Guest priyanka22 Posted July 10, 2004 Report Share Posted July 10, 2004 hi, i am a first year student.enrolled in the life sciences category at utm(university of toronto).i would like to pursue dental after my third year.but at present utm is not offering any predental course.ive been registered in the following subjects for the 1st year: evolutionary and genetical biology, chemistry-matter and transformations general physics math-calculus english-genre and meeting i want to know whether these subjects are appropriate and wht subjects shd i choose from my second year onwards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jughead09 Posted July 10, 2004 Report Share Posted July 10, 2004 I suggest you look into the pre-requisites for each dental school you are interested in. For the most part, they all want Bio, Chem, Phys (full year, each with a lab component). Then Biochem, some want Microbio. Check dental websites, for both Can and US, depending on where you prefer to go. My advice is that you fullfill ALL required courses, then pursue other courses that INTEREST you, where you will most likely get awesome grades. You mentioned that you were taking English. Well, if you did well this year, continue with it. As long as your GPA is holding up, any other courses you take (in addition to the required ones) is fine. Dental schools want to see that you fullfilled the requrired courses and that you have a high GPA. Whatever other courses you choose is up to you...ie, basket weaving:b ...make sure you enjoy what you are studying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest priyanka22 Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 hi, thanx for the reply one more thing id like to know.how shd i prepare for the DAT exam.like wht books n all shd i buy for preparation,when shd i give the xam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jughead09 Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 Hi, Some find it helpful to take a DAT prep course, which covers all the topics you need to know: bio, chem, reading comprehension, perceptual ability, carving. The courses can be quite pricey. I took DATPrep, which ran me abaout $600 and Kaplan is more expensive. They gave us a booklet, which detailed allt he topics in bio and chem we had to know. Very helpful, because I didn't have to search through tons of text books and over study unecessary material. For perceptual, they gave us tons of photocopied test questions and taught us strategic ways to do them. They did this also with the reading comp part, which, surprisingly is more challenging than it sounds:\ When it cam time to carve, I found they were very very helpful. The best part was that they gave us mock tests (timed and everything), which gave us an idea of what the actual DAT would be like. Now, with all that said, I know of many people who did not take a prep course and did very well. It's really up to you. You could find out what topics are being tested and use your own text books to study. THe bio and chem parts should be reveiw, so don't fret. The DAT is offered in Feb and Nov. I suggest you take the Feb one. THat way, if you are not happy with your scores, you have the chance to re-do it in Nov. (this is all done the year before entry into dental school). And remember.....I know of people who didn't do that great on the DAT, but got into thier program because their GPA was amazing. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest naloori Posted July 11, 2004 Report Share Posted July 11, 2004 hey priyanka... fellow UTM-er here... if u want more info about UTM/course selection fire off an email to erindale_dental@yahoo.ca and be sure to join the predental society this year... i've left it in very capable hands....good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest priyanka22 Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 hi , thankyou jughead and naloori.y'all wer a big help. naloori can u plz tellme wht is this predental society all about and wht do i have to do to join it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest naloori Posted July 12, 2004 Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 the predental society is pretty new at erin..myself and a buddy started it up when we were in third year... its an academic club that offers members access to all kinds of dent school related info... the email address i gave is great because those responding to your emails will get back to you asap with up to date and accurate answers to your questions... we also offered a MOCK DAT last semester... and get togethers where u could meet fellow pre-dents... this year is new exec so not sure what plans they have... but during clubs week check out the predental society table and see what they're offering... we charged 5$ for membership the last few years... good luck at UTM.. its a smaller campus than downtown but don't let that mislead you...its extrememly challanging especially if you're doing life sciences-particularly biology... it may also get frusterating at times when you notice your buddies at other uni's (some not all) doing half the work you are and getting 10-15% higher than you... UT is does NOT give out 90's freely and 80's are cause for celebration ...it is tough... first year especially...but your marks will def improve as you go...try to balance out the tough courses with some easier ones.. (philosophies - esp the science based ones - are a joke)... good luck...don't wanna scare you but also don't wanna sugar coat it... you'll be fine if you work hard and get to know your profs and ta's...their help is a bonus...lots of students don't realize or take advantage of that... anyway... you'll have a good time there because its a cozy campus..by fourth year you'll be buddies with even the janitors....enjoy yourself and work hard and you'll be ok... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest priyanka22 Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 hey naloori thanks that wuz some morale booster, newways can u plz tell me that since im at missisauga and there isnt a dental faculty there do i need to transfer to the downtown campus in my second year itself or is it ok if i do so in the fourth year only Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest naloori Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 you don't need to transfer until you actually gain admission into the faculty of dentistry... then at that point you'd be going to classes downtown... where the faculty is actually located...and u'd be taking classes there and at the med sci building on the st.george campus.. in the meantime all ur pre-reqs for UT can be finished at UTM... of course its always your choice whether you wanna do some credits downtown but you don't NEED to.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest priyanka22 Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 hey, there's one more thing id like to know sm ppl told me that utm doesnt offer any bsc degree for three years.it only offers an honors degree.so can u tell me how does that affect my predental preparation.as in how does it make a difference to me. and another thing i feel that in this term ive taken too many heavy subjects like physics,chemistry,bio,math,english.so can u plz suggest some lighter course in life sciences which i can take up so as to maintain a high gpa in my first year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jughead09 Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 hey, I went to UT downtown, so I don't know the exact courses at UTM. However, from experience, I found that second year botany courses were pretty basic. They almost are like 1st year courses because botany isn't offered until 2nd year. Also, don't feel you have to take all sciences! Other subjects like art, history, philosphy are great to boost your GPA. As long as you complete the pre-requs, take whatever else you want. You 'd be amazed how one of these courses can more than compensate for a bad grade in one of your sciences. UT has eliminated thier 3rd year BSc degrees. Some schools, like Western, look that whether you have higher degrees or not (ie, honours, masters, phd get bonus points). Check out what other schools do. Still apply, even though you don't have a degree yet, and if you don't get in, finish your honours and try again. I wouldn't worry too much. As I mentioned in an earlier post.....GPAs are the key into dental school and if you keep your marks high, you can get in without your BSc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest priyanka22 Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 thankyou jughead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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