Some advice from my elders?

[TeeSD]

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hello im a junior (almost senior) 🙂 in high school and looking for some answers regarding dental/ pre-dental programs etc. just starting my research for applying to college next year...yay! any help would be much appreciated

1. recommendations on accelerated programs such as UoP or USC 5/6 year degree or go with 4 year undergrad 4 year dental school route

2. get a bachelors degree or apply after pre-reqs are completed

3. possible undergrad majors?

4. i live in CA, any advice on private or UC schools that are good for pre-dental undergrad....easy to get classes, good atmosphere etc.

thanks so much

 

[burgler09]

From what I hear UCSD is very good for someone planning to go to dental school, lots of opputunity for someone to shadow dentists and vollunteer clinical work. Although I do not know much about the accelerated programs, i do know that you can go to dental school with ANY major as long as you do your pre-reqs and get good grades. The school you choose isnt a huge deal but a degree at stanford with a 3.7 will be better looking than a 3.7 from a 4th tier college. When you apply you should have your bachelors degree, you should apply the year you are going to receive it. Although major doesn't matter engineering majors seem to have good luck getting in but choose the major you enjoy and can accel in.

 

[djeffreyt]

hello im a junior (almost senior) 🙂 in high school and looking for some answers regarding dental/ pre-dental programs etc. just starting my research for applying to college next year...yay! any help would be much appreciated

1. recommendations on accelerated programs such as UoP or USC 5/6 year degree or go with 4 year undergrad 4 year dental school route

Your choice. but make sure that the accelerated program you apply to is one you'd want to go to. If you go the accelerated route, you may be cutting off options if you then find out you really don't like USC or Nova's dental school program at all and want to go somewhere else. Of course, you'd just then have to go through the regular application process...but without a degree earned, you might have more trouble getting into other programs.


2. get a bachelors degree or apply after pre-reqs are completed

It is now much harder to get into dental school without that bachelors. You can do it...and it doesn't hurt to apply early and see if anyone takes you...though it does cost $ so if you fail the first time...all that $ is lost.

3. possible undergrad majors?

doesn't matter so long as you complete the prereqs. Bio is the most common standard one and the prereqs all will overlap with major requirements. Other than that...anything is fine too. Chemistry, Physics, Art, English, Econmoics, Business, Geography, Geology, Sociology, etc. all fine

4. i live in CA, any advice on private or UC schools that are good for pre-dental undergrad....easy to get classes, good atmosphere etc.

UCSD has a good pre-dental organization
UCD I've heard gets quite a # of people into dental school each year
CSU San Luis Obispo is a fun place...good people
UCSB is an awesome place to have fun in undergrad. Having fun, by the way, is something some pre-dents need to do more of.
SDSU is my alma mater, and was fun, beautiful, not the easiest place to get the lab class times you wanted....but you'll get in to a lab...and has a pretty decent pre-dent organization.
Can't speak for many of the others...haven't been to the others before.

 

[Endless]

Hi!,i am dental technician residing at sydney, Australia, recently i became a member of this student doctor forum.
i would like to know that is any one out there from sydney or australia who has done dentistry so i can get some information from them regarding the entrance procedure of Bdent (Australian).
mate🙂 i would really appreaciate if some one can give me some information about it becos i want to be a dentist🙂 and i am serious about that.
with thanking
endless

 

[pacbum]

hello im a junior (almost senior) 🙂 in high school and looking for some answers regarding dental/ pre-dental programs etc. just starting my research for applying to college next year...yay! any help would be much appreciated

1. recommendations on accelerated programs such as UoP or USC 5/6 year degree or go with 4 year undergrad 4 year dental school route

2. get a bachelors degree or apply after pre-reqs are completed

3. possible undergrad majors?

4. i live in CA, any advice on private or UC schools that are good for pre-dental undergrad....easy to get classes, good atmosphere etc.

thanks so much

1). i almost went to uop's program out of high school. i'm kinda glad i didn't. i went to uci instead, and it was at uci that i was able to explore a lot more. i feel like at the accelerated programs, you just don't have the time to enjoy your undergrad education. the two things that immediately come to mind that i would've been able to do at uop were study aborad, and study something other than bio. the study abroad experience was the best of my life...i'd trade it for nothing. had i been in an accelerated program there would be no way to do that. also, my undergrad major was engineering, which i am very happy i did. gave me a different perspective on things. lastly, at the accelerated programs, you just don't have time to enjoy you undergrad. these are the 4 best years of your life...no need to rush, you have 45 years afterwards to practice dentistry if you want. plus uop's program doesn't guarantee admission, it only guarantees an interview if you a least have 17's on you dat (may have even changed since). usc got rid of their accelerated program about years ago.

2). i think you have a better chance iwth a bachelor's but i know people that got in without it. up to you...it definitely makes you more competitive if you have it.

3). do something that interests you...i did engineering bc it gave me more flexibility and it was something i enjoyed. if i could go back 4 years and do it all over again, i would still choose engineering, gave me skills i wouldn't have had otherwise. i know many people that even choose humanities and social sciences, as long as you do well in sciences, it helps make you a more unique applicant.

4). i'd say go somewhere cheap, any uc would be great. i almost went to usc, and i would've liked it there, except now looking back on it, if i had known that i would accumulate at least 200k in debt just from dental school, there's no way i'd consider a private school like usc. no need to spend tons of money on undergrad when you know that dentistry is your goal. dental school is expensive...save up from now.

well hope that helps....good luck

 

[TeeSD]

thank you all for the suggestions its all so helpful

by the way pacbum how did you like uci?

 

[jigabodo]

I am gonna graduate from UC Davis in the summer, here are my 2 cents for its predent environment:

1. Davis got a pretty good MCB department which provides a lot of lab courses needed for predent. e.g. 6 unit biochemistry lab, 4 unit cell bio and 4 unit genetics lab.

2. Davis has a health science internship program where you can simply sign up for predental interhships online. Personally, this was not a very good expereience for me as most spots fill up really really fast. I also believe there are not that many dentists in Davis, but since there are a lot of predents here the competition to find one to shadow is tough.

3. Predents must take physics, and Davis has the infamous physics 7 series, where you spend 5 hrs in lab a week and only 1.5 hr lecture. This physics series expect you to teach yourself physics since 1.5 hr lecture a week dont really do anything.

 

[pacbum]

by the way pacbum how did you like uci?

i liked it...it got me where i wanted to go. the campus is more of a commuter campus, so it's a little different from your typical college experience, but as long as you have a good group of friends, you'll have a blast in college.

in terms of the academics and stuff there, there were tons of research opportunities. i got involved my freshman year, from the very start, and most people get very involved in research, which is great. most of the faculty are good, so i can't complain. only thing is they are 400 ppl lectures, so i mean it depends if you want that or a more personal setting. i didn't mind the large setting at first, but now i think i would prefer the smaller classroom attention.

like i said, the best thing that i could've done was study abroad. i mean those opportunities are available at most campuses, but with the money i saved by going to uci, i went and traveled like a king in europe, so that was nice. i know if i were paying a private school tuition, i wouldn't have been able to afford study abroad.

so throughout the 4 years, i loved the experience. you get what you put in, and i always tried to be active, and i was happy.

i guess my only beef with uci is its always under construction...my 2nd year they toredown our student center, which is where we all use to hangout. i'm still pretty bitter about it. but the new one is opening nect year, and it looks amazing...just wish i could've used it too i guess. other than that, i can't complain.

if you have any more specific questions, or anything i could help with, let me know

 

[Ecniv]

A friend of mine went into the accelerated program for medical school. She's finishing her 5th year, 2nd year medical school and told me a few people dropped out of the program last year because they decided that medicine wasn't their thing. I personally took a few turns before I decided on dentistry. I would never took become a dentist seriously while I was in high school. So I guess the point is only go into accelerated programs if you have your heart set on it. Pacbum also makes a really good point on enjoying college. I would never suggest loosing your chance with the college experience, but my friend was still able to join a sorority and make the most out of the 3 years of undergrad.