in your application (imo), because volunteering is volunteering. I don't think any of the pre-med stuff will hurt you, but with that being said, you should think about your answer to "why dentistry and not medicine" in case it gets asked to you when you interview (& don't mention taking the MCAT twice and not scoring where you wanted as part of that reason!)

Also, microbio isn't a requirement to every school, but if you can feasibly do so and it fits into your future plans (ie this semester or post-bacc courses) then I say absolutely go for it because it'll let you apply to some more schools. But you don't need to have taken the course before you apply to schools, you just need to have it in before you matriculate.

thank you so much for taking the time to help! I'm graduating so I can't fit it in but I will take it at a CC after I graduate. I hope to do well on the DAT and I feel like I can articulate why I like dentistry so hopefully that will help. Thanks again!!

 

[PerioDont]

I agree. Take the DAT by May/June if possible and study really hard.

Are you planning to apply next cycle? With a good DAT score, it may be possible. If not, you can start looking into post-bac/SMPs.

 

[ijustwannasaveppl]

I agree. Take the DAT by May/June if possible and study really hard.

Are you planning to apply next cycle? With a good DAT score, it may be possible. If not, you can start looking into post-bac/SMPs.

Hi, thanks for taking the time to help! I graduate in may so I thought about applying then and taking the dat in august, using the rest of may, june and july to study if that's not too late!

 

[2thPirate🦷]

Hi, thanks for taking the time to help! I graduate in may so I thought about applying then and taking the dat in august, using the rest of may, june and july to study if that's not too late!

That’s not a bad plan, but if you can, try to get that DAT in by mid July, schools start sending out interviews in late July/early August and having a good DAT score will help! Plus it takes a bit for your scores to officially get to the schools, though you can put it into your app right away.

 

[0Mik3cho]

3-4 months is plenty for the DAT. Do your best to ace it and it can help mitigate a lower DAT. However, post-bacs and SMP like PerioDont suggested will help you boost your GPA to give you a better chance of getting into more schools especially your state school.

 

[ijustwannasaveppl]

3-4 months is plenty for the DAT. Do your best to ace it and it can help mitigate a lower DAT. However, post-bacs and SMP like PerioDont suggested will help you boost your GPA to give you a better chance of getting into more schools especially your state school.

thank you!! congrats on the great DAT score!