Would getting a business degree and then going for dental be a good idea, so that once you get your dental degree, you can use your business skills to create a chain of dental offices that make bank for you?
Business degree and going for dental?
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From experience, be sure to take LOTS of upper division bio courses or the adcoms will not take you seriously. This may not the easiest to do, since you have a major to complete, but you also have to worry about all these extra classes that do not count towards your major. But if you plan in advance, you should be able to do both.
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Make sure you mention this in your personal statement in your application to dental school and any interviews you might have. Obviously, your motivations are noble and will take you far in health care.
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A business degree would not help much. Coming from someone who has a business degree, I can tell you that you will learn more corporate stuffs than anything. I would suggest to get a science degree and just fill in a bunch of your electives with classes like accounting, finance, a management class, and a marketing class. Maybe someone else on here has another they would add. Those are the essentials that would apply to owning a practice or two methinks. 👍
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I think an accounting degree is 100 times more helpful than a business degree when it comes to running any type of private business.
As far as business degree goes (now I will admit, I don't hold a degree in), but I HIGHLY doubt there is any degree / book / article / or any resource that teaches you how to run and manage a private practice.... this is more of a hands-on kinda deal.
As far as business degree goes (now I will admit, I don't hold a degree in), but I HIGHLY doubt there is any degree / book / article / or any resource that teaches you how to run and manage a private practice.... this is more of a hands-on kinda deal.
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Agreed.
Agreed again.
My majors are communication and sociology. I absolutely love the subjects and i think they are the most applicable to real life and daily interactions. However, if i were to go back, i am not sure i would do the same thing. I will graduate with a ton of extra credits. Only 12 of my 52 predental science credits will end up counting toward my degree. It will take me an extra year when all is said and done. So unless you can mesh your sciences well with a business degree i would advise against it.
Furthermore, very few degrees transition into direct skill. Accounting is the only business degree i can think of that does. Others would be nursing, engineering, computer sci, education, etc.
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You should develop a strong mind for science as an undergrad. That means taking advantage of as many science courses and research opportunities as possible. Major in the Sciences.
An Accounting degree is overkill.
Dentists need a mind for science and an eye for aesthetics. Aside from a compassionate heart and hand dexterity, everything else is ancillary. The business knowledge that dentists use is not hard to grasp. You can easily buy a few books and teach yourself. The translation from business knowledge to skills come with practical experience.
Smh @ op
An Accounting degree is overkill.
Dentists need a mind for science and an eye for aesthetics. Aside from a compassionate heart and hand dexterity, everything else is ancillary. The business knowledge that dentists use is not hard to grasp. You can easily buy a few books and teach yourself. The translation from business knowledge to skills come with practical experience.
Smh @ op
I completely agree with this. I am a senior and a Bus. Admin. major, and it is mostly a complete waste of time. It is really aimed at people that want to work for a large corporation and move their way up the ranks, or something along those lines.
Do what Bereno suggests, take finance, accounting, marketing, and a management class. You may not learn much from them other than that business classes are a lot easier than upper-level science classes.
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I agree with this but the way I've come to terms of adding value to my undergraduate experience is that the course-loads teach students how to adapt different study skills and manage time. Science courses, in general, and research, specifically, teaches you to (1) be critical in accepting statements as truths, (2) apply logic and reasoning, and (3) be open-minded and curious yet always skeptical.
If we weren't able to find these worthwhile investments from spending 4-years in college then we ought to earn Bachelor's of Dental Science immediately after high school like some other places in the world.
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I completely agree. I also was able to develop a few intangibles in college as well. Albeit, my science background is not as in depth as most on this board (probably only 6 or 7 classes beyond the basic prereqs), i took advantage of other opportunities to develop my "skills" in college.
I took a lot of advanced classes in public speaking, persuasion, and writing. I competed and traveled with my university's speech and debate team for two years. I completed several internships, did a mock interview once a month, was an undergrad Bio TA, and was the Pres and VP of several clubs on campus. All these things i think add to the intangible "skills" you are referring to, that make education a worthwhile investment.
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LOL ^^^^ like ive always thought, you need to major in something you enjoy but also do well in the prereqs for dental school because that is important such as mmmsteakdinners has. You dont have to take all science courses through your undergrad...
I shadowed and Orthodontist and he said that his business major was very helpful when he opened his own practice. I believe he was an Econ major.
However, make sure it is a subject you want to study and are interested in. I think if I had studied Econ I would have died of boredom... lol.
However, make sure it is a subject you want to study and are interested in. I think if I had studied Econ I would have died of boredom... lol.
As an Econ major I can say econ =! business, economics can be a lot more like a science than business (physics is the most represented major among econ Ph.D. students) then again many schools teach watered down economics.
Business classes are mostly useless, accounting might be useful as a dentist, but mostly so you can follow along with what your accountant is doing.
Some economics classes could be useful, particularly if you want to do research. Econometrics comes to mind, my sequence covered OLS, GLS, logit, probit etc models which are used in all kinds of research.
Business classes are mostly useless, accounting might be useful as a dentist, but mostly so you can follow along with what your accountant is doing.
Some economics classes could be useful, particularly if you want to do research. Econometrics comes to mind, my sequence covered OLS, GLS, logit, probit etc models which are used in all kinds of research.
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Well what's the difference between taking a class at a university versus reading the same textbook that the professor uses on your own?
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there is no text book or reading or anything of that sort that will teach you how to run a private practice. Every practice in every location combined with distinct patient pool will behave differently. Lets not forget the big customer service side of dentistry. Learning this from a reading is the same as learning how to ride a bike from a book.
Forget business. Complete a psychology degree and you'll understand people at such a deep level you can control them.
😉
IMO - good classes for exploring business ideas were - micro economics, marketing, small business policy, real estate, and financial accounting.
I'm not a business major but I feel like these classes have given me the vocab, and knowledge, to learn and think about business more.
😉
IMO - good classes for exploring business ideas were - micro economics, marketing, small business policy, real estate, and financial accounting.
I'm not a business major but I feel like these classes have given me the vocab, and knowledge, to learn and think about business more.
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