Pre-Dental Tutorial 2

[SMC2UCLA2_]

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So I too am Pre-Med currently but I am essentially set on switching to dental. I originally wanted to be a dentist and I did some shadowing after highschool for my orthodontist and I liked everything I did, but sometime in college I made the transition to pre-med (real hazzy. dont know how it happened). Anyway, I was going to take a year off after college before medical school and lately I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on my future and my decisions and I realize I don't want to be in school for 9 more years (4 yrs Med + 4+ residency). Also, I don't want to be so busy and caught up with my career that I don't have time for myself or my family in the future. So in short, I think dental is the way to go for me.

With that said, I was hoping you all could chip in with some advice and answer a few questions. Oh, and my major is neuroscience and my GPA is 3.89.

1. I've done shadowing once for my orthodontist and Im going to do it one more time for my new dentist cause hes so cool. I have also done research in a neuro-lab for about 2 years but I never got too into it. I have also done a hands on hospital Internship. Any extra-curriculars I would need to do differently for Dental?

2. How does the DAT compare to the MCAT in terms of difficulty. I just want to judge how much time I should commit to studying for it.

3. Whats the relative intensity of dental school compared to medschool? Would you have essentially the same lifestyle during 4 years of dental school as you would in medshool? I like to do a lot of reading outside of school on world news, business, and politics and Im hoping Ill have some time for that too.

4. Besides UofP, any other 3 year programs?

5. If I was to apply during this cycle (Jun 2005-Jan 2006) I would begin attending dental school when?

Thats everything. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Tooth Fixer]

So I too am Pre-Med currently but I am essentially set on switching to dental. I originally wanted to be a dentist and I did some shadowing after highschool for my orthodontist and I liked everything I did, but sometime in college I made the transition to pre-med (real hazzy. dont know how it happened). Anyway, I was going to take a year off after college before medical school and lately I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on my future and my decisions and I realize I don't want to be in school for 9 more years (4 yrs Med + 4+ residency). Also, I don't want to be so busy and caught up with my career that I don't have time for myself or my family in the future. So in short, I think dental is the way to go for me.

With that said, I was hoping you all could chip in with some advice and answer a few questions. Oh, and my major is neuroscience and my GPA is 3.89.

1. I've done shadowing once for my orthodontist and Im going to do it one more time for my new dentist cause hes so cool. I have also done research in a neuro-lab for about 2 years but I never got too into it. I have also done a hands on hospital Internship. Any extra-curriculars I would need to do differently for Dental?

2. How does the DAT compare to the MCAT in terms of difficulty. I just want to judge how much time I should commit to studying for it.

3. Whats the relative intensity of dental school compared to medschool? Would you have essentially the same lifestyle during 4 years of dental school as you would in medshool? I like to do a lot of reading outside of school on world news, business, and politics and Im hoping Ill have some time for that too.

4. Besides UofP, any other 3 year programs?

5. If I was to apply during this cycle (Jun 2005-Jan 2006) I would begin attending dental school when?

Thats everything. Thanks for the advice.

Youve got good stats if u apply this cycle u will basically begin in fall of 2006 probably in august or september depending on the school u get accepted to. MCAT is definitely tougher than DAT so your set for that too. I would take the DAT if i were u asap after studying for it which u have plenty of time for and get into to a great number of schools especially with that gpa. Gluck. I don't think other schools are 3 year schools like UOP and UOP is going to add another year of mandatory residency soon making it 4 anyway so that goes for that. 👍

 

[mvs04]

So I too am Pre-Med currently ...

Hey! What's your name?

 

[onetoothleft]

With that said, I was hoping you all could chip in with some advice and answer a few questions. Oh, and my major is neuroscience and my GPA is 3.89.

1. I've done shadowing once for my orthodontist and Im going to do it one more time for my new dentist cause hes so cool. I have also done research in a neuro-lab for about 2 years but I never got too into it. I have also done a hands on hospital Internship. Any extra-curriculars I would need to do differently for Dental?

No, you seem to have all your bases covered. Shadowing should total 50 hours or so. A LOR from a dentist would be useful as well.

2. How does the DAT compare to the MCAT in terms of difficulty. I just want to judge how much time I should commit to studying for it.

The MCAT is noticably more difficult than the DAT, but both are graded on a curve compared to all the other students who took the test that year. However, the DAT has Math, perceptual ability test, and does not have physics.

3. Whats the relative intensity of dental school compared to medschool? Would you have essentially the same lifestyle during 4 years of dental school as you would in medshool? I like to do a lot of reading outside of school on world news, business, and politics and Im hoping Ill have some time for that too.

Medical school and dental school will be very similar in terms of how hard you work or study. The biggest difference is that medical school students have more time to study because Dental students have more dental lab/clinical classes. By the third year, instead of doing rotations, you are in the clinic. The science classes are comparable, but you are on a curve with other students in most cases. You should have time for some hobbies as long as you can keep up. The interests you mentioned would be encouraged even.

4. Besides UofP, any other 3 year programs?

No. see above post.

5. If I was to apply during this cycle (Jun 2005-Jan 2006) I would begin attending dental school when?

If you do the online application this summer, you are applying for enterance into dental school in fall 2006, or the class of 2010. I would suggest completing your application in June (including DAT) if possible so that you have the early admissions. You will notice that the application process and timeline is very similar to applying to medical school.

 

[SMC2UCLA2_]

Thanks for answering all my questions everyone.

Is it recommended or even necessary to take Biochem; it would be the last of my pre-reqs for med-school and im enrolled to take it this summer. If I don't need It I can crack down on the DATs.

 

[crazy_sherm]

I don't think other schools are 3 year schools like UOP and UOP is going to add another year of mandatory residency soon making it 4 anyway so that goes for that. 👍

What's your source for this? I know there's a big push from the people running AEGD at UOP, but there's also been a lot of opposition. As of now, it's still up in the air as far as I understand. Did you read/hear something else?

 

[J2AZ]

I would look at the pre-reqs for the schools you are interested in. Some schools such as UW, OHSU, IU, UNC have additional reqs. However, most just want the basic premed reqs (1yr bio, 2yr chem, 1yr ph, 1 year english). Since you are premed/neuro you def have these but you may not have micro, A&P, nor calc.

 

[JakeMUSC]

1. If you are still in undergrad, think about starting an ASDA Pre-Dental Chapter at your school. There are instructions and everything, and that would look great if you were a "founding Father" of an ASDA Pre-Dental chapter at your school.

2. In terms of difficulty, it depends on what type of brain you have. I think the MCAT is more of like, " You need to learn a ton of knowledge and use it to analyze and think about the answers" The DAT is " Learn a ton of knowledge and regurgitate it"....thats my opinion.

3. From what I hear, its just as hard, except for dental students probably spend more time at school, ( much more lab time for dents then meds)

4. No

5. Most schools would start for you August 2006, some schools Summer 2006.

Good LUCK! 👍

Cheers

 

[TeddieBelle]

They actually don't give pre-dents ASDA chapters anymore. We tried to get one at my school this year and after two months of emailing and calling them I was told that they only give them to actual Dental Schools now because they found that most pre-dents didn't have the resources to fulfill the goals of an ASDA chapter... Or something like that. I can't really remember her exact words.

 

[mvs04]

I think the MCAT is more of .....

The MCAT is a joke!! I've taken booger bubble blowing tests harder than that piece of crap! It's a fraud, it's not a test, everything you need to know is in the passages !!!! No prior knowledge needed (besides the basic foundations obviously)!! It's nothing more than a translocation of data from the passages to the questions!

How "the MCAT is one of the most grueling rites of passages" is just a myth that's perpetuated by damn pre med nerds to appear better than everyone else. I spit on them!

 

[Tooth Fixer]

The MCAT is a joke!! I've taken booger bubble blowing tests harder than that piece of crap! It's a fraud, it's not a test, everything you need to know is in the passages !!!! No prior knowledge needed (besides the basic foundations obviously)!! It's nothing more than a translocation of data from the passages to the questions!

How "the MCAT is one of the most grueling rites of passages" is just a myth that's perpetuated by damn pre med nerds to appear better than everyone else. I spit on them!

I gotta Admit too MCAT is one retarted test. It is all in the passages the whole test is about reading comprehension.

 

[SMC2UCLA2_]

Do A lot of Schools have D.D.S/M.B.A programs?

The two I have seen so far (USC and UCLA) both require you to apply to the business programs separately...does the same go for all other programs?

Also, any word on the difficulty of doing D.D.S/M.B.A programs jointly?

 

[r0entgen]

The MCAT is a joke!! I've taken booger bubble blowing tests harder than that piece of crap! It's a fraud, it's not a test, everything you need to know is in the passages !!!! No prior knowledge needed (besides the basic foundations obviously)!! It's nothing more than a translocation of data from the passages to the questions!

How "the MCAT is one of the most grueling rites of passages" is just a myth that's perpetuated by damn pre med nerds to appear better than everyone else. I spit on them!

Uh...you OBVIOUSLY have never taken an MCAT before...because that is clearly not the case. The passages are meant to be a distractor...there are plenty of questions that you need to answer that do not even require the passage...sure, there are a few that you can answer from what's given in the passage..but the majority you must answer based on your own knowledge...