Calling All Graduate School Drop-Outs!

[sunmoon6689]

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I am considering leaving graduate school. Before making such a big decision, I wanted to know if anybody else on this site has left graduate school without a degree and still been accepted to dental school. I just want to know if there are any success stories of this kind out there! Thanks.

 

[MCGHopeful]

I am sure many will give a variety of opinions on this, but just be sure to check with the schools. The reason is that some dental schools do not want to see you taking the place of another student in your graduate program who would be willing to complete it.

I know this first hand as I am in an MBA program currently. I am scheduled to complete this next July. I was told flat out by MCG in Georgia that if I was not complete with the MBA if I was accepted, I could not enroll in their dental program. If you think about it, it is no different than someone who is currently in Med School and suddenly decides to drop out and go to Dental School. Starting a program and dropping out may throw up some red flags. With the competition for Dental spots as outrageous as it is, I would not want any red flags at all. In a way, it is a double edged sword.

I think I saw an earlier post regarding you being in an MPH program. I say stick with it. If dental school does not work out, you can definitely get a job in Public Health. I am a contractor at the CDC in Atlanta and I swear I must be the only one there without an MPH.

Best of luck.

 

[SugarNaCl]

I received my ms degree in 2004. Our tuition was paid for and we received a stipend for research or teaching. It was probably about 20K/yr. If you have the same...why drop out? Get your masters and then regardless of what happens, you are better off by getting that degree...unless you have been offered a job or something

 

[PChemGrad]

I received my ms degree in 2004. Our tuition was paid for and we received a stipend for research or teaching. It was probably about 20K/yr. If you have the same...why drop out? Get your masters and then regardless of what happens, you are better off by getting that degree...unless you have been offered a job or something

I am in the same boat as you SugarNaCl.
I am in a PhD program where my tuition is paid for, and I get a stipend for doing research. I will leave with my masters if I get into dental school, other wise I will stay for the long haul.
I would stay in grad school, the degree will look good when you apply, unless you already got in. If you drop out they may look at it in a negative light, i.e. you couldnt handle the work load, and that doesnt look good when applying to dental school.

 

[in her drawer]

I am in the same boat as you SugarNaCl.
I am in a PhD program where my tuition is paid for, and I get a stipend for doing research. I will leave with my masters if I get into dental school, other wise I will stay for the long haul.
I would stay in grad school, the degree will look good when you apply, unless you already got in. If you drop out they may look at it in a negative light, i.e. you couldnt handle the work load, and that doesnt look good when applying to dental school.

I was offered a fellowship this summer to get my masters in mathematics. When I found out there was a stipend that would start paying me this year, I became interested. But still, I didn't want to delay my app by two years.

 

[litldime]

The pre-health advisor at my school actually spoke on this issue. She said that some schools don't look favorably on ppl dropping out of graduate programs b/c it sends the message that you cannot complete your commitments and that why should the dental school assume you wouldn't drop out of it? She said that we shouldn't attempt another graduate program as a backup to the other (if its not in our A plan) and then quit in the middle of it. It makes you look flaky.
Just thought I'd share. 😎
LD

 

[aggie-master]

I was in the middle of an M.S. degree when I realized that my heart wasn't in it and I really wanted to be in dentistry.

I stuck it out and finished it. If I would have just quit I'd either be a DS2 right now instead of a pre-dent or I might not have made it to dental school since they don't like people that don't stick to their commitments.

I really don't know if I made the right choice or not, but I just wanted to let you know that I was once in your situation.

 

[sunmoon6689]

aggie-master-

Thank you for letting me know that you were in the same place. It is always nice to know that you are not alone in your struggles!

 

[purduephigam]

thought i'd bring this thread back to life....

seems like the issue here is that some people are thinking about just dropping out of grad school? i do not see the reasoning behind this unless you are truly unhappy, but what if you're in the middle of an m.s. program and get accepted into dental school?

i wasn't accepted last year and was told to look into taking graduate level courses (prove to them i am capable of handling a high work load and raise my gpa). and i decided to enroll in a two year non-thesis program because if i wasn't accepted this year at least i will have my master's before i am accepted next year.

as of right now i'm not planning on dropping out, but if i am accepted to my in-state schools (raised my gpa my senior year and increased my DAT scores to what they wanted to see), then there's no question. i will stop grad school and go on to dental school. but from the way this thread has been going it looks like i basically wasted $800 in app fees to the schools i have applied to, since they supposidly would frown upon me dropping out to attend their school. but the reason i enrolled in these classes and signed up for this program is because they suggested it. something isn't adding up

 

[sunmoon6689]

I have spent a great deal of time contacting dental schools with regards to my current situation in graduate school. Thus far, all have confirmed that it is acceptable to apply while still in graduate school. However, they go back and forth on issues of dropping out- whether based on an acceptance to dental school or disinterest. I have found that many do not want to be misinformed. They do not want a person to act as if his/her intention is to complete graduate studies. It must be made very clear that there is no expected graduation date as you are not interested in actually completing the degree. In such a situation, many will not even allow you to matriculate without the graduate degree (if you have given the impression that you will be earning one). Additionally, many have said that leaving graduate school is fine as long as you are prepared to answer questions about your decision and did not leave due to poor performance. Some suggest sticking it out, but quite a few actually agree that you should not remain in a program you do not want to be in. Of course, I have yet to hear of any people who have left graduate school and then been accepted to dental school. Perhaps, I will start a new thread based around that idea! At any rate, I hope some of this information is useful. Good luck everyone!