Pre-dental and engineering major

[bwc]

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My school has a top engineering program and I have interest in dental school, but the average undergrad engineering student graduates with like a 2.9 GPA. I have been able to stay above a 3.6 so far, but am not sure how long that can last due to weaker people dropping out every semester (including during the 4th year).

Would dental school adcoms be understanding of how difficult it is to get a good GPA in an engineering major? Of course, provided that I make it past their initial numbers screening.

 

[tombradyschin]

Why kill yourself with engineering if your not gonna be an engineer? I suggest taking up another major that will not only fulfill the requirements of dental school, but will better prepare you for the DAT and dental school classes

 

[Typical Average Student]

Dental schools say they don't take into consideration "how hard" a particular program is because not all schools are treated equal. Though I can say they won't give you sympathy for low grades. Just try to stay above a 3.5 and you're golden.

 

[bwc]

Why kill yourself with engineering if your not gonna be an engineer? I suggest taking up another major that will not only fulfill the requirements of dental school, but will better prepare you for the DAT and dental school classes

I just thought engineering would work out as a backup should dental school not work out for some reason. I'm already far enough into the program that there's no turning back at this point.

Dental schools say they don't take into consideration "how hard" a particular program is because not all schools are treated equal. Though I can say they won't give you sympathy for low grades. Just try to stay above a 3.5 and you're golden.

I know they don't adjust your GPA based on your school and/or major, and I also know that your GPA/DAT must meet a certain threshold before the rest of your application will be considered. I'm just saying if my GPA ends up being below the average student who matriculates into dental school but I still make it past that initial screening, would adcoms start considering the difficulty of my major then?

 

[Typical Average Student]

I know they don't adjust your GPA based on your school and/or major, and I also know that your GPA/DAT must meet a certain threshold before the rest of your application will be considered. I'm just saying if my GPA ends up being below the average student who matriculates into dental school but I still make it past that initial screening, would adcoms start considering the difficulty of my major then?

Like I said above, they don't care what major you're in. You chose your major, you should do well in it, it won't affect admission decisions. Adcoms aren't going to heavily compare a 4.0 neuronuclear engineering medicine major over a 4.0 feminist dance therapy major simply because of their major.

 

[Advance]

Likeheavily compare a 4.0 neuronuclear engineering medicine major over a 4.0 feminist dance therapy major simply because of their major.

I should have majored in that! Sounds fun.

 

[Kittenz]

Engineering and chemistry are known to be more difficult than the more typical biology major. However, your major alone won't counterbalance a poor GPA. If you're interested in engineering because it's engineering, then major in it. If it's for the sole purpose of a back-up career, I would rethink your motivation behind majoring in such.

 

[DentalFever]

As mentioned above, only major in engineering if you like it. It is a tough major, let alone pursuing dentistry at the same time. Also be prepared to take additional year(s) to complete your degree versus other health science majors. Some schools review the application in a holistic way (which I highly value), however I feel many of them still don't take the difficulty of your major into consideration if you didn't meet their certain GPA/DAT cutoff.

However, it is completely doable. I will receive my engineering degree in May and I've been fortunate enough to receive acceptances this cycle. My overall GPA indeed was lower than the average, however my BCP was right around the average and I did decent on my DAT. I see engineering as a hobby rather than a career, however I do plan to incorporate both fields in the future.

I'm not sure how many more classes you have left for engineering and predental prerequisites, however the most important thing will be your involvement in dentistry. You need to show them why you choose dentistry over engineering, and it takes time to do that. So I will suggest you to figure out if dentistry is the right fit for you first (by shadowing, volunteering), and continue to finish your engineering degree and take the predental prereq's, eventually the DAT.

Good luck bud!

 

[DentalFever]

Also don't treat engineering as a back up. When I tell people I'm a prednetal with engineering major, some would say "....cool, if anything engineering could be your backup" then I would tell them, "no, dentistry is my priority and I'm going to be a dentist"

Figure out exactly what you want to do, and set your mind for it, nothing else! I'm sure you will make it! Engineering major students have the highest acceptance rate among other majors

 

[AfriqueDMD]

I am a nuclear engineering major and a non-traditional student. I will echo the sentiments of those mentioned above. The only metric the adcoms have to compare you to your competition is your DAT scores, your oGPA and your sGPA. Some adcoms will know that maintaining a 3.5-3.6 in an engineering program is really difficult, but they still need a metric to compare regardless. In my interviews all interviewers commented on my GPA. Do your best in your engineering courses and if dentistry is something you want to pursue, you will just have to dig deep and get to the finish line. PM me if you would like to know specifics.

 

[dfamson]

I was biomedical engineering and would say that some schools see that you have a tougher major and would give you the benefit that a 3.2 in engineering is just as good as 3.5-3.6 as biology major. I also did engineering because I wasn't postive that dentistry was right for me but after working as an engineer for over a year, I knew that I needed dentistry. Work your hardest and focus on your science classes over some of the engineering classes that will not count towards your science gpa and you will do fine.

 

[bwc]

I was at first pre-med, but then began having second thoughts. Engineering then became my backup at that point. I do think dentistry would be interesting and am not 100% sure at this point if that is what I want to do, but do want to have that as an option on my table (I probably will be working as an engineering major first before applying if I choose to do so). Before graduating, I will have had all of the pre-dental requirements completed, so if I do want to go this route, having the prerequisites completed won't be a barrier.

My current GPA is somewhere in the 3.6 range and I am anticipating graduating with between a 3.5 and 3.7, most likely right around 3.6. Hopefully this is satisfactory enough to make it past the numbers screening.

I do think some engineering/computer science classes are interesting and really like the topic. And should I choose to go the dentistry route, I would like to find a way to make use of my knowledge in the area.

 

[studentdental8]

My school has a top engineering program and I have interest in dental school, but the average undergrad engineering student graduates with like a 2.9 GPA. I have been able to stay above a 3.6 so far, but am not sure how long that can last due to weaker people dropping out every semester (including during the 4th year).

Would dental school adcoms be understanding of how difficult it is to get a good GPA in an engineering major? Of course, provided that I make it past their initial numbers screening.

I have a 3.4 cgpa / 21 DAT as an engineer and I can say that I have successfully had 5 interviews, 4 acceptances, and 1 interview coming up.

 

[doc toothache]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2014-majors-and-ds-admission-trend-2005-2013.1065182/

 

[nucshuc]

I'm an engineer, and I have a friend who went eng--> dent. He said his engineering background has helped him in both the interview stage (not the typical predent) and in actual dentistry. I'm a structural engineer, so I'm going to build sound teeth 🙂

 

[SXCoronado]

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