Dent To Med (At Mcmaster)

[yourstrulywithlove1985]

Hello I've tried searching this topic with no avail, but if it's a repeat my apologies in advance

 

1. Has any pursued a medical degree at McMaster after finishing dental school

2. Am I able to only write the verbal potion (I believe it's called Cars now) of the MCAT or am I required to sit through the entire MCAT exam and compete all sections?

3. Best resources for the Cars portion of the MCAT. 

4. For students who have been out of school for awhile, who did you go to, to get reference letters (I'm not sure if I should post this here or in the non-traditional forum)

5. My overall GPA including dental school is not very competitive but I am a mature student with lots of working and volunteer experience but I know my Car score and Casper score has to be high, therefore what should I aim for.

 

Thanks!

[fearless9261]

may i ask why you are you switching?

[JohnGrisham]

Yes you can choose to just write the CARS section.

Also, where did you do dental school? I'm not sure they would even consider your dental school marks as apart of your GPA for admission...but best to check with them.

[CanadianDDS]

may i ask why you are you switching?

 

Sure...dentistry is too saturated and becoming a business. Also partially my own fault, I didn't think dentistry was what I thought it would be. I fooled myself, I should've either applied to med school after undergrad, or pursued my masters and then applied but everyone glorified the dental profession so much so I just went after it. It's very strenuous work and although it can be rewarding at times, being a perfectionist in dentistry is sometimes unattainable also people are never happy mainly because they see dentists as money hungry people and this attitude in itself is very depressing. I want to be a psychiatrist dealing more with neurological basis of psychiatric disorders something I was always passionate about but never pursued. 

[CanadianDDS]

Yes you can choose to just write the CARS section.

 

Also, where did you do dental school? I'm not sure they would even consider your dental school marks as apart of your GPA for admission...but best to check with them.

[NotASerialKiller]

Excellent...so when I go to write the MCAT at a centre, do I have to sit through all sections or just let them know I want to write only one section?

 

I went to UWO dentistry...Yes I have to look into that, it's quite possible they may disregard my dental school marks but I will have to verify that with them. 

 

Applying to 1 medical school is a terrible plan, why not take the time to study for the MCAT?

[CanadianDDS]

Applying to 1 medical school is a terrible plan, why not take the time to study for the MCAT?

 

My only other shot with doing the entire MCAT would be Queen's realistically because of my marks. I work full time and part time do research and involved with the community so I don't have much time to study.  Also to be honest i feel so stupid...reading the forums about the MCAT I forgot so much basic chem, ochem, physics and biology which I knew so well in undergrad I feel like I can't learn it all again unless I find like a tutor or someone to study with...

[NotASerialKiller]

My only other shot with doing the entire MCAT would be Queen's realistically because of my marks. I work full time and part time do research and involved with the community so I don't have much time to study.  Also to be honest i feel so stupid...reading the forums about the MCAT I forgot so much basic chem, ochem, physics and biology which I knew so well in undergrad I feel like I can't learn it all again unless I find like a tutor or someone to study with...

 

 

Are you sure you'd have no chance anywhere else? Even the difference between applying to 1 school and 2 is huge. If you knew the material once you'd likely be able to get it back with self-study and online resources (ie buying a set of prep books and using khan academy if you get stuck).

 

Even with top grades, CARS and CASPer there's no guarantee you'd get in. Starting with a deficit (GPA) and only applying to 1 school you might get rejected pre-interview one year, rejected post-interview the next, etc. Not trying to discourage you, I just think that medicine is a huge commitment, so if you're serious about applying you have to give yourself the best chance possible to get in. If the idea of studying for the MCAT is too much of a hassle, then you probably wouldn't be down for applying year after year to one school and praying you get an interview.

[fearless9261]

Sure...dentistry is too saturated and becoming a business. Also partially my own fault, I didn't think dentistry was what I thought it would be. I fooled myself, I should've either applied to med school after undergrad, or pursued my masters and then applied but everyone glorified the dental profession so much so I just went after it. It's very strenuous work and although it can be rewarding at times, being a perfectionist in dentistry is sometimes unattainable also people are never happy mainly because they see dentists as money hungry people and this attitude in itself is very depressing. I want to be a psychiatrist dealing more with neurological basis of psychiatric disorders something I was always passionate about but never pursued. 

would you say some dentists are underemployed now?  

 

i have a dental interview at U of T, but the saturation new is making me kinda depressed  

[coffeeisthebest]

would you say some dentists are underemployed now?

 

i have a dental interview at U of T, but the saturation new is making me kinda depressed

 

Congrats on your dental interview at U of T. There's saturation in most job markets (medicine, dentistry, law, etc.). You just have to be flexible about where you're willing to work. 

 

To answer your first question, I think it's helpful to remember that there will always be people who do well and others who don't do so well in every field. Every dentist I know that has graduated recently have all found work. 

[_ _]

My only other shot with doing the entire MCAT would be Queen's realistically because of my marks. I work full time and part time do research and involved with the community so I don't have much time to study.  Also to be honest i feel so stupid...reading the forums about the MCAT I forgot so much basic chem, ochem, physics and biology which I knew so well in undergrad I feel like I can't learn it all again unless I find like a tutor or someone to study with...

I would hesitate to say that Mac is your best shot. If you have, as you claim, a low GPA but years of work/other experience, then applying only to the school that only cares about  GPA and ignores everything else might not be the best option.

 

If you are seriously considering switching careers and taking on 4 years of school, another >100K debt, and 4 years of lost earnings, plus a residency, I would say it's worth the extra month or two to put it a bit of effort to study the sciences and give yourself the best shot possible. 

[CanadianDDS]

would you say some dentists are underemployed now?

 

i have a dental interview at U of T, but the saturation new is making me kinda depressed

 

Hello, I don't want to discourage you at all, they are not unemployed but there is definitely saturation in the GTA. If you are willing to move in less populated areas the profession is better.  Now that they have open the flood gates to internationally trained dentists, and we now have reciprocity with Australia (which btw you can go straight to dental school from HS, so a lot of HS graduates from Canada go directly to dental school in Australia and finish in 6 yrs) and with Ireland, there's too many dentists, also dental schools in Ontario have opened up more seats. Moreover, they are not even trying to make the canadian boards hard, the OSCE portion of the Canadian dental boards has the exact same questions as it they did 10 years ago they don't even bother to change it! Even the international equivalency exam, the same questions are being used and so people are just buying the questions and memorizing them; I don't understand what the point of that is.  Taking this all into consideration, dentists are less focused on health care and more on who can sell more dentistry which I think should not be the goal.  If you have a choice between medicine and dentistry, choose medicine with medicine there are so many opportunities. With dentistry not so much, with so much competition, general dentists are not referring as much so even specialists are having a hard time. Oral surgery is an option but honestly it's so competitive and requires good connections with dental schools I find it not reasonable to go through dental school in hopes of gettingoral surgery speciality in Canada. 

[CanadianDDS]

Are you sure you'd have no chance anywhere else? Even the difference between applying to 1 school and 2 is huge. If you knew the material once you'd likely be able to get it back with self-study and online resources (ie buying a set of prep books and using khan academy if you get stuck).

 

Even with top grades, CARS and CASPer there's no guarantee you'd get in. Starting with a deficit (GPA) and only applying to 1 school you might get rejected pre-interview one year, rejected post-interview the next, etc. Not trying to discourage you, I just think that medicine is a huge commitment, so if you're serious about applying you have to give yourself the best chance possible to get in. If the idea of studying for the MCAT is too much of a hassle, then you probably wouldn't be down for applying year after year to one school and praying you get an interview.

I work full time 5-6 days per week, to study for all of the MCAT how many hours a week should I dedicate?

[CanadianDDS]

Are you sure you'd have no chance anywhere else? Even the difference between applying to 1 school and 2 is huge. If you knew the material once you'd likely be able to get it back with self-study and online resources (ie buying a set of prep books and using khan academy if you get stuck).

 

Even with top grades, CARS and CASPer there's no guarantee you'd get in. Starting with a deficit (GPA) and only applying to 1 school you might get rejected pre-interview one year, rejected post-interview the next, etc. Not trying to discourage you, I just think that medicine is a huge commitment, so if you're serious about applying you have to give yourself the best chance possible to get in. If the idea of studying for the MCAT is too much of a hassle, then you probably wouldn't be down for applying year after year to one school and praying you get an interview.

Also I'm not sure if you can help me with this, but who can I get reference letters from since I have not been in school for almost 4 years?

[_ _]

I work full time 5-6 days per week, to study for all of the MCAT how many hours a week should I dedicate?

Hours? As much as you can/need. I worked 40-50 hrs per week when I studied for 3 months, but I would try and give yourself longer , maybe 4, if you aren't as familiar with the sciences.

 

Just find what works best for you. I liked to study really early, as in 6:30-8am and then a couple hours later in the day, and one full day of the weekend, but that's just what worked best for me. I found early was best because then even if I had to work an overtime shift I always knew I had done something that day

[medway12]

Hello I've tried searching this topic with no avail, but if it's a repeat my apologies in advance

 

1. Has any pursued a medical degree at McMaster after finishing dental school

2. Am I able to only write the verbal potion (I believe it's called Cars now) of the MCAT or am I required to sit through the entire MCAT exam and compete all sections?

3. Best resources for the Cars portion of the MCAT. 

4. For students who have been out of school for awhile, who did you go to, to get reference letters (I'm not sure if I should post this here or in the non-traditional forum)

5. My overall GPA including dental school is not very competitive but I am a mature student with lots of working and volunteer experience but I know my Car score and Casper score has to be high, therefore what should I aim for.

 

Thanks!

 

Even if you can get in, you must consider whether you can finance it (it could depend on debt from dental school or undergrad, willingness of lenders to fund you, and your credit score) and can mentally go through 4 + 3-5 years of further intensive education that doesn't build on your past education. Stuff like this (money, age, too much non-trad schooling) can really take a mental toll on a person.

 

As for your GPA, professional degrees in Canada are usually considered undergraduate degrees (like MD, JD, etc). I don't know about DDS but if it is considered an undergraduate degree, it will be counted along with your bachelor's to calculate your cGPA. And in that case, you may not even get the 1% for masters.

[Edict]

Hello I've tried searching this topic with no avail, but if it's a repeat my apologies in advance

 

1. Has any pursued a medical degree at McMaster after finishing dental school

2. Am I able to only write the verbal potion (I believe it's called Cars now) of the MCAT or am I required to sit through the entire MCAT exam and compete all sections?

3. Best resources for the Cars portion of the MCAT. 

4. For students who have been out of school for awhile, who did you go to, to get reference letters (I'm not sure if I should post this here or in the non-traditional forum)

5. My overall GPA including dental school is not very competitive but I am a mature student with lots of working and volunteer experience but I know my Car score and Casper score has to be high, therefore what should I aim for.

 

Thanks!

 

Sometimes people just ask a bunch of questions and/or never actually try to answer your question and i'll try to do that for you now. 

 

1. Not that I've heard of 

2. You only need to write the verbal you can skip the other sections

3. Hmm check out examcrackers, princeton review MCAT CARS, Kaplan is known to be easy but check that out as well

4. This is something you might want to ask on the non-trad forum

5. Unfortunately McMaster doesn't look at working or volunteer experience only your cGPA, your CARS and CASPer. If your cGPA is below the accepted average you need to be aiming for above the accepted average so 129+ on your CARS and a good CASPer as well. 

[CanadianDDS]

Sometimes people just ask a bunch of questions and/or never actually try to answer your question and i'll try to do that for you now. 

 

1. Not that I've heard of 

2. You only need to write the verbal you can skip the other sections

3. Hmm check out examcrackers, princeton review MCAT CARS, Kaplan is known to be easy but check that out as well

4. This is something you might want to ask on the non-trad forum

5. Unfortunately McMaster doesn't look at working or volunteer experience only your cGPA, your CARS and CASPer. If your cGPA is below the accepted average you need to be aiming for above the accepted average so 129+ on your CARS and a good CASPer as well. 

 

Thank you for your response, with respect to #5, does that mean the ABS portion and the questions on the OMSAS application for Mac are not looked at?

[_ _]

Thank you for your response, with respect to #5, does that mean the ABS portion and the questions on the OMSAS application for Mac are not looked at?

Nope. Hence why I suggested being open to any other school but Mac

You really need to  begin by looking up the requirements for each school on their websites

[CanadianDDS]

Nope. Hence why I suggested being open to any other school but Mac

You really need to  begin by looking up the requirements for each school on their websites

Thank you. I did look up the requirements and it states "

"No other aspects of the application will be considered if these requirements are not met. For more information about CASPer click here"

It doesn't say anything about the ABS not being looked at, maybe i'm understanding incorrectly

[_ _]

Thank you. I did look up the requirements and it states "

"No other aspects of the application will be considered if these requirements are not met. For more information about CASPer click here"

It doesn't say anything about the ABS not being looked at, maybe i'm understanding incorrectly

No, it does you're just not looking at the right pages. It's on there somewhere, and states the formula is CASPer+VR/CARS+total GPA, 33% each. Look through all the tabs on the admissions page, it shows the pre/post interview formulas, neither of which include the sketch. It not say it explicitly, but omitting it from their selection formula should make it clear that they don't include it

[Anythingradiation]

ABS is looked at post interview ranking. You should include it in your application.

[Amanda Weinburg]

I would hesitate to say that Mac is your best shot. If you have, as you claim, a low GPA but years of work/other experience, then applying only to the school that only cares about  GPA and ignores everything else might not be the best option.

 

If you are seriously considering switching careers and taking on 4 years of school, another >100K debt, and 4 years of lost earnings, plus a residency, I would say it's worth the extra month or two to put it a bit of effort to study the sciences and give yourself the best shot possible. 

 

Great advice! I second this!