Dental/ med school?

If i went to a good college (say one of the top 50 in US), what grades (and GPA) would i need to get to make it into dental or med school?


Which is harder to make it into?


What courses should i take and NEED to do extremely well in?


What would be good to major in? minor?


I am thinking of becoming an orthodontist or an oral surgeon, would i have to go to dental or med school for these, or both? And can you tell me the years of school i would have to go through to become either one, and also which profession is harder to become? Also the pros and cons of becoming ortho/oral surg?


I am currently a sophomore in highschool, thank you.

Dental/ med school?
you need to do fairly well to be accepted into a good dental school. usually keep at least a 3.0 or solid B average.


you need to be on your game no matter what course you choose. you can't say either one is harder to get into, you need to do well now and that is what will determine where you will go.


basic courses in high school to take and do well are your math and sciences, make sure you take anatomy and physiology, physics, chemistry those are good solid classes that will set the tone for what med or dental school will look at and see how well you have done.


you will have to go to dental school to become both oral or ortho, you can further your oral surgeon degee by also going to med school. but you need to start out in pre-dental first which is 4 years then on to dental another 4 years with a residency to go into your specialty of choice, in your case either orthodontis or an oral surgeon. your looking at minimum of 8 years then probably another 2 for a specialist. both professions have their demands, can't say which is harder, only you can answer that, do you want to deal with children 90% of the time? that is the case with orthodontists, the cases are time consuming and can often be difficult as far as not getting the results of what you might have expected or what the parent/ patient expects.


oral surgeons see a variety of issues, everything from extracting wisodm teeth to doing bioposy for oral cancer or facial reconstruction. can you deal with that? can you deal with alot of blood? these are issues you need to ask yourself.


both professions are prosperous and you will be helping people, after all, that is the #1 reason why most pick the med/dental field, well that and the salary. which also will answer probably your most biggest question, how much $$ will you make? you have the potential to make minimum $250,000 a year and up, the pay is good, but your heart and head have to lead the way!


good luck and hope this helps you out a bit.