AMA: Today is the Last Day of My NHSC Scholarship Service Commitment

[cooliyak]

Background: I received the 4-year NHSC Scholarship and worked at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) for 4 years after graduation (I did not do a GPR or AEGD). I ended up having to change jobs in the middle of my service because my workplace was so toxic. Unfortunately, it was during the beginning of the pandemic (would not recommend). Overall, I was very pleased with my experience and would recommend everyone applying to dental school to at least look into this program. I plan on signing another 2-year commitment with the NHSC to knock out my remaining loans (I have about $60k left from additional living expenses).
Let me know what questions you all have!

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[jay.74526]

Do you get like an actual income/stipend on top of them paying off loans for like living expenses/savings/etc?

 

[cooliyak]

Do you get like an actual income/stipend on top of them paying off loans for like living expenses/savings/etc?

For the scholarship program, you get full tuition/fees paid for during school (ideally resulting in no loans) as well as a living stipend. After graduation, you just need to find a site/location/clinic that meets the standards of NHSC and work there for a certain amount of time based on your contract. Most places that qualify for the service period of your contract give salary, insurance benefits (medical/malpractice), retirement of some kind, sick/vacation days, and other benefits that make it especially worth it to go the NHSC scholarship route.

For the loan repayment, you work at the same or similar qualifying site. NHSC will pay your loans directly and you continue to receive your normal salary benefits from your employer.

 

[Boofy]

Good afternoon!
I would like to ask if there is anything you wished you would have known prior to working at a NHSC facility? In terms of something that is not commonly talked about, or not fully explained while applying for the scholarship. Would you recommend doing the 2 year option, then working private practice afterwards?
Thanks for your time.

 

[Chicago_predental]

What makes an application competitive? Is it having background experiences as a pre-dental in underserved areas?

 

[cooliyak]

Good afternoon!
I would like to ask if there is anything you wished you would have known prior to working at a NHSC facility? In terms of something that is not commonly talked about, or not fully explained while applying for the scholarship. Would you recommend doing the 2 year option, then working private practice afterwards?
Thanks for your time.

I researched things pretty well beforehand so there wasn’t much that I didn’t know.
The one thing that is harder than I thought it would be and makes a huge difference in your experience, is finding a good place to work. I thought I had a good feel for the place I was going to work. Boy was I wrong. It was horrible and that made me hate my life. But now that I am at a great place, I have loved my experience. Which is why I plan on extending for 2 more years.

I would say the benefits are greatly reduced by doing only 2 years, but that might save you from getting stuck at a bad clinic for 4 years. You only have to do 2 and then you’re out. It’s a good meet-in-the-middle situation.

 

[cooliyak]

What makes an application competitive? Is it having background experiences as a pre-dental in underserved areas?

I would say the biggest thing is an applicant who has strong ties to underserved areas. You don’t have to be from an underserved area necessarily, but experiences in underserved areas will help. It seems like they are looking for people who have a high likelihood of staying in underserved areas even after they are finished with their commitment.

 

[Chicago_predental]

I would say the biggest thing is an applicant who has strong ties to underserved areas. You don’t have to be from an underserved area necessarily, but experiences in underserved areas will help. It seems like they are looking for people who have a high likelihood of staying in underserved areas even after they are finished with their commitment.

Thank you! Im interested in applying for the next cycle

 

[cooliyak]

Thank you! Im interested in applying for the next cycle

Let me know if you have any more questions. It’s not for everyone, but it can be a life changer for those who are able to get it.

 

[Chicago_predental]

Let me know if you have any more questions. It’s not for everyone, but it can be a life changer for those who are able to get it.

I definitely will! In terms of not being for everyone, Im curious to hear why

 

[PerioDont]

I’ve got a few.

Where are you working? Is it pretty rural or in a medium size city?

I’m also a little bit confused on how you still have 60k left in loans? Did you end up graduating debt-free or was it all living expenses?

What was your average take-home monthly pay during your time with NHSC? Average day in clinic with number of pts, hyg, what procedures were you doing?

 

[cooliyak]

I definitely will! In terms of not being for everyone, Im curious to hear why

Mostly because of two things:
1) it restricts your ability to specialize right after school. You can only do a few types of residencies— AEGD/GPR, pediatric, public health. Anything else would have to wait until you finish your commitment.
2) there aren’t always jobs available in places where people want to live. Most of them are more rural, but I live in Colorado and there were a decent amount of options in the metro Denver/Colorado Springs area.

Some people don’t want to rule out their ability to specialize at the start of their dental school. Others aren’t willing to commit to living anywhere other than where they want to go.

 

[anondent20]

Were you making comparable money compared to dentists not at a FQHC? How was the gig overall in terms of benefits, work/life balance, and ability to do procedures you wanted? If you now wanted to open a practice, would you feel comfortable taking on the risk or would you want some time working in private practice first? Thanks for doing this!

 

[TheSweetTooth22]

How hard was it finding a place right out of school? I know a lot of places looking for dentists want to hire someone with experience. Did you have to apply/interview at a lot of different places?

 

[cooliyak]

Were you making comparable money compared to dentists not at a FQHC? How was the gig overall in terms of benefits, work/life balance, and ability to do procedures you wanted? If you now wanted to open a practice, would you feel comfortable taking on the risk or would you want some time working in private practice first? Thanks for doing this!

With all of the benefits, I’d say it was very comparable. For a new grad, I think it is perfect. Salary (no pressure to produce), benefits (make up for the slightly lower starting salary), usually working at a clinic with other dentists (can help dial in your diagnostic/clinical skills or help give flexibility until you can pick up speed), have an HR department (don’t have to worry about hiring/firing, discipline, admin duties). Your ability to do what you want is usually pretty fair. In the more rural clinics, you get to take on more complicated procedures because specialist are pretty far away, but you still can refer if you need to. Work/life balance is great. I feel like if I wanted to, I’d be more than ready to open up my own practice. That’s not something that I want though, so I’ll either stay at my current clinic long-term, or if I went anywhere, it would be to work as faculty at a dental school somewhere.

 

[cooliyak]

How hard was it finding a place right out of school? I know a lot of places looking for dentists want to hire someone with experience. Did you have to apply/interview at a lot of different places?

Right out of school, it actually wasn’t too hard. Most clinics are more than accepting of new grads and therefore understand the flexibility that is needed with building up speed/skill. After I had been out a few years and was looking to change jobs, I did find it was slightly easier to find a job that was closer to big cities. There was probably only one job posting that I found that actually specified a certain amount of years experience was required. And even they told me when I interviewed that it wasn’t a hard requirement.
Right out of school, I applied to 4 jobs and more or less had offers from all of them. I could have stopped at the first one, but wanted to try and feel things out more.

 

[anondent20]

With all of the benefits, I’d say it was very comparable. For a new grad, I think it is perfect. Salary (no pressure to produce), benefits (make up for the slightly lower starting salary), usually working at a clinic with other dentists (can help dial in your diagnostic/clinical skills or help give flexibility until you can pick up speed), have an HR department (don’t have to worry about hiring/firing, discipline, admin duties). Your ability to do what you want is usually pretty fair. In the more rural clinics, you get to take on more complicated procedures because specialist are pretty far away, but you still can refer if you need to. Work/life balance is great. I feel like if I wanted to, I’d be more than ready to open up my own practice. That’s not something that I want though, so I’ll either stay at my current clinic long-term, or if I went anywhere, it would be to work as faculty at a dental school somewhere.

This all sounds so reassuring to me as someone in the program. Thank for always coming back and speaking about your experiences; it's tough to hear from many practicing dentists in the program and gain more insight on life after the dental school aspect is done.

 

[Chicago_predental]

Mostly because of two things:
1) it restricts your ability to specialize right after school. You can only do a few types of residencies— AEGD/GPR, pediatric, public health. Anything else would have to wait until you finish your commitment.
2) there aren’t always jobs available in places where people want to live. Most of them are more rural, but I live in Colorado and there were a decent amount of options in the metro Denver/Colorado Springs area.

Some people don’t want to rule out their ability to specialize at the start of their dental school. Others aren’t willing to commit to living anywhere other than where they want to go.

True! Those are very good points, I know I dont have a specific speciality I want but I also dont want to totally rule out the possibility of doing one right after d-school. Although debt free is the biggest factor

 

[cooliyak]

This all sounds so reassuring to me as someone in the program. Thank for always coming back and speaking about your experiences; it's tough to hear from many practicing dentists in the program and gain more insight on life after the dental school aspect is done.

Yeah, it’s a great program (assuming a pandemic doesn’t throw your life up into a mess). Are you a new scholar? Or closer to graduation?

 

[cooliyak]

True! Those are very good points, I know I dont have a specific speciality I want but I also dont want to totally rule out the possibility of doing one right after d-school. Although debt free is the biggest factor

Yeah, it can be a hard choice to make, but I always only wanted to be a general dentist, so it was easy for me. I also fell in love with community/public health clinic settings during my dental school rotations, so it worked out perfect for me.

 

[anondent20]

Yeah, it’s a great program (assuming a pandemic doesn’t throw your life up into a mess). Are you a new scholar? Or closer to graduation?

I'm a D2 so still a lot of time to go in dental school (sadly)

 

[sunshine01]

Background: I received the 4-year NHSC Scholarship and worked at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) for 4 years after graduation (I did not do a GPR or AEGD). I ended up having to change jobs in the middle of my service because my workplace was so toxic. Unfortunately, it was during the beginning of the pandemic (would not recommend). Overall, I was very pleased with my experience and would recommend everyone applying to dental school to at least look into this program. I plan on signing another 2-year commitment with the NHSC to knock out my remaining loans (I have about $60k left from additional living expenses).
Let me know what questions you all have!

Congratulations on completing your scholar service with NHSC! I'm glad you found a good FQHC to stick with. I'm also a 4 year scholar still in service. I agree that finding a good FQHC makes all the difference in the experience.

 

[dental1234555]

Thank you for starting this thread it is very helpful I have only one question if you don’t mind, in terms of ability to do procedures do you feel like it gave you the experience needed to be able to work anywhere else ? What I am afraid of is not getting complicated cases and not gaining enough experience to be able to succeed if I decide to open my own clinic after.

Again thank you so much for this, super helpful

 

[cooliyak]

Thank you for starting this thread it is very helpful I have only one question if you don’t mind, in terms of ability to do procedures do you feel like it gave you the experience needed to be able to work anywhere else ? What I am afraid of is not getting complicated cases and not gaining enough experience to be able to succeed if I decide to open my own clinic after.

Again thank you so much for this, super helpful

I am not really planning on working anywhere else, but yes. Not as complex as a GPR/AEGD, but I would argue that the cases you see in public health are definitely more complex than you would generally see in private practice (I say generally because there are always some private practice people who go after full mouth reconstruction, all-on-x, etc).