what undergraduate degree did you get?

[babylikekiss]

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Hi, I am a newbie here. I recently decide that I should take a chance with dentistry, so I wonder what should I get for an undergraduate degree? Should I do a biochem or biological? What did you guys do? Even if I decide not to persuade dental school 3 or 4 years from now, what degree would you think is beneficial for an undergraduate?
Also, when do you usually take the DAT and apply to dental school? In 3rd year? When do you take prep course for DAT? I am a community college transfer, I don't know when you should start preparing for your application.
The university(UN of las vegas), which I plan to transfer to, have a accelerated program which requires student to complete three years of undergraduate for their dental school. This program offers preprofessional courses for their dental school? Should I consider it? Or just take courses to fulfill the undergrad degree (and take these preprofessional course as electives)? Do you guys take preprofessional courses to prepare for your application?

Honestly, I start college as a business major, but I don't think that a business undergrad degree might be a best choice right now, that's why i consider being a dentist, or a job within the medical field. It does offer job security and financial security. I just move to the States 1 year ago. Science was never my strong field. I mean, I can do science courses, and probably be good at it I really committed to it. And I know that you should do something that you love and all that, but let's face it, real life doesn't work the way you want it to. So I think that I should at least try "experimenting" with it to see if it works for me.
Sorry that I rant too much, I just want to know if anyone has been in the same situation as me.

 

[msunii]

i'm in current cycle and i got accepted to 1 school and waitlisted for 2 schools so far. one thing i want to tell you is i'm a visual arts major and this is my fifth year in college now.
i was a econ major first 2~3 years of undergrad as my univ. is well known for econ program but thought it's not my thing and therefore i changed to pre-dent. art is one thing that i've been enjoying for more than 10 years of my life, so i decided a major that i can enjoy and related to my everyday hobby while taking all pre req. courses, which might be stressful. so for me it was a well balance btw what's fun to study vs. what's sturessful to study.
in terms of DAT i know most of ppl took before june (during 3rd year) as we try to apply asap but me i took my DAT on 8/29 so my app wasnt completed until early september. for me, i rather decided to apply a bit late and have pelnty of time to study for dat then trying to apply asap when i don't feel like i'm ready for dat.
so i think what's most important is how you feel about all the procecure, if you feel ready, go for it, but not if you need more time, it's always better to take a little time and get better schores for DAT or just what you think of dentistry in general rather than hurrying yourself for all those deadlines.
there are #s of ppl who apply for more than once and i consider myself very lucky for getting into a school from my first shot. and i think this was possible cuz i took time to really prepare all i could rather than forcing myself to deadlines and comparing every single thing i do to others.
so good luck and take our time. 🙂

 

[UCLAzy]

stick with ur business major and take all the pre reqs. Itll help if u own a practice and its better to fall back on than a science degree since it doesnt appear that ur initial interest is in science

 

[babylikekiss]

Do you take preprofessional courses in addition to prerequisite courses?

I don't think that a business major would work because people do need more than prerequisite to apply to dental school.

 

[UCLAzy]

there are plenty of nonscience majors at dental school. Do some research

 

[Dental Mom]

My major is Health Sciences and my minor is chemistry--I really like this path as I covered classes in nutrition, all the requirements, and many upper division biology. My major used to be management few yrs ago...so I have that background too.

I read a dental student's profile on the Kaplan website and she said that her major was history--she didn't want to study pure science 8+yrs and liked this combination better...

Don't study something to impress dental schools.....

Major in something that you really REALLY like--you'll be more motivated to study and do well. I think my path is very family friendly now that my kids are young, so it worked for me.

Good luck!

 

[JJBDDS]

I agree with the above post that you should just major in something that you enjoy. Just make sure to take all your prereqs and maybe more science classes if you can. I double majored in Spanish and Latin American & Caribbean Studies. I enjoyed it and I want to work with Hispanic communities locally and abroad. Since I wouldn't learn any of that in dental school, undergrad was my only opportunity to do so. So choose what you like and something that you think will benefit you, science or non-science.

I also took every opportunity to relate my major to dentistry in some way, such as writing my thesis on oral healthcare in Latin America. If it is something you enjoy and you want to do dentistry, you can link dentistry to whatever you major in.

 

[Drill Doc]

Double major:

Art History and Studio Jewelry.