Worried about the college counselors!

[TarheelDDS]

So I got a REALLY early orientation to make sure I got first shot at the classes and its right around the corner.

I am an only child and had no real advice going into HS except for parents saying to do good. The counselors were setting me up on all these pathways and Cr@p basically setting me up for CC, a technical school, or to work a McDonalds. I had no clue I could be taking AP and honors classes, I thought I could only choose from the classes offered in the little course booklet for my year (only 2 honors classes freshman year). It took me a while to get my game together...so my GPA only ended up at 4.2 and 20 some out of 200 some class rank.


I have wanted to go into dentistry for a long time and I am not someone walking into college that has no clue what they want to do or get a 4 year degree with barely passing grades and scram.

So anyway, I want to be a chemistry major. I have seen the prereqs for dschool. But I am just curious, what should be going down my first semester? What classes should I have my first semester? Will there be many things I can choose from or will most people be taking the same stuff? I am just really clueless (again, see my AP thread lol) how it will be. Any advice or even remotely helpful "mock schedule" would be greatly appreciated.

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[anishannayya]

So I got a REALLY early orientation to make sure I got first shot at the classes and its right around the corner.

I am an only child and had no real advice going into HS except for parents saying to do good. The counselors were setting me up on all these pathways and Cr@p basically setting me up for CC, a technical school, or to work a McDonalds. I had no clue I could be taking AP and honors classes, I thought I could only choose from the classes offered in the little course booklet for my year (only 2 honors classes freshman year). It took me a while to get my game together...so my GPA only ended up at 4.2 and 20 some out of 200 some class rank.


I have wanted to go into dentistry for a long time and I am not someone walking into college that has no clue what they want to do or get a 4 year degree with barely passing grades and scram.

So anyway, I want to be a chemistry major. I have seen the prereqs for dschool. But I am just curious, what should be going down my first semester? What classes should I have my first semester? Will there be many things I can choose from or will most people be taking the same stuff? I am just really clueless (again, see my AP thread lol) how it will be. Any advice or even remotely helpful "mock schedule" would be greatly appreciated.

Just tell your adviser that you want to follow a pre-professional route. You might be a first child, but your not the first person to walk into your counselor's office asking about a pre-dental route. Also, get in touch with your pre-professional committee.

 

[Vicviper]

In my experience, many college counselors have some basic Ok knowledge of graduation requirements, but for finding the best way to professional school they can't find their way out of a paper bag. My counselors were giving me all the wrong classes to take, and I ultimetly had to just do the research myself and find my own way. Like anish said, try to find counselors that have some good pre-health experience, probably more easy to find at your school's Bio department than the Chem department. Also, if you ever have a serious question about classes, just shoot an email or call to a dental school admissions office, they're usually happy to help when they're not bogged down by the admissions cycle.

Since you're a chem major, I'm guessing you'll be taking general chemistry this year, and organic next year. Beyond that, start picking up general bio classes here and there (talk to dental schools to confirm which they want from your school), and in a year or so start taking physics if it's not already a graduation requirement for you. Once you get started in college, be sure to pop over to the pre-dents forum, we're all pretty active over there, and we've got a great variety of people help answer questions.

Good luck, and be sure to ALWAYS take what your counselors say with a grain of salt.

 

[Myuu]

There's usually a departmental and/or preprofessional advisor who can help you out with that. Granted, some of them make assumptions based on a mistaken view of what schools want, so if anything sounds funny, you can always check back here for further input.

 

[MilkmanAl]

In fact, I'd suggest checking up on everything they say. I've seen way too many people get screwed by advisors to recommend taking anything they say as gospel.

 

[ucsfstudents]

Unfortunately, your story is not unique. Agree with the above posts. Do your own research and double check what they tell you. Join related pre-professional groups. Get in touch with students who are now in professional school -- they should be able to tell you how they made it. But take everything with a grain of salt. Finally, don't just have one advisor -- have several.

 

[cormorant1]

I have to agree that you should not put absolute faith in whatever your advisor says. My advisor in college really know the process so well. Check up on everything he/she says yourself. Probably the best advice you'll get will be from the people who are on the same track as you but a few years ahead. Maybe your advisor could put you in touch with some people like that.

As for courses: I may be relating to you through the context of my own experience, but I'd recommend not taking any premed classes your first year. Work hard and try to make all A's but give yourself some time to adjust to college before taking on the "brutal" courses.

 

[phathead]

I was told that I should just work as a machinst because I had no hope for college (I had a 3.7 hsGPA and a 31 ACT, but whatever)

 

[Veyron]

i'm gonna ditto what has been said by the poster above. many college counselors are very inept at dispensing good advice when planning for professional schools. the best advice i received were from my extended family who had all either finished medical/dental/law school or were in the process of doing so.

they told me to make my freshman year as manageable as possible. i was able to literally bank my gpa in my first two years, which makes it a lot harder for there to be decline when you start to take the harder upper level courses and get b's here and there.

in the end, i got into medical school without much drama. cheers.