Any Engineers applying to dental school?

[nomsg7111]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello all,

I am just curious if anybody switched from engineering to dental? Did you guys work before? If/When you interviewed did the interviewers ask why you switched? Why did you switch?

Just curious. I am a mechanical engineer contemplating a career change...

Also i am interested in going to UCLA/USC/UCSF, would a 3.5 be good enough for these schools? Do MS degrees (in engineering) help at all? Or they dont really care?

 

[Future DDS]

Hello all,

I am just curious if anybody switched from engineering to dental? Did you guys work before? If/When you interviewed did the interviewers ask why you switched? Why did you switch?

Just curious. I am a mechanical engineer contemplating a career change...

Also i am interested in going to UCLA/USC/UCSF, would a 3.5 be good enough for these schools? Do MS degrees (in engineering) help at all? Or they dont really care?

Hmm, honestly, I don't know about MS in engineering, but an MS in Bio may or may not help. Some schools don't care about it. and my overall GPA is also 3.5, I think for those schools, it's about their average. Just do well on your DAT (at least 20 for all subjects), you should not have problems getting in.

 

[drengineer]

Hey there, I'm an engineer but i'm still in school completing my undergrad (i just have to complete my research on my capstone project and take a couple more electives and i have one year to do that), so technically i'm not a complete engineer. I did not get a chance to work in the industry full time over a long period of time except for a couple internships during summers etc.
A 3.5 GPA is way rad! AADSAS calculated my GPA and it came out to be 3.2, which i think is still ok.
But you better be ready to answer their question when they ask you why a career change at this time?
With me it's a little different because I liked computer engieering from the very beginning but my love for biology couldn't keep me away from a med-related field. And my transcript is a proof of that which shows i started taking bio and chemsitry right from the very beginning.
And i think this might apply to all the social and outgoing engineers that they like working with people and this truly applies to dentists. I didn't like it too much when i had to sit in a cubicle for 4 months for 10-12 hours a day at GE last summer. I made big bucks though for a summer internship.
But, that being said, i love computers and computer programming.

I think in your case, somehow you have to let the dental schools know that you are not very happy with your current career and money is not the only reason. You can say stuff such as your current career doesn't ive you enough opportunity to develop you social skills which are very important to you.

Any type of graduate work is looks nice. And especially if it's engineering is looks very impressive. My opinion might be biased though.

What do other fellow engineers out there think?

 

[luder98]

There are quite many engineers switch to dentistry, both in life and here on SDN. I'm an EE and have been in the industry for about 5+ years now. The main reason I'm switching is because I need a more stable job (and make more money: )). We've been through many layoffs now. Eventually, my time will come.
Your 3.5 GPA is fine, but as someone mentioned, you should try to score high on DAT. I'm also a Californian. I had a similar GPA and 20AA, but couldn't get in last year (only invited and waitlisted at UCSF and USC). It could be because I applied late but I think my numbers are in the lower average for Cal schools. I'm preparing to re-take the DAT in August. BTW, in case you have not known, USC has PBL. You should look more into it to see if it fits you. Good Luck! We may end-up being classmates one day!

 

[ramona_k]

Hey guys, I just graduated with BS in Bioengineering. I hear that as engineers we are actually in better shape since engineering classes are usually harder. I have not worked in industry but on independent researches. I have a 3.5 GPA and haven't taken the DAT yet.
what do you think? Do we have an advantage as engineers or not?

 

[drhobie7]

Hello all,

I am just curious if anybody switched from engineering to dental? Did you guys work before? If/When you interviewed did the interviewers ask why you switched? Why did you switch?

Just curious. I am a mechanical engineer contemplating a career change...

Also i am interested in going to UCLA/USC/UCSF, would a 3.5 be good enough for these schools? Do MS degrees (in engineering) help at all? Or they dont really care?

I interviewed an applicant who was an engineer (can't recall what type) and I thought it was pretty cool that he was switching careers to do dentistry. I'm always intruiged by the atypical applicant.

 

[mochafreak]

I graduated as a ChemE in '94 and worked for 4 years. I hated it. I never got layed off, but I did resign and I've been much happier ever since. 😉 I quit because I wanted to do work that directly involved my community, see the results of my work, etc. I was an EMT for awhile and that made me realize how much I love doing manual proceedures...hence dentistry.

A 3.5 in engineering is smokin' btw 👍

 

[nomsg7111]

pbl at USC actually looks kinda of interesting from an engineering point of view, although UCSF/UCLA are still alittle bit cheaper (california resident), so I'd prefer to go to one of those schools. Thanks for the advice everybody. Seems like its how I sell myself at this point. Obviously if I go this route I'll volunteer/shadow a dentist, make sure its exactly what I want to do.

Yeah, I loved engineering school, did really well in my engineering classes, thought about continuing to do a phd in engineering. But I have no idea what I would do with it. The idea of doing research for the rest of my life gets me depressed, and working as an engineer is totally different than engineering school, so much BS you have to put up with. What you're doing is not engineering, its "project management."

Actually the two biggest selling points of dentistry are the independence of most dentist (it seems most dentist just set up shop), and the lifestyle/helping people. Engineering is great, I've totally tried to look for jobs that dont involve killing people (ie working for lockheed/boeing/raytheon), but even those have their BS points. Dentistry seems like a good balance.

 

[nomsg7111]

drhobie, you graduated from ucsb too 🙂 . I graduated with my BS in 2002, loved that place....

 

[Jone]

quiet a few engineers in my class (including myself).

in the interview or essay, do NOT mention that you switched to Dental because of the unstable economy or job market

and if you think they will understand that you have a low GPA because of a harder major, you are wrong. 3.5+ is good. 3.3.... you better rock the DAT.

good luck all.

 

[drhobie7]

drhobie, you graduated from ucsb too 🙂 . I graduated with my BS in 2002, loved that place....

Yeah I was driving around Isla Vista last week with my sister, reminiscing about all those wonderful times. It could quite possibly be the greatest college on Earth. The beach. The ladies. Um, what else was there at that point in my life? Oh God how I wish I could go back. Not that studying for boards 24/7 isn't great, but I'd just really like to experience the leisure of being a college student in IV one more time.

 

[penguinteeth]

I was terminated from company and studied again

and got into dental school

Just tell them,

I want to contribute my creativity to dental science.

heheh

I believe Engineers(math, science, logic, creativity, humor what else they need more except better english hehehe ?) can do anything they want to.

Right? Engineers?

 

[packbacker]

Another ChemE here (BS and Masters). I'll ditto a previous poster's comments on the fact that the PRACTICE of engineering is a whole heck of a lot different than the theory/schooling. FWIW, I really enjoyed the theories behind the processes as well as working with my hands. That's probably one of the biggest draws to dentistry for me (and probably most engineers).

PB

 

[adr12]

I'm a Mech E. grad as well, but have been a Navy Pilot for the last 8 yrs. I e-mailed one of the ADCOMS at UNC and he said a tough curriculum like engineering from a good school is a good thing, so I think you should be allright. Just make sure you have good and specific reasons for deciding to go into dentistry. I'm applying this cycle as well, good luck.

 

[ramona_k]

I e-mailed one of the ADCOMS at UNC and he said a tough curriculum like engineering from a good school is a good thing, so I think you should be allright. Just make sure you have good and specific reasons for deciding to go into dentistry. I'm applying this cycle as well, good luck.

Very good to know, good luck to you as well 👍