DS was on a “pre-med” track, and we worried that Alabama would hinder his chances for medical school, however the NMF scholarship was enticing. He initially resisted visiting the campus. After being persuaded he ended up falling in love with the university. The dean explained he would be a big fish in a small pond and have opportunities not available at smaller schools. He was right. Fast forward 4 years-DS just applied to dental school, with the hopes of becoming an oral maxillofacial surgeon. His DAT score puts him at .01% in the country. Every dental school he interviewed at offered him acceptance, including Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, USC, Michigan, Alabama-Birmingham… Several dental schools also offered merit scholarships. His classes at Alabama included molecular biology, genetics, biology of cancer, histology, vertebrate morphology…… If you’re wondering if Alabama is the right school?- I can finally answer the question- Yes! Opportunities for research, leadership, academics and fun abound. His last football game as a student was in Phoenix, AZ at the 2015 National Championship, which he described as “phenomenal”. That’s how we would describe his 4 years at Alabama. Roll Tide!
Congrats to your son!!! and your family!! Thrilling!
An Alabama senior that @robotbldmom and I helped with his Bama admissions four years ago also was accepted to the dental schools he applied to. He also had a fabulous tippy-top DAT score and a 4.0 GPA. Roll Tide!
So happy and proud of these kids’ achievements!!
Great to read, and congrats!
@bamabound7 Congratulations to your son!! Congratulations on your son’s dedication and hard work which has really paid off.
Roll Tide!
@bamabound7. My child has been accepted to UA/Honors College. She is a NMSF. She is planning to major in Chemical Engineering. Her ultimate goal is dental school. Is this a good major? What did @bamabound7 son major in? Congrats on his acceptances to dental school.
@stemfan16 I don’t know what @bamabound7 's son majored in. It appears that he majored in Bio.
The pre-reqs for Dental school are similar to the ones for Med school. My son majored in Chemical Eng’g and is now a 3rd year med student.
many of the ChemE students are premed or have some health professional goal.
As you can see, the prereqs are very similar, so ChemE major fulfills most of the prereqs.
preDental prereqs
PREREQUISITES:
NOTE: EACH DENTAL SCHOOL ESTABLISHES ITS OWN SET OF PREREQUISITES. CHECK THE WEBSITES OF THE SCHOOLS THAT YOU ARE MOST INTERESTED IN TO OBTAIN A CURRENT LIST OF UNDERGRADUATE REQUIREMENTS.
General Biology* BSC 114/115 and BSC 116/117 or honors equivalent, and 4 BSC elective hours
General Chemistry* CH 101 and 102 or honors equivalent
Organic Chemistry* CH 231, CH 232, and CH 237 (lab)
Mathematics* 2 semesters math; MATH 125 required by some schools
General Physics* PH 101 and PH 102 or honors equivalent
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: BSC 300 (Cell Biology)
BSC 450 (Biochemistry)
BSC 315 (Genetics)
*All prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of “C-” or higher.
preMed prereqs
PREREQUISITES:
NOTE: THERE ARE GENERAL PREREQUISTITE COURSES THAT ALL MEDICAL SCHOOLS REQUIRE FOR ADMISSION; HOWEVER, THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER COURSES THAT ARE NOT REQUIRED BY MEDICAL SCHOOLS, BUT ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. PLEASE CHECK THE WEBSITES OF THE SCHOOLS THAT YOU ARE MOST INTERESTED TO OBTAIN A CURRENT LIST OF UNDERGRADUATE REQUIREMENTS.
General Biology: BSC 114/115 and BSC 116/117 or honors equivalent
Biochemistry: BSC 450 (BSC 300 Pre-Requisite) or CH 461 (Pre-Requisite CH 223, CH 232 and CH 237)
General Chemistry: CH 101 and 102 or honors equivalent
Organic Chemistry: CH 231, CH 232 and CH 237 (lab)
Physics: PH 101 and PH 102 or PH 105 and PH 106
Statistics: PY 211, BSC 380, or CHS 425 recommended
Mathematics: MATH 125 is required by some schools
Psychology: PY 101 and SOC 101
English: EN 101 and EN 102 or Honors EN 103 or EN 104 or AP credit
DS is majoring in biology and psychology with a minor in math. His resume includes research, leadership, volunteer work, sports-both intramural and club level. He also worked as a math tutor. He got involved. As an OOS freshman he did not know anyone, now when he walks around the campus it is amazing how many people know him.
@Stemfan16 - DS is a SR at Bama. Was NM and is double majoring in ChemE and Biology and is working a Masters in Bio. He is currently in the process of interviewing for MSTP positions (combination MD - PhD). Has three acceptances in hand and has completed 5 other interviews that he is waiting to hear back from. MCAT score put him well within the top 1% nationally.
Cant speak much for the DAT but between the info from Bamabound7’s DS and from mine I can say that Bama certainly offers the opportunity for someone to excel. It is up to the individual to execute which is true at all schools.
As a side note; He started in ChemE and added Bio after he realized he would have the available time.
@MemphisGuy Congrats to your son! Amazing!
For those who don’t know, those accepted into MD/PhD programs are going into Academic Medicine and acceptance is exceptionally difficult because typically very high stats and extensive research experience are needed. And, as in the case of MG’s son, he was within the top 1% of scorers. MD/PhD students are fully funded by the federal gov’t thru NIH.
I have a UA Facebook group of parents of preprofessionals and this year has been a very successful one - applicants holding multiple acceptances. The only student that didn’t get accepted this year made the critical error of applying very late, right before the deadline. The student and parent were unaware of how critical it is to get your apps in by June/July…rather than Sept/Oct. She also had a poorly-chosen app list. That student will be reapplying this summer (early!) and will have a more sensible app list. I’m confident that she’ll be successful next cycle.
I forgot to comment on @MemphisGuy 's words regarding his son adding Bio as a second major to his ChemE. Yes! If your student comes in with enough AP/DE/CLEP credits, it’s often very doable to add a second major, particularly Biology, Chemistry or Math…or another eng’g discipline. Adding other minors is also doable.
Of course, no one should be adding anything if it would jeopardize their GPA. Med schools don’t give you a pass for having a lower GPA because you’ve added another major or minor.
My ChemE son used his AP credits and was able to easily add minors in Bio, Chem, and Math. He also had 23 Spanish credits, while not a minor, helped with his fluency. And he still had time to complete 6 credits in Italian and take some sort of Physical Conditioning class for interest.
This sums up what makes someone truly successful at any school: taking advantage of all opportunities that come your way. Congrats to these top students!!!
For those of you who know the school well - I have a question. I have a kid of mixed race and very much an out of the box thinker. Since his stats are high the merit scholarships are attractive at Alabama. I wonder however - does the culture of the school welcome kids who are not white and quirky intellectuals?
UA is a large school and there are things for every type of student. There are the Greeks, engineering nerds, LGBTQ groups, etc. Generally it’s a very accepting place and mixed race students would not feel out of place. On the CC board, you have parents of kids who are Jewish, Asian, etc. and none have expressed anything but positive feelings about the school.
hmmm… @what!!! seems to have gone poof.
^^ Very strange!
This is an older topic but I’m hoping that you will see this and be able to respond.
I have a HS class of 2020 student. She is a strong student with great study habits. She is trying to decide between DC classes vs AP classes. Class rank is not a huge issue, she should be in the top 5% either way. We are hearing from friends with children in various colleges in TX & AR that some Med/Dental school will not accept classes that students were given credit for based on AP scores. I cannot get clarification if this is: I have AP credit for one physics class and I never took another physics class in college so they want me to take a college physics class. OR if it is: I have AP credit for Chem 1 but went on to take Chem 2 and organic chem in college and now the professional school wants me to take Chem 1 at the college level.
Her hope is to avoid those level 1 science/math courses that are sometimes weed out courses for potential med students.
Any thoughts or advice?
Thank you
@Tam1233 You have to look at individual med schools to get your answer, unfortunately.
Some will accept AP / DE classes no problem (e.g. SOM at University of New Mexico).
Some will accept them only if you take a higher level class in the same discipline (e.g. SOM at University of Oklahoma).
Some will accept certain AP credits but not others (e.g. Texas Tech, English only, UCR, one English, one Math only)
Some won’t accept any at all (e.g. Tulane).
Go to the website for medical schools you are interested in and check their admission / eligibility requirements and/or do a search to see how they view AP / DE credits.