Post Bacc foreign educated American citizen

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Dear forum members,

First of all, I'd like to apologize in advance if any of the information that I'm about to share has already been answered. I was looking for answers in other threads but just couldn't find the information that would apply for this specific case.

Let me start off by saying that I'm an American citizen. However, I moved to The Netherlands at age 19 and stayed there for college. I currently hold 4 degrees: 1 undergraduate degree in Scandinavian Studies, 1 LLB and 2 LLMS. I guess it's safe to say that I'm a "career changer". The problem: I only started college in The Netherlands after about 5 months of speaking Dutch. I was able to pass everything, but when converting my grades using several different conversion tools (one of which was provided by the WES) my GPA was somewhere between a 2.70 and a 3.30. During my master's I got extremely good grades, though, and graduated cum laude. This is because I knew the language much better than during college. In the conversion charts of WES and other conversion sites I have a 4.0 GPA for both of my master's degrees.

I guess my questions are the following:

1. I need to do a career changing post bacc program because I took no science courses. Are there certain post bacc programs that are more recommended and more reputable than others?

2. Will my undergrad results be seen as very negative during the process of applying to a post bacc and eventually to dental schools? Or do dental schools look more at your post bacc if you hadn't taken any science courses during undergrad?

3. Is it recommended to take the GRE to compensate for the undergrad results? I know that schools like UPenn, Brandeis, University of Louisville and Tufts require a GRE when applying for a post bacc.

4. Is it safer for me, seen my undergrad results, to apply to a post bacc program with linkage?

5. I read on the forum that some students with a weak undergrad GPA opt for a master's degree. Is that advisable (and possible without having taken science courses)?

Thank you very much for your input and, again, sorry if there is some overlap.
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1) I don't know if this is "more reputable" than others, but SFSU has a post-bacc program for career changers that sounds right up your alley. You'll have the chance to take basic science classes for your dental school pre-reqs.

2) I can't say for certain. You definitely have a good reason for the lower GPA during undergrad. And if you do well in your post bacc, I think they would focus more on that than your undergrad grades - especially considering you didn't take science courses during your undergrad.

3) I think it might help if you took the GRE so the schools have a more accurate way to assess you.

4) If you do well in your post-bacc, I don't think linkage matters. (By "linkage," do you mean a post-bacc program associated with a dental school?)

5) I'm not sure you can get a master's degree in, say, bio or chem without having taken the basic bio or chem classes. You'd probably have to take your pre-reqs somewhere else before applying for your master's degree - and if that's the case, I'd recommend going the post-bacc route instead.
 
Before jumping into a post bac you may want to keep in mind that prerequisites need to have been undertaken at a US institution.
 
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doc toothache said:
Before jumping into a post bac you may want to keep in mind that prerequisites need to have been undertaken at a US institution.
Click to expand...

You mean the prerequisites for dental school? I thought the only real requirement for a career changer post bacc is that you hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited university.
 
Jizzle_FR said:
You mean the prerequisites for dental school? I thought the only real requirement for a career changer post bacc is that you hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited university.
Click to expand...
Only a small number of ds require a BS degree before matriculation.
 
I think what doc toothache is trying to say is that some post bacc programs have some prerequisites that must have been taken at US institutions, like the post bacc at Rutgers, for instance. Most of the ones I looked at have only one prerequisite: a bachelor's degree from an accredited university (so it can be a foreign university).
 
Here's a rough translation: dental school prerequisites must be from a US college/university.
 
doc toothache said:
Here's a rough translation: dental school prerequisites must be from a US college/university.
Click to expand...

If OP does the career changer post-bacc in the US, s/he would be fulfilling dental school prerequisites in the US.
 
toothshine said:
If OP does the career changer post-bacc in the US, s/he would be fulfilling dental school prerequisites in the US.
Click to expand...
Formal post bacc programs are not geared for students that have zero science background.
 
doc toothache said:
Formal post bacc programs are not geared for students that have zero science background.
Click to expand...

I was mainly thinking of the SFSU career-changer postbacc - and there are some others here, here, or here - that include all the pre-reqs (gen chem, bio, etc.) and are mainly geared towards applicants without previous science background.

The other option for OP would be to take classes on his/her own to fulfill all the pre-reqs.
 
I just found out that AADSAS doesn't report your undegrad GPA if you did your undergrad abroad. So they don't put that into their calculations. Does that mean that dental schools don't have to report it to, say, US News?

Also, say that I nail the post bacc program and the DAT, wouldn't those 2 things be the most important for them? Of course you need a killer personal statement and such.
 
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