Career changer.

[bacQ]

Hi, I am new to this forum since i was previously planning on attending medical school. I have recently decided on a career in DDS/DMD and needed feedback on some basic questions. well first, i have a 3.3 cum and 3.0 science and have been curious as to the averages for dental school acceptance? Also, when is the DAT supposed to be taken? I guess I am just lost on how to pursue dental school right now when i havent taken the DAT or thought about the application process. Does anyone have suggestions on what kind of plan or path to take? post bac in predental for a year a good idea? just take kaplan review and then apply this year? or is it too late to think about dental school for class of next year? i appreciate any thoughts out there.
bacQ

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mutual]

DAT is a very content driven test, meaning if you study all stuffs in details per syllabus published by the ADA, you should own the test easily. Your GPAs are fine but should be complemented with great DAT scores in the 20s, good shadowings, ....

Kaplan review serves primarily to help sum up what you have learnt from your pre-quisite courses. It's a great study material but you should treat your college textbooks as frequent references for things you feel insufficient and weak at.

You should also use DAT Achiever , the toughest sample tests I ever encountered, especially its Survey and Natural Sciences and Perceptual Ability.

Begin your DAT preparation now and take it in May if possible which is about the time the application cycle for 2007 commences. But don't bump into it if you're NOT ready. You can always reshedule your tests 48 business hour in advance within a year from the day you registered for the DAT.

Hope the above inputs help somewhat...

 

[bacQ]

mutual, thanks for the response.
Does anyone know of any well-known predental post bac programs?
What would you feel is the most effective way to study for the DAT, besides taking plenty of practice tests?
thanks all.

 

[martinelli]

mutual, thanks for the response.
Does anyone know of any well-known predental post bac programs?
What would you feel is the most effective way to study for the DAT, besides taking plenty of practice tests?
thanks all.

Hi there,

I think any post-bac program should work, provide that you do well on the courses. Seriously, I don't think most dental schools differiate whether you did your post-bac at Stanford or at a 4th tier university. I think all they care about is your GRADES. Adcoms (in my opinion) are forever more bias towards numbers than the actual school.
Does your school have a post-bac program? What is your major btw? In any case, you should concentrate on taking as many upper division science courses to boost your science GPA. It's not bad but if you really want to pursue this, you should make yourself as competitive as possible.

As for the DAT, I HIGHLY recommend taking a Kaplan course. It's a lot of money but it's really worth the price. I gives you a structured schedule to study in addition to many practice exams. The other thing is that you HAVE to refer back to the textbooks on areas that you are weak on. Most people hate to open another G-chem or O-chem book but you really have to make sure you understand that s**t before taking the DAT, instead of hoping that they maybe they won't put that on the test. I, for one, had to reread many chapters of O-chem b/c I'd forgotten most of the concepts by the time I studied for the DAT. I also created summaries of all the subjects from the DAT study book and review them the night before the exam.

Finally, join a pre-dental club if you haven't already done so; it'll give you access to many resources that's available within your area, or better yet, become an officer and you'll get your leadership experience covered.
good luck

 

[PDizzle]

Just curious, why the switch from MD to DDS?

 

[martinelli]

Just curious, why the switch from MD to DDS?

I had the same question but didn't ask earlier b/c I wanted to be respectful. However, I do take a small issue with people who use dental schools as a default if their plan to go to med school fails--I hope this is not your reason for pursuing dentistry.
dentistry requires very good manual skills and attention to detail and if you don't possess these qualities, you'll make a terrible dentist.

 

[darius99]

However, I do take a small issue with people who use dental schools as a default if their plan to go to med school fails--I hope this is not your reason for pursuing dentistry.

i think we all know how much this has increased in the past year or 2...i'm kinda nervous about tons of future dentists going to d-school for the wrong reasons

 

[bacQ]

neither of you, do not worry, it was not disrespectful. I appreciate your advice from earlier and understand your concern, however I am going into dentistry for those reasons. I know i possess extremely precise eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity. I am not worried about those aspects. I know it also requires an athletic, fit person to handle the rigor and preciseness of this profession. you are right, my switch is very common, most see a dentist as a back up. however, i do need to justify my reasons because we are all trying to utilize and focus our skills and abilities for the benefit of others. what are the 'right' reasons or 'wrong' reasons to follow the dental path? why must we speak to one another in doubt. we all have the same goal. and until recently, i decided to be involved.

 

[Ruprick]

Not sure about it requiring athleticism...have you seen some of us pre-dental nerds?

Attention to detail and precision...yes. Athleticism...ehhh.

 

[fightingspirit]

neither of you, do not worry, it was not disrespectful. I appreciate your advice from earlier and understand your concern, however I am going into dentistry for those reasons. I know i possess extremely precise eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity. I am not worried about those aspects. I know it also requires an athletic, fit person to handle the rigor and preciseness of this profession. you are right, my switch is very common, most see a dentist as a back up. however, i do need to justify my reasons because we are all trying to utilize and focus our skills and abilities for the benefit of others. what are the 'right' reasons or 'wrong' reasons to follow the dental path? why must we speak to one another in doubt. we all have the same goal. and until recently, i decided to be involved.

ok, read my post carefully and think about it:

i, like you, was trying to get into med-school. i, unlike you, had way better GPA for med-school. with your GPA, i would not even consider going near med-school. i, like you, switched to DDS.

however, i switched due to an all-encompassing change of heart. not because i failed to get into medicine. with all of that, adcoms were caught up on that big time and i was grilled during my interviews. one interviewer was so distrustful that he said to me "you're not applying to med-school are you? why do i feel that you wanna get into our dental school just so that you can use us as a backdoor to our medical school?"..you can imagine how that stressed me out during the inTview.

so why am i telling you this?

well, because those interviewers are professional and they are street smart, and they can see right through you if you're not being transparent. be prepared to be very convincing in your PS and inTview.

whether or not you consider dentistry as a backup, that is something we will never know and we dont wanna judge you. on the other hand, with a 3.3 GPA, med-school is not an option for you, which makes your switch suspicious.

anyways,

look at the mirror and ask yourself:
how many lives can i live? (default answer: one life to live)
do i wanna be happy in this one life? (default aswer is "yes")
does being a physician makes me happy?

if the answer to question 3 is "yes", then i strongly urge you to consider carribean medical schools (i highly doubt that DO schools would tke 3.3). dentists who always wanted to be physicians remain unfulfilled and troubled by an inferiority complex towards physicians, which is a sad and sorry way of life. sure, dental medicine is a branch of medicine but a dentist is sooooooo not a physician. it's a different realm. know yourself and only then, decide.

 

[fightingspirit]

Not sure about it requiring athleticism...have you seen some of us pre-dental nerds?

Attention to detail and precision...yes. Athleticism...ehhh.

i agree, there are a few who are either overweight or scrawny...what up wid dat?

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hi there,

There is nothing wrong with going into dentistry as a career back up career plan. I have no problems with applicants telling me that "I apply to dental school because I could not get in medical school, but dentistry IS a excellent alternative career choice that I have carefully considered". Not everyone can get into medical school or dental school, so some may even consider PA or Optometry or Chiro and other allied health. Dentistry offers excellent alternative to medicine because it is a specialty of medicine. However, a person must consider the limitation of the field such as rendering care to a limited part of the body unless you go into OMFS (or maxillofacial pros.). But if you get into dentistry simply because it is the next best choice but if you do not really like the nature of the profession, then I suggest you throw away that dentistry thought in your head. I have known a person who went into dental school because he could not get into med school and really did not like dentistry or have the respect for it. It was obvious because he always walked around with the stethescope in his pocket which looks pretty damn ridiculous among his dental peers. Needless to say, he was gone after the first semester. I still recalled that day when he just suddenly folded his histology book and stormed out of the lecture room. This was clearly a man with misplaced priority. I think that dentistry is a very very good field to go in now as the DDS salary is outpacing most specialties in medicine. I am on the pay panel for some dentists and physicians at my hospital so I know the stats well. Consider dentistry for the right reasons and you will very very happy with your choice. DP

 

[geckel]

Not sure about it requiring athleticism...have you seen some of us pre-dental nerds?

Attention to detail and precision...yes. Athleticism...ehhh.

Speak for yourself buddy .......I average over an hour per day in the gym!

 

[martinelli]

we all have the same goal. and until recently, i decided to be involved.[/QUOTE]


Hi BacQ,

I didn't mean to open the can of worms. I think this is a very touchy subjects for most of us pre-dents because since antiquity, dentistry has been looked down upon by the medical profession and we have always had this suspicion that most medical students perceive us as the less gifted and intelligent bunch. And that has all changed in recent years; our salaries are much higher, the people who go into the profession are much more diverse (i.e. not just Caucasian men) and our overall image has improved immensely and now there is this inflood of fomer med students trying to compete with us to get into dental school.
Anyway, what I mean to say is that, from what I could gauge from your post, you seem very sincere. Don't listen to us complainers; we are only giving you a hard time for the fun of it. Besides, since you have volunteered in a dental clinic and still think that looking at people's mouth is damnest best thing you could do in life, then welcome to the club buddy!

 

[thomasjm]

Yeah, agreed.....just go for it!