Which Undergrad?

[peachyjeon 1]

Hi! I'm a Ontario grade 11 student and I'm aiming for dental school. Which undergrad would be the best? My average is 96 point something, and I was thinking toward uoft life science but many people had told me sooo many things about uoft that I'm scared to apply now. What should I do?

 

In advance, thank you for your time!

[Zaandrei. 93]

Go to the cheapest option that you think you will excel in and enjoy the most. Stay home if you can/want to for your undergrad, save up as much money as you can - but still go out and enjoy the things you want!

Keep an eye out for requirements for certain courses depending on which school you want to pursue your dental training at.

That would be my advice, instead of going to 'feeder' schools/programs just because it's easier. You've got a 96+, you seem to have the work ethic for any program. I took biochem; people seem to think that it's one of the hardest programs to do well in. It was hard, but not impossible at all. I enjoyed it! Stayed home, came out of undergrad with a bunch of money saved up from working in the summers and scholarships that covered more than my tuition. It's a lot less stressful having half the loans of the average dental graduate.

My $0.02.

[MDLD 154]

Don't know much about this program but thought it was interesting. It is new but if it was around when I was apply I would have looked at it. 

Plus Trent university usually offers full rides to those with 90% averages (at least when I applied) 

https://www.trentu.ca/futurestudents/undergraduate/programs/your-path-med-school-starts-trent

[peachyjeon 1]

1 hour ago, Zaandrei. said:

Go to the cheapest option that you think you will excel in and enjoy the most. Stay home if you can/want to for your undergrad, save up as much money as you can - but still go out and enjoy the things you want!

Keep an eye out for requirements for certain courses depending on which school you want to pursue your dental training at.

That would be my advice, instead of going to 'feeder' schools/programs just because it's easier. You've got a 96+, you seem to have the work ethic for any program. I took biochem; people seem to think that it's one of the hardest programs to do well in. It was hard, but not impossible at all. I enjoyed it! Stayed home, came out of undergrad with a bunch of money saved up from working in the summers and scholarships that covered more than my tuition. It's a lot less stressful having half the loans of the average dental graduate.

My $0.02.

Thank you so much!

What university did you go to? And is uoft life sci a good choice, since it's really competitive? I want to go to dental school there btw. 

[tooth 12]

Professional schools don’t look at where you got the degree. It’s best to go where you think you’ll get the best grades, have the best opportunities (intra and extra-curriculars), and have the best faculty support. Don’t pick a school for the prestige of the name! 
 

My biggest recommendation is to attend the university fair in your application year 

[Zaandrei. 93]

So I stayed in my hometown Windsor for my undergrad.

I'm saying quite the opposite, most people that wanted an 'easy program' wanted to go into a program with more laid back people so they can get high GPAs. I actually chose Windsor over UofT for both the reasons of saving money at home and being less 'competitive'.

[peachyjeon 1]

34 minutes ago, tooth said:

Professional schools don’t look at where you got the degree. It’s best to go where you think you’ll get the best grades, have the best opportunities (intra and extra-curriculars), and have the best faculty support. Don’t pick a school for the prestige of the name! 
 

My biggest recommendation is to attend the university fair in your application year 

Thank you so much! I wanted to go to UofT because I want to go there, plus my brother went to life sci there. I will definitely check out the uni fair! 

If I'm thinking of UofT dental school, would it be better if I go there for my undergrad as well, or will it honestly not matter at all? Thanks.

[tooth 12]

3 minutes ago, peachyjeon said:

Thank you so much! I wanted to go to UofT because I want to go there, plus my brother went to life sci there. I will definitely check out the uni fair! 

If I'm thinking of UofT dental school, would it be better if I go there for my undergrad as well, or will it honestly not matter at all? Thanks.

It may help by getting to know staff/expectations but schools don’t favour their own students. If you meet their requirements are are competitive then it doesn’t matter where you went! 
 

It also helped me to tour schools. There were some with amazing facilities when I chose my undergrad but the campus/city didn’t suit me. Happiness with where you live is also a huge factor in doing well in your undergrad too  I hope that helps! 

[Fred VanVleet's Tooth 33]

1 hour ago, tooth said:

It may help by getting to know staff/expectations but schools don’t favour their own students. If you meet their requirements are are competitive then it doesn’t matter where you went! 
 

It also helped me to tour schools. There were some with amazing facilities when I chose my undergrad but the campus/city didn’t suit me. Happiness with where you live is also a huge factor in doing well in your undergrad too  I hope that helps! 

The dental faculty is quite separate from other faculties -- I don't think getting to know faculty in an undergrad science program at a school as big as U of T would make an appreciable difference. In my opinion it would be more valuable trying to land a summer research position at the dental school. I landed one and it was really beneficial both in terms of getting exposure to the academic side of dentistry and gave me some talking points in interviews.

For sure go somewhere you can do well though -- coming out of undergrad with a 3.9 to 4.0 will make you competitive anywhere. It won't matter what school your degree came from really. Our year has only a handful of people who did their undergrad at U of T.

Depends who you are and what you want but what Zaandrei said above is all true.

[tooth 12]

6 minutes ago, Fred VanVleet's Tooth said:

The dental faculty is quite separate from other faculties -- I don't think getting to know faculty in an undergrad science program at a school as big as U of T would make an appreciable difference. In my opinion it would be more valuable trying to land a summer research position at the dental school. I landed one and it was really beneficial both in terms of getting exposure to the academic side of dentistry and gave me some talking points in interviews.

For sure go somewhere you can do well though -- coming out of undergrad with a 3.9 to 4.0 will make you competitive anywhere. It won't matter what school your degree came from really. Our year has only a handful of people who did their undergrad at U of T.

Depends who you are and what you want but what Zaandrei said above is all true.

Def agree with that! Sorry I wasn’t super clear on what I meant by getting to know faculty. One of my friends did an MMI interview and had faculty that she (loosely) knew through research interviewing her, which seemed to help. Despite that we don’t even go to the school where she knew this faculty member haha 

[happychapter 3]

mac health sci is a pretty good program, the average gpa in that cohort is 3.75-3.85, but the students they accept are really strong as well. They send a lot to medicine and dentistry each year. other than that, I would so it doesn't matter and even U of T is not out of the picture (from what I've heard from friends the difficulty is exagerated)

[PracticingDDS 4]

I went to York (which many of my friend’s thought would be a bad idea because it’s academic reputation is not as good as U of T) before UWO. Looking back, I’m glad I made that decision. I managed to save a lot more money, the environment at York was very collaborative compared to the cut throat environment my friends were facing at U of T. I was able to get a competitive GPA and good DAT score which got me accepted at UWO. Once you’re in and even after graduation, no one ever asks you where you got your undergrad from.