<p>Hello guys I am going to try an apply to a dental school in the future that allows up to 60 community college credits and all of them may be dental school prerequisites I.E. Physics, chemistry, ect. (Please don't waste my and your time by saying they don't and we end up playing posting tag trying to prove that they do, just take my word for it and even if you don't believe me who gives a crap haha) My question is I am going to first get an associates at cc and then transfer over to a 4 year university to get my bachelors. The problem is at community college the associates would be 60 credits right from the door which would force me to fulfill my prerequisites at a 4-year university which I can't afford (Please leave out the rude "If you can't afford it then don't become a dentist" or the oh so common "community college kids are stupid" I am very passionate about this career path but despite this fact I know some smart aleck people will still leave these types of comments Im just trying to nip them in the bud before hand haha) Anyways all I wanna know is say I completed all of pre dental prerequisites as well as my associates and transfered my associates (60 credits) to a 4 year university to get my bachelors how would the dental schools evaluate that? Would they say okay this kid has way to many credits at community college over 120 or instead because I got my bachelors at a 4-year institution will they just see it as a bachelors at a 4 year university on the transcript and not even pay attention to the fact that i got half of the credits being the associates at a cc? </p>
<p>Also when I transfer the cc credits to a 4 year university that accepts them does this in a way make it look as if I didn't even go to a cc because in the end Im earning a higher degree at a 4-year institution. In other words does it looks as if I didn't even get my associates at a cc in the first place because the degree will just say "bachelors". I hope I haven't confused you please be very descriptive and if you have done this before or something similar please let me know if not give me your best opinion. Thank You!</p>
<p>No. Any credits earned at a CC will show up on your transcript as transfer credits with the name of the institution where you earned them. Transferred credit/grades are not used when calculating your GPA at your 4 year college, although credit may be grant towards fulfilling your graduation requirements.</p>
<p>When you go to apply thru ADEA, you must report each and every college you ever took coursework at.</p>
<p>From the ADEA FAQs:</p>
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</p>
<p>You will also need to send original, sealed transcripts from every college you ever took coursework at, including dual enrollment credits earned in high school and any non-degree or summer program classes.</p>
<p>I’ll keep this short, as you seem interested in nipping a lot of things in the bud, as it were. First, read WOW’s post carefully: bottom line, all college courses will be reported. So the fact that you got credits from a CC will be self-evident. But will this hurt you? Hard to say; I’d suggest that if you knock the DAT out of the park that will validate your good CC grades so no problem. Other posters on this site suggest that’s not correct, and that at a minumum you’d need to take upper level science courses at the 4 year school to which you transferred to validate the CC grades.
So the dental schools are going to see all your transcripts-including the CC-so you’ll need to work at doing well everywhere, as dental school is one competitive field. But I suggest it can be done the way you plan(CC to 4yr to dental).<br>
All that said, I’d recommend visiting the ADA’s website-ADA.org has info on admissions-and start looking at the specific dental school websites as I have no idea what else is needed(e.g. do you need to shadow a dentist?) to be a strong candidate.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, that even if your 4yr institution transcript somehow didn’t mention that the courses were taken at a CC, failure to report all colleges attended would constitute fraud, and there is a national student clearinghouse that makes this easily detectable. </p>
<p>Dental school is competitive, and even if there are schools that accept CC courses for pre-reqs, you have to keep in mind that no matter what they say about the relative value of these CC courses, you are at a disadvantage compared to the people who went to a 4 year institution and did the pre-reqs there. In order to overcome this, you have a couple different options:
[ul]
[<em>]take the pre-reqs at CC, then complete upper level courses in those fields once at the 4 year school to prove that you can handle the academic rigor
[</em>]take none of the dental pre-reqs at CC, thus avoiding any question of the worth of the coursework, then when you get to the 4 year university, take the pre-reqs
[/ul]</p>
<p>Again, we could go back and forth for days (which I won’t) about the worth of CC and the academic rigor of a large CC in a major metro vs some tiny 4 year state college in Pig’s Knuckle, Arkansas, but it’s about the competition and figuring out how to present yourself best compared to everyone else applying.</p>
<p>What do you mean take the pre reqs at cc and then the upper level ones at a 4 year institution? If i take the pre reqs at cc wont tha include the upper level? Be more specific when you say upper level and what not…</p>
<p>Pre req: Bio 101 and 102 at the community college
Upper level: Animal physiology OR cell bio OR genetics OR zoology OR any other upper level bio taken at the 4 year</p>
<p>Doing well in the upper levels will show that you’re a great science student in spite of taking important classes at a community college.</p>