Predents: Ask Us Anything!

[Lane138]

Hey guys, 4th year Harvard dental student here (graduating in one month!). I've been on SDN for nearly 6 years and have also mentored a lot of pre-dents. I'm surprised at the amount of misconceptions people have about the application process, career goals, what it's like to be a dental student, and even the up and downsides of being a dentist. In that spirit, three of us here at Harvard have decided to host a Ask Us Anything forum starting right now for one week.

Me: About to enter the real world
Friend 1: Just finished first year dental school
Friend 2: Just got accepted to a bunch of dental schools and will be starting next year.

I want to use the app Getmii because you can ask as yourself or anonymously, and all of our responses will be deleted after one week. You can ask a question or learn from what others are asking, and we'll answer as honestly as we can. We come from different perspectives, so hopefully this is useful for you!!

To join the forum, click/type the link below on your mobile phone:
https://getmii.hoko.link/KZDD0Zw

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MahiMahi]

Thank you for doing this!

 

[PianoGuy]

Friend 2 here: can confirm, super awesome discussion and questions! We're responding to everything and anything we can, so ask away. We would love to help!

Warmly,
Friend 2

 

[dannyZ]

how important is it to do research, extra volunteering, mission trips, or other activities during dental school etc.
will this help me if I want to apply for a specialty? will this significantly help me to find a job as a general practice dentist?
I just want to know if dental school will be like undergrad where I have to balance school work with extracurricular activities, or is studying the only important thing?

 

[toothdriller2k17]

what are your graduation requirements like? i'm genuinely curious because everyone shoots harvard down as a poor clinical school. now i know people who have graduated from there as of 5-6 years ago, but i'm curious as to what the clinical standards are now?

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

.

 

[doc toothache]

Hey guys, 4th year Harvard dental student here (graduating in one month!). I've been on SDN for nearly 6 years and have also mentored a lot of pre-dents. I'm surprised at the amount of misconceptions people have about the application process, career goals, what it's like to be a dental student, and even the up and downsides of being a dentist. In that spirit, three of us here at Harvard have decided to host a Ask Us Anything forum starting right now for one week.

Will a countdown clock do or would it be best to synchronize watches?

 

[Lane138]

hey y'all! thanks to everyone to participated ^.^ If you didn't get to, you can still go on to read the discussions from this past week but the posts are starting to get auto-deleted.

 

[Lane138]

what are your graduation requirements like? i'm genuinely curious because everyone shoots harvard down as a poor clinical school. now i know people who have graduated from there as of 5-6 years ago, but i'm curious as to what the clinical standards are now?

On SDN Harvard has a reputation for being a poor clinical school (I remember hearing all about that 4 years ago). However, having graduated in the middle of my class in terms of my clinical work, I don't this reputation is fair. We may have lower minimum requirements compared to Tufts and Boston, but people end up completing roughly the same amount of work. Especially with the brand new curriculum, only the first 1.5 years are dedicated to the medical school, so the last 2.5 years are at the dental school, like most other schools.

The bottom line is this: you will graduate a competent dentist. The vast majority of your dentistry skills are learned beyond dental school anyway, so you just have to keep a healthy mindset of wanting to continually improve. If you stay the same dentist you were upon graduation then you'd be a pretty bad dentist, regardless where you go.

 

[Socolaphile]

Hey guys, 4th year Harvard dental student here (graduating in one month!). I've been on SDN for nearly 6 years and have also mentored a lot of pre-dents. I'm surprised at the amount of misconceptions people have about the application process, career goals, what it's like to be a dental student, and even the up and downsides of being a dentist. In that spirit, three of us here at Harvard have decided to host a Ask Us Anything forum starting right now for one week.

Me: About to enter the real world
Friend 1: Just finished first year dental school
Friend 2: Just got accepted to a bunch of dental schools and will be starting next year.

I want to use the app Getmii because you can ask as yourself or anonymously, and all of our responses will be deleted after one week. You can ask a question or learn from what others are asking, and we'll answer as honestly as we can. We come from different perspectives, so hopefully this is useful for you!!

To join the forum, click/type the link below on your mobile phone: .
https://getmii.hoko.link/KZDD0Zw.

Lane 138,

Thank you for doing this for us pre-dental students.

My question is: how realistic is my stats to become a dentist for my age?

I graduated in May 2015 with 2.3 sGPA. I have been retaking prereq at community college and recalculated my sGPA to be 2.65 after 20 units. If I take another year to retake/take more classes with 20 units/year, my sGPA would be 2.98. I will be 26 next year, and with this low sGPA 2.98, should I continue pursuing dentistry or just change path?
Also, I'm taking 10 units per semester because I am working full-time. I have not taken my DAT yet. I do have strong letters of recommendation from research professor, dentist, employee, and community service with 100+ shadowing hours.
Honest insights will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

[lindsay O'Donnell]

Hey guys, 4th year Harvard dental student here (graduating in one month!). I've been on SDN for nearly 6 years and have also mentored a lot of pre-dents. I'm surprised at the amount of misconceptions people have about the application process, career goals, what it's like to be a dental student, and even the up and downsides of being a dentist. In that spirit, three of us here at Harvard have decided to host a Ask Us Anything forum starting right now for one week.

Me: About to enter the real world
Friend 1: Just finished first year dental school
Friend 2: Just got accepted to a bunch of dental schools and will be starting next year.

I want to use the app Getmii because you can ask as yourself or anonymously, and all of our responses will be deleted after one week. You can ask a question or learn from what others are asking, and we'll answer as honestly as we can. We come from different perspectives, so hopefully this is useful for you!!

To join the forum, click/type the link below on your mobile phone: .
https://getmii.hoko.link/KZDD0Zw.

Congratulations to you and your friends! thank you for helping. Here's my question: I have read so many posts about criminal records and background checks and I wish I could get some straight answers. I was charged when I was 18 with criminal damaging ( I broke a lamp) and the case was dismissed. I am so excited to go to dental school (I'm applying this cycle opening in June), but I am fearful that somehow this may hinder my chances of acceptance. I have a 3.8 (biochemistry major) and have yet to take the DAT. I don't know if I should disclose this information in my interviews, or just let them see it on a background check. HELP!

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

.

 

[toothdds]

How long after your transcripts were verified and everything was in, did schools tell you that they received your app?