Questions from graduating early

[BoilerDental]

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Hi there,

I am having to make a difficult decision about next year and when to apply to dental school. In high school, I was in an accelerated program where I completed 2 years of college along with graduating with my diploma. This saved me lots of money and time but it also shortened the amount of time I could actually spend at my university building a resume. I am expected to graduate next winter 2020. I believe this means I should apply to dental schools over that summer, however, I have yet to take the DAT as I am still finishing up the prereq courses. I am afraid I wont be competitive by the time application come around. Here are some of my stats:

Purdue
3.70 gpa
Health Science-predental


Work: Lab Assistant in a biochem lab for 2 years
Academic programs: UF research program (over a summer)
Shadowed a couple dentists in high school/accelerated program for 100 hours (I don't know if this will count)
Study Abroad in May for Neuroscience

ECs:
American Institute for Chemical Engineering-committee chair for research (I was interested in ChemE at the time)
Pre-dental club member (2 years)
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (vice president for 1 year)

Recommendations: I a trying to get into a research lab next semester to get experience and make a connection with a researcher for a rec. From my work, I have a solid science professor. I do not have a dental rec yet but trying to start shadowing over the next couple months.

So what I believe my two options are: apply to dental school in the summer, cram for DAT in the spring, and hope I'm competitive; or do a one year masters program, take the DAT over the summer and apply to dental school in a couple years to give myself time to build my resume more. Which option is best? Am I currently competitive for dental school? What should I focus on? Is there another route/option that would be better?

Thanks

 

[ab117]

Hi there,

I am having to make a difficult decision about next year and when to apply to dental school. In high school, I was in an accelerated program where I completed 2 years of college along with graduating with my diploma. This saved me lots of money and time but it also shortened the amount of time I could actually spend at my university building a resume. I am expected to graduate next winter 2020. I believe this means I should apply to dental schools over that summer, however, I have yet to take the DAT as I am still finishing up the prereq courses. I am afraid I wont be competitive by the time application come around. Here are some of my stats:

Purdue
3.70 gpa
Health Science-predental


Work: Lab Assistant in a biochem lab for 2 years
Academic programs: UF research program (over a summer)
Shadowed a couple dentists in high school/accelerated program for 100 hours (I don't know if this will count)
Study Abroad in May for Neuroscience

ECs:
American Institute for Chemical Engineering-committee chair for research (I was interested in ChemE at the time)
Pre-dental club member (2 years)
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (vice president for 1 year)

Recommendations: I a trying to get into a research lab next semester to get experience and make a connection with a researcher for a rec. From my work, I have a solid science professor. I do not have a dental rec yet but trying to start shadowing over the next couple months.

So what I believe my two options are: apply to dental school in the summer, cram for DAT in the spring, and hope I'm competitive; or do a one year masters program, take the DAT over the summer and apply to dental school in a couple years to give myself time to build my resume more. Which option is best? Am I currently competitive for dental school? What should I focus on? Is there another route/option that would be better?

Thanks

Doing a masters as a predent is generally for people who need to bring their GPA up, and you're at like the 75th percentile or something for applicants. Many, many people get in with lower than a 3.70, including me (PM me if you want to talk numbers). Unless you personally really want a masters degree I'd say it's probably a waste of money. You don't need to "build up your resumé more". SDN tends to make it seem like everyone is a superstar but you really don't have to have a bunch of published research or service projects around the world or anything, decent stats and some good experiences in school are often enough.

Being an accelerated student will certainly look good, I really don't think you have anything to be concerned about, just do everything you can to get at least a 20 on the DAT and apply next summer. The only I would check on is contact schools you're interested in to ask about your shadowing during "high school". They generally specifically want your application to contain stuff from when you were in college. It's possible they won't count your hours from that time but only the schools can tell you for sure how they'll consider it. Even then, since you're graduating next winter you could easily get another ~100 hours in between then and June.

 

[macsak]

Hi there,

I am having to make a difficult decision about next year and when to apply to dental school. In high school, I was in an accelerated program where I completed 2 years of college along with graduating with my diploma. This saved me lots of money and time but it also shortened the amount of time I could actually spend at my university building a resume. I am expected to graduate next winter 2020. I believe this means I should apply to dental schools over that summer, however, I have yet to take the DAT as I am still finishing up the prereq courses. I am afraid I wont be competitive by the time application come around. Here are some of my stats:

Purdue
3.70 gpa
Health Science-predental


Work: Lab Assistant in a biochem lab for 2 years
Academic programs: UF research program (over a summer)
Shadowed a couple dentists in high school/accelerated program for 100 hours (I don't know if this will count)
Study Abroad in May for Neuroscience

ECs:
American Institute for Chemical Engineering-committee chair for research (I was interested in ChemE at the time)
Pre-dental club member (2 years)
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (vice president for 1 year)

Recommendations: I a trying to get into a research lab next semester to get experience and make a connection with a researcher for a rec. From my work, I have a solid science professor. I do not have a dental rec yet but trying to start shadowing over the next couple months.

So what I believe my two options are: apply to dental school in the summer, cram for DAT in the spring, and hope I'm competitive; or do a one year masters program, take the DAT over the summer and apply to dental school in a couple years to give myself time to build my resume more. Which option is best? Am I currently competitive for dental school? What should I focus on? Is there another route/option that would be better?

Thanks

you are better off shadowing than doing research
high school shadowing is not likely to count
it sounds like you have research background already