Caribbean MD --> DDS --> DO?

[Premeditated_Learner]

Hey Y'all,

I'm currently in dental school, in which I enrolled hastily after withdrawing (with a WF) from a Big 4 Caribbean med school.

Do I have any chance of admission to a DO school given my dicey academic history?

Thanks!

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[A88DO]

Stay in dental school!

 

[Goro]

Assuming you're not trolling, you appear to be a degree collector.

 

[Premeditated_Learner]

I'm not trolling, and I'm not a degree collector

I just want to practice real medicine - treating MIs, reading EKGs, gallbladder removals, gunshot victims, etc - not just filling cavities and doing routine oral exams. Not throwing shade on dentistry, everyone has their own perspectives and passions.

If I get good grades in dental school, would I have any chance of getting into *any* DO schools?

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

I'm not trolling, and I'm not a degree collector

I just want to practice real medicine - treating MIs, reading EKGs, gallbladder removals, gunshot victims, etc - not just filling cavities and doing routine oral exams. Not throwing shade on dentistry, everyone has their own perspectives and passions.

If I get good grades in dental school, would I have any chance of getting into *any* DO schools?

Why did you go to dental school if you want to practice medicine?

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

My answer is that most likely no DO program will want you.

The reasoning why I would not take your candidacy seriously is because 1) You had the grades for DO school the first time around, so you either a) Wanted that MD after your name which means you see our profession as second best, or b) Were too lazy to do whatever extra work was necessary (volunteer, research, etc.), 2) You are already in another professional program, 3) You decided to take the seat from another person that may have wanted to be a dentist out of your own selfishness, 4) Considering you had a "WF," having what it takes to succeed in medical school is pretty doubtful.

If you honestly want to go to DO school or don't want to do dentistry, then you need to drop out of dental school first. Then it may take you 5+ years before someone will be willing to take a chance with you. You'll have to spin it as 1) Not knowing about DO before, 2) Saying you're really sorry that you took a dentistry seat thinking it could make you happy but dropped out because you weren't willing to lie to yourself further and 3) You will need HEAVY shadowing to prove this time you won't bail on medicine.

Honestly, this is such an uphill battle that my recommendation would be to either suck it up in dentistry or perhaps try for PA or NP school.

 

[Premeditated_Learner]

What about applying for a DO postbac with a guaranteed interview? How likely is it that, at that interview, the acorn would reject me?

 

[Premeditated_Learner]

*adcoms

 

[Faha]

What was your MCAT score ?

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Podiatry school if you have surgical inclination. They are very well trained physicians and well compensated. Limited scope of practice, I agree. Beats wasting more years and student loans trying to be a DO. Your application would make me nervous, especially with your past career decision

 

[Goro]

My answer is that most likely no DO program will want you.

The reasoning why I would not take your candidacy seriously is because 1) You had the grades for DO school the first time around, so you either a) Wanted that MD after your name which means you see our profession as second best, or b) Were too lazy to do whatever extra work was necessary (volunteer, research, etc.), 2) You are already in another professional program, 3) You decided to take the seat from another person that may have wanted to be a dentist out of your own selfishness, 4) Considering you had a "WF," having what it takes to succeed in medical school is pretty doubtful.

If you honestly want to go to DO school or don't want to do dentistry, then you need to drop out of dental school first. Then it may take you 5+ years before someone will be willing to take a chance with you. You'll have to spin it as 1) Not knowing about DO before, 2) Saying you're really sorry that you took a dentistry seat thinking it could make you happy but dropped out because you weren't willing to lie to yourself further and 3) You will need HEAVY shadowing to prove this time you won't bail on medicine.

Honestly, this is such an uphill battle that my recommendation would be to either suck it up in dentistry or perhaps try for PA or NP school.

Albino has expertly explained why OP would be DOA both in my med school and our SMP.

You had your chance. Make the best of being a DDS.

 

[smurfin57]

If you were on track to becoming a physician and it was what you really wanted, you wouldn't have withdrawn from a medical school. A medical degree is a medical degree... MD, DO, Caribbean MD... I don't care. If you wanted it, you would have taken the opportunity and made the most out of it to achieve your goal of becoming a doc. Consider that. It sounds like you need to figure out what you REALLY want, even if that means taking time off from school and just being in the work force for sometime. Impulsivity is incredibly incriminating to ADCOMS.
Why do you want to become a DO?....
PLEASE for the sake of DO's, please don't use your dicey history as justification to apply to a DO program. We worked hard to get here and are working just as hard as our MD counterparts. Apply to a DO program if you agree with our philosophy, not just because you have dicey stats...

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Apply to a DO program if you agree with our philosophy, not just because you have dicey stats...

OP you won't get a DO acceptance for a number of years. Your impulsivity is obvious and no school will want to accept that burden.

 

[pms_testosterone]

Stay in dental school whether or not you decide you're going to apply DO. I have to disagree with @AlbinoHawk DO that being in another professional program looks bad to medical school admissions. You see lots of health professionals (nurses, pharmacists, lab techs) and professional students switching into medicine. As long as you have a rationale for why you're switching, being in another health profession is not a disadvantage. I'm a little baffled as to why so many on this forum hold the view that it is.

The fact that you withdrew from med school before is the real problem. I suspect you'll have a better chance of an MD/DO acceptance once you've put years between yourself & that bad decision, but realize it'll be a slim chance.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Stay in dental school whether or not you decide you're going to apply DO. I have to disagree with @AlbinoHawk DO that being in another professional program looks bad to medical school admissions. You see lots of health professionals (nurses, pharmacists, lab techs) and professional students switching into medicine. As long as you have a rationale for why you're switching, being in another health profession is not a disadvantage. I'm a little baffled as to why so many on this forum hold the view that it is.

The fact that you withdrew from med school before is the real problem. I suspect you'll have a better chance of an MD/DO acceptance once you've put years between yourself & that bad decision, but realize it'll be a slim chance.

Nursing and lab tech are undergraduate courses, and most people admitted from these professions have 5+ years under their belt before doing the switch. Pharmacy today is graduate, but their role is not very patient focused compared to other health professions.

Dentistry is a very unique program in that you obtain a professional degree for a specialized field. If the application of someone with a degree like DDS, DPM or similar degree ever came to me, I assure you I wouldn't waste my time with it. There are enough talented kids out there that need a break, and giving someone with a professional degree like that yet another chance is wasteful. I assure you many people in medical schools feel this way. Speaking anecdotally, one of my classmates was a former dentistry student. He had to drop out to be taken seriously, or at least that was his theory because he applied more than once and it was when he bailed on the degree that they admitted him.

 

[Medic741]

I'm not trolling, and I'm not a degree collector

I just want to practice real medicine - treating MIs, reading EKGs, gallbladder removals, gunshot victims, etc - not just filling cavities and doing routine oral exams. Not throwing shade on dentistry, everyone has their own perspectives and passions.

If I get good grades in dental school, would I have any chance of getting into *any* DO schools?

Probably not. Then you’d look back on your pile of debt + no job and realize your mistake.

Want to have some fun while being a dentist? Finish school, get a paramedic license and ready EKGs/intubate/drive badass fly cars around on the weekend while making your real salary as a dentist.

It’s the dropping out of the carib + dropping out of another professional program that suggests a trend...

 

[Goro]

Stay in dental school whether or not you decide you're going to apply DO. I have to disagree with @AlbinoHawk DO that being in another professional program looks bad to medical school admissions. You see lots of health professionals (nurses, pharmacists, lab techs) and professional students switching into medicine. As long as you have a rationale for why you're switching, being in another health profession is not a disadvantage. I'm a little baffled as to why so many on this forum hold the view that it is.

The fact that you withdrew from med school before is the real problem. I suspect you'll have a better chance of an MD/DO acceptance once you've put years between yourself & that bad decision, but realize it'll be a slim chance.

While I agree that people do realize "this isn't what I want to do", our big worry is that people who bail on one profession will bail on ours, especially when tons of people are either starry-eyed about Medicine, or have the "grass is greener" mindset. Hence, at my school and others, we at least want to see people finish their program.

 

[NITRAS]

I'm not trolling, and I'm not a degree collector

I just want to practice real medicine - treating MIs, reading EKGs, gallbladder removals, gunshot victims, etc - not just filling cavities and doing routine oral exams. Not throwing shade on dentistry, everyone has their own perspectives and passions.

If I get good grades in dental school, would I have any chance of getting into *any* DO schools?

You do realize that no one does all those things, right? I’m a Hospitalist. I can read an ekg, I can start the medical therapy for most things, but I’m not going to cath them, not going to touch a scalpel.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

You do realize that no one does all those things, right? I’m a Hospitalist. I can read an ekg, I can start the medical therapy for most things, but I’m not going to cath them, not going to touch a scalpel.

I was assuming OP meant the medical management of these patients, but if you're right that he believed you will doing the gallbladder removal yourself and doing cath and then trauma victims, he has even less business going into medicine because he has no understanding of it. Also it's already pretty annoying when you're in medicine and they make you do all the post-operative care at some institutions

 

[Mad Jack]

I'm not trolling, and I'm not a degree collector

I just want to practice real medicine - treating MIs, reading EKGs, gallbladder removals, gunshot victims, etc - not just filling cavities and doing routine oral exams. Not throwing shade on dentistry, everyone has their own perspectives and passions.

If I get good grades in dental school, would I have any chance of getting into *any* DO schools?

Why not become an oral surgeon? You'd get the MD and be a surgeon right after D school,, win/win

 

[Osminog]

So you have a pharmacy degree (as evidenced by the Kappa Psi sticker on your account), you flunked out of medical school, and you're now enrolled in dentistry school.

It sounds like you have commitment issues. Are you looking to become Premeditated_Learner, DO, DDS, PharmD, DPT, DPM, DC, ND, JD, MBA, PhD?

 

[IMGASMD]

So you have a pharmacy degree (as evidenced by the Kappa Psi sticker on your account), you flunked out of medical school, and you're now enrolled in dentistry school.

It sounds like you have commitment issues. Are you looking to become Premeditated_Learner, DO, DDS, PharmD, DPT, DPM, DC, ND, JD, MBA, PhD?

I thought one of my old attending who is a priest, md, PhD already has too many letters behind his name.....

 

[lumya]

You have two options. Either buckle up and make the best of the situation you are in now (e.g. finishing dental school, doing a residency in oral surgery, etc.) or drop out of dental school and take a good hard look at what you want in life. Take a couple years and work in healthcare before deciding what you want. Then you can write a real personal statement about why you’re pursuing medicine instead of just saying “I just wanted that DR before my name.”

 

[mdh2]

Hey Y'all,

I'm currently in dental school, in which I enrolled hastily after withdrawing (with a WF) from a Big 4 Caribbean med school.

Do I have any chance of admission to a DO school given my dicey academic history?

Thanks!

This may not be what you are asking but you can certainly do a medical (ish) specialty!

Consider oral surgery or possibly even a Dental Anesthesiology Residency Program should that not pan out.

I would not advise you to backtrack and go to medical school.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

This may not be what you are asking but you can certainly do a medical (ish) specialty!

Consider oral surgery or possibly even a Dental Anesthesiology Residency Program should that not pan out.

I would not advise you to backtrack and go to medical school.

American Board of Anesthesiology doesn't certify dentists. My friend tried this and had to got to med school and repeat anesthesiology residency

 

[mdh2]

American Board of Anesthesiology doesn't certify dentists. My friend tried this and had to got to med school and repeat anesthesiology residency

ouch

 

[IMGASMD]

ouch

The price you pay when you don’t wanna look at teeth all day. But come to think of it, when i intubate, I do see teeth too....... hmmmmm