Pre - Health Programs?

[PD Parent]

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My daughter is only a junior in HS, but is convinced she wants to be an orthodontist. It seems like it would make sense for her to go to an undergrad college that has a pre-health program with a pre-health advisory committee and a pre-dental club or society. It just seems beneficial in terms of getting good guidance, workshops for writing personal statements, interviews, guest speakers, etc. I was just wondering if people agree that we should be focusing on colleges that offer this? Any comments? Thanks.

 

[doc toothache]

My daughter is only a junior in HS, but is convinced she wants to be an orthodontist. It seems like it would make sense for her to go to an undergrad college that has a pre-health program with a pre-health advisory committee and a pre-dental club or society. It just seems beneficial in terms of getting good guidance, workshops for writing personal statements, interviews, guest speakers, etc. I was just wondering if people agree that we should be focusing on colleges that offer this? Any comments? Thanks.

Having a goal is great even this early in life. Pretty much any reasonably academically inclined college will have a "pre-health" program as you put it, although it is not a good idea to settle just for "pre-health". She should be encouraged to obtained a degree in a field of her choice. Having a school that has all of the pre- requirements you mention would be nice, but those should not be the paramount considerations in choosing a college.

 

[rose786]

^Agree with the above. Practically every college has these "committees." Some are useful, some are clueless. I wouldn't base my decision to attend a certain college on it's commitee.

If your daughter is really serious about this and has some dental experience, I would look into a 3 + 4 program or something similar. It's basically a linkage between the undergrad and dent school, so you automatically get into the d-school if you maintain certain stats. The only downside would be missing out on a year of college... but it's something to consider anyways.

 

[djeffreyt]

^Agree with the above. Practically every college has these "committees." Some are useful, some are clueless. I wouldn't base my decision to attend a certain college on it's commitee.

If your daughter is really serious about this and has some dental experience, I would look into a 3 + 4 program or something similar. It's basically a linkage between the undergrad and dent school, so you automatically get into the d-school if you maintain certain stats. The only downside would be missing out on a year of college... but it's something to consider anyways.

I agree that choosing a school has a lot more to do with other things than the pre-health program, but if that is your basis of choice, I can say that UC Davis, UC San Diego, and and San Diego State, to my knowledge, have strong pre-dental organizations (that I know of, there aren't many, if any, schools that offer a degree in pre-health and really, you don't need one for dental school). It's probably easier to get a degree in bio or something else and apply than a health field as the classes are very different than those required for dental school application (I had many friends who studied Nutrition, Community Health, Nursing, etc. in undergrad, and their required courses were not the same as those for getting into dental school).

Also, 3+4 programs are nice, but they would lock your daughter, even more, into a certain path. 3+4 students tend to only have a shot at the one school they are attending. If they try after 3 years to apply to most other programs, their chances are lower for acceptance because they haven't attained a degree and who know where your daughter, in 3 years, will want to apply to.