A few questions....

[tayloreve]

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Hii SDN.

So I have a family member who just graduated college and is actually thinking about dental school. He was asking me a few questions about it and I did not have the answers for him so I wanted to ask you guys.

Anyway, he just graduated this past year in Electrical Engineering and now works for an engineering company full time. I told him if he is thinking about dental, he needs to shadow a dentist. With a full time job, how will it be possible for him to shadow? It's not like taking a week or two off from his job is possible. & I know most schools require shadowing hours..and in general, it's just a great idea to shadow. What do you do then?

Second, he completed most of the pre-reqs but he has not taken organic chemistry. In his mind he somehow thinks that if he does well enough on the DAT, maybe if he talks to the school they will ignore this prereq. I told him I don't think so...but trying to go back to school with an 8-5 job doesn't seem like it would work..I don't think you can take organic chem as an online class either.

It would be stupid for him to quit his job because theres always that "what if" if he doesn't make it into dental school.


In conclusion, how does someone with a full time job find time to 1) shadow a dentist 2) go back and take any missing prereqs?

ANY INSIGHT WOULD BE SOOO HELPFUL!

Thanks SDN!

 

[RalphMouth]

1) Aren't there dental offices open on weekends where he lives? I did a good chunk (30 hours) of my shadowing over a month and a half period once a week on Saturday at a GP (admittedly I did the other shadowing at a hospital/clinic during weekdays).

2) Not really sure what he can do for this except find a school that offers night classes/weekend classes.

 

[HeyCharlie]

Shadow on the weekends. Take OChem at a CC night class.

 

[UltimateHombre]

Shadow on the weekends. Take OChem at a CC night class.

This! 👍

Just shadow on his days off... And take the Ochem at night or change his work schedule for a semester to accommodate the one class. I worked almost full time through my entire undergrad.

 

[Dgeorg6]

Did he have a high GPA overall and in his science classes? if not there is probably no point anyways

 

[93geo]

👍

 

[pk62281]

I work full-time as an engineer and was able to take most of my prereqs while working full time. It was really tough though. I was also able to rack up my shadowing hours by using my vacation days. I would spend the whole day at the dentists office.

If his company is flexible he might be able to maintain his job and take classes but every situation is different.

 

[93geo]

I work full-time as an engineer and was able to take most of my prereqs while working full time. It was really tough though. I was also able to rack up my shadowing hours by using my vacation days. I would spend the whole day at the dentists office.

If his company is flexible he might be able to maintain his job and take classes but every situation is different.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/member.php?u=319555👍

 

[tayloreve]

1) Aren't there dental offices open on weekends where he lives? I did a good chunk (30 hours) of my shadowing over a month and a half period once a week on Saturday at a GP (admittedly I did the other shadowing at a hospital/clinic during weekdays).

Good idea! The only thing is he lives in a REALLY small town, so I don't know how many dental offices there are but it's definitely a start. It never occurred to me that some offices are open on the weekends. Will have to look into it! Thank you!

Did he have a high GPA overall and in his science classes? if not there is probably no point anyways

He graduated with a 3.5 in electrical engineering at a good school known for its engineering program, it's pretty tough so his GPA is definitely competitive. He has good EC's and everything else. Just needs shadowing + organic.



Thanks everyone for the input. Using vacation days to shadow probably isn't what he is going to want to hear, but you gotta do what ya gotta do!!

pk62281 -- how in the world did you manage to take pre-reqs while working full time? Share your secret!!!!! Online/night classes?

 

[pk62281]

Good idea! The only thing is he lives in a REALLY small town, so I don't know how many dental offices there are but it's definitely a start. It never occurred to me that some offices are open on the weekends. Will have to look into it! Thank you!



He graduated with a 3.5 in electrical engineering at a good school known for its engineering program, it's pretty tough so his GPA is definitely competitive. He has good EC's and everything else. Just needs shadowing + organic.



Thanks everyone for the input. Using vacation days to shadow probably isn't what he is going to want to hear, but you gotta do what ya gotta do!!

pk62281 -- how in the world did you manage to take pre-reqs while working full time? Share your secret!!!!! Online/night classes?

There is no secret, I just got lucky. My manager and I are friends so when I decided that I wanted to pursue dentistry he was supportive. In my company, projects are 5 years long or so. The worst thing is when someone randomly quits and they have to scramble to make up the workload. With me, there are no surprises and they will know when I quit months in advance.

I also work near a 4 year university and would just go back and forth. Some of my classes started at 330. So I would go to work, then go to class, then go back to work and stay until 7 or 8.

Not everyone can be as lucky as I am. I am really grateful that everything worked out well.

Also, depending on how long he has been out of school. He might not just need to take orgo. Some schools may want to see him take orgo plus a few more upper level bio classes. Especially when it comes to non-traditional applicants, every situation is different. There is a chance that he has no other choice but to quit his job to pursue this. Tough call I know.

 

[sacapuntas]

His situation is not really unique, it is a decision most of us many non-trads had to make. He is lucky he only needs organic; a lot of us had to take all the pre-reqs while still paying the bills. As someone else mentioned, he needs to decide if he is serious. If he is, then he can make shadowing and classwork a priority over his job.


If I was in his position, I would do my best to find any night/weekend course out there that offers O-Chem and enroll in that...even if it meant a 2 hour drive. During this time I would spend 2 or 3 vacation days to shadow to make sure I was going to like dentistry, and shadow more on weekends if possible. I would then finish Organic 1 and take the DAT. Depending on how that goes, he will know if he can get into D-school. Then he can apply and take O-Chem 2 after he is done applying. During that time he is going to have to continue shadowing now and then and probably start transitioning out of his job unless he has a ton of vacation time built up for interviews etc.


It is all a matter of whether he decided it would be 'fun' to be a dentist and talked to you about it, or if he really is serious about becoming a dentist.

 

[pk62281]

Also, my guess is that he has the Bio Prereq already due to AP credits which do not count. If a school requires 2 semesters of Bio, he would most likely still need to take 2 more bio courses at an advanced level at a 4 year. It's also good to have microbio, biochem, anatomy, and physio.

 

[cubs]

It would be stupid for him to quit his job because theres always that "what if" if he doesn't make it into dental school.

He sounds like a similar situation as me. I had a 3.5 Mechanical Engineering degree and returned to school to get pre-reqs. What seems different than me is the desire to go back to school. Even if I didn't get into a dental school, I knew I didn't want to be an engineer anymore. If you're unsure about whether to be an engineer or a dentist, I think you need to maybe do some soul-searching. Interviewers can sniff out whether you are truly dedicated to dentistry. Do the job shadow when you can- even a little may give you the idea that you really want to pursue this career or not. If you really want to be a dentist, that means you really don't want to be an engineer and your job is not as important. If you need the money, you might even want to consider trying to find some sort of lab or research job while getting pre-reqs. My point is that you should be fully committed to dentistry and engineering should be your side project. If you don't feel like you're ready to give up engineering, then your not ready to take up dentistry or another career.

 

[sacapuntas]

He sounds like a similar situation as me. I had a 3.5 Mechanical Engineering degree and returned to school to get pre-reqs. What seems different than me is the desire to go back to school. Even if I didn't get into a dental school, I knew I didn't want to be an engineer anymore. If you're unsure about whether to be an engineer or a dentist, I think you need to maybe do some soul-searching. Interviewers can sniff out whether you are truly dedicated to dentistry. Do the job shadow when you can- even a little may give you the idea that you really want to pursue this career or not. If you really want to be a dentist, that means you really don't want to be an engineer and your job is not as important. If you need the money, you might even want to consider trying to find some sort of lab or research job while getting pre-reqs. My point is that you should be fully committed to dentistry and engineering should be your side project. If you don't feel like you're ready to give up engineering, than your not ready to take up dentistry or another career.

spot on, perfectly said.