Yes, I am kind of a freshman and I know that what I am doing seems to be a little bit bull-rushing. I graduated from a nontraditional high school that allowed me to take college classes and graduated with my associate's in high school with about 70 credit hours. I actually gave myself some space as I could have taken Organic Chemistry and other biology classes my senior year but decided to relax. Since I took Ochem this year and Gen Chem my junior year, I decided to take the DAT just so I don't forget everything and have to relearn it. I guess I was kind of rushy on this part because I have not taken Anatomy and Physiology. I am on a scholarship that requires me to take 12 credits every semester and I will graduate Fall of 2024 anyway leaving me with nothing to do in spring and maybe not getting into dental school which is another gap year. I know volunteering hour is important but I just feel like I have gone this far and don't want to just not apply at all. As for degrees, I know the U of U requires a bachelor's but Roseman does not. Do you think I should drop my physics class and start volunteering and apply to schools that don't require a degree or wait until next year to apply?
Personally, I think you should take your time and give yourself another year before applying. This is why:
1. you have
zero volunteer hours. You can't beat around that bush, you have to have something. Food pantry, soup kitchen, etc. Just need to build hours. Applying with zero is a recipe for disaster. Schools/adcoms won't see the humanity side in you, only academics. You also have zero extracurriculars, which I don't think is as bad, but it stands out as you are only focussing on academics. You should also be aiming to have ~100 shadowing hours to cover bases for all schools. Some require 30, some 50/60, 80, or 100. Having more will also let you explain procedures and have a better understanding of how a practice functions. It will also help admissions in that you're showing them you've committed time to a field you want to pursue and have thought deeply about it.
2. You're young, while being young doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing, the average age for a D1 student is 23. Folks younger do get in, but you need to make sure you display a level of maturity concurrent with being a professional student, and being a freshman they will test that in the interviews.
3. Not having a degree will severely limit you to where you can apply. Your In State school is your best chance for admission as state schools save the largest number of seats for their state residents.
You don't need to take ecology unless it's required for your degree. If you want all prereqs so you can apply to most schools make sure to have biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, microbiology (+phys 1&2, gen chem 1/2 and ochem1/2). Which it seems you plan on doing. Do note however that those are a lot of tough classes. If able to spread out some it might be wise. If you can apply the following year, use this year to gain volunteer experience and participate in student clubs to gain some leadership, I think it will make you a much more desirable candidate than applying right now. I feel that if you apply now, you could be hurting yourself by getting into an extremely expensive private school when you could wait a year and get into your much cheaper state school.
From an admissions standpoint, I think that they will see your app and look at it and just think "This student is very strong academically, but what else do they bring to our class? No volunteer work showing humility for those less fortunate or giving back to the community, no extracurriculars to show some leadership experience or working with others in a different field, no research to show critical scientific experience and how the scientific process works..." With dental schools being a holistic review, I just don't think you'd pass it with what you are showing here. I really think waiting one more year to build up your app will have you facing much more success. (you don't need research, it helps an application but it's not a requirement. It might however make up for the lack of extracurriculars if you're putting in a lot of hours every week (I was doing ~20 hours of research a week, not a lot of extracurriculars). But it won't make up for volunteer work)
I am not trying to bash you in any way, I'm just trying to get you to zoom out here, take a breath, and just try to see the big picture. You don't want to be a reapplicant, you'll be held to even higher standards and expectations from the previous cycle. It's better to build the best application and apply once you're ready.
