Where'd All The Pre-Dental Students Go?: Your Local Pre-Dental Club

So right now some of you may be wondering; if there are so many pre-dental students online, where on earth are they hiding? Well, to start with, they really aren't hiding. The truth is, there just aren't all that many of us! While wherever you're going to school there is likely thousands of biology majors and maybe even some who identify as being pre-med, but there will generally be far few pre-dental students. Just to give you an idea, according to the American Dental Education Association in recent years there have been roughly 5000 students, nationally, entering dental school. On the other hand, according to data from the American Association of Medical Colleges over 20,000 medical students are entering school every year. I think it's a reasonable assumption to make that these numbers also reflect the number of pre-dental or pre-med students still in college. Therefore, this data means that you are four times more likely to come across a pre-med student than a pre-dental student. Although this might help explain why you are finding it so tough to find other like minded pre-dental students I still haven't answered the burning question: where can I find them?

Without a doubt, the best place to find other pre-dental students is at your local colleges pre-dental club. Although you might not be aware of them, most four-year colleges in America will have such a club. For quite some time I was blissfully unaware of my school's pre-dental club until a simple google search for, "SFSU pre-dental club," revealed that there was in fact an active club on campus. After talking to other pre-dental students in the club, I found that these clubs don't generally advertise well and as a result they are often difficult to find.

Now that you've found out that you college actually does have an active pre-dental club you're wondering why should you bother joining? I'm sure, like me, your schedule is already full of classes, pre-dental activities and probably even work commitments. Your time is definitely valuable, but investing some of this time into getting involved with your local pre-dental club will definitely not be wasted. Not only will you meet what will definitely become a new group of like-minded friends, just being around people with the same dreams, goals, and visions will almost certainly be both motivating and inspiring. Perhaps best of all though are some of the volunteering activities that are hosted by your local pre-dental club.

Although I'm sure you are already a fairly active member within your community, I'm sure it is difficult to find ways to support dental and other oral health related causes with the work that you are doing. However, pre-dental clubs often focus their community work on these areas. For example, the pre-dental club at SFSU is affiliated with America's ToothFairy: National Children's Oral Health Foundation.This foundation, which focuses its efforts on promoting the oral health of some of America's most vulnerable children, provides my pre-dental club with many opportunities to conduct public outreach and teach young children about oral hygiene and health. Not only do activities such as these allow me to actively participate in solving a national problem, but they also help prepare me for a career in dentistry by teaching me valuable skills in patient education which I will no doubt employ in the future.

Among other things, being a member of your local pre-dental club will afford you the opportunity to both meet driven, like-minded individuals such as yourself and conduct incredible community outreach activities. For these reasons alone I implore you to become involved in your local pre-dental club; not to mention knowing upperclassmen who matriculate to dental school can serve as a solid foundation for mentoring and navigating the future application process.

To Post-Bacc or Not to Post-Bacc?

So you've just decided that you want to become a dentist? That's great! But, whoever you are you're going to have to get into dental school first. This however is no mean feat. Many students plan their road to dental school throughout their entire undergraduate careers. But maybe that's not you? Maybe you're a latecomer, like me, or maybe you spent a few too many years involved in undergrad shenanigans.

After the profound realization of your future career in dentistry you sit down to work out just how you're going to get into dental school. You could be lucky and already have taken prerequisite courses required by most dental schools. If this is you, that's great! Just a year of studying for the DAT, applying to schools, and some volunteering and you could be well on your way. Unfortunately, for many of us it isn't that simple. Fortunately, if you haven't completed all (or any) of the prerequisites, or if you're GPA is less than stellar, there's still a way: more schooling.

The Inescapable Reality: A Lot More School!

  

You might be lucky and have a year or so left in your undergrad studies. If this is the case, great! Take this opportunity to take the classes you need while you're still there. But, if you've already graduated you're going to need some sort of a post-bacc. Postbaccalaureate studies (or post-bac for short), are the studies you will have to undertake after you've graduated with an undergrad degree to get into professional school. Whether you need to take the prerequisite classes, or improve your GPA, there are two different ways to do a post-bacc, formally and informally.

If you've only got a few classes you need to take, or your GPA only needs a little boost, an informal post-bacc might be for you. Informal post-bacc studies are taken outside of any official program, usually at either community colleges or state schools. The best way to do this is to sign up with a university as an open university of extended learning student (Link to my school's Open U page). However, I should mention that a lot of academic advisers from dental schools advise applicants not to attend community colleges. These programs are also a good option if money is tight.

On the other hand, if you need to take a lot of classes or your GPA needs a real boost, a formal post-bacc program (link to my school's formal program) is probably the way to go. According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, formal post-bacc programs are generally the best way to go: They've even compiled a database of all the post-bac programs in the country: 192 of them at last count. The advantages of a formal program are: highly structured, small class sizes and guaranteed class enrollment, individual advising and program support (my program even has a therapist), and committee letters. Not to mention you'll also be able to make friends with the people in your program group. These are all really good reasons that make a formal program an excellent choice, however, there are a few disadvantages. Expect to pay more for tuition, I pay almost twice the amount of a normal student per unit. You can also expect that classes are only offered during certain semesters with the intent that you follow the program from start to finish, usually two years. Other than that, I think that a formal program is the way to go.

Thanks for reading my first post, if you've got any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the section below and I'll reply as soon as I can. Also, if you're interested be sure to check out the links I've included in the post and most importantly, good luck and stay tuned for future posts!

Photos courtesy of:
1) credit.com 
2) LA College of Music