Seriously inspired to get into dental school, my situation...

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PocketRocket

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UPDATE:

So just took the DAT:
PAT 23
QR 24
RC 21
Bio 21
GC 23
OC 23
TS 22
AA 22

I will do a breakdown after much celebrating this weekend. But a quick question I wanted to ask is with my gpa 3.45, and the DAT, how am I looking as an applicant in the east coast? I've been told that Cali and schools around the east coast are the most competitive in the country.
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Hey guys,

The short version:

Graduated in May 2014 with Bio 3.45 GPA
Initially pre-med, studied for and took the MCAT
Score is good but I realized I never really wanted to be a doctor and never explored other options in healthcare
Met a dentist and had an epiphany about becoming one
I have great ECs and clinical experience, but none of it is dental related.
I've played the guitar and piano most of my life and generally am an artsy person
I am confident in my manual dexterity abilities, I would imagine that to be relevant


Say I start studying for the DAT right meow and take it early May. Mean while, I would also be shadowing a dentist, and working in the ER, applying June 1st. What else should I be doing to improve my chances of getting into Dental school this upcoming cycle?

Given that I have studied hard for the MCAT and know the sciences really well, is 3 months of studying for the DAT too much? What material would you recommend?

TLTR:
I graduated last may from college with a 3.45. I was a bio major with a chem minor and was semi-interested in medicine. I kind of put my self in that route by default due to family encouragement and most of my friends being pre-med. I did my typical pre-med volunteering, research, clubs involvement,etc... I've been working in the ER for over 3 years as a tech and love the human interaction part of it the most. I took the MCAT with med-school in mind. I studied my ass off for it and did fairly well except for the verbal part. I think the fact that English is my 2nd language had something to do with that. The problem, I've recently realized, is that I've never really wanted to be a doctor. It was always something that I could see myself doing and not minding it. But, I've never had the drive to become a doctor like the drive I am experiencing right now for the first time in my life with regards to Dentistry. I've been taking a family member to the dentist this past few months and since she doesn't speak a word of English I've been translating for her. In this process, I've met and have gotten to know the dentist. The experience that I've had with him changed my life. He was really cool and we talked about random dental/non-dental stuff but last week, after I told him I graduated from college with bio, he asked me if I wanted to go to dental school. I've never considered it my entire life because we had the pre-dental kids and the pre-med kids. I was part of the pre-med kids. Simple. Now I can't stop thinking about dental.

I've done some research and found out what the general application process is like. Committee letter from adviser, LOR from Dentist, DAT,etc.. Applications open July 1st and I should ideally have taken the DAT by then with 21+ scores.

Say I start studying for the DAT right meow and take it early May. Mean while, I would also be shadowing a dentist, and working in the ER. What are my chances of getting into Dental school the upcoming cycle? What else should I be doing?

Thank you :)

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I took about 9 weeks and applications open on June 1st so try to have that DAT taken by May and look into the DAT forums on SDN they are really helpful I really reccomend chads videos, DAT bootcamp, and DAT destroyer they really helped me a lot! Try to get about 100 shadowing hours and continue to volunteer but you have set yourself up very well! Good luck!
 
I took my DAT on June 2nd and had everything in by early July... sixth batch and still got a good amount of interviews. If you aim to have everything in before the last week of July, you'd be considered "early."
 
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Get shadowing hours and get a solid DAT score and you should be fine.

Side note: Your TLDR is longer than your initial post lol
 
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Get shadowing hours and get a solid DAT score and you should be fine.

Side note: Your TLDR is longer than your initial post lol

He calls the first part the "Short Version" so technically he isn't wrong... :laugh:
 
Go to the ultimate breakdown collection in the DAT forums to find the best material for studying for the DAT. 3 months might be too much, but everyone is different. Depends on how strong you are in math and science. If you're pretty strong in math and science then 4-8 weeks of studying is good enough for a 20+ on each section. The DAT is way easier than the MCAT (in my opinion) so if you start now you can probably take it by late march/early april.
 
You have lotsaa time to study for the DAT and Shadow. Get atleast 100 hrs plus shadowing in by the time you submitt your apps.

Look through the DAT forum and see what are the better materials to use for the DAT.

Work on your PS whenever you can. Make sure you convey your reason for switching to dentistry. But don't be all about academics only. Mention that you love guitar. D-schools want to see all rounders.
 
Just kill the DAT and try getting ~100 hrs shadowing. Start working on that personal statement also so you wont have to do it when youre studying.
 
Haha that was actually my first time using TLTR so I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. Thanks a lot for the feedback guys! I am going to do some research with regards to the DAT and figure out what I gotta do to destroy it. With regards to shadowing, the dentist that I got to know is foreign so I probably wouldn't want him to write my letter of recommendation lol. Im sensing he is one of those that will tell me to write my own letter and he will sign, I met plenty of doctors like that, not sure how it in dentistry. So do you guys have any tips for finding dentists to shadow?

Also, I want to immerse myself in dentistry as much as possible these next few months. Are there any dental introductory books out there that one might recommend? Something along the lines of "The life of a dentist" blah blah.

Are there any jobs in the dental field that I can get so I can make a lil $$ and earn experience at the same time?

Thanks again for all your help!
 
Def search on craigslist. That's how I landed my paid position as a dental assistant. Look for dentists that are willing to teach. Most will require some exp in a dental office but some maybe willing to teach if you have an interest for dentistry. At the time I applied I had already volunteered at the ER and worked in a lab at my university.
 
Haha that was actually my first time using TLTR so I wasn't sure if I was doing it right. Thanks a lot for the feedback guys! I am going to do some research with regards to the DAT and figure out what I gotta do to destroy it. With regards to shadowing, the dentist that I got to know is foreign so I probably wouldn't want him to write my letter of recommendation lol. Im sensing he is one of those that will tell me to write my own letter and he will sign, I met plenty of doctors like that, not sure how it in dentistry. So do you guys have any tips for finding dentists to shadow?

Also, I want to immerse myself in dentistry as much as possible these next few months. Are there any dental introductory books out there that one might recommend? Something along the lines of "The life of a dentist" blah blah.

Are there any jobs in the dental field that I can get so I can make a lil $$ and earn experience at the same time?

Thanks again for all your help!

Shadow that foreign dentist since you already know him. He may not write the greatest recommendation, but ultimately you're shadowing to learn more about dentistry. Meanwhile, continue to look for other dentists to shadow. I honestly just used google and made phonecalls or sent emails. I'm not sure about introductory books but a few weeks of shadowing will teach you more about dentistry than a book would. Thats just my perspective.
 
Def search on craigslist. That's how I landed my paid position as a dental assistant. Look for dentists that are willing to teach. Most will require some exp in a dental office but some maybe willing to teach if you have an interest for dentistry. At the time I applied I had already volunteered at the ER and worked in a lab at my university.

Def will do that. By "some experience" do you mean dental related experience or anything clinical/lab? Because I have over 3 yrs working at an ER, and 2 years research at my school.
 
Shadow that foreign dentist since you already know him. He may not write the greatest recommendation, but ultimately you're shadowing to learn more about dentistry. Meanwhile, continue to look for other dentists to shadow. I honestly just used google and made phonecalls or sent emails. I'm not sure about introductory books but a few weeks of shadowing will teach you more about dentistry than a book would. That's just my perspective.

Gotchu, I will start looking tomorrow and will talk to the dentist next time I take my grandmother there. What I was hoping to get out of an intro book is common knowledge about dentistry that most pre-dents know that I have missed out on during college. But I guess google is a great place for that.

Thanks :)
 
Be honest in your application and in your interviews about being pre-med and then changing late to dentistry. I promise you'll be asked "why dentistry instead of medicine, and why you changed" in your interview. Just be truthful about that, then kick butt on the DAT and you've got a great shot.

You won't be looked down upon for choosing dentistry later on, if you're doing it for the right reasons!
 
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