Roadmapping to Dental School?

[Enso]

I spoke with my pre-health advisor today and he mentioned its important to roadmap your way to dental school so you know exactly when to take the DAT, get LOR's, start applications, etc. Nutshell, I'm extremely lost here and don't even know when to begin. Is there an example protocol that people have used? Is there a place to find out important dates for everything?

Here's my "roadmap" so far. Completed Bio I, II.

Spring '09
Chem I
Physics I
Psychology

Summer '09
Orgo I
Chem II
Microbiology

Fall '09
Orgo II
Physics II
Biochemistry

As far as preparing for the DAT, starting AADSAS, applying early... can anyone point me in the right direction of where to look in terms of specific dates?

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[ZenoVT]

aadsas opens on the 15th of may.

 

[NEdent]

i don't know if you plan on taking a year off or going in for fall'10, but if you're going with the former and get done with school after fall '09, i would recommend taking the DAT as early as you can just in case you need to retake. gives yourself at least 2 months of hardcore studying in order to do well. also, start drafting your personal statement well before you plan to submit your application. i can't tell you how hard it is to get in exactly what you need/want to say in the amount of words they allow. you'll be going through several drafts, so its never too early to start. if you haven't shadowed a dentist, definitely log as many hours as you can. some schools i interviewed with did not care too much about this, but others made a big issue about this.
other than that, obiviously keep that gpa up, but make sure and still have plenty of fun. good luck

 

[Enso]

aadsas opens on the 15th of may.

So it would be too soon to start it this cycle or yes? I want to dedicate 5 months alone for the DAT

 

[doc toothache]

Since the vast majority of ds enrollees have a B.S. degree, you should concentrate your efforts on a roadmap towards a specific degree rather than only on prerequisites lest you find yourself all dressed for the party and no place to go. You should check your sequence with your school since most institutions require completion of 2 semesters of general chemistry before enrolling in organic. Your proposal for summer of '09 may be pushing the limit, notwithstanding the fact that not many institutions offer micro in the summer. The ideal time to take the DAT is after completing organic.

 

[Enso]

i don't know if you plan on taking a year off or going in for fall'10, but if you're going with the former and get done with school after fall '09, i would recommend taking the DAT as early as you can just in case you need to retake. gives yourself at least 2 months of hardcore studying in order to do well. also, start drafting your personal statement well before you plan to submit your application. i can't tell you how hard it is to get in exactly what you need/want to say in the amount of words they allow. you'll be going through several drafts, so its never too early to start. if you haven't shadowed a dentist, definitely log as many hours as you can. some schools i interviewed with did not care too much about this, but others made a big issue about this.
other than that, obiviously keep that gpa up, but make sure and still have plenty of fun. good luck

I'd like to take some time off to study for the DAT. I'm taking the marathon not sprint approach. My totGPA is mighty subpar at 3.0 so I've got to rock the DAT's, but my sciGPA is off to a good start with a 3.75.

Your Gob icon is boss by the way. Good work.

 

[Enso]

Since the vast majority of ds enrollees have a B.S. degree, you should concentrate your efforts on a roadmap towards a specific degree rather than only on prerequisites lest you find yourself all dressed for the party and no place to go. You should check your sequence with your school since most institutions require completion of 2 semesters of general chemistry before enrolling in organic. Your proposal for summer of '09 may be pushing the limit, notwithstanding the fact that not many institutions offer micro in the summer. The ideal time to take the DAT is after completing organic.

Already have a bachelors degree so I'm just picking these classes a la carte. Can you suggest a different combination of classes if you think mine isn't the best?

 

[doc toothache]

Already have a bachelors degree so I'm just picking these classes a la carte. Can you suggest a different combination of classes if you think mine isn't the best?

Since you are fresh from bio II why not take micro in the spring of 09? For ss I consider chem II; ss II organic I; fall 10 organic II, physics II. This will leave you with time to review for the DAT in the spring of '10. Taking biochem concurrently with organic II may require special permission from the department. A 5 month marathon may be excessive- 3 months would be more realistic.

 

[Oralfixation]

For all of these years you should assume you will take the required preq classes and classes to graduate and to do as well in all of those as you can. You also need to begin getting to know several professors for letters of recommendation. My school allowed me to choose which people were on my board.
Freshman year: Study for DAT
Sophomore year: Study for DAT
Junior year: Study for DAT and then take it
Senior year: Apply to schools and re-take the DAT if you did not follow directions about studying for the DAT.

Here are some links to study guides that I know helped me with the DAT:
http://www.scholarware.com/datcover.htm
that one is good for perceptual ability portion

http://www.sdlearn.com/default.asp
this one is good for chem 1 thru organic, will also help in classes to get these now. Good luck and it is that simple

 

[Albuterol]

dont you need to finish Gen Chem II before you can take Orgo I? Might be different at your school though.

 

[Doh Boy Fresh]

Schedule:

Freshman Year Sem 1: Gen Chem1, Bio 1, Bio 1 Lab, electives to meet for graduation
Freshman Year Sem 2: Gen Chem 2, Bio 2, electives for graduation, and bs classes

Sophmore Year Sem 1: Orgo 1, Orgo lab, Microbio Classes for major/electives for graduation
Sophmore Year Sem 2: Orgo2, ORgo 2 Lab, Physiology, Integrative BIOlOGY 1
**** PHYSIO and IB HELPS FOR THE BIO SECTION OF THE DAT!
SUmmer Sophmore Year: 3 months of free time to study and take the DAT

Junior Year Sem 1: Physics 1, Physics Lab, Classes for Major, maybe
Junior Year Sem 2: Physics 2, other science and major classes
Junior Year Summer - dat applications, if necessary, look into taking DAT again, *you'll have less time to study, and really speaking 3 months is MORE THAN ENOUGH if you do nothing else but study for Sop year Summer

Senior Year Sem 1: Cruise through life, cuz you're done applying, taking the dat, and what not
Senior Year Sem 2: Meet prereqs for Dental school you are in, for graduation, etc.

 

[mx41]

Schedule:

Freshman Year Sem 1: Gen Chem1, Bio 1, Bio 1 Lab, electives to meet for graduation
Freshman Year Sem 2: Gen Chem 2, Bio 2, electives for graduation, and bs classes

Sophmore Year Sem 1: Orgo 1, Orgo lab, Microbio Classes for major/electives for graduation
Sophmore Year Sem 2: Orgo2, ORgo 2 Lab, Physiology, Integrative BIOlOGY 1
**** PHYSIO and IB HELPS FOR THE BIO SECTION OF THE DAT!
SUmmer Sophmore Year: 3 months of free time to study and take the DAT

Junior Year Sem 1: Physics 1, Physics Lab, Classes for Major, maybe
Junior Year Sem 2: Physics 2, other science and major classes
Junior Year Summer - dat applications, if necessary, look into taking DAT again, *you'll have less time to study, and really speaking 3 months is MORE THAN ENOUGH if you do nothing else but study for Sop year Summer

Senior Year Sem 1: Cruise through life, cuz you're done applying, taking the dat, and what not
Senior Year Sem 2: Meet prereqs for Dental school you are in, for graduation, etc.

That's a chaotic freshman year. Bio and chemistry? Most freshman take a math and english class, maybe a foreign language. Those first two semesters will be wayyy too many credit hours and workload..
Plus, I think it is better to hold off on Physics until the senior year and take some more bio classes instead..

 

[DrReo]

That's a chaotic freshman year. Bio and chemistry? Most freshman take a math and english class, maybe a foreign language. Those first two semesters will be wayyy too many credit hours and workload..
Plus, I think it is better to hold off on Physics until the senior year and take some more bio classes instead..

I disagree; it's common to have biology I, chem I, comp I and calculus I.

Just get physics over with earlier, who wants to worry about missing labs and so forth when you have to interview.

 

[Mazmel]

make sure that you take at least 14-16 credits a semester. d school does not like to see semesters where you are taking less.

 

[losdientes]

I spoke with my pre-health advisor today and he mentioned its important to roadmap your way to dental school so you know exactly when to take the DAT, get LOR's, start applications, etc. Nutshell, I'm extremely lost here and don't even know when to begin. Is there an example protocol that people have used? Is there a place to find out important dates for everything?

Here's my "roadmap" so far. Completed Bio I, II.

Spring '09
Chem I
Physics I
Psychology

Summer '09
Orgo I
Chem II
Microbiology

Fall '09
Orgo II
Physics II
Biochemistry

As far as preparing for the DAT, starting AADSAS, applying early... can anyone point me in the right direction of where to look in terms of specific dates?

3 Science classes over the summer? You should check to see if that's even possible. They need to be offered, first of all, and you need to make sure the sessions and times don't overlap. I don't think it's feasible to do all three of those, summer is only so long.

 

[cherrycooler09]

Schedule:

Freshman Year Sem 1: Gen Chem1, Bio 1, Bio 1 Lab, electives to meet for graduation
Freshman Year Sem 2: Gen Chem 2, Bio 2, electives for graduation, and bs classes

Sophmore Year Sem 1: Orgo 1, Orgo lab, Microbio Classes for major/electives for graduation
Sophmore Year Sem 2: Orgo2, ORgo 2 Lab, Physiology, Integrative BIOlOGY 1
**** PHYSIO and IB HELPS FOR THE BIO SECTION OF THE DAT!
SUmmer Sophmore Year: 3 months of free time to study and take the DAT

Junior Year Sem 1: Physics 1, Physics Lab, Classes for Major, maybe
Junior Year Sem 2: Physics 2, other science and major classes
Junior Year Summer - dat applications, if necessary, look into taking DAT again, *you'll have less time to study, and really speaking 3 months is MORE THAN ENOUGH if you do nothing else but study for Sop year Summer

Senior Year Sem 1: Cruise through life, cuz you're done applying, taking the dat, and what not
Senior Year Sem 2: Meet prereqs for Dental school you are in, for graduation, etc.

I agree w/ this at far as the basic prereq for sci classes. You want to include biochemistry somewhere in junior year, definitely after taking orgo.. very useful stuff!

What does your pre-health advisor tell you? If your school has a pretty good preprofessional advising then the advisors should know how to help you and guide you step by step...

 

[harrygt]

As far as I know, most schools won't let you take organic chem before completing Gchem II. Are you sure you can do that?

 

[cherr1pop]

which cycle are you trying to apply to? it sort of sounds like you're trying to enter in fall 2010 but with the prereqs you have left + 5 months you want for DAT studying i'm not sure if it'll work.
if you want to enter 2010, you would have to be studying for DAT while you take your summer 09 classes, not to mention you would only have 1 semester of orgo... actually, not even because if you want your stuff in early you'd have to take the DAT with like half of orgo 1 under your belt.. that's not wise.

tell us when you want to enter dental school and we can help you better. if you don't mind entering in fall 2011, your schedule can be shaped so that you space out your classes and have more time to study for the DAT.

 

[Albuterol]

don't rush through your prereqs...overloading sounds like a good idea that u can finish quickly etc. but if you get mainly C's/B's and no A's its not going to look great (trust me I know). Also a solid foundation in your prereqs will definitely help you when it comes to taking the DAT.