Non-traditional Students: Don't Give Up!

Last week I was notified of acceptance into dental school class of 2011. It has been a long project to get this far- I worked as an engineer for 22 years, then went back to school and retook 3 semesters of calculus and physics before deciding that I needed to so something different.

So I took biology (what a shock- no problems to solve- all I had to do was read and remember!), organic chemistry, microbiology, cell biology, and human physiology.

I applied to eight schools very late in the 2007 app cycle, and was ultimately rejected by all but one, the one that I most wanted to get into!

As dental students go, I am an old guy. In fact, I just may be the oldest dental student in the US. My classmates will probably mistake me for a professor on the first day of classes. I'll be finishing dental school at an age when most dentists are retiring, but I figure I've got another 30 years of work left in me.

So to all of you who are contemplating career changes and think that maybe it's getting a little too late, think again! It CAN be done, but not if you don't try.

Don't try to hide your age (my wife suggested that I dye my hair before interviews- hah!)- use it to your advantage! You have accomplishments, experience, maturity, confidence, and even wisdom that younger students don't have. Use them to get where you want to be.

Now all I have to do is finish school.

In the immortal words of Trent Reznor (or was it Robert Frost?), "the way out is through".

RP

ddstobe said:

Thank you for the post, many of us need it!

P.S.: Did you got accepted into your state school? How did you do on your science classes and DAT?

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Unfortunately, I move around too much to go to a state school. I am going to go to ASDOH. I think ASDOH has some flexibility in their acceptance criteria that may be lacking at other schools. Maybe they are still trying to figure out what their "style" is so they are willing to take some chances that longer established schools are not. Whatever it is, it worked in my favor!

My undergrad GPA from 25 years ago was about 3.3. My more recent science grades were GPA of 3.8. I pointed that out in the interview when someone mentioned my GPA. My response was that I have done much better because I am no longer distracted by the things that tend to distract students in their 20s.

My DAT scores were not great, but adequate:
PAT 18, total science 19, and academic avg 20.

For whatever reason my org chem score was high and my gen chem score low which were exactly opposite of how it should have been.

Work hard toward your goals!

RP

I don't recall. One of the problems with getting old...

RP

I was asked "why dentistry out of all the other possibilities?"

My reply was that there are aspects of engineering that I really liked, specifically the detail work and craftsmanship, which is also required in dentistry. I view dentistry as a step beyond engineering because the satisfaction will be much higher. As an IC design engineer I worked on things that were important, but the final product was always sort of a distant abstraction, so there was little satisfaction to be had. At the end of the day it felt like I may have helped the stockholders of the company a bit, but that was all.

In dentistry, you get some patients who come to you in agony, unable to do their work or even think straight, but after a hour in the chair they are smiling and happy. It's hard to imagine more satisfying work than that.

I do a lot of engineering hobby work at home. I always have and always will. I have seen a lot of interesting dental procedures (mainly as a patient), and I can see a lot of room for invention in dentistry. By learning the details of human dental anatomy and physiology, and the details of the different procedures used by dentists I expect that I will come up with some improvements/simplifications or even new instruments.

It turned out one of the interviewers has a husband who is an engineer and she was very much in-tune with what I was saying. Great luck there!

The above is all true, but there are other reasons why I chose dentistry. There is virtually no job security for an engineer in their 40s. My last couple engineering jobs ended in lay-offs. They wanted me to become a manager or a marketing guy (yuck!). I didn't want to do either- just to keep doing engineering, but when the stock price hiccups they start looking for ways to cut "expenses", so instead of reducing the CEO's pay 0.01% they throw away engineers in their 40s. Later on, they hire two guys right out of engineering school for half as much pay and they work them for 60-80 hours per week. With many health care careers, including dentistry, you have to be in the room with the patient. They can't send your job to India (look out radiologists!).

Why not medicine? My wife is a medical student. I've seen the meat-grinder they put med students through. I don't think I could do it. The training period is also too long. She is a 4th year student, but even though I will just be starting dental school in July, I will finish before she is done with residency. At my age I don't have time for a 7-9 year training program.

Of course, the income is another factor. Dentistry provides an acceptable level of income along with satisfaction and a measure of security that is lacking in engineering.

Everyone that I have spoken with at ASDOH has been very encouraging. I don't know if they are specifically looking for career-changers, but I never sensed that my age and experience were viewed as anything less than a positive factor.

RP