Chance Me: Hispanic high school junior to University of Oklahoma for pre-dent [4.0 HS GPA, #1 rank, 25 ACT, will retry]

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Demographics

  • US Citizen
  • State/Location of residency: I am from Oklahoma, and wanting to attend University of Oklahoma.
  • Type of high school (current college for transfers): Junior, in a public highschool. I am currently also attending a community college to recieve college credits.
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (optional): Hispanic/latina
  • Other special factors (first generation to college, legacy, athlete, etc.): I am a first generation student.

Intended Major(s): I want to be a pre-dent major, going into Dentistry.

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): My highschool does not use weighted GPA and the highest GPA you can recieve is a 4.0
  • College GPA (for transfers): N/A
  • Class Rank: First
  • ACT/SAT Scores: 25(I am planning on re-taking the ACT and I am aiming for a 28+)

Coursework
(AP/IB/Dual Enrollment classes, AP/IB scores for high school; also include level of math and foreign language reached and any unusual academic electives; for transfers, describe your college courses and preparation for your intended major(s)): I do Dual Enrollment with a community college near where I live. I have currently done both my Comp I and my Comp II there. I am about to apply to do more classes there for my senior year.

Awards

Extracurriculars
(Include leadership, summer activities, competitions, volunteering, and work experience): I have volunteered at my town’s library, and my church. I am also doing volunteering at my local hospital, and I intend on volunteering throught my senior year. I am also wanting to job shadow my dentist, and am in the process of setting that up. I am in my school’s FCCLA, BETA, and STUCCO. Last summer I went to the OU minority conference during the spring of 2022.

Schools
The only Univeristy/college I have my eyes set on has been OU for as long as I can remember.

In reality, I know this might be a far-fetched dream. Everyone around me constantly tells me to set my sights on dreams that are more obtainable, and to major in Buisness. I have nothing against Buisness but my dream has always been to help people, and make them feel better, I have always wanted to become a dentist or an optomitrist, and this is my last hope in wanting this dream to come true. I always work hard for my goals, I just need to know what my probabilites of being admitted are so I don’t put all my eggs in one basket.

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I can’t chance you because I’m not an adcom…but read the link I’m posting. University of Oklahoma has the option of applying test optional…read the link for more info.

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Yes, that might be a good option. But if she can get her test scores up, there are automatic scholarships that she could qualify for that might be helpful.

As an Oklahoma resident, #1 in her class, with a 4.0, it seems promising that she could get into OU. But if she does get in the question is can she afford it?

OP, do you have a budget for college? Are you enrolled in the Oklahoma Promise program? It looks like you need to enroll before your senior year if you are eligible.

https://www.okhighered.org/okpromise/

4

Will you get into OU - absolutely. It’s a fine school but admissions wise it’s relatively easy with a high rate of acceptance - 73%. It’s a super campus - we visited for their top meteorology program. Really nice. You’ll coast in for admissions.

Will you get into pre-dental. You’ll know in two years - because that’s when you apply. You must keep a 3.5 there to have a good chance per their website. Plus 90 credits and 100 hours of shadowing.

Good luck.

Freshman Class Profile (ou.edu)

5

Pre-dental students can do any major, but also need to take the dental school prerequisites. Some majors may overlap with more of these prerequisites than others. DDS Apply lists the undergraduate pre-dental courses and other preparation that OU dental school wants to see, although other dental schools may vary somewhat. Expect admission to be much more competitive than the minimum of 2.5 college GPA listed to apply. There is also a standardized test, the DAT, that needs to be taken.

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I am saying - OU is a breeze but will he get into pre dental?

You can’t apply now - so that’s the question.

7

Since pre-dental is not a major, getting into pre-dental is not the issue, unless space in the pre-dental courses is scarce or the pre-dental extracurricular opportunities are hard to get. Of course, getting into dental school is the hard part. Dental school can also be very expensive.

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You are doing really well. Your guidance counselor will know better than what your chances are at UO, and what your chances are for a merit scholarship. To me it looks like you should be solid for admissions to OU. You have earned this through a lot of hard work.

I want to talk about something else – what happens after you get to OU. Basically I am going to say what someone should have said to me before I went off to university.

Really top students often have a relatively easy time in high school. It is not necessary to study all that hard because high school classes are not all that difficult. I am not saying that this applies to you, just that it does happen sometimes.

When you get to university expect that classes will get more difficult at some point. This might happen the first week. It might happen the first semester. It might not happen until later. However it is very likely to happen at some point.

At that point some very strong students need to learn study skills in a hurry. You need to attend every class and pay attention. Sitting near the front is usually a good idea. You need to make an effort to stay ahead in your class work. Start homework early. Understand that many students are going to need to do homework on weekends. You should keep a written list of what work you still need to get done. Keeping this list in your head might not work quite as well as it used to.

Also, some pre-dental classes are likely to be particularly difficult. Find out which these are (I am more familiar with premed classes because one daughter was pre-vet and the required classes are the same for pre-vet and premed). As an example from premed classes, Organic Chemistry is famous for being difficult. We occasionally see posts from students here on CC from students who are taking Organic Chemistry as a freshman in university and are suffering. It is a better idea to wait a bit on the most difficult classes, and make sure that you are solid in the prerequisite classes. My daughters both waited until Junior year of university to take Organic Chemistry, and were in good shape to do well in the class.

I would not be telling you to set a “more realistic” goal. Given how well you are doing up to now, I think that you can do this.

I do not see much discussion of budget about. I am guessing that dental school is probably similar to medical school and veterinary school (DVM programs) in the sense that it is expensive. However, being in-state for OU with superb stats should allow your undergraduate study to be at least relatively affordable.

I would try to do some preparation and either retake the ACT or try the SAT. If nothing else, it is probably a good idea to get a bit more experience with taking these sorts of standardized tests. In our experience some preparation does seem to help.

For premed classes, students are often cautioned not to take the required premed classes in community college while they are still in high school. One issue is that medical schools often require that the classes be taken at a four year university. Also, again you are likely to do better in the tougher classes after you get some more preparation. I do not know how much the same issue applies to dental programs.

I also think that shadowing a dentist is a good idea.

I am impressed by how well you are doing up to now. Keep up the good work and I think that you will most likely succeed at whatever you try to do!

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