Apply for dental schools

[phar3acy]

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I have been admitted to pharmacy school for Fall 2019 without having any experiences about pharmacy. However, I started to volunteer/work in pharmacy department, and I don't quite like what I see everyday. I am considering to apply for dental school this coming cycle for the Fall 2020 program since I worked at a dentist office for 4 years in the past. What do you think?

Thanks

 

[Cthuluhoop]

Transitioning and having a competitive dental application complete by June/July of 2019 will be pretty tricky to do. You have to take the DAT, shadow and come up with a compelling reason in your personal statement why you switched from pharmacy to dentistry so suddenly. Assuming you have a strong GPA too

If you unlock your profile and allow others to send you a private message I can give you some more insight

 

[princeafrica]

I was pre pharmacy until November 2017. It’s doable. I was able to get 200 hours of shadowing by finding a dentist ASAP and then studied for the DAT during spring semester. A lot of my experience I put on my app were pharmacy but I quickly got involved in dental events as well.

I wouldn’t recommend writing about pharmacy in your personal statement. I would just show them why you want to be a dentist. I completely left out pharmacy from my PS because I did not want it to overshadow my app

I did not talk about pharmacy and any of my interview either

 

[phar3acy]

Transitioning and having a competitive dental application complete by June/July of 2019 will be pretty tricky to do. You have to take the DAT, shadow and come up with a compelling reason in your personal statement why you switched from pharmacy to dentistry so suddenly. Assuming you have a strong GPA too

If you unlock your profile and allow others to send you a private message I can give you some more insight

I don't know how to unlock my profile since I am very new to this. Would you please walk me through the process? many thanks!

 

[phar3acy]

I was pre pharmacy until November 2017. It’s doable. I was able to get 200 hours of shadowing by finding a dentist ASAP and then studied for the DAT during spring semester. A lot of my experience I put on my app were pharmacy but I quickly got involved in dental events as well.

I wouldn’t recommend writing about pharmacy in your personal statement. I would just show them why you want to be a dentist. I completely left out pharmacy from my PS because I did not want it to overshadow my app

I did not talk about pharmacy and any of my interview either

Thank you for the advice. I will re-write my PS and I plan not to mention anything applying or being admitted to pharmacy school. Yeah, I am very passionate about dentistry, and that is what I want to be my career.

 

[phar3acy]

Transitioning and having a competitive dental application complete by June/July of 2019 will be pretty tricky to do. You have to take the DAT, shadow and come up with a compelling reason in your personal statement why you switched from pharmacy to dentistry so suddenly. Assuming you have a strong GPA too

If you unlock your profile and allow others to send you a private message I can give you some more insight

I worked/shadowed/volunteered in the past four years. So all I need now is the DAT

 

[phar3acy]

I was pre pharmacy until November 2017. It’s doable. I was able to get 200 hours of shadowing by finding a dentist ASAP and then studied for the DAT during spring semester. A lot of my experience I put on my app were pharmacy but I quickly got involved in dental events as well.

I wouldn’t recommend writing about pharmacy in your personal statement. I would just show them why you want to be a dentist. I completely left out pharmacy from my PS because I did not want it to overshadow my app

I did not talk about pharmacy and any of my interview either

Do you think the admission or the accomplish would know about my application and admission to pharmacy school?

 

[princeafrica]

"Have you ever matriculated in or attended any medical school or health profession as a candidate for a professional degree?"
"Have you previously, or are you currently applying to a health profession school other than dental school?"

The ADEA application will ask you these two questions. The first one you answer no and the second one you answer yes.
A box will pop up asking "Indicate the school(s), type of program, year applied, and if you were accepted". Just put down the pharmacy school and that you were accepted and that's it.

An interviewer may choose to ask you why you didn't go and that gives you a chance to say why you chose dentistry over pharmacy. In my opinion in this situation you already look brave because you were accepted to a program and chose to decline and pursue something that wasn't guaranteed.

I don't think this question on your application though will stop you from being interviewed.

 

[phar3acy]

"Have you ever matriculated in or attended any medical school or health profession as a candidate for a professional degree?"
"Have you previously, or are you currently applying to a health profession school other than dental school?"

The ADEA application will ask you these two questions. The first one you answer no and the second one you answer yes.
A box will pop up asking "Indicate the school(s), type of program, year applied, and if you were accepted". Just put down the pharmacy school and that you were accepted and that's it.

An interviewer may choose to ask you why you didn't go and that gives you a chance to say why you chose dentistry over pharmacy. In my opinion in this situation you already look brave because you were accepted to a program and chose to decline and pursue something that wasn't guaranteed.

I don't think this question on your application though will stop you from being interviewed.

Just another question.
Worst scenario, I can still go to pharmacy school if I don't get interviewed or accepted to dental schools, right? This would not hurt my health profession program, right?
I just dont want to waste all of my money and time applying for pharmacy school and ended up not going to pharmacy school when I dont get accepted to dental schools.

Thanks

 

[princeafrica]

Just another question.
Worst scenario, I can still go to pharmacy school if I don't get interviewed or accepted to dental schools, right? This would not hurt my health profession program, right?
I just dont want to waste all of my money and time applying for pharmacy school and ended up not going to pharmacy school when I dont get accepted to dental schools.

Thanks

Dental school will probably reject you if you go that route unfortunately.
The application opens in May, and you can submit in June. You start hearing about interviews in July and mostly in August and September. By that time you will be attending pharmacy school. This means you will have to check yes for the first question I wrote above. If you check yes, it asks you what program, what school, and from the date of attendance. They will also ask "Please describe why you left?". You will probably have to say that you are currently attending while also applying to dental school.

I think the admissions committee will look at this as an applicant that is not sure what they want and dental schools try and keep their drop out rate low. If you look like a non committal student then they probably would not want to accept you.

 

[CaliforniaCrentist]

I was considering pharmacy school in 2017 as well, but decided that it wasn't right for me for a lot of reasons. You need to seriously think about what you really want to do for the rest of your life. And dental schools might not look well upon the fact that you applied to pharmacy school without any pharmacy shadowing whatsoever and won't believe you are committed.

 

[phar3acy]

I was considering pharmacy school in 2017 as well, but decided that it wasn't right for me for a lot of reasons. You need to seriously think about what you really want to do for the rest of your life. And dental schools might not look well upon the fact that you applied to pharmacy school without any pharmacy shadowing whatsoever and won't believe you are committed.

Thanks for your advice, but I don't understand what you meant about dental schools might not look well upon the fact that I applied to pharmacy school without shadowing. can you explain more?
Thanks

 

[phar3acy]

Dental school will probably reject you if you go that route unfortunately.
The application opens in May, and you can submit in June. You start hearing about interviews in July and mostly in August and September. By that time you will be attending pharmacy school. This means you will have to check yes for the first question I wrote above. If you check yes, it asks you what program, what school, and from the date of attendance. They will also ask "Please describe why you left?". You will probably have to say that you are currently attending while also applying to dental school.

I think the admissions committee will look at this as an applicant that is not sure what they want and dental schools try and keep their drop out rate low. If you look like a non committal student then they probably would not want to accept you.

Yeah, I thought about attending this pharmacy school, and will apply for dental schools (not the one I will attend for pharmacy school), but I dont know how it would affect to my application for dental schools, and how it would hurt my chance for pharmacy school.

 

[phar3acy]

I was considering pharmacy school in 2017 as well, but decided that it wasn't right for me for a lot of reasons. You need to seriously think about what you really want to do for the rest of your life. And dental schools might not look well upon the fact that you applied to pharmacy school without any pharmacy shadowing whatsoever and won't believe you are committed.

and yes, I will attend a dental school if I get accepted and will drop out of pharmacy school. I dont know if I explain that I just applied for pharmacy school due to admiration of a family member who is a pharmacist (she takes care of other family member). I just admire her what she does, but when I do the shadowing then it is not what I imagine.

 

[summertofall]

I agree with the other posts. If you choose to go to pharmacy school and then decide to apply to dental school, dental admissions may think that you're not committed to one profession. For all they know, once you get into dental school, you could decide midway through that you want to pursue optometry instead. Dental schools want someone who's passionate, and more importantly, they don't want to lose money LOL, so they want someone who's committed and will finish their program. I think it's best that you fully commit to one profession: pharmacy or dentistry, and work towards that goal. It sounds like you have lots of dental experience, so if you do decide on dentistry, spend this time preparing for the 19-20 cycle, like gathering letters of recommendation and studying for the DAT.

 

[Vote For Pedro]

Whew! I understand you have a lot on your shoulders. I agree to what summertofall stated - dental schools want students who seem passionate and can commit to 4 years. While I can see how it would be hard to force yourself to be passionate about something that is very new, I also see that even after getting accepted into pharmacy school and still wanting to switch into dentistry is admirable!

I can see how dental programs can be taken back if they see you got accepted into pharmacy school, but it also depends on how you present yourself. If you are confident in your decision to pursue dentistry and embrace it, it can look like a positive thing that could work in your favor!

Once you make the switch though, it will be hard to get back into pharmacy school if you don't get into a dental school. Pharmacy schools don't want to see that you put their program on the backburner - it tells them that they are a 'second line' option if your plan falls through. Also with the way the cycle will work, you would have to reapply to pharmacy programs if I am not mistaken. But how I see it is - worst case scenario for you would be getting into a profession that you didn't seem to like in the first place. I would say sleep on it, think about the pros and cons of both programs, ask other people's opinions, and take your time so that you make a decision that you are happy with.

 

[princeafrica]

Pharmacy schools don't want to see that you put their program on the backburner

Some pharmacy schools are now accepting the MCAT though haha

 

[CaliforniaCrentist]

Some pharmacy schools are now accepting the MCAT though haha

And they're also deferring students who applied to med school into their pharm programs. But I think that the transition from med to pharm is more subtle compared to pharm to dental. Many pharmacists work in a clinical setting along side physicians.