What is considered as 4 semester units of "Biology" as a prerequisite?

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forsaken heart

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Hi everyone,

I'm looking at the admission requirements for various dental schools and it states for example, their prerequisites are 8 semester units of biology, 8 semester units of chemistry, 8 semester units of organic chemistry, 8 semester units of physics, etc etc.

Not all, but a few of the dental schools continue to say that none of the pre-req courses can have a grade below a C.

I was wondering what is considered as 8 semester units of biology - is it just General Biology or can it be any Biology course. I ask because I messed up my freshmen year of college and got a D+ in general biology I (the very first biology course taken for pre-dents and bio majors). For some reason, I did not re-take it. Will this disqualify me from those dental schools that say no prereq courses below a C will be accepted? Or, is it possible that they will count Physio, Histology, Biochem, Anatomy, Microbiology, Evolution, Ecology, Genetics - any one of those as fulfilling the "biology" pre-req so that I am still qualified to apply to those schools?

I see that some schools are specific as to what they count for the biology pre-req and they do say that other upper division courses can count for the biology pre-req but i'm not sure if I can extrapolate that to all schools, especially since not all dental schools specify on their website and just say 8 units of biology and i'm afraid those schools mean 8 units of only General Biology.

Hopefully this isn't a dumb question.
Thank you!!

edit: I accidentally put 4 units of biology in my title when I meant 8. oops! :)

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Hi everyone,

I'm looking at the admission requirements for various dental schools and it states for example, their prerequisites are 8 semester units of biology, 8 semester units of chemistry, 8 semester units of organic chemistry, 8 semester units of physics, etc etc.

Not all, but a few of the dental schools continue to say that none of the pre-req courses can have a grade below a C.

I was wondering what is considered as 8 semester units of biology - is it just General Biology or can it be any Biology course. I ask because I messed up my freshmen year of college and got a D+ in general biology I (the very first biology course taken for pre-dents and bio majors). For some reason, I did not re-take it. Will this disqualify me from those dental schools that say no prereq courses below a C will be accepted? Or, is it possible that they will count Physio, Histology, Biochem, Anatomy, Microbiology, Evolution, Ecology, Genetics - any one of those as fulfilling the "biology" pre-req so that I am still qualified to apply to those schools?

I see that some schools are specific as to what they count for the biology pre-req and they do say that other upper division courses can count for the biology pre-req but i'm not sure if I can extrapolate that to all schools, especially since not all dental schools specify on their website and just say 8 units of biology and i'm afraid those schools mean 8 units of only General Biology.

Hopefully this isn't a dumb question.
Thank you!!

edit: I accidentally put 4 units of biology in my title when I meant 8. oops! :)

It's not a dumb question at all, however it is a very broad question and one impossible for someone here to answer without making guesses or assumptions.

My suggestion is that you retake that general bio course, that way you will be safe no matter what the situation.

If you absolutely don't want to do that, you'll need to call each school that is NOT specific about what course(s) they consider as fulfilling the biology prereqs at their school. I.e. if the school says general biology, then chances are you'll need to retake, if it says a higher course or any biology course, then you'll probably be okay, if it doesn't say anything, you should call, because who knows what their policy is!

Schools are very weird when it comes to biology prereqs, so again, I cannot emphasize this enough, call the schools and ask what they accept for their 8 credits of biology and if they have a grade requirement, it is the ONLY way to be sure.

It might be worthwhile to enroll in that bio course for the summer before anything else, even if you don't need it, you'll have your seat and can withdraw if you end up not needing it (after contacting schools).
 
All pre reqs should be courses that are designed for science/engineering majors.
 
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