I need help, im confused about college?

Question

Ok, im 16 years old and i am terribly confused about college, i have a 3.6 and i want to be a dentist but how to do i know if the college is right for me? Am i suppose to major in like biology or chemistry. i have no clue what to do? My parents are no help they became very sucessful from not goin to college. yea i no. lucky :]. well i want to be a dentist and how do i no if the college that i want to go to has a major in biology or chemistry? i need help thanks

Answer 1

Student Doctor- Dental forms

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=55



It's important to figure out what you have a passion for, and what is practical.

*find out if you REALLY want to be a dentist.. Ask your self why do I want to do this?

I guess you don't have to LIKE biology or chemistry. But I guess it'd be useful if you had some interest in it because you have sooo many semesters of biology and chemistry.



Most of the dental schools require that you have so many semesters of bio, chem, calculus, physics, english, and a foreign language. So it would be useful to major in bio or chem just because it takes care of the prereqs. But you can major in anything.



Also don't be sure you don't like biology or chemistry. When things get specialized and you learn about a specific area... and one day you'll wake up loving it! Anyway.. that's why you explore.



Most colleges have biology and chemistry majors. There are actually alot of kinds of biology to major in. Just find a school you're interested in and look up the majors.

Answer 2

I don't mean to sound harsh.... but I can almost guarantee that unless you're brilliant in your studies and are completely and almost obsessively passionate about what you're gonna major in, you'll have a very hard time in college....................... That is, unless you can mingle with new people along the way, and especially during every semester that follows. It's times like these that you just have to bite the bullet and break the ice, so to speak. If you're just looking for boyfriends, you generally don't have to worry about that as there are countless venues for you to look for them either on campus, in the dorms, or even at the clubs near-by. Just try not to fall for the professors or the campus admins..... the end result could mean that you'd get drummed out of the University! Oh, here's another tip... it's easier to talk to someone with the same major as you or someone with a similar set of courses/classes because then, you'd have something viable to talk about right from the start. If you think high school was the best time of your life, college can be many times that and more. The only thing is, not only is it up to you.................. it'll be -increasingly- up to you. In high school, most likely your parents had more of a say in the people you hung around with. This time around, you'd have more control over that.

Answer 3

Do some research on the colleges that you and your family are considering. This will help you find out if they have an emphasis on chemistry/biology. If you are interested in becoming a dentist, look for Dental colleges. Good luck to you and take a deep breath. Even better, why not contact your family dentist and ask his/her advice on which path to take.

Answer 4

You can always look at the college's website. If you go to the website, look at academics, then if it tells you there is a list of the colleges within the university, look under something like arts & sciences, or science & engineering. Within the college, they will tell you what the departments are, and you can see if there is a major in biology or chemistry. Basically, you need a college with a decent budget so that they have good science labs.

Answer 5

I would really recommend a site for students like yourself who need help figuring out exactly what they want to do and how they should do it.



Http://www.collegeboard.com



College Board helped me sooo much when I first started going to school. They have career descriptions, and what you should major in if you want to do a certain job, career outlooks, and then once you figure out what major you want, they have a search engine that searches most universities in the US and some outside the US that you search based on a number of criteria.



If you have taken your PSATs, you can register for free. Otherwise there may be a small annual fee.



Another great way is by searching the Internet, especially looking at some schools you think you may be interested in and looking at their majors. All major universities these days have websites listing all of their programs.



You can also talk to your guidance counselor at school. Good luck!!

Answer 6

You have to do some research. Google some universities that you are interested in attending. University sites often have a search tool that you can look up dentistry information - or even get a phone number for someone that can help you (an adviser). I wouldn't worry too much about it until your last year of high school (the fall of your grade 12 year). You could also talk to the guidance counsellor at your high school. They should have information, or access to that sort of information. They can also guide you when you're trying to decide which school to go to.



As for majoring, normally you don't 'declare a major' until after the first year of university. Most universities require you to take a broad range of courses in your first year anyway. There are going to be prerequisites that you will need to take in order to major in a science program so you should talk to an adviser to help you choose your first year courses.



As for whether you are right for college, or if college is right for you - you'll never know unless you try it. I remember wondering if I should go to university or a community college and get into a trade (welding, journalism...etc). I ended up going to university. It was definitely the right fit for me - and I loved it! The first year I didn't declare a major and took many different kinds of courses (anthropolgy, french literature, biology, calculus, music theory, first year chemistry...etc). I debated going into archaeology or zoology. I eventually decided in my second year to go into zoology. In my third year I decided I actually wanted to get into environmental biology, After that first term, I went back into zoology, with the intent of going into vet school. So, as you can see, you can change your mind as time goes on (although sometimes courses won't transfer to your newly declared major. I never had that problem since environmental biology and zoology had similar required courses).



Hope that helps!

Answer 7

All colleges have chem and bio majors. You still have some time ahead of you.. remember being a dentist is 8-10 years of school, I think you still have a lot of time to decide.. especially because you are so young, too young to even be worrying about it. Also remember, the advanced science courses at your high school are the beginning level courses at college.

Answer 8

You don't actually have to complete an undergraduate degree in anything in order to go into dentistry. You simply need to take the undergraduate requirements (about two years of study) include biology courses in both years, chemistry and physics in your first year and attain a certain GPA. It'll take you about 6 years to complete a PhD in Dentistry (including 2 prereq years). Look at dental school websites (like I just did) for specific entry requirements.

Answer 9

You need to set an appointment with a counselor from the college of your choice. They can tell you exactly the path you need to take and if the school cannot provide the right program to be a dentist they can suggest other universities that do.