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- Thread starter teefdr
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I realize this is a bit of an older post but I have experience!
I was in your exact situation - studied for 3 years in Asia, changed my mind, and transferred to the US. At my current institution, I was able to get most of my classes transferred as general credits and worked with advisors to match relevant courses to fulfill general education requirements, etc.
I would be honest and report every university you attended.
You said you're starting from the beginning as a Bio major, so this next part isn't applicable, but I want to put my experience out there for others in a similar situation:
I took a lot of upper division Biology courses abroad which were accepted by my US institution. However, after speaking to dental schools, advisors, and starting the application process, I realized I had to retake most of my prerequisites, even if my current school already gave me credit for them. This is because my school doesn't list each transferred course and the corresponding class it counted for - instead, they only provided the total number of transfer credits I received. Different dental schools have different requirements, but my in-state school didn't accept transferred credits unless it was explicitly stated on the transcript. Be aware of this when you begin deciding which schools to apply to and get in contact with their admissions early so you have time to take extra classes if you need.
Anyways, after you add your foreign institution on the application, you have to pay an extra 150+ for the credit transfer service to have your foreign transcript accepted by dental schools (do this in May when the application soft-opens as it takes a few weeks to process).
Once you have all your transcripts (both domestic and international) in, you will have two separate GPA's. Your GPA from your US institution will be analyzed and broken down into science/overall/etc GPA. Your foreign GPA will be in a tiny section on its own. I was worried about this too because my foreign GPA is much lower than what I achieved here. However, judging from the interviews and feedback I've received during this application cycle, having a lower international GPA will not completely put you at a disadvantage as long as you show that you've grown and have an upward trend. For reference, my foreign undergrad GPA was around 3.6, and my foreign professional school GPA was less than 2.0. My current GPA in the US is 3.92. When I brought up my GPA's, interviewers didn't seem too concerned because I showed I was serious about dentistry and had a strong GPA after I transferred to the US.
This is a lot of extra information but I wanted to put it out there for future applicants like you! I had 0 info going into the cycle and was plagued with anxiety for the two years it took me to get to this point. Please feel free to ask more questions or to pm me - I'm happy to answer them!
Best of luck!
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