Where do I start?

[grapevine24]

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Hello everyone!

I am a 22-year-old RN BSN looking to start the journey to dental school. I graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing with a 3.21 GPA. Initially, after school, I thought I would be interested in pursuing an MD but have since changed my mind after my experiences in the hospital environment and working closely with MDs. I have worked with a few dentists and oral surgeons in my year of being a nurse and I believe dentistry would be the best career for me. I'm interested in attending dental school in Texas, more specifically either A&M, UTHSCSA, or Texas Tech, which I've heard are all pretty competitive. I've started shadowing dentists virtually through different sources due to COVID. I essentially need to take all the Texas prerequisites aside from Chem 1 and Bio 1 & 2. My question is do I have to attend another 4 year university within the UT system (where I got my BSN degree) to raise my overall GPA or would I be able to take the remainder of my pre-dental courses at a community college to raise the GPA? Also how do AP courses from high school factor in to the sGPA? I received college credit for Biology 1 & 2 based on my AP score in high school.

 

[norootcanalspls]

Best way to get your answer is directly working and talking with admissions at the schools you are interested in. This is also a great way to stay connected!

To answer your question, from my own personal experience, they will always tell you to take your classes at an University to be more competitive. It was really expensive for me to take ALL of my prerequisites and recommended courses at Uni, so I took physics and gen Chem at CC as well as anatomy & physiology (felt iffy about taking this at CC so I emailed admissions to double check that it was ok and accepted). I also took genetics.

When I couldn’t take anymore classes at CC because it wasn’t considered upper division, I started taking all of my upper division Biology (~7) courses at Uni! I also took organic chemistry here too.

whenever you aren’t too sure or confident with your schedule, it’s ok to email and ask for clarification.

just make sure to get all As! Show a strong upward trend 🙂 good luck.

 

[doc toothache]

Hello everyone!

I am a 22-year-old RN BSN looking to start the journey to dental school. I graduated with my Bachelors of Science in Nursing with a 3.21 GPA. Initially, after school, I thought I would be interested in pursuing an MD but have since changed my mind after my experiences in the hospital environment and working closely with MDs. I have worked with a few dentists and oral surgeons in my year of being a nurse and I believe dentistry would be the best career for me. I'm interested in attending dental school in Texas, more specifically either A&M, UTHSCSA, or Texas Tech, which I've heard are all pretty competitive. I've started shadowing dentists virtually through different sources due to COVID. I essentially need to take all the Texas prerequisites aside from Chem 1 and Bio 1 & 2. My question is do I have to attend another 4 year university within the UT system (where I got my BSN degree) to raise my overall GPA or would I be able to take the remainder of my pre-dental courses at a community college to raise the GPA? Also how do AP courses from high school factor in to the sGPA? I received college credit for Biology 1 & 2 based on my AP score in high school.

2015 Community College/Advanced Placement and DS Admission

For 2015 a few schools have become more lenient on their stance on accepting CC/ AP credits.

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[gyoku]

There is no need to take classes specifically at UT system schools because any university coursework will work. Just do a year or two getting your prereqs done. University is best, but if that's not an option do your lower levels at CC and upper levels at a university. Double check the Dschool websites to see if they have any rules on this (some will not accept more than 30~ CC class hours). Make sure to keep sequences together (ex: gen chem 1 & 2 should be taken at the same place, don't take 1 at CC and 2 somewhere else). Basically you want to demonstrate you are not taking CC courses to get out of difficult coursework. I've talked to the UTSA & TxTech admin people & they ~strongly~ counseled against using AP courses to meet course requirements. Take it again to have a good foundation, and as a bonus you will get a gpa boost that AP scores won't provide.

 

[2thPirate🦷]

Also how do AP courses from high school factor in to the sGPA? I received college credit for Biology 1 & 2 based on my AP score in high school.

AP credits don’t count towards your GPA, and seconding what @gyoku said, you should look into retaking those classes. Plus, it’s basically intro bio courses, so if you study well enough they should be easy, even if you take them at a Uni instead of a CC. Good luck!!