Pre-Dent Degree Realities

[LifeDevoted]

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My first post!!!

I've been on SDN for a second and it has been extremely helpful so far. I just can't seem to find an answer to my question through the use of the search function. If it exists then shoot me the link and we can kill this thread.

So, after much discussion with a dental friend, I've decided to pack up my wife and boy and head back to college to work on my prerequisites for dental school. My question is regarding my degree. I graduated from an online college with a BA about a year and a half ago. How would this effect my application if ALL my sciences were from an actual institution but my degree was from an online college (fully accredited / degree does not say “online”)? Most of my core classes were from an institution as well.

Looking for some informed honest answers here. I’m quitting my job and relocating my family for this, so I want to make sure our timeline and expectations are realistic. Really stepping out on faith on this one (especially my hotty wife and amazing lil boy).

So, what do you think??? Shoot me straight...🙂

 

[scrambledgreggs]

What is the specific school the online degree is from? What was it in? And what were the requirements for obtaining it?

An online degree will most likely work against you significantly, unless you had a very good reason for doing it that way. A cursory search of google did not yield promising information. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in. I would suggest phoning dental schools and asking them if they will accept your degree.

Dental school is very hard to get into these days. You need to take the science pre-reqs at a real university in person, get good grades, and nail the DATs.

 

[LifeDevoted]

Good advise on calling the schools...will do.

The plan is to pursue another undergrad degree in bio starting this summer. I was just worried about getting all the credits fro the degree in order to apply in 2014. I think I can pull it off but I wanted to get the realities of the degree I currently have, which to answer your questions is a BA in Homeland Security from American Public University System. They were a VERY military friendly, which was a reason for using them at the time. That and my wife getting pregnant, which means the need for $$. Obviously, they would not be the ideal choice for applying to a professional school, but it is what I have.

Thanks for your input!!

 

[free99]

Are you looking to start in Summer 2013?

If so, I think this schedule would work well:

Summer 2013 -
Gen Chem I/II with labs

Fall 2013 -
Bio I with lab
Ochem I with lab
Physics I with lab

Spring 2014 -
Bio II with lab
Ochem II with lab
Physics II with lab

June 1st , 2014 - apply

Summer 2014 -
Study for and take DAT

Fall 2014-
Upper level bio (biochem?)
Upper level bio (physiology?)

You'll still need to fit in time to shadow, so maybe get on that sooner than later during this waiting period. Those course loads are heavy, but doable. Best of luck!

EDIT:
one thing to note is to not take on more than you can handle. While doing the "post-bacc" pre-req track, I think good grades are paramount. If you can get A's while taking those heavy course loads, go for it. If not, cut back a little and make sure you're making the cut. Grades are #1.

 

[503224]

Those course loads are heavy, but doable. Best of luck!

EDIT:
one thing to note is to not take on more than you can handle. While doing the "post-bacc" pre-req track, I think good grades are paramount. If you can get A's while taking those heavy course loads, go for it. If not, cut back a little and make sure you're making the cut. Grades are #1.

Those course loads are heavy--doable if you're the right kind of person but they are really heavy.

OP, I'd basically like to reiterate free99's edit because it's so important. To give yourself the best shot, you need to get A's in the postbacc, so if you cannot handle 3 lab science courses at once, it's not the worst thing ever, just scale it back to what you can handle. Getting A's is the most important part of this thing. It's #1.

See how you do with gen chem over the summer and take it from there. It'll be compressed because it's a summer class, but if you put your all into it I have no doubt you should do well. Study a lot and do as many practice problems as you possibly can. That's my best advice for gen chem. Get your hands on as many problem sets and textbook problems as you can (even if the book problems are easier than what will be asked on the exam, it's worth doing some of them because they'll help you build up speed and confidence to tackle the problem sets--this is what my gen chem professor told us).

If you're doing a postbacc, do you have access to the pre-health advisor? In other words, is this a formal postbacc? Considering your degree is from an online university, it might be advantageous to do this formally rather than informally, because if you do a formal postbacc you'll be getting support from the institution (advising, having their pre-health committee write your composite letter--which is not the most important thing ever but it could help you out in this somewhat confusing process) whereas if you don't do a formal postbacc you won't. Just something to think about.

 

[free99]

if you don't do a formal postbacc you won't have access to the pre-health advisor

This is not necessarily true. I have spent the last two years doing an informal post-bacc at my state university as a non-matriculated, non-degree seeking student, and plan on going through the prehealth advisory process. Perhaps it depends on the institution?

 

[503224]

Perhaps it depends on the institution?

Probably, actually.

I have attended two state schools during my post-bacc (different states), and in both of these you have to be enrolled as a degree-seeking student or in the formal postbacc program to get access to the advising. I know that was also the case at the private university I attended for undergrad. I am possibly moving again in the near future, and I know it's the same thing (have to be degree-seeking or in formal post-bacc program to get access to the advising) at the school I'd be taking classes at if I do end up moving.

I haven't had experience with a school that will give you the advising if you're just taking classes on your own and not in one of their programs, so I thought that it was just a thing at most schools that doing it informally and just taking the classes by yourself won't get you access to the advising. I know n=4 isn't a lot, but it's more schools than most people attend, and I haven't seen anything different yet in regards to having access to the advising. I'm fortunate that my alma mater will let me have access to their advising no matter what, so I don't actually need to be in a program personally, but I figured that if the school where OP was attending wouldn't let him have the advising and his alma mater is an online school that probably has no pre-health advising (I have no idea if they do or do not...I just kind of assumed with an online school this is the kind of thing that'd be part of the trade-off of it being online), it might be helpful for him to consider whether he will get any pre-health advising. I know some on here don't like pre-health advisors and sometimes what they say needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but I have always found my pre-health advisor to be helpful (even though I take what she says with a grain of salt each time ).

 

[Svande8952]

If you're serious, you NEED to get another degree from a formal state university. From personal experience I know that your online degree will hurt your application. Taking the pre-reqs at a 4 year institution with a solid course load is important.

 

[LifeDevoted]

Free99, thanks for the prospective schedule! The flow looks pretty close to what I'm planning! And yes, I'll be starting full time again Summer 2013. I have no doubt that I can handle the heavy course load. I may not be the smartest person but I sure as heck work hard.

Jean Grey, I'll be an official degree seeker, BS in Bio, so I'll have access to the advisers. I'll be making contact with them after the holidays to run my proposed schedule by them. From my previous experience with them (I was a student there before transferring), they are awesome.

Svande8952, thanks for the input. Very valuable advice. You mentioned that you had personal experience with the online degree issue and the application…can you explain a bit more. Would love to hear your story.

 

[Svande8952]

I have a degree in management from a tiny aviation college that no one has heard of. I think this probably carries the same weight as an online degree. My abundance of CC science classes were a great detriment to my application, which is why I always recommend pre-reqs at a 4 year state university.

The schools I called all told me that they give preference to candidates with pre-reqs from 4-year schools, but I was already on my path and not about to start all BCP classes again.

 

[LifeDevoted]

Thanks for your input Svande8952! Appreciate it.