Unusual applicant with intl. degree

[europ321123]

Hello! In pre-med forum they said that it's better to ask here about dental degree.
I am from Russia and now have a bachelor's degree in International Relations, gpa 5 out of 5. I'm also a US green card holder, but I have never studied in the US. At Russian high school, I really liked biology and have 5/5 gpa, but I decided to choose political science.

Now I want to change my career and become a dentist. As I understand it, the best option is a second bachelor's degree in biology, but this is a long time and again I need to maintain a very high gpa to get into dental school.

I recently learned about PostBac Premed/dent Programs. I called several of them. UC Berkeley offers just to take additional courses, and the University of Virginia has a one-year program of necessary PRE-REC for medical/dental school. But they told me that they can take me, but the dental/med schools will ask for 90 credits in the US, so this is not the best option for me. Whether this is true? Maybe I didn't find something on the forum, sorry.

The main question is, what do you think is the best way for me to become a successful dental school applicant. Of course, I would like to do everything faster, because of my age.

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[doc toothache]

You might skate by without a second bachelor degree, but US dental schools require prerequisites to have been taken at a US institution. Trying not "to do everything faster, because of" your "age" might be the path "to become a successful dental school applicant". Squeezing in one year each of biology, general chemistry, organic, and physics as well as other science prerequisites may prove to be a challenge. Rest assured that even UV could not possibly achieve that feat. You may want to recheck your understanding about the 90 credits requirement.

 

[europ321123]

You might skate by without a second bachelor degree, but US dental schools require prerequisites to have been taken at a US institution. Trying not "to do everything faster, because of" your "age" might be the path "to become a successful dental school applicant". Squeezing in one year each of biology, general chemistry, organic, and physics as well as other science prerequisites may prove to be a challenge. Rest assured that even UV could not possibly achieve that feat. You may want to recheck your understanding about the 90 credits requirement.

Thanks for reply. I found out that a lot of cheap Universities have pre-dent, but they have low rank. How do you think, what would be better, bachelor from state university (like Worcester state university or Chadron State College) 4 year with pre-dent track or Post-Back from more prestigious like US Berkeley or U. Virginia
Best regards

 

[doc toothache]

Thanks for reply. I found out that a lot of cheap Universities have pre-dent, but they have low rank. How do you think, what would be better, bachelor from state university (like Worcester state university or Chadron State College) 4 year with pre-dent track or Post-Back from more prestigious like US Berkeley or U. Virginia
Best regards

It appears that you have caught the "prestige bug". There is only one school in the US that actually offers a b.s. in pre dentistry. Pre-health, pre-law, etc claims have no value except to signal one's intended path, which may or may not come to fruition. It certainly is a feather in one's hat if a degree/academic training comes from a "prestigious" academic institution; However, there may be little value to the stamp if the gpa is sub par.