Community college students...how much harder is their acceptance to dental school?

[dentalgirl]

HI, I am currently a student in my second year of college and I go to a community college. I have had a passion for dental school for years now and it is obviously my main focus when it comes to school. I went to Rutgers my first semester of college and when they couldn’t give me the classes I needed to keep up and graduate on time I realized I didn’t have the money or the time to waste. So I came back home to save money and go to Community College. My question, as well of a lot of other CC students as well, is how much harder is it for me to get into dental school? I don’t know where to begin about applying and where to apply, in the case that anyone knows that it’ll be well-near impossible for me to get in. I have a 3.8 GPA, have taken half of my prereques (BIO 1, Chem 1&2, Calc, Eng, PHYS) and am scheduled to take ORGO, PHYS2, and BIO 2 in the spring.

I understand that people have the same, if not better, grades than me at a 4-year University/College but I still have dreams to do what I love. Soo…what’s the damage? Am I going to be applying to dental schools for years before I get in? Will i get in the first year I apply? How can I better my chances?

My DAT studies are approaching and I know as a CC student a lot comes from that…but is there any advice anyone can give to reassure my hopes that if I keep working hard I can get in and do what I love on the first try?

[umcoe16]

Dental schools typically expect you to take all your prereqs at a 4 year university. If they say “strongly recommend”, that implicitly means required.

Many schools do set a limit for how many credits you may take at a CC.

[katliamom]

Agreed with above. Take your gen ed requirements at the community college - all your sciences, math, etc. at a 4 year school. Otherwise you risk having a weaker application than your competition. And it IS a competition…

[Tam1233]

I have a piggy back question…So would you recommend RE-TAKING any dual credit/AP classes earned in high school at a 4 yr college? Thank you

[bopper]

I would tell you to look at some dental schools of interest and see what they accept…picking one randomly, we can see that you cannot take the science pre-reqs at CC or you must take upper level science credits at the 4 year school.
Same deal with AP credits…either re-take or take upper level science classes but they will accept AP credits for Math and English.

The reason is that they want to accept people who can succeed at Dental school…one way they determine that is if you can do well in 4-year institutions science classes. Check other dental schools and see what their requirements are.

"Up to 30 credits of community college work will be accepted, but community college coursework may not be applied to science prerequisites (biology, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics). Science prerequisite courses must be completed at a four-year U.S./Canadian college or university. If you have community college science credits, you should take upper-level courses in the relevant field of study at a four-year institution to earn sufficient prerequisite credits in the topic. It is not necessary to re-take the basic course at a four-year institution if you have advanced coursework in the topic from a four-year institution.

Advanced Placement credit is not accepted toward the science prerequisites. Applicants who received college credit and/or placed out of prerequisite courses because of AP credits must either retake those courses at an accredited four-year United States or Canadian institution or take an equal number of credits in upper-level coursework in the same discipline at a four-year institution.

Advanced Placement credits will be accepted for English and math prerequisites if the degree-granting institution awarded college credit toward the bachelor’s degree."

https://www.bu.edu/dental/admissions/dmd/req/