undergraduate Engineering major good for Dental School?

[calknight14]

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I'm attending the University of Central Florida as a freshman this summer on the Pre-Dental track. I'm trying to decide what my major should be though. I originally planned on majoring in chemistry but I recently dual enrolled in an Embry Riddle engineering course and really started to enjoy it. I know that i still want to become a dentist but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on if I should stick with chem or go for engineering?

 

[subdoc]

I'm attending the University of Central Florida as a freshman this summer on the Pre-Dental track. I'm trying to decide what my major should be though. I originally planned on majoring in chemistry but I recently dual enrolled in an Embry Riddle engineering course and really started to enjoy it. I know that i still want to become a dentist but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on if I should stick with chem or go for engineering?

Major in whatever makes you happy. Just be sure to nail all your pre-dent prereqs. I went to an undergrad where the core curriculum was so Engineering-heavy, I chose English. If you end up being a dental student you will be didactically "equalized" in your D School curriculum.

People will say, Bio this, Microbio that for undergrad choices. Sure, it will make some portions of D School easier, but so will hard work and fresh perspective. Do what makes you happy...if Engineering, so be it. It will make you unique to the Admissions Committe anyway, and gives you a good career to fall back on if dentitsry is not your cup of tea in three plus years.

 

[Scoopie12]

So the Pre-Dental track your enrolling in doesn't involve being a certain major?

If you know how to take care of business in the classroom it doesn't matter what you major in as you will likely be accepted into dental school either way. But if your looking to be better prepared it is adviced to probably pursue a science major. I majored in Civil Engineering and only took the pre-reqs and had to enter a post-bac for a year (have now been accepted into Baylor) and now find it very different than engineering. Engineering is all about problem solving and figuring out stuff. Biology classes are just raw information in a text and you really have to study them differently. However, they did tell me do something that you would be happy doing if you didn't get into dental school with. So I could've been Biomedical Science and played with urine or sold medical supplies but I passed.

What sort of engineering are you interested in?

 

[calknight14]

I'm not really sure. The class mostly covered Aeronautical, we designed our own rockets, fueling systems, ect. and then presented them in front of a local airport and reps from Embry and while that is what mostly got me interested, I'm not sure that it was the rocket part, mainly just the designing part. Unfortunatly UCF doesnt offer Chemical Engineering and I'm not sure if other types of engineering would help me with my goal or not.

 

[doc toothache]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=701115

 

[Scoopie12]

I'm not really sure. The class mostly covered Aeronautical, we designed our own rockets, fueling systems, ect. and then presented them in front of a local airport and reps from Embry and while that is what mostly got me interested, I'm not sure that it was the rocket part, mainly just the designing part. Unfortunatly UCF doesnt offer Chemical Engineering and I'm not sure if other types of engineering would help me with my goal or not.

Sounds like you are interested in Aerospace Engineering. At our university in Senior Design you either designed a rocket or an airplane. However, Engineering in College isn't all making rockets and fun stuff. The beginning years are focused on physics, math, and basics then you go into statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials and programming before you ever get into design concepts in your junior and senior year.

Don't get too caught up on one thing, that's how I ended up a Civil Engineer major and was lucky to get back into dental pre-reqs but it did cost me an extra year of college.

The best advice I could give would be to try something like Biomedical Engineering if they have that at UCF. Otherwise, you may want to try to just be undecided for your first semester and take some of both classes. Take a Biology class, a Physics, a Calculus, and a Chemistry class. See what you like, if you like the physics and calculus then you can try to enter your engineering college (you have to take biology and chemistry anyway for dental prereqs so its not a waste). If you like the Biology and Chemistry more then just consider going into Chemistry.

 

[DentalGrad]

Majoring in engineering will make your 4 years of college more rigorous than they have to be. It will also impact your GPA & your science GPA because AADSAS calculates engineering classes with science classes. If you're sure you want to be a dentist, my advice is to not major in engineering. If you're not 100% sure, the great thing about engineering is that when you graduate college you have actual skills that will be marketable in the job market.

 

[JPGator3]

I've found that most schools don't care about an engineering degree (I was a ChemE). They only care about your GPA and sGPA. So, if you are dead set on dentistry, it's probably a waste of time and effort. Just keep your GPA up with a less rigorous major and focus your free time on extracurriculars/experience/research.

If you are uncertain, it's definitely a good fall-back plan though.

 

[Palmetto914]

It's a lot more than just a "good fall-back plan.". Engineering teaches you a way of analytical thinking that applies to just about anything in life. Dentistry is no exception. Diagnosing is problem solving. Most of the work you do for restoration, etc is all based on the fundamentals of mechanical design. Material science and chemistry give you insight into all the substances you use in your procedures. You'll tend to be more confident with technology because you'll actually be able to understand the basics of how it works. And I really can't say enough about the analytical thinking skill set it gives you. Even if you don't remember how to work through that diff eq problem or that 4-page long heat transfer question, you'll still end up with a solid foundation of critical thinking and technical confidence. If you can handle the math, I'd say go for it. 50% of the applicants will be bio majors. Less than 3% will be engineering majors. Engineering majors have an enrollment percentage that is nearly 10% higher than any other undergrad major (45%). Now that doesn't ensure you'll get in, but it sure doesn't hurt your chances (unless you can't cut the work and have a 2.0 GPA.)