Anyone want to give me some advice? :)

[Longhorn1984]

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Hey all, here is yet another ‘advice’ post, and I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond! Anyways, I am one of the typical ‘blew off college and am now regretting my past decisions’ students. Long story short: I went to UT Austin and graduated with a degree in biochemistry in the spring of 2006. My grades were horrible, but I know at the same time I really never tried or made an effort to do well. I graduated with a 2.8 overall and 2.5 science 👎. I took the DAT at the beginning of my senior year , but at this point I thought I had no chance at D-school. All I did to prepare was read the instructions on what to do for each section, but I still ended up getting a 17AA and 22PAT.

After I graduated I was lucky enough to land a good job in finance through a family friend. My employer is paying for my MBA so I’ve got a pretty solid career path as it is. Unfortunately, I still think about dentistry almost every day and feel that it really is my passion. I probably earn now close to what starting dentists make, so it’s not about the money.

I see a lot of students on here who are entering master’s/post-bac programs in hopes of eventually gaining admission. My question is: did I screw up too badly in the past to give myself a decent shot? I was thinking of applying for the master of science degree in medical sciences at UNT, then maybe taking another year of classes there if I needed to. The scariest thought for me though is spending 50K or so and 2 years of my life (while giving up a good job) and not getting in. So what do you think – should I give it a shot, or just suck it up and keep doing what I’m doing? Thanks so much!🙂

 

[STIG]

If I were you, I would just stick with what you are doing now, unless you absolutely hate what you do at the moment.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[bportner1984]

I feel like most people who go into master's programs or post-bacs don't have the option of taking a good job in an unrelated field like you did. Can you see yourself spending the next 6 years in school?

 

[95881]

If I were you, I would just stick with what you are doing now, unless you absolutely hate what you do at the moment.

Good luck with your decision!

You have to do whats right for you. Start out by shadowing a dentist. Since you currently work you could do this in the evenings or on the weekends. If after shadowing you decide this is what you want to do then I say go for it. There will be ups and downs along the way but if this is something you truly want then you will make it happen. Best of luck to you.

 

[rkamsterdam]

Hey all, here is yet another ‘advice’ post, and I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond! Anyways, I am one of the typical ‘blew off college and am now regretting my past decisions’ students. Long story short: I went to UT Austin and graduated with a degree in biochemistry in the spring of 2006. My grades were horrible, but I know at the same time I really never tried or made an effort to do well. I graduated with a 2.8 overall and 2.5 science 👎. I took the DAT at the beginning of my senior year , but at this point I thought I had no chance at D-school. All I did to prepare was read the instructions on what to do for each section, but I still ended up getting a 17AA and 22PAT.

After I graduated I was lucky enough to land a good job in finance through a family friend. My employer is paying for my MBA so I’ve got a pretty solid career path as it is. Unfortunately, I still think about dentistry almost every day and feel that it really is my passion. I probably earn now close to what starting dentists make, so it’s not about the money.

I see a lot of students on here who are entering master’s/post-bac programs in hopes of eventually gaining admission. My question is: did I screw up too badly in the past to give myself a decent shot? I was thinking of applying for the master of science degree in medical sciences at UNT, then maybe taking another year of classes there if I needed to. The scariest thought for me though is spending 50K or so and 2 years of my life (while giving up a good job) and not getting in. So what do you think – should I give it a shot, or just suck it up and keep doing what I’m doing? Thanks so much!🙂

there is no way to tell how bad you want it or how content you are with your current job. without this knowledge, one cannot judge your situation. the easy cliche answer is - Do what your heart is telling you to do! (dentistry?)

 

[teebow]

tough to give you advice but I think you need to really find why you want dentistry so much , why you think about it all the time, what your life goals are,what you want to look back at 30 or 40 years from now assuming you live that long. I mean if it truely is what you want and you come to this conclusion using your mind and not just your heart, then anything is doable. but the point is you have to know that you want to do it,, there may be other factors influencing your decision, it could be
Now assuming you find that dentistry is what you want to do,, then go for it with all you got but take it one step at a time and dont jeaprodize your current career until your first day of dental school.make a 2 or 3 year plan where you take evening and online courses that you can ace and set aside a few months to ace the dats like score 21s. if you manage to get 3 semesters worth of courses done with gpa 4-4.3 im sure that will offset your current 2.5 and 2.8.
If you want it nothing can stop you,, but once again dont make the mistake of putting your current career in danger. I cant stress this point enough,,, if you decide to get into dental school I suggest you try to put in 110% in your current job and step up your performance,, because the last thing you want is to loose everything.
good luck

 

[smile101]

If you can get such good scores on the PAT section w/out even studying then I think you should give it a shot one more time after actually studying for the academic portion.

If you seriously want to go for dentistry then just take the pre-reqs again (instead of going for masters) and do a better job. That way you can keep your job and take night or weekend classes. Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to the admissions committee of the dental school you are considering.

If you can just explain whatever you said above in your personal statement while applying to the dental school then it would def make an impression enough to get you an interview.

 

[Longhorn1984]

Thanks for the replies! My current job is fine; I don't hate it and I don't love it, it's just a job. I've shadowed a dentist before, and I'm confident I'd be happier with a career in dentistry. I'd love to only take night classes, but I think in order to convince adcoms I'm serious (and to overshadow my poor GPA) I'd have to take the all-or-nothing route, i.e. get into a full time program taking a full load of science courses. Such a tough decision!

 

[jigabodo]

Is UT Austin in Texas or Tennesee? If it's in Texas, you might want to check out the academic fresh start program.

 

[Longhorn1984]

It is in texas, but unfortunately that program is only an option if you've been out of school for 10 or more years 😎

 

[teebow]

by the way,, if you are 23(1984) then you are really young to be earning 100k+ ,,, dude you must be reallly hooked up,,, you really are set,,, you can become very successful and influencial in the field your in if you put youre mind to it,, I mean id love to see where you are 20 years from now,,,

I think you should write a weighted list of pros and cons of each profession,, and be verrrry objective and then add everything up and see what makes path makes more sense,, if the pros arnt significantly more than the cons for any of the two jobs then its not what you want,,, lets say if the pros are not twice the cons in weight then let go of the that career,,,,,, there are lots of books that talk about these things,, look for something and try it,, most importantly be objective.

 

[Saddleshoes]

Longhorn1984

After a short while dentistry becomes just another job, that you don't love and you don't hate. I've been a dentist for some years. I also think about the "real job" I had before dentistry from time to time. (especially after a difficult day)

My advice is this.... "Grow were you are planted"

Good Luck

 

[NewMexDent]

Longhorn1984

After a short while dentistry becomes just another job, that you don't love and you don't hate. I've been a dentist for some years. I also think about the "real job" I had before dentistry from time to time. (especially after a difficult day)

My advice is this.... "Grow were you are planted"

Good Luck

This sounds like pretty good advice to me.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

I say keep your job, find some sort of hobbie that you would enjoy as much as dentistry and just be happy.

Of course, any advice here is just opinion - if you really, really, really, want to be a dentist you should do it - just remember that no pre-dent really knows what it's like to be a dentist. We can only guess and we may be guessing wrong.

 

[Longhorn1984]

Thanks so much for all your thoughtful replies. After looking through similar threads, I feel like if I try hard enough (even if it may take 8 years😱) I can eventually become a dentist if I want to. I guess I just need to take a long hard look at what would be best for me.