Question about Masters Degree

[CM45]

I am still a freshman fallowing pre-dental courses, and I plan on majoring in biology, but I just a few quick questions. In case I don't get into a dental school after I earn my undergrad I plan on pursuing a masters degree and reapplying to dental school. Now my first question is would this Masters degree have to be in a specific area of study for me to reapply to Dental school? Second, how exactly would a Masters degree give me a better chance at getting into a dental school? Third, would I have to retake the DAT, and if so wouldn't two years removed from pre-dental courses make it harder for me to improve my DAT score? Again hopefully it won't come down to this, but I just want to take in as much information as possible.

Thank you for any help.

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[Albuterol]

You are a freshman so stop worrying about getting a masters which is 3-4yrs in the future. Study hard, get good grades, do well on the DAT, and have nice EC activities and you should get into dental school w/o a masters. good luck.

 

[4thMolar]

I am still a freshman fallowing pre-dental courses, and I plan on majoring in biology, but I just a few quick questions. In case I don't get into a dental school after I earn my undergrad I plan on pursuing a masters degree and reapplying to dental school. Now my first question is would this Masters degree have to be in a specific area of study for me to reapply to Dental school? Second, how exactly would a Masters degree give me a better chance at getting into a dental school? Third, would I have to retake the DAT, and if so wouldn't two years removed from pre-dental courses make it harder for me to improve my DAT score? Again hopefully it won't come down to this, but I just want to take in as much information as possible.

Thank you for any help.

I agree with Albuterol, you're only a freshman so you shouldn't have to worry about this, but just so you know, i'll answer your questions. When you submit your apps to dental schools, they will look at your overall and science GPA. If you have a low science GPA (I guess maybe around a 3.1-3.2, depending on the rest of your application), you can probably just take post-bacc classes instead of a masters (no need to spend thousands of dollars) to raise the science GPA. If you have a really low science GPA, doing a Special Masters Program (SMP) in Biology will be most helpful. You take classes that parallel those of 1st year dental school, and by doing well in them, you will show adcoms you can handle the volume of work dental school gives you. Plus, you'll have an easier time taking these courses in dschool since you've already become familiar with some of the subject matter. Additionally, you will have an entirely new GPA, (graduate GPA) that some dschools will emphasize a lot since they know people make mistakes during undergrad. These SMP programs do not have to be two years long, many of them are one year programs, so you can start in the Fall right after you graduate from your undergrad program. As for the DAT, you can take it before you start the masters program and not have to worry about re-taking it if you do well. DAT scores are valid for 3 years. But trust me, you don't want to go through the headache of going through a master's and wasting time. Focus on your grades now and study hard, and you'll be fine.