Possibly changing over to dental.. what to know?

[deleted585480]

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Hello,

I just finished my junior year as a psychology major. My GPA should be roughly around 3.3 going into my senior year. With some hard work I believe I can get it as close to a 3.5 as possible. Here are the pre reqs I have taken so far:

Bio 1: B
Bio 2: B
Gen chem 1: D (retook at community college B)
Gen chem 2: B
Organic 1: B
Physics 1: A
Physics 2: A
Calc (not sure if pre req for dental): B-

What all should I know? What do you recommend at my current state? any help is appreciated. thank you.

 

[Hannah Banana]

Hello,

I just finished my junior year as a psychology major. My GPA should be roughly around 3.3 going into my senior year. With some hard work I believe I can get it as close to a 3.5 as possible. Here are the pre reqs I have taken so far:

Bio 1: B
Bio 2: B
Gen chem 1: D (retook at community college B)
Gen chem 2: B
Organic 1: B
Physics 1: A
Physics 2: A
Calc (not sure if pre req for dental): B-

What all should I know? What do you recommend at my current state? any help is appreciated. thank you.

1. Look up the schools that you're interested in before applying to see what other pre-req courses you still need to fulfill.
2. Shadowing a dentist.
3. Get letters of recommendation from profs and dentist (optional-depends on the school's requirements).
3. Studying and take the DAT (ideally nothing 17 or below).
4. Prepare at least $1000 for application (depends on how many schools you apply to) and save up more money along the line for interview expenses.
5. Misc.: Not sure if you have volunteering hours or not but it's quite important (doesn't have to be dentistry related), leadership experiences, research if possible.

 

[deleted585480]

1. Look up the schools that you're interested in before applying to see what other pre-req courses you still need to fulfill.
2. Shadowing a dentist.
3. Get letters of recommendation from profs and dentist (optional-depends on the school's requirements).
3. Studying and take the DAT (ideally nothing 17 or below).
4. Prepare at least $1000 for application (depends on how many schools you apply to) and save up more money along the line for interview expenses.
5. Misc.: Not sure if you have shadowing hours or not but it's quite important (doesn't have to be dentistry related), leadership experiences, research if possible.

Thank you. what would you make of my current grades in terms of how competitive I would be?

 

[Hannah Banana]

Thank you. what would you make of my current grades in terms of how competitive I would be?

The tricky thing about this is that we (as applicants) think there is a guideline but the schools are quite unpredictable. There are people with super stats but don't get interviews while there are plenty of average or low average stats but get many interviews and acceptances. The adcoms are looking at more than just stats and if you want to attract them with average GPA (3.4-3.5), you will need high DAT (21-22 and above) and/or good E.C. activities (to show your genuine interests in dentistry and the willingness to serve people).

 

[deleted585480]

The tricky thing about this is that we (as applicants) think there is a guideline but the schools are quite unpredictable. There are people with super stats but don't get interviews while there are plenty of average or low average stats but get many interviews and acceptances. The adcoms are looking at more than just stats and if you want to attract them with average GPA (3.4-3.5), you will need high DAT (21-22 and above) and/or good E.C. activities (to show your genuine interests in dentistry and the willingness to serve people).

Thank you. My thing is if i switch over from pre optometry to pre dental I would only need org 2 and lab for my pre reqs.. so i could work on raising my gpa this past year.. if i go to the opt route i still need to take biochem and other harder science classes.

 

[mrdocta]

Thank you. My thing is if i switch over from pre optometry to pre dental I would only need org 2 and lab for my pre reqs.. so i could work on raising my gpa this past year.. if i go to the opt route i still need to take biochem and other harder science classes.

Some schools might require biochem. Maybe all of them but I can't remember.. Anyways, I'd suggest taking a few more upper-level bio courses to show you can handle them and to also boost your science gpa if you do well. Look into classes like cell&mol, genetics, micro bio, anatomy and physiology. Schools don't necessarily require these, but they're "recommended"

 

[ajj70]

Why do you want to switch to dentistry? That is the first question you need to answer because you will get asked that at every interview.

 

[deleted659902]

Why do you want to switch to dentistry? That is the first question you need to answer because you will get asked that at every interview.

lol love it when people talk as if they're the adcoms.

 

[doc toothache]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2013-guide-mini-guide-to-dental-school-admission.942453/

 

[ajj70]

lol love it when people talk as if they're the adcoms.

um, ok...but switching junior year in college to dentistry is most certainly going trigger that question...

 

[darknightzzz]

um, ok...but switching junior year in college to dentistry is most certainly going trigger that question...

there are many reasons why you show the criticizing attitude.

realize optometry does not satisfy OP's intellectual potential, realize the field is boring, do not want to rotate machine to measure prescription all OP's life. switching junior year is perfectly fine, at 21 years old

things get critiqued when you took off and applied to med or smth else for 2 3 cycles then suddenly jump back to dental.

but the switch should only be asked to know more about the applicant though since we are allowed to do anything we want as long as our potential allows.

 

[Cesar21]

I was pre-optometry up until the month before starting optometry school, then I switched to pre-dental. I technically had a gap year and during that time took the DAT, I volunteered and I took Biochem through an online course and Organic 2 online too. All the dental schools I applied to accepted me. That was the hardest decision of my life to give up my seat at optometry school, but it was the best decision of my life to pursue dentistry. So thankful I switched.

 

[darknightzzz]

I was pre-optometry up until the month before starting optometry school, then I switched to pre-dental. I technically had a gap year and during that time took the DAT, I volunteered and I took Biochem through an online course and Organic 2 online too. All the dental schools I applied to accepted me. That was the hardest decision of my life to give up my seat at optometry school, but it was the best decision of my life to pursue dentistry. So thankful I switched.

good choice!

so you actually took 2 years off before you start dental school officially? (1 year for DAT and courses, 1 year for application process)

at the money $$ spent on application process going down the drained

 

[Faux]

lol love it when people talk as if they're the adcoms.

I got asked that question at all my interviews. Not wrong to assume he'll get something similar

 

[ajj70]

there are many reasons why you show the criticizing attitude.

realize optometry does not satisfy OP's intellectual potential, realize the field is boring, do not want to rotate machine to measure prescription all OP's life. switching junior year is perfectly fine, at 21 years old

things get critiqued when you took off and applied to med or smth else for 2 3 cycles then suddenly jump back to dental.

but the switch should only be asked to know more about the applicant though since we are allowed to do anything we want as long as our potential allows.

You are reading into my posts way too much if you think that. It was a fair post and a fair statement and it will get asked.

 

[Cesar21]

good choice!

so you actually took 2 years off before you start dental school officially? (1 year for DAT and courses, 1 year for application process)

at the money $$ spent on application process going down the drained

No I only took 1 year off. I was supposed to enter optometry school the fall after I graduated college (fall of 2014). I told optometry school that I'm not going to attend that fall. Once I hung up the phone with optometry school I started my dental application and signed up for the DAT August 4th 2014. On my appication I put that I'm going to take biochem and organic 2 before I start dental school. I only had 3 weeks to study for the DAT because I wanted to get into the next cycle. That was difficult but doable! I lived at the library every day for 3 weeks. My parents didnt see me. I only applied to 4 dental schools. During my interviews half of them asked why I switched from optometry and the other half didn't, we just didn't get around to it in the interview. December 1st 2014 came around and I was accepted into 3 out of the 4 dental schools I applied to. I took biochem during September 2014 and I just finished organic chem this spring (April 2015). I move into dental school this July (July of 2015). The interviews that I had that asked me why I switched, they seemed to love that I gave up on something I wasn't as passionate about (optometry) and go into something I'm more passionate about (dentistry). In all honesty the way the field of Optometery is heading I honestly would go ahead and do dentistry. Do your research, but that field is changing for the worse unfortunately. I wanted to be an optometrist too, so thankful I changed to dentistry.

Good luck!

 

[darknightzzz]

No I only took 1 year off. I was supposed to enter optometry school the fall after I graduated college (fall of 2014). I told optometry school that I'm not going to attend that fall. Once I hung up the phone with optometry school I started my dental application and signed up for the DAT August 4th 2014. On my appication I put that I'm going to take biochem and organic 2 before I start dental school. I only had 3 weeks to study for the DAT because I wanted to get into the next cycle. That was difficult but doable! I lived at the library every day for 3 weeks. My parents didnt see me. I only applied to 4 dental schools. During my interviews half of them asked why I switched from optometry and the other half didn't, we just didn't get around to it in the interview. December 1st 2014 came around and I was accepted into 3 out of the 4 dental schools I applied to. I took biochem during September 2014 and I just finished organic chem this spring (April 2015). I move into dental school this July (July of 2015). The interviews that I had that asked me why I switched, they seemed to love that I gave up on something I wasn't as passionate about (optometry) and go into something I'm more passionate about (dentistry). In all honesty the way the field of Optometery is heading I honestly would go ahead and do dentistry. Do your research, but that field is changing for the worse unfortunately. I wanted to be an optometrist too, so thankful I changed to dentistry.

Good luck!

great post, congratz 🙂

btw i have always wondered how these schools interview you without your dental volunteering hours? or you pulled a fast one and did 100 hours in a month?

 

[Cesar21]

Thank you I really appreciate it!

I actually had less than 50 hours of shadowing a dentist near me. The second I knew I was not going to go to Optometry school, I signed up to volunteer work at a mobile dental clinic nearby and I feel that helped out a a lot with other dental experience hours. I also counted experience hours from a mission trip I did a year back. That trip conveniently was a medical mission trip for Optometry and Dental Students and I helped out in both areas. Those other experiences helped out so it wasn't all from just shadowing hours.

 

[darknightzzz]

Thank you I really appreciate it!

I actually had less than 50 hours of shadowing a dentist near me. The second I knew I was not going to go to Optometry school, I signed up to volunteer work at a mobile dental clinic nearby and I feel that helped out a a lot with other dental experience hours. I also counted experience hours from a mission trip I did a year back. That trip conveniently was a medical mission trip for Optometry and Dental Students and I helped out in both areas. Those other experiences helped out so it wasn't all from just shadowing hours.

thats great man 🙂 i personally switched from pre med too (got interviews but didnt even attend) so will take 1 year off as welll

 

[Cesar21]

That sounds awesome man! You kinda did something similar to me. I wish you the best of luck! If you have any questions let me know, I'll be glad to help!

 

[Sweet_Tooth]

Thank you. My thing is if i switch over from pre optometry to pre dental I would only need org 2 and lab for my pre reqs.. so i could work on raising my gpa this past year.. if i go to the opt route i still need to take biochem and other harder science classes.

....as far as I know, most dental schools require biochemistry and even microbiology sometimes. If you go the dental route you would definitely still need to take harder science classes like anatomy & physiology, histology, genetics, and other upper level bio classes in order to become a more competitive applicant and also to better prepare yourself for dental school.

OP, I don't mean to be rude, but if you are thinking of dentistry as the "easy way out" perhaps it would be better for you to pursue another a field. Or, actually take the time to research the field, talk to dental students, shadow a dentist and see if this is actually something you want to do. Best of luck.