I changed from Pre med to Pre dent ! I need major help!

[Doc90]

I was supposed to apply to medical schools this year and i have been preparing for mcat for past 5-6 months and i was supposed to take it next month. I dont feel for medical anymore and I really am interested in dentistry now. Since I was pre med I have tremendous number of shadowing hours. I shadowed about 3 doctors MD/DO for 1000+ hours. Now that I want to do dentistry, how do i go about this? I am preparing for DAT and planning to give it in july end. Also I have no clinical experience what so ever in dental field. I have recently started shadowing a dentist who is an ortho . I was wondering what can I do more to improve my chances in getting into dental school next year? Please can anyone help me!!!

Also I have taken a year off after undergrad to prepare for MCAT but now I seriously have no time to waste at all. I really want to do dentistry and want to get into dental school and start next year!

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[sgv]

Well if you've been studying really hard for the MCAT for the past 5 months then DAT material should be easy.

Shadow some general dentists and work on the PAT section. I don't know if you can make all this happen within this cycle. But you would have to prep a little more for the DAT. Shadow. Get your AADSAS application together and apply as soon as possible. More likely, you're going to wait a year. If you wanted to be safe, you could wait a year to make sure you like dentistry or shadow a little longer before pulling the trigger and applying to dental school. If you do this, you'd either apply next year or have a late application. Applying to dental school is a lot more expensive than applying to medical school. Our school application fee for each school can cost like a $100 (if you apply to 10 schools, that's already a grand) and deposits to save your admission seat can be as expensive as $2,000, usually they're $1,000. Add on top of that AADSAS application fee. You can easily spend like $5,000 on DAT prep material, application costs, travel, and hotel.

If you wanted to apply this cycle, I guess you could open an AADSAS application. Transfer your LOR from your medical app to AADSAS (forward LOR request to professors and dentists). Take DAT in June, July, or August. Shadow for at best 100 hours at a general dentist's office (not a specialist). Submit DAT score by August. Wait and cross fingers.

 

[sjv]

Take a look at shadowing requirements for schools you plan on applying to: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2014-shadowing-requirements-recommendations.1069934/
Shadowing an established orthodontist provides a very narrow view of the profession.

As sgv said above, the DAT should be easy if you have been studying for the MCAT.

 

[PostDocCain]

Doc90,
5-6 months of preparation for the MCAT is a lot of time just to throw away hope on medical school but there will be similarities on the DAT. Have you clearly thought this over decision.

Thea bigger question is what made you lose your feel for wanting to go to medical school? Most ppl who study for the MCAT for that long of a period or any standarized test are usually set on what they want to do

 

[ILLchief]

Sooooo you had an epiphany while studying for the MCAT that you all of a sudden want to go to dental school? Seems legit.

 

[PostDocCain]

^^^ kinda thought the same thing at first.

 

[Doc90]

Well if you've been studying really hard for the MCAT for the past 5 months then DAT material should be easy.

Shadow some general dentists and work on the PAT section. I don't know if you can make all this happen within this cycle. But you would have to prep a little more for the DAT. Shadow. Get your AADSAS application together and apply as soon as possible. More likely, you're going to wait a year. If you wanted to be safe, you could wait a year to make sure you like dentistry or shadow a little longer before pulling the trigger and applying to dental school. If you do this, you'd either apply next year or have a late application. Applying to dental school is a lot more expensive than applying to medical school. Our school application fee for each school can cost like a $100 (if you apply to 10 schools, that's already a grand) and deposits to save your admission seat can be as expensive as $2,000, usually they're $1,000. Add on top of that AADSAS application fee. You can easily spend like $5,000 on DAT prep material, application costs, travel, and hotel.

If you wanted to apply this cycle, I guess you could open an AADSAS application. Transfer your LOR from your medical app to AADSAS (forward LOR request to professors and dentists). Take DAT in June, July, or August. Shadow for at best 100 hours at a general dentist's office (not a specialist). Submit DAT score by August. Wait and cross fingers.

so you think I should apply right away but i literally have no experience! there is another general dentist who works at the same ortho clinic i am shadowing at so I was also thinking of shadowing too. I really dont want to waste another year and apply this cycle to get into dental school next year!! please help me how do I start doing things?

 

[Doc90]

Doc90,
5-6 months of preparation for the MCAT is a lot of time just to throw away hope on medical school but there will be similarities on the DAT. Have you clearly thought this over decision.

Thea bigger question is what made you lose your feel for wanting to go to medical school? Most ppl who study for the MCAT for that long of a period or any standarized test are usually set on what they want to do

Yes I have always had second thoughts and somewhere I was not really motivated to do medicine even though I have invested so many hours shadowing and volunteering! But dentistry is what i really want to do!

 

[Doc90]

Sooooo you had an epiphany while studying for the MCAT that you all of a sudden want to go to dental school? Seems legit.

do you have any helpful advice to give please?

 

[sgv]

so you think I should apply right away but i literally have no experience! there is another general dentist who works at the same ortho clinic i am shadowing at so I was also thinking of shadowing too. I really dont want to waste another year and apply this cycle to get into dental school next year!! please help me how do I start doing things?

If you wanted to apply this cycle, it would be adding more stress to an already stressful experience. If you think you can do it, it would be risky. I got a friend you switched from med to dent the beginning of spring semester of 3rd year and got into a bunch of schools. But he was 5 months ahead of where you are now and had some sick stats (3.9 GPA, top 98th percentile on DAT). If you've got a high GPA and DAT, you're going to look impressive even though you switched so late. Try not to make it so obvious that you've only been predent for 6 months prior to getting accepted to dental school. It's going to be hard to show you've dedicated yourself to dentistry because all your shadowing hours are going to be from like a month ago, I assume.

 

[Doc90]

If you wanted to apply this cycle, it would be adding more stress to an already stressful experience. If you think you can do it, it would be risky. I got a friend you switched from med to dent the beginning of spring semester of 3rd year and got into a bunch of schools. But he was 5 months ahead of where you are now and had some sick stats (3.9 GPA, 22 AA). If you've got a high GPA and DAT, you're going to look impressive even though you switched so late. Try not to make it so obvious that you've only been predent for 6 months prior to getting accepted to dental school. It's going to be hard to show you've dedicated yourself to dentistry because all your shadowing hours are going to be from like a month ago, I assume.

okay well my GPA is about 3.4 and I can get 21 on DAT so what do i do about the experience? or like you said that how do i not show i was not pre dent before? please help me I just started shadowing this week i have about 5 hours.. i only have till august how do i go about this?

what to do stepwise?

I was thinking taking DAT in end of july or first week of aug
then when do I apply?

 

[sgv]

okay well my GPA is about 3.4 and I can get 21 on DAT so what do i do about the experience? or like you said that how do i not show i was not pre dent before? please help me I just started shadowing this week i have about 5 hours.. i only have till august how do i go about this?

what to do stepwise?

I was thinking taking DAT in end of july or first week of aug
then when do I apply?

lol, I'm sorry but I have to assume that you're applying to dental school because of your low GPA...I also gotta assume you didn't study that hard for MCAT because 5 months of hardcore studying is exhausting and probably indicates a score of +34 and I doubt you would switch from medicine to dentistry after scoring +34 on your MCAT...
average accepted dental student GPA is 3.6 and although you're within the range of accepted applicants, you'll look bad because your application would just scream, "I'm applying to dental school because I don't think I can get into medical school." Whatever the truth is, that's unfortunately what I think most people would assume when they look at your application. You could always take the safe route and wait a year to shadow and make a better application. 3.4 isn't bad but you'd have better make up for it and your lack of dedication to the field with a good DAT score.

if you're going to jump into this cycle, know that the application opened in like late april. you'd have to make an application right now but your application wouldn't be complete for review until your DAT is sent from Prometric to AADSAS and then from AADSAS to each school. Then your application gets sifted among every other application and is reviewed and considered for an interview. Earliest notice of acceptance from all schools is December 1st. This is not like medical schools where you can be notified of an acceptance much earlier.

You could apply right now and if you do, make sure you get a lot of shadowing hours and get a high score on the DAT. You better work on that personal statement.

 

[Doc90]

No that wasn't the reason. I actually still had a chance for DO schools with my GPA since i had tremendous amount of experience and of course 30+MCAT score. But i just did not feel for medical anymore and I thought dental is a good field which is short too. That being said I was wondering what month would be safe for me to apply? and approximately how many hours of shadowing do I need? Also, like you said my application wouldnt be reviewed until i send in my DAT scores can I apply all together with my scores and everything by mid aug? would that be good for me?

 

[sgv]

No that wasn't the reason. I actually still had a chance for DO schools with my GPA since i had tremendous amount of experience and of course 30+MCAT score. But i just did not feel for medical anymore and I thought dental is a good field which is short too. That being said I was wondering what month would be safe for me to apply? and approximately how many hours of shadowing do I need? Also, like you said my application wouldnt be reviewed until i send in my DAT scores can I apply all together with my scores and everything by mid aug? would that be good for me?

You can apply now because if you wait until you take the DAT to make an application, you're application won't be processed and ready for review until much later. It takes several weeks for AADSAS to process your application. You don't need a DAT to make an application.

So you can make the application right now with everything completed except the DAT. Then when you take the DAT, it'll take another week or two for your score to be processed by Prometric and AADSAS and sent to your schools. Your application will then be complete after like two weeks from the day you take the DAT. I think an application with your stats is late if it's complete on September because it only gives schools October or November to review and schedule an interview for a Dec 1st acceptance. You could still get a post december 1st interivew but your chances of acceptance are supposedly slimmer then. Earliest interview is in late July. Try to take the DAT in late June or early to mid July so your application is complete by August. But you gotta make an application now or very soon because it's going to take time for your professors to submit LOR, your college to send transcript, and for AADSAS to process your uncompleted application.

[READ THIS] I have a bad feeling that you'll get into a private dental school but not your state school and then drop the idea of going to dental school because of the debt...it's easy to get into any dental school but it's very hard to get into a cheap state school.

If you are going to apply this cycle, I suggest you also apply for the military scholarship as well...

 

[Doc90]

You can apply now because if you wait until you take the DAT to make an application, you're application won't be processed and ready for review until much later. It takes several weeks for AADSAS to process your application. You don't need a DAT to make an application.

So you can make the application right now with everything completed except the DAT. Then when you take the DAT, it'll take another week or two for your score to be processed by Prometric and AADSAS and sent to your schools. Your application will then be complete after like two weeks from the day you take the DAT. I think an application with your stats is late if it's complete on September because it only gives schools October or November to review and schedule an interview for a Dec 1st acceptance. You could still get a post december 1st interivew but your chances of acceptance are supposedly slimmer then. Earliest interview is in late July. Try to take the DAT in late June or early to mid July so your application is complete by August. But you gotta make an application now or very soon because it's going to take time for your professors to submit LOR, your college to send transcript, and for AADSAS to process your uncompleted application.

[READ THIS] I have a bad feeling that you'll get into a private dental school but not your state school and then drop the idea of going to dental school because of the debt...it's easy to get into any dental school but it's very hard to get into a cheap state school.

If you are going to apply this cycle, I suggest you also apply for the military scholarship as well...

Thank you so much for your help I will start on my application as well alongside the DAT and shadowing! I will try my best to take it mid july or late july max. Till then I should be able to get atleast 100 hours of shadowing. I will also keep an eye open for dental assistant jobs or something that sort.

Yeah I dont mind getting into any dental school. Anything is better than nothing in my perspective!

Thank you again much appreciated!

 

[Doc90]

You can apply now because if you wait until you take the DAT to make an application, you're application won't be processed and ready for review until much later. It takes several weeks for AADSAS to process your application. You don't need a DAT to make an application.

So you can make the application right now with everything completed except the DAT. Then when you take the DAT, it'll take another week or two for your score to be processed by Prometric and AADSAS and sent to your schools. Your application will then be complete after like two weeks from the day you take the DAT. I think an application with your stats is late if it's complete on September because it only gives schools October or November to review and schedule an interview for a Dec 1st acceptance. You could still get a post december 1st interivew but your chances of acceptance are supposedly slimmer then. Earliest interview is in late July. Try to take the DAT in late June or early to mid July so your application is complete by August. But you gotta make an application now or very soon because it's going to take time for your professors to submit LOR, your college to send transcript, and for AADSAS to process your uncompleted application.

[READ THIS] I have a bad feeling that you'll get into a private dental school but not your state school and then drop the idea of going to dental school because of the debt...it's easy to get into any dental school but it's very hard to get into a cheap state school.

If you are going to apply this cycle, I suggest you also apply for the military scholarship as well...

sorry to bother you again but I noticed that in the application there is a section that asks for extracuricular activities and accomplishments..Since i was pre med i was highly involved into AMSA and other science clubs but never dental club. So, what do you suggest for that? SHould i still put my pre med activities on there?

 

[Silent Cool]

sorry to bother you again but I noticed that in the application there is a section that asks for extracuricular activities and accomplishments..Since i was pre med i was highly involved into AMSA and other science clubs but never dental club. So, what do you suggest for that? SHould i still put my pre med activities on there?

What are your pre-med activities?

 

[sgv]

sorry to bother you again but I noticed that in the application there is a section that asks for extracuricular activities and accomplishments..Since i was pre med i was highly involved into AMSA and other science clubs but never dental club. So, what do you suggest for that? SHould i still put my pre med activities on there?

i dunno

 

[Doc90]

What are your pre-med activities?

I was into AMSA , tri beta, rotaract, ASAP program that educates middle school kids about substance abuse.
I also volunteered at the ER department

 

[Silent Cool]

I was into AMSA , tri beta, rotaract, ASAP program that educates middle school kids about substance abuse.
I also raised money around $1500 to help out somalia kids
I also volunteered at the ER department
I did partners in peace program where i went to underprivileged areas in my state and helped out people with medical care
Also volunteered at hospice

Everything is fine, except: what is AMSA? Tri Beta? Rotaract? ASAP?

 

[Gregor Wiesmann]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but why did you switch? Not trying to start any arguments here, but I'm genuinely curious because I am still on the fence between Dentistry and Medicine.

 

[ramborhino]

Take your MCAT, wait until you get your score back and then see what you think. There is a strong chance your whole debacle is being strongly influenced by your mental anguish of MCAT studying. If you get a solid MCAT score, then decide instead to go with the dental path, then at least you know you didn't make a career altering decision out of one stressful hurdle.

 

[saintguitar]

The most helpful advice for you is this in my opinion: shadow some more dentists and make sure dentistry is what you really want to do.

Given the fact that you took a year off to go to medical school and had been studying for 5,6 months to take the MCAT before you had a change of heart tells me it could happen again while you are preparing to go to dental school after another heavy investment both time- and money-wise.

Everything may look good and rosy on the paper; make sure it is indeed something that you want to pursue for the rest of your life.

Good luck.

 

[Doc90]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but why did you switch? Not trying to start any arguments here, but I'm genuinely curious because I am still on the fence between Dentistry and Medicine.

Tbh i did not want to become a doc when i am mid 30's. Its a great profession where you help out people but I don't think I have that drive to push myself and wait another 10 yrs to become one.
I think dentistry is an amazing field where I get to work with my hands and bring smile on people, more like perfecting what they actually want to see. It's not an heavy task to perform as a dentist in oppose to medicine where the laws are changing and if a simple mistake is done then you're hold for an account. Plus residency and USMLE scores is another hassle which I don't want to deal with.

 

[Doc90]

Everything is fine, except: what is AMSA? Tri Beta? Rotaract? ASAP?

AMSA is american medical student association club.
Tri Beta is a science club at my school
Rotaract is a club where you get volunteering opportunities for your community

 

[hitmans45]

Tbh i did not want to become a doc when i am mid 30's. Its a great profession where you help out people but I don't think I have that drive to push myself and wait another 10 yrs to become one.
I think dentistry is an amazing field where I get to work with my hands and bring smile on people, more like perfecting what they actually want to see. It's not an heavy task to perform as a dentist in oppose to medicine where the laws are changing and if a simple mistake is done then you're hold for an account. Plus residency and USMLE scores is another hassle which I don't want to deal with.

I think you are underestimating the profession.

 

[Dentalguy8621]

I was supposed to apply to medical schools this year and i have been preparing for mcat for past 5-6 months and i was supposed to take it next month. I dont feel for medical anymore and I really am interested in dentistry now. Since I was pre med I have tremendous number of shadowing hours. I shadowed about 3 doctors MD/DO for 1000+ hours. Now that I want to do dentistry, how do i go about this? I am preparing for DAT and planning to give it in july end. Also I have no clinical experience what so ever in dental field. I have recently started shadowing a dentist who is an ortho . I was wondering what can I do more to improve my chances in getting into dental school next year? Please can anyone help me!!!

Also I have taken a year off after undergrad to prepare for MCAT but now I seriously have no time to waste at all. I really want to do dentistry and want to get into dental school and start next year!

I was always considering medicine for some time. I really was. Until I realized that it is not a life that I want to live. You have to paint a picture of your future self and see where you would be happy. Dentistry was it for me. This was after graduating college, working in a hospital and after bouts of shadowing both professions. Gotta find what suites you.

 

[Gregor Wiesmann]

I was always considering medicine for some time. I really was. Until I realized that it is not a life that I want to live. You have to paint a picture of your future self and see where you would be happy. Dentistry was it for me. This was after graduating college, working in a hospital and after bouts of shadowing both professions. Gotta find what suites you.

Did this picture you painted of yourself include a garage full of bikes? Road or Mountain?

 

[dentalWorks]

I was supposed to apply to medical schools this year and i have been preparing for mcat for past 5-6 months and i was supposed to take it next month. I dont feel for medical anymore and I really am interested in dentistry now. Since I was pre med I have tremendous number of shadowing hours. I shadowed about 3 doctors MD/DO for 1000+ hours. Now that I want to do dentistry, how do i go about this? I am preparing for DAT and planning to give it in july end. Also I have no clinical experience what so ever in dental field. I have recently started shadowing a dentist who is an ortho . I was wondering what can I do more to improve my chances in getting into dental school next year? Please can anyone help me!!!

Also I have taken a year off after undergrad to prepare for MCAT but now I seriously have no time to waste at all. I really want to do dentistry and want to get into dental school and start next year!

Not much different between the two schools. The only thing I would highly suggest is to go and shadow a general dentist (not ortho). Ortho office is day&night different from general dentistry. I would also recommend to mention your 1000+ hours of shadowing doctors (don't hide this fact), this was a good experience and it helped you understand that medicine is not for you, good idea to include them.

all the best

 

[Dentalguy8621]

Did this picture you painted of yourself include a garage full of bikes? Road or Mountain?

Baha. Both actually. I love me some shredding.

 

[Doc90]

Not much different between the two schools. The only thing I would highly suggest is to go and shadow a general dentist (not ortho). Ortho office is day&night different from general dentistry. I would also recommend to mention your 1000+ hours of shadowing doctors (don't hide this fact), this was a good experience and it helped you understand that medicine is not for you, good idea to include them.

all the best

Thank you !! yes i am going in this thrusday to shadow a general dentist so i can differentiate!

 

[Doc90]

I think you are underestimating the profession.

No i am not i feel dentistry is a field for me because its not so intense like medicine where i have to be up on call for 48 hours straight! i dont think i would want to live a life like that. I want to be happy with the profession i choose and i think dentistry is for me!

 

[Gregor Wiesmann]

The only thing that stands between me and Dentistry is my deep affection for all things coffee.........