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Dental School to Medical School


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I am currently a dental student in Canada looking into switching to a medical program, and I had a few questions regarding if this was possible? I lurked the forums and saw someone saying they won't take dental students half-way through because they're in a professional program. Wondering if this was true. I have my MCAT and letter of reqs ready to go.

Also, do medical schools count dental school GPA as undergrad? I saw the my Doctor of Dental Surgery program is considered undergraduate but is considered a professional program, so wanted to make sure.

Thank you.

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36 minutes ago, PlantersCashews said:

I am currently a dental student in Canada looking into switching to a medical program, and I had a few questions regarding if this was possible? I lurked the forums and saw someone saying they won't take dental students half-way through because they're in a professional program. Wondering if this was true. I have my MCAT and letter of reqs ready to go.

Also, do medical schools count dental school GPA as undergrad? I saw the my Doctor of Dental Surgery program is considered undergraduate but is considered a professional program, so wanted to make sure.

Thank you.

That is incorrect. You can apply and be accepted to medical school, just like anyone else.  Multiple dental students in the past have done this no issues.  

Dental grades wont count though.

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5 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

That is incorrect. You can apply and be accepted to medical school, just like anyone else.  Multiple dental students in the past have done this no issues.  

Dental grades wont count though.

That's a relief. Thanks for the quick reply by the way.

As for dental schools not counting in the GPA calculation, is that all medical schools in Canada? 

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30 minutes ago, offmychestplease said:

I know a guy that did this a few years ago:

Graduated high school -> entered a Science program at university.

Did really well (4.0) in 1st year and then applied and got into pharmacy (at the time you could get into this pharmacy school with just 1 year UG completed).

He then studied hard and killed the DAT in the fall of his first year of pharmacy (second year of university overall) and applied to dentistry (again at this school you can still get into dentistry with only 2 years of UG completed). He got into dentistry and left pharmacy after doing really well again in that year of pharmacy he completed. 

In the summer before dentistry school, he studied hard for the MCAT and did really well. He applied for medical school in his first year of dentistry (third year of university overall) and got in on his first try. He left dentistry, got into medical school, and recently finished medical school and left with his MD (only program he finished obviously) at the age of 25.

The funny thing is that his science program, pharmacy, dentistry, and medical school were all at the same school. He didn't have to interview for pharmacy to explain his motivations for being a pharmacist. His dentistry and med interviews were all MMI so he again did not have to explain his motivations. Dentistry does not ask for EC's or things of that nature as well. 

Why did he do all this?

I am pretty sure his initial goal was to become a doctor..and maybe he used the other programs as one good backup after the next until he made his goal happen. I can't imagine the rush it was to do all this (nor the intelligence and hard work). I think his story is really rare...but just wanted to give you an idea that it can be done (although likely rarely to this extreme). However, I can see how his plan can be taken as negatively. 

Wow that is one crazy story. :D:D

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I think Western is the only school that won't take you. I know at least three people who have left professional programs (law, dent, pharm) partway to enter medicine, including myself. Depending on the school, they might look at your grades post acceptance and can potentially revoke your offer if they are too low.

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9 hours ago, struggling2getin said:

I think Western is the only school that won't take you. I know at least three people who have left professional programs (law, dent, pharm) partway to enter medicine, including myself. Depending on the school, they might look at your grades post acceptance and can potentially revoke your offer if they are too low.

That's good to hear. I saw on OMSAS that law degrees were not considered in the GPA calculation, but saw nothing explicit about Dentistry degrees. 

 

EDIT: Which to be clear, I'm still in dental school, and plan on transferring out before I get my degree.

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  • 1 month later...

Hey i finished my Pharmacy degree in Canada, and I believe dental school counts as undergrad, so your dental school GPA will be used. I called a couple of Canadian med school admission offices, they all said my PharmD degree would count as a second undergrad, and its GPA would count as most med schools in Canada take the avg of all undergrad courses. 

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