UTSA vs. UTA vs. Texas Tech pre-dental

[Franc]

I have been accepted to all three schools. My financial situation is the same for all. I will be majoring in biology. My goal is to get accepted into dental school. Ive read a lot about how undergraduate school doesn't matter. "go wherever you want." But I still feel the need to get a second opinion on which out of three would be a good school to study pre dental. My intentions were on going to Texas Tech until I read on a couple of forums that it was excluded as a good pre med school because of that fact that is very difficult to get all A's. I know what it takes to get A's and don't need a response in reference to that. My question is which out of three would give me a good pre dental education and allow me to be competitive for dental admissions. Im leaning more towards UTSA since they do have a dental school and also I'm leaning more towards UTA or UTSA since the 2 out of 3 dental schools in Texas are part of the UT system.(UTHSC Houston and San Antonio) Thank you.

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[lwen5]

People have told you right. Go where you will get the highest GPA. Nobody gives a jack where you went for undergrad, trust me. I go to a top 25 univ and I've gotten no brownie points in the app process. I urge you to get real time input from students on those campuses who are pre-med/predental as to how easy classes are, how they like it etc. I also think you should factor whichever one is closest to home. That may sound stupid, but when you are in dire need of help when a disaster strikes, it is good to have family close by. If you can't live closeby/absolutely don't want to then replace this with whichever one has cheapest living costs. Getting a nicer place to come home to can do wonders for your mental and physical health. Having dental schools on campus is cool, but note that many dental schools aren't too receptive to undergrads for research. Not saying that it can't be done. Avoid Texas Tech if its too hard.

 

[slm266]

Go to the cheapest 4 yr university where you can get a high GPA. Also have a fun experience in college, you only get to do undergrad once. We have plenty of students who went to UT, A&M,... Only 1 from Tech is in my class at Baylor. What undergrad you attend within texas doesn't really play any part in your acceptance or really give you any advantage. So have fun in college and study hard!

 

[sgv]

I would save money for dental school and go to the cheapest undergrad. I don't think any of the "prestigious" dental schools gave a crap about where I went for bachelor's. Unless you can give us a good reason for spending more, most of us are going to say that you should go cheap-o. I think my numbers and extracurricular's overshadowed my school's name. You should do the same and spend the effort in getting a high GPA, DAT, and extracurricular involvement than to be passive and rely on your [high school performance -> nice college name] to carry you to professional school.

At the last ADA meeting, a lot of the dentists were talking about how uncertain the future of dentistry would be considering universal healthcare, midlevel providers, consumer investment in their oral health (or lack thereof), skyrocketing cost of dental school, and saturation. Dentistry in the coming years is not going to look like what it used to be. So save where you can and set yourself up for the best economic success. Getting into dental school school is a number's game (GPA and DAT), not a letter game (school name).

With that said, I am a bit biased and like UTA.

 

[SafetyDog]

Are you talking about UT-Arlington or UT-Austin? Below, I'm referring to Austin.

I don't think it's as easy as going to the university where you can get the highest GPA. My friend who did the CAP program at UTSA to transfer over to UTA said UTSA was much easier and I'm sure adcoms know that. That being said, I would take a 3.9 at UTSA over a 3.5 at UTA.

Personally, if all schools cost the same, I would go to UTA since it's a more recognized school worldwide and will also provide a lot more opportunities to do different things than the smaller schools; e.x. the sheer diversity here and awesome researchers if you're into that. Also, I'd think you have a more fun time at UT provided how large it is <--- just a personal bias 🙂.

Another thing is UTA has a good pre-dent organization imo.

Another thing your interviewer might be an alumni of UTA, so he'll favor you too.

 

[strawberr]

you want the highest GPA, cheapest tuition, and still time to have fun...that's where you want to go. At the end of the day, your GPA and DAT scores are going to get you an interview (for the most part) along with EC's. If you can do that then where you go to school for your undergrad really doesn't matter. I'm from Canada and I know none of the schools I applied to in the US have heard of the university that I went to because it's not even one of the "top" universities in Canada and I have received 10 interviews. You need to focus on getting that high GPA!

 

[strawberr]

Also one of my interviews was at UTHSC-SA if that gives you hope!

 

[TXAggieDDS]

Where you go for your undergrad doesn't really matter, as long as you can maintain a good GPA. The main factors that can get you into dental school, learned based on my own experience, are : 1. good GPA 2. high DAT, and 3. Extracurricular Activities (Community service, shadowing hours, leadership roles). Remember this, the third factor only comes into play when you have 1 and 2....this will differentiate you from a socially awkward applicant with a 3.9 gpa and 24 dat across the line. Also no matter what you have done in 3, as long as 1 and 2 are not met, Extracurricular Activities mean nothing! So all three should go hand in hand, with a bit more focus on 1 and 2.
Also a side note, UTSA and UTHSC in San Antonio are two separate entities....they have nothing to do with one another. I know Texas A&M is not on your list but you may want to just consider it. Choosing A&M over UT Austin was one of the best decisions I ever made. The Aggie family, network, and support is like an unbreakable bond. All the resources and opportunities at A&M are countless. Just as an example, we have OPSA that wrote us composite letters and helped us through out the whole application process.

 

[Jbrowndds]

I'm going to UTSA in the fall. Its a great school. I hear its not as hard as ut Austin. However, I would totally go to UT Austin in a heartbeat.

 

[b-rad12]

I have been accepted to all three schools. My financial situation is the same for all. I will be majoring in biology. My goal is to get accepted into dental school. Ive read a lot about how undergraduate school doesn't matter. "go wherever you want." But I still feel the need to get a second opinion on which out of three would be a good school to study pre dental. My intentions were on going to Texas Tech until I read on a couple of forums that it was excluded as a good pre med school because of that fact that is very difficult to get all A's. I know what it takes to get A's and don't need a response in reference to that. My question is which out of three would give me a good pre dental education and allow me to be competitive for dental admissions. Im leaning more towards UTSA since they do have a dental school and also I'm leaning more towards UTA or UTSA since the 2 out of 3 dental schools in Texas are part of the UT system.(UTHSC Houston and San Antonio) Thank you.

As a current Texas Tech student I recommend against tech. The Pre-Dental population here is very small and not very informed, and you are basically on your own as far as applying goes because the Pre-Professional faculty members are terrible and I didn't even know they existed until my junior year. So you would be on your own for gathering information, letters of rec... etc. However, the Pre-Dental Society at tech is very helpful. Due to the small size of it everyone is very good friends and open for new people to join them. We always go on a few trips a semester to things such as TMOM which are very fun, but I am sure all Pre-Dental societies do that. I did however get accepted to Baylor yesterday so I am pumped about that! One other person from tech was accepted also, and me and him are the only two I know of who got accepted.. So I don't think TTU represents a good proportion of students in Dental School. WRECK 'EM!

I forgot to mention, you would be hard pressed to find a harder Biology I and II class than TTU's. If you can make an A in that the first go around you are the real deal.

 

[CityRaider]

I love Tech but had I known that dental schools don't take into consideration the difficulty of X vs Y school's curriculum beforehand I would have gone elsewhere to augment my GPA. Biology I and II are very difficult to get As in and, depending on your professor, Cell Biology is nearly impossible to get an A. Most other Biology courses aren't too bad. The Chemistry, Math and Physics departments are all over the place and you will either get an easy A or work unbelievably hard for a B depending on your professor.

Good school though, especially if you like the draw of Big 12 sports and such. Tech is a party school to some degree so you need to be able to balance fun and work or else you'll never catch up (trust me on this).

 

[catman856]

As a current Texas Tech student I recommend against tech. The Pre-Dental population here is very small and not very informed, and you are basically on your own as far as applying goes because the Pre-Professional faculty members are terrible and I didn't even know they existed until my junior year. So you would be on your own for gathering information, letters of rec... etc. However, the Pre-Dental Society at tech is very helpful. Due to the small size of it everyone is very good friends and open for new people to join them. We always go on a few trips a semester to things such as TMOM which are very fun, but I am sure all Pre-Dental societies do that. I did however get accepted to Baylor yesterday so I am pumped about that! One other person from tech was accepted also, and me and him are the only two I know of who got accepted.. So I don't think TTU represents a good proportion of students in Dental School. WRECK 'EM!

I forgot to mention, you would be hard pressed to find a harder Biology I and II class than TTU's. If you can make an A in that the first go around you are the real deal.

hey i was reading the forums for dental schools in Texas and saw your post about Texas Tech(the school im going) i wanted to ask if the pre dental club at ttu is very populated? in other words is there many students who are part of that club?

 

[SM555]

About 20 members

 

[Baileyy259]

As far as people who have their emails on the list, there are a fair amount. But as far as actual pre dental students who intend on going to dental school and come to the meetings, I would say 10-20. The pre dental community at Tech is very small and I agree that we don't get that much help and the advisors have no clue about anything involving the admissions process.

However, Tech is such a great school and a great experience. If you want to have fun in your undergrad and still receive a great degree, come to Tech!!

Also, the BIOL 1 and 2 courses here are extremely difficult. Prof Dini is infamous around here and for a good reason. As hard as his class is, coming here would prepare you 100000x more than a smaller school for the DAT and dental school courses. Dini writes questions for the MCAT and structures his courses for that. Yes, it is hard but I feel very prepared for my future Biology endeavors.

Hope this helped and wreck em 🙂

 

[catman856]

As far as people who have their emails on the list, there are a fair amount. But as far as actual pre dental students who intend on going to dental school and come to the meetings, I would say 10-20. The pre dental community at Tech is very small and I agree that we don't get that much help and the advisors have no clue about anything involving the admissions process.

However, Tech is such a great school and a great experience. If you want to have fun in your undergrad and still receive a great degree, come to Tech!!

Also, the BIOL 1 and 2 courses here are extremely difficult. Prof Dini is infamous around here and for a good reason. As hard as his class is, coming here would prepare you 100000x more than a smaller school for the DAT and dental school courses. Dini writes questions for the MCAT and structures his courses for that. Yes, it is hard but I feel very prepared for my future Biology endeavors.

Hope this helped and wreck em 🙂

ah ok thanks! one question I would like to ask if dr dini bio courses are mainly bout memorization?in other words does he try to trick you?also how many hours a day did you study for his class?(sorry for my bad typing)

 

[SM555]

ah ok thanks! one question I would like to ask if dr dini bio courses are mainly bout memorization?in other words does he try to trick you?also how many hours a day did you study for his class?(sorry for my bad typing)

They're completely memorization. However, the level of memorization he expects makes them very tricky. You have to memorize every single detail he says frontwards, backwards, inside out and in 4 different languages. I took him these past two semesters and one test he mentioned chorionic villi in class for about 20 seconds and the test had a full essay you had to write about them. I haven't started my biology prep for DAT yet but I took DAT boot camp bio test one and scored a 19 so the class was worth the hard work. Each week I went to class (3 hours), went to both SI sessions (3 hours), re watched the lectures for the week (4hours), and reviewed my notes (3hours), and got mid As in bio 1 and 2. You have four test each semester plus a final and on test weeks I studied much much longer. Biology 2 is a different beast because of the lab. It's miserable

 

[Baileyy259]

^agreed. He claims its not "memorization" because he doesn't want to sound like one of those prof but essentially it is. But truly truly worth the headache for the great study skills you learn and knowledge gained.

 

[catman856]

^agreed. He claims its not "memorization" because he doesn't want to sound like one of those prof but essentially it is. But truly truly worth the headache for the great study skills you learn and knowledge gained.

how about chemistry? is dominick casadonte the best ttu chem in tech? Im looking at the prereq courses for dental school and my main concern is chemistry/o-chemistry...

 

[Baileyy259]

I have always heard that he is awesome, and I wish I could have taken him, but he is an honors college only professor. I have taken Gellene, Grimes and Lee so far. Lee is my all time favorite because of his teaching style and attitude. Gellene is so smart that he has a hard time teaching things in an easy way- also the Chem Dept Head. Grimes is the worst prof I have ever had but is a nice person. That is just my opinion on the prof in the General Chemistry area!

 

[SXCoronado]

.

 

[Thanhn]

Met some girls in Gulf Shores, AL from TTU during spring break. Go there, for sure.

 

[catman856]

I have always heard that he is awesome, and I wish I could have taken him, but he is an honors college only professor. I have taken Gellene, Grimes and Lee so far. Lee is my all time favorite because of his teaching style and attitude. Gellene is so smart that he has a hard time teaching things in an easy way- also the Chem Dept Head. Grimes is the worst prof I have ever had but is a nice person. That is just my opinion on the prof in the General Chemistry area!

thanks i was already looking towards casadonte...

 

[catman856]

Met some girls in Gulf Shores, AL from TTU during spring break. Go there, for sure.

Were they hot/cute?

 

[TheEpicFruitCake]

Yeah UT science is pretty hard. If the above posts are true, then I'd go with the easiest school. Just make sure you have a good DAT when it comes down to it or adcoms will question the quality of that 4.0 🙂 I have many friends that transferred from UT Austin to UTSA after their freshman year and they tell me that its a joke (comparatively) so my recommendation goes to UTSA.

 

[Jbrowndds]

I actually switch schools at the last minute. I will be attending UT Dallas. I haven't started there yet but I can say it's worth a look. You won't get the party experience but you will get a quality education. They have a very active pre dental society and a lot of great volunteering opportunities. They even have a special degree plan for pre med/pre dental students that allows you to major in healthcare studies. They have a lot of events and classes ranging from personal statement writing to mock interviewing and they have a health professions advising center with a committee that writes LORs.