<p>Like the university of the pacific or case western reserve, are there any other universities with programs that allow me to finish dental school in 5 years, right out of high school. Or even 6 years at the most? I know UOP has a dds program like that, and case has one with 6 years. They are different kinds of programs, but the ending result is almost similar.</p>
<p>I would be very suspicious of a 5 year BS/DDS program. A DDS program takes four years to complete. There is no two ways about it. That would mean that to complete the entire program, your undergraduate education would last 1 year. That’s not possible. Even a 6-year program would be unusual, and Case Western is unique in this regard. Most accelerated programs should take 7 years to complete. Anything less than 6 years is seriously shortchanging your undergraduate education.</p>
<p>I never understood what the rush was in these programs. My major concern is always with students who enter a BS/MD or BS/DDS program and then realize halfway through their second year that they can’t hack it in the science courses and they want to do something else. Not to mention that it limits you to a certain number of colleges. 17 is really young to decide what you want your career to be, and so many people want to be physicians or dentists because they don’t really know what else is out there.</p>
<p>What is your reasoning for wanting a 5-6 year program?</p>
<p>Alexandre: The Dugoni School’s program is a 3-year year-round program instead of a 4-year traditional semester program, so the 5 year program is 2 years of predental undergraduate education and 3 years of dental school. The predental undergraduate phase only covers the necessary courses to enter dental school.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, I would imagine that the number of programs like the Dugoni School’s at UOP are very small. Most dental schools have decided that a 4-year undergraduate degree is what the best-prepared students have, and they value that education, so that’s what they require. I looked and the only other program less than 7 years that I saw was Case Western’s; all of the other BA/DDS programs I saw were 7 years long.</p>
<p>What is your reasoning for wanting a 5-6 year program?</p>
<p>Son is in 3 + 3 predent accel. program at UOP Stockton campus. I m also a dental specialist. I have helped so many kids (patients) getting into dental schools the traditional rout (4+4 or more depending howmany years in undergrad). I see kids wasted so much time before getting accepted to dental schools, volunteering at dental offices, working odd jobs, reapplying for years due to poor interviewing skill…I highly recommend the accel. programs that you know for sure you will enter dental school at a fixed schedule. However, once you are accepted, get ready for a wild ride because it’s really intense. You will have to goto summer schools, take online course to rack up the requirements (son took Organic chems ABC (9 weeks) and histology online (3 weeks) total 19hrs last summer). Typical semesters are around 16-17 units. Some of the 3+3 students took the DAT after completing O chems last summer (end of first year!) and passed with flying colors.</p>
<p>Here are some of the 2012 statistics for 2 popular Calif. dental schools that I learned from my colleages that are teaching in schools: 9000 applications for 75 seats (UCLA), 7000 apps for 145 (USC). The chances are .83% and 2% respectively. It’s low but possible (better than hit the lottery jackpot). As long that you have the requirements done, decent grades, and the most important thing is interview skills, you will end up at one of the dental schools.</p>
<p>Son is enjoying the program and the challenges that come with it. He joined a predental fraternity and they helped him alot on staying on the right track. It’s good for him since he was a slacker in highschool, did the least amount of work to get by. Now in this fast track program he had to shift gear to keep up with his peers.</p>
<p>I hope this will help those students that like the challenges to becoming a dentist with least amount of time and save $ in the long run.</p>