postbacc for dental?

[iapplehead]

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hey guys, i'm new to this forum so bear with me. i know that there is a forum on here for postbac premed preheatlth students, but are there such programs for pre-dental too? where would i find schools that suit me? i am not a science major but have taken some prereqs for med (need to retake a couple too). but what are the prereqs for dental school and are there linkage schools for dental schools also? thank! still trying to figure out what to do with my life.. 🙁

 

[BoilerWolverine]

I am curious about this as well. Any input?

 

[bodiddely]

Most if not all of the formal postbac premed programs take predental students as well. As far as I know the only one with a linkage is at Tufts, where you can apply for joint acceptance (conditional upon maintaining GPA/minimum DAT scores) to their dental school at the same time as applying for the postbac program.

 

[sublimegd]

Do you guys think it would look better to enroll in a post-bac program like Tuft's compared to just taking courses as a non-major post-bacc? Also how competitive are these post-bacc programs?

 

[bodiddely]

Formal post bacc programs vary widely in competitiveness; as a general rule you need at least a 3.0 from undergrad to be a serious candidate for them. Personally I decided just to take the cheapest route and do my pre-reqs as a non-degree at my state school (added plus from this is that, at my college at least, the profs try to dumb down the exams so that the average grade is a C+/B-. And if you actually spend 3-4 hours a week studying for the class it's a slam dunk A). This also allows me to spend ~20 hours a week working/volunteering (could probably be closer to 30 if I wasted less time on SDN!) The general consensus seems to be that your GPA in a post bacc is a lot more important than the institution. Many people like formal post baccs with linkages for medical school as it avoids the "glide year" but since there aren't really any linkages for dental school, its really not worth the tuition for a private/out of state post bacc.