So yes, SNHU offers Environmental Science in person as a degree. They are letting me complete two more gen eds before I switch majors. I have the option to do Environmental Science in person or Biology. If I choose ES, I need a lot more biology courses I would have to take outside of the degree. The biology major though as you can imagine is a lot more STEM oriented which includes mathematics.
I live 30 mins away from SNHU headquarters. 5 mins away from ULOWELL. If I stay at SNHU though, I don’t have to reapply and start over with credits situation which I would prefer. UMASS also offer Public Health which SNHU does not. I honestly would prefer to not switch colleges again if possible.
Just frustrating, that colleges won’t tell you beforehand if they will accept you or not. Until you have applied. I don’t want to apply until I know I will have a good chance at getting in. I understand SNHU is not the best looking school and have listened to the advice here, but it would be very convenient if I could stay in my current major. I would be able to keep my current full time job, and still graduate with an undergrad I’m also interested in. I would rather have an undergrad in environmental science than public health and take classes outside of a degree, if dentistry didn’t end up working out.
How can schools know if you are a fit before reviewing your application (and comparing it to the pool of applications)? You should be able to determine if you stand a chance of getting in by reviewing the profile of accepted students…
You repeatedly said in previous posts that you were no longer interested in Env Sci nor in related careers. But now you are interested in graduating with an Env Sci degree?
Well, I think that is great! Get your degree, get a job… then you can return to the idea of dental school after working for a few years. Best of luck.
Then finish a SNHU in person. If you cannot stomach rejection from a school, applying for dentistry and medicine, especially with your record so far, are not a good idea.
I’m really interested in dentistry, but at the same time I also feel like an environmental science degree is more useful in my circumstance than a biology degree, if I decided not to pursue dentistry or it doesn’t work out. So would hate to throw away what I’ve already started, banking on the hopes I would get into dental/med school.
I also just realized… colleges have limits on the amount of credits non-degree students can obtain. So it’s not like I can take 25 credits outside of my degree. So the only option would be to switch majors or stick with my current one at SNHU.
To also clarify, environmental science is missing a ton of biology courses required by students who want a premed direction. That’s why premed students online major in biology or health.
When push comes to shove, if my heart is really set on this, I could stop putting my barrier on New England schools only. Lots of universities that accept online credits.
The only biology classes you need for premed/predental are two semesters of first year biology with lab. You also need a year of general chem with lab, a year of organic chem with lab, and a semester of biochem is required by some med schools - also, some colleges’ organic sequence includes biochem. In addition, a year of physics with lab, some English, maybe psych, maybe statistics or calc.
I don’t know what you’re talking about, that you need a ton of biology courses. A person can major in absolutely anything and still get into med or dental school. However, virtually no one who obtains an ONLINE undergrad degree gets into med or dental school, so your assumption that premed students online major in biology or health is doubly wrong.
Your best option is finishing up your env sci degree at SNHU in-person, and if you can take some premeds while there, do so. Then, if you still want to go to med or dental school, finish the rest of your pre-reqs at your nearest 4 yr public college.
Finish your degree in person. You can then take the following year to complete any required courses for dental school admission, and study for and take the DAT.
You have been told this numerous times on this forum.
I just found out that if I switch to a campus student at SNHU, I have 30 credits to graduate with a bachelors. So most likely not going to switch to public health. I was really interested in pursuing wetlands science or forestry which is good to have backup options.
Now I was basing the prereqs off of Boston U’s requirements. " Recommended advanced biological science courses, where they recommend Cell biology, Embryology, Genetics, Histology, Immunology, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Physiology, and Zoology.
I’m not sure if you should take them all or why they would recommend them. Schools don’t really like to tell you what should take to have a better chance at getting accepted. Not that I’m only considering BU, but if I can get into BU I will have many more options.
You have gotten a lot of advice already on what courses you need to take to get into dental school…and where to find those required courses. It’s not a secret.
I was responding to @parentologist question about why I mentioned so many biology courses. That’s what you can find on their website so wasn’t sure about that.
This statement is concerning. You need to carefully read the link you provided on BU’s DMD requirements. It spells out exactly how many credits are required and which courses meet the requirements.
They mention those as suggestions IF you want to. Absolutely NOT required, and will not help you. Your first step is to get your BA. Then take or retake your required premed sciences, and get straight A s in them. Then study and prep for Mcats, or DATs, and then shadowing, research, volunteering. I would suggest doing chem and orgo first. If you cannot do well in them, then you will know it is not an option for you.
I don’t know about dental schools…but I believe medical schools will not look favorably on retaking courses…the OP might need to take a higher level of the course if he needs to “retake” something.
OP- the time you are spending researching histology and embryology could be spent exploring your career options once you finish your CURRENT degree.
I am concerned that you’re continuing to 'kick the can" on your life. Focus on finishing your current Bachelor’s. Then get a job in your field. If you hate it- then you can consider going back to do your pre-health pre-req’s and come up with a plan to finance an MD or DMD. If you love it- problem solved.
But grinding now on some exotic courses is giving you a pass from focusing on the career you will actually be qualified for once you finish. And don’t do that to yourself!
Hoping @WayOutWestMom posts. My understanding is that medical schools won’t do grade replacement…and they don’t expect that it will take a couple of times taking a course to get a decent grade for required courses for admissions.
Technically, @parentologist is correct. A student can retake a class they have done poorly in. In fact, they are required to if their final grade is below a C since grades of C- or below are considering as failing grades by med schools and don’t meet minimum admission standards
However, med schools do not allow grade replacement so both the original grade and any/all retaken grades are including in GPA calculations. In effect, this averages the quality points while multiplying the weighting of the class.
But as @thumper1 suggests there can be negative consequences for students who retake coursework. A retaken class where the student earns an A grade is devalued in the eyes of adcomm members because it took the student two (or more) attempts to achieve that grade. If the grade in a retaken class is anything besides an A, then the student’s grade is further devalued by the “took it twice and still can’t get an A” attitude. Repeated classes are clearly marked as such on AMCAS and ACOMAS transcripts sent to med schools.
The recommendation is that if a student has passed a class with a C or better (minimum grade required for a class to fulfill med school admission requirements) is for the student to move on to a higher level class and do well in that to demonstrate their ability to perform well in challenging course work and to recover from academic missteps.
EDIT: the ADEA (centralized application service for all US dental schools) requires an applicant to list every college level course taken. Repeated classes are clearly marked as such on transcripts sent to dental schools by the ADEA.