Not doing residency with stellar stats

[whoknowswhen]

Hey guys,

I am a long time lurker and decided to ask a question.

The bottom line is, I have good stats: I am the first in my class (1/65), can get some good references, some extracurricular activities... I play sports and feel pretty good about my interview skills. I am one of the top producing students in my clinic, so it's not like I am just textbook smart.

I studied my ass off to maintain that class rank thinking that I would specialize one day. But it turns out that I don't really want to specialize at this point. There really isn't anything out there that interests me enough to invest 3-6 years of my life plus pay another 200k for tuition. I've thought about residency in AEGD/GPR but I feel like I can achieve most of those skill sets with some continuing education courses in the next couple of years. I will probably get burned for saying this but some students NEED 1yr residency to figure out what the f. it is that they are doing: I am not one of those. I learn fast and I have very good hands.

All in all, I feel like all that work was for nothing.

Any thoughts?

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[Sublimazing]

Was this a diary entry that accidentally made it to SDN?

 

[Golfguy]

Not all for nothing, as you should have picked up a lot more information with that effort. You should do what will make you happy and satisfied in a career, and not base a decision on what is expected of a person with good stats.

 

[AU07DMD]

Was this a diary entry that accidentally made it to SDN?

Haha. My thoughts exactly when first reading this post.

There really isn't anything out there that interests me enough to invest 3-6 years of my life plus pay another 200k for tuition.

What about two years? Peds is two years and there are a few select ortho programs that are 2 years also. If your stats are that good you should be able to match one of these programs if they interested you enough. And also could probably find/ rank a cheaper program that doesn't cost 200K. All that being said, do what makes you happy.

 

[Silent Cool]

Hey guys,

I am a long time lurker and decided to ask a question.

The bottom line is, I have good stats: I am the first in my class (1/65), can get some good references, some extracurricular activities... I play sports and feel pretty good about my interview skills. I am one of the top producing students in my clinic, so it's not like I am just textbook smart.

I studied my ass off to maintain that class rank thinking that I would specialize one day. But it turns out that I don't really want to specialize at this point. There really isn't anything out there that interests me enough to invest 3-6 years of my life plus pay another 200k for tuition. I've thought about residency in AEGD/GPR but I feel like I can achieve most of those skill sets with some continuing education courses in the next couple of years. I will probably get burned for saying this but some students NEED 1yr residency to figure out what the f. it is that they are doing: I am not one of those. I learn fast and I have very good hands.

All in all, I feel like all that work was for nothing.

Any thoughts?

No, the work was not for nothing. You did the right thing because that work kept your options open. Besides, why would you want to underperform when you could perform better? You should always live up to your potential.

Also, you don't have to decide right now on a specialty. You can go back in a few years. Plenty of dentists do.

good luck and congrats on your amazing class rank.

 

[tkz]

Perhaps that works wasn't for nothing but rather is the reason you are so confident as a dentist and perhaps that hard work is the reason you could go out and start practicing right out of dental school making good money.

 

[Newgoalsdentdoc]

What are you presently doing?

 

[Contach]

Also, you don't have to decide right now on a specialty. You can go back in a few years. Plenty of dentists do.

Also, plenty of dentists say the will but never end up doing it.

 

[Tooth]

You'll figure it out within a couple years. Dentistry after dental school is a whole new ball game. Trust me, you're going to specialize.

 

[Silent Cool]

You'll figure it out within a couple years. Dentistry after dental school is a whole new ball game. Trust me, you're going to specialize.

Does general dentistry suck that much?

 

[eringer]

All in all, I feel like all that work was for nothing.

You are correct.

 

[Contach]

You are correct.

Keep telling yourself that to appease your inner laziness.