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Hi. Ive got a question for the unbiased pros.
I'm in my late 20's and have basically held down solid/technically involved jobs since I dropped out of highschool; super strong work ethic and I dont cut corners. I have no real desire to attend school just for the sake of it(aka persuing knowledge in a formal setting just to know things) which is mostly the reason for this thread.
I have since gone back and finished gr.12 equivalents of english, precalc, physics, chem, biology all in the 90th-99th percentile... main reason for doing that was to
A) have a grade 12 diploma to apply for certain jobs going forward and
B) take a stab at it and see how smart I was book wise considering I left highschool in grade 9 in favour of working fulltime.
C) I have considered professional studies but I dont like the uncertainty of being accepted....
Having said that,
Instead of going on to a degree after doing reasonably well in my upgrading I decided to stick to my roots of doing a trade and collecting a paycheque as I dont really see the light at the end of the tunnel of getting a degree to do something I dont/might not particularly enjoy. Well it turns out I dont particularly want to work as a tradesmen for the rest of my life just for the measily paycheque. So now I'm here... mostly ready to commit to dentistry.
When I was around 20 I wanted to persue dentistry but I didnt for a few reasons.
Now that I have come full circle some years later, a little older and a little wiser, I ask myself why not?
It is said to have a back up plan instead of dentistry (aka choose courses that allow you to do something else should you not be successful) but I dont really have a back up plan. Looking at the degrees based on the prereqs dentistry requires, I'm pretty much pinned in to having to get a degree in some field of biology. All I want out of attending undegrad is to go into dentistry.
My main reasons for dentistry: I get to satisfy people/helping people/customer satisfaction, there is a technical aspect of hands on, I get to be my own boss/can run the practice, it pays well, and I'd imagine its not slow and reasonably fast paced.
To re-iterate, the things I enjoy most are seeing a satisfied customer, working directly with my hands to produce, and being my own boss. I wouldnt particularly like sitting still for 40 hours a week, aka I need more than just intellectual stimulation.
If I were to sum up what I'm trying to get out of this post is:
Am I going to have a reasonable guarantee of being able to get into dentistry without completing a degree(aka getting into a 2nd year or 3rd year accepting school)?
If I only complete the pre-reqs for dental school and then "drop out" of sciences, am I going to be looked upon negatively on the 2nd(if it came to that) Dschool application when I'm no longer studying sciences?
Being that I'm in my late 20's, kind of a late bloomer on the schooling aspect, and that I dont particularly have a super-duper interest in the sciences for the sake of them to just get a degree and be happy working in a lab doing sciency things, would I be taking too much of a risk to go down this path of only taking science pre-reqs to take a shot at dental school?
Thanks in advance.
I have a suspicion to ask this question: where are you attempting to enroll in dental school? Are you in the United States?