Schedulign Conflict! Help me make a decision :)

[Longcatislong]

Fall Semester Schedule: Ochem + lab, Physics +lab, and Cell Bio lecture (13 units).
NOTE: I am a post-bacc, so I am only taking pre-reqs. No other filler college courses for me ...

Although I want to maintain a full academic schedule by taking the above 3 science courses, I also do not want to lag behind in doing meaningful extracurriculars. After all, I know that in addition to good grades and DAT scores, extracurricular work is important to d-school as well, correct? That being said, I have the opportunity to do some cool tutoring work with an organization, which unfortunately conflicts with the class time for cell biology. The issue is, should I do the tutoring OR should I not tutor and take the full load of courses?

On one hand, if I take all three classes and skip out on tutoring, I'll be demonstrating to dental school that I can handle a full academic load of sciences courses and do well, yada yada. Also, since these courses are awkwardly spaced out during the day, I won't have that much time in my scheduling for meaningful extracurricualr involvement.

On the other hand, If I drop the cell bio and do the tutoring, which is mandatory 4-hours a week, I will only be taking on 9 units for the fall semester, which probably doesn't look too great to dental schools...however I will be doing something good for the community and be able to put that on my application...

What should I do?! Drop the cell bio course and tutor (and have only a 9 unit course load for the semester?) OR not tutor and not have any other significant extracurriculars this semester but maintain a full course load?

Thanks for your help guys.

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[UCLAzy]

dont tutor. focus all your time on getting A's in those 3 courses. if you're doing post bac it either means u have a low GPA and are trying to bring it up or you were on a different track during your undergrad (read: nonscience) and are trying to knock out all the pre-reqs. either way, your classes come first.

 

[youknowthedrill]

Concentrate on your class schedule. There are so many other places that you can volunteer. If you want to tutor kids there are other venues. Contact a local school or Boys and Girls Club and see if they would allow you to tutor. Is there a free or reduced fee dental clinic nearby? I just signed my 5 year old up for soccer and AYSO needs coaches- no experience needed (about 3 hours a week for 6 weeks). Contact your local United Way and they can give you a list of organizations that are looking for volunteers in your town/city. There are lots of opportunities out there!

 

[Longcatislong]

Thanks for the advice. I have a B.A in sociology, so my post-bacc is just to complete prereqs. So, it seems that grades & DAT outweigh everything else? Right?

 

[SeattleRDH]

Thanks for the advice. I have a B.A in sociology, so my post-bacc is just to complete prereqs. So, it seems that grades & DAT outweigh everything else? Right?

Right.

A 23 DAT w/o tutoring beats a 19 DAT w/ tutoring. The DAT is sooooooo important for non-trads because they tend to not have a lot of upper division sciences.