Chance for 1 school only

Started by DrissShafi
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
D

DrissShafi

New Member
7+ Year Member
Hi, my name is Driss. I've been a Premed, accepted to medical school, and now considering Dental because I don't think the Medical lifestyle would be conducive to a healthy family life. Anyways, I've been thinking of Dental on an off for about 2 years, during which time I've taken my DAT also.

Numbers: GPA 3.82, sGPA 3.68, DAT 18 (too low?)
EC's: President of Biology Club, Honor Committee, and have worked in a lab for two years, 200 hours shadowing my family dentist

I'll keep it as short as that.

Schools: VCU, that's it! I am only applying to VCU because I recently got married and my wife got an engineering job down there. So, that's the ONLY school I'm interested in.


Anyways, chances?
 
TaTdV.gif
 
I was in a similar situation only realistically being able to go to one school and only applying to it and being accepted. Its kind of a big gamble but sometimes you don't have a choice. As far as switching from premed, I don't have an answer for you but your stats look good but 18 dat is a little low. You might check the stats for vcu
 
I was in a similar type of situation regarding my husband's job and being limited as to where I could go. Feel free to PM me.
 
I'd look into retaking your DAT to optimize your chances, otherwise rest is fine.

http://www.dentistry.vcu.edu/programs/dds/dentaladmissiontest/ said:
While there are no strict passing or failing scores, the standard score of 18 represents the average performance on a national basis and the standard score of 20 represents the average performance for VCU.
Click to expand...




...But I'd also take the med school acceptance and run with it.
 
Careful, its a big gamble applying just to one school. You never know which schools you will hear from and which you will get no response.
 
I highly considered only applying to 2 schools (my in-states). I had a solid GPA and DAT, but even then I knew that it was a big risk. I decided against it and applied to 5 instead. Even to most people, this was a gamble, but oh well. I knew what I wanted. That being said, weird things happen. You can't predict what some schools will do.

Though there aren't many people on SDN who only apply to a few schools, I know it happens. That being said, I'm going to be blunt here. You're taking a big risk with your current stats. The average DAT score of incoming VCU students is a 20. I'd say that you'd increase your chances immensely if you could get your DAT up to, say, a 22. I've seen people with similar stats to you try to do this, and they have had to reapply once or more. It's a gamble. Fix that DAT score. And, even then, I'd make sure there is NO way for you to attend other schools.

Schools do weird things, and it's not terribly smart to put all of your eggs in one basket. For example, I didn't get even an interview to a school with an an average sGPA of 3.5 and TS score of 21. My sGPA is a 3.97 and my TS score is a 30. Seriously, things happen that you can't account for.
 
Last edited:
DrissShafi said:
Hi, my name is Driss. I've been a Premed, accepted to medical school, and now considering Dental because I don't think the Medical lifestyle would be conducive to a healthy family life. Anyways, I've been thinking of Dental on an off for about 2 years, during which time I've taken my DAT also.

Numbers: GPA 3.82, sGPA 3.68, DAT 18 (too low?)
EC's: President of Biology Club, Honor Committee, and have worked in a lab for two years, 200 hours shadowing my family dentist

I'll keep it as short as that.

Schools: VCU, that's it! I am only applying to VCU because I recently got married and my wife got an engineering job down there. So, that's the ONLY school I'm interested in.


Anyways, chances?
Click to expand...
A buddy of mine only applied to VCU and got in. He was a double Biology and Chemistry major at VTech.
 
DrissShafi said:
Hi, my name is Driss. I've been a Premed, accepted to medical school, and now considering Dental because I don't think the Medical lifestyle would be conducive to a healthy family life. Anyways, I've been thinking of Dental on an off for about 2 years, during which time I've taken my DAT also.
Numbers: GPA 3.82, sGPA 3.68, DAT 18 (too low?)
EC's: President of Biology Club, Honor Committee, and have worked in a lab for two years, 200 hours shadowing my family dentist
I'll keep it as short as that. Schools: VCU, that's it! I am only applying to VCU because I recently got married and my wife got an engineering job down there. So, that's the ONLY school I'm interested in.
Click to expand...
Not exactly the best reason for abandoning one profession and choosing another.
 
Why don't you attend that medical school that you are in right now, and apply to dental school. If you don't get into dental school first year, then you continue with medical school. Then apply again, if you don't get into VCU 2nd time or 3rd time, then you should continue medical school and finish it.
 
Your DAT is too low.
Forget dentistry and Go into psychiatry. You will probably not have any emergencies in psychiatry and I know people who are psychiatrists and have amazing family lives. They go to work from 9-5, and come home with no worries and make at least $300k. No call, no working on weekends. With the recent passing of laws, mental health/psychiatry is going to be compensated more and more. You're welcome.
 
doc toothache said:
When was the last time you heard of an allergy/immunology, family practice, dermatology, ophthalmology, nuclear medicine and rheumatology M.D., to name a few, being called for an emergency?
Click to expand...
pathologist, palliative medicine, emergency medicine depending on hospital and contract (still scheduled to work odd hours unless you have seniority), radiology, and radiation oncology...these specialties still have a lot more stress than dentistry

it's going to take a lot more time, effort, stress, and money to become one of these specialists compared to dentists
 
Screwtape said:
Doc toothache and nomad named most of the ones I was thinking of. There are also niches within traditionally "stressful" specialties that offer a good family life balance, e.g. anesthesiologist in a pain clinic.
Click to expand...
So, the options are extremely competitive medical specialties, which still require a number of years of grueling residency (all medical residencies are tough) which you are not guaranteed to land; or dentistry, which offers comfortable employment immediately after graduation. Face it, dentistry is a really good deal.
 
doc toothache said:
When was the last time you heard of an allergy/immunology, family practice, dermatology, ophthalmology, nuclear medicine and rheumatology M.D., to name a few, being called for an emergency?
Click to expand...

Derm and Ophtho are not realistic. A/I is also a tough nut to crack because the spots are so few. Nuc Med might have the worst job market in medicine--even worse than Pathology. FM and Rheum I can see, tho.
 
DrissShafi said:
Hi, my name is Driss. I've been a Premed, accepted to medical school, and now considering Dental because I don't think the Medical lifestyle would be conducive to a healthy family life. Anyways, I've been thinking of Dental on an off for about 2 years, during which time I've taken my DAT also.

Numbers: GPA 3.82, sGPA 3.68, DAT 18 (too low?)
EC's: President of Biology Club, Honor Committee, and have worked in a lab for two years, 200 hours shadowing my family dentist

I'll keep it as short as that.

Schools: VCU, that's it! I am only applying to VCU because I recently got married and my wife got an engineering job down there. So, that's the ONLY school I'm interested in.


Anyways, chances?
Click to expand...

If you just want a stable family life, a field like Psych is probably best. That's generally an easy match.

What was your MCAT score? Did you get into MD or DO?
 
SAVEHUCD said:
DO NOT APPLY TO HOWARD UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.
Click to expand...


Really though, this is the third thread I've seen this posted on... out of four threads I've looked at in the past 10 minutes. Please quit spamming.

I'm with Daneosaurus. I think a family-oriented lifestyle is much preferable, and I think that's a fine reason to have second thoughts about medical school. If you're serious about this, your GPA is good, but you need a higher DAT. Applying to 1 school and losing your chance at med school is also risky. Also make sure you'd enjoy dentistry, not just change to a job you'd despise to get more family time.

But hey, if you're willing to take the risks, anything worthwhile is worth sacrificing your time. Best of luck.
 
Silent Cool said:
If you just want a stable family life, a field like Psych is probably best. That's generally an easy match.

What was your MCAT score? Did you get into MD or DO?
Click to expand...

I got into an MD program...VCU. My MCAT Score was a 29, so standardized testing is obviously not my forte.

And yeah, I'm married, and we're planning on having kids while we are in school (my sigother has been accepted into VCU Dental).


You know, at a certain point, I just looked at my life and said, sure I could do a residency like FM or Derm or something. But at what expense? If we have kids during grad school, they would be nine or ten by the time I actually got those jobs, because residency is so long. And during that time, we'd be saddled with an insane amount of debt while I'd be making not a lot of money to help support us. Overall, the medical sacrifice is a lot to bear, and for a person who has always been family oriented, the prestige of being an MD just doesn't compare to the fulfillment of being an active parent.



Thank you all for your responses, I am going to reapply to VCU this summer if need be, and hopefully have retaken the DAT by then. However, I'm still holding out for hope this cycle. Also, do DAT scores get replaced or averaged together?
 
DrissShafi said:
I got into an MD program...VCU. My MCAT Score was a 29, so standardized testing is obviously not my forte.

And yeah, I'm married, and we're planning on having kids while we are in school (my sigother has been accepted into VCU Dental).


You know, at a certain point, I just looked at my life and said, sure I could do a residency like FM or Derm or something. But at what expense? If we have kids during grad school, they would be nine or ten by the time I actually got those jobs, because residency is so long. And during that time, we'd be saddled with an insane amount of debt while I'd be making not a lot of money to help support us. Overall, the medical sacrifice is a lot to bear, and for a person who has always been family oriented, the prestige of being an MD just doesn't compare to the fulfillment of being an active parent.



Thank you all for your responses, I am going to reapply to VCU this summer if need be, and hopefully have retaken the DAT by then. However, I'm still holding out for hope this cycle. Also, do DAT scores get replaced or averaged together?
Click to expand...

Most schools use your most recent DAT scores. Can you defer your acceptance to VCU MD if you don't get in?
 
Silent Cool said:
Most schools use your most recent DAT scores. Can you defer your acceptance to VCU MD if you don't get in?
Click to expand...


I've been trying to keep it quiet. I think it'd be a bit odd for the Medical School to realize that one of their admits is also applying to the dental school. I was invited for an interview by VCU on Monday so I have my fingers crossed that goes well, and I am preparing for it now.

When I posted this I had sort of lost hope because I didn't think they were still handing out interviews, but another buddy of mine got notified the same time as me, so hopefully there are still some spots left.

However, I'm still going to start studying and schedule my DAT, just in case, because, as someone said, admissions really are a crapshoot, and I fear I am at the tail end of their acceptance period...might be many qualified applicants applying for a few spots only.

I was late in submitting my application so that might have worked to my detriment.
 
Glimmer1991 said:
Your wife is planning to get pregnant and have children while in dental school?
Are you guys at an age where this is absolutely necessary or something?
Click to expand...
I didn't catch this. Unless your wife is in her 40's there is absolutely no way it would make dental school easier for her or dental/med school easier for you. I have kids and my wife and I have been able to do undergrad at the same time. But grad school, especially professional school, is an entirely different animal. We resolved that it would be a near impossibility for us to both go to grad school at the same time, and still be active parents, given the demands of grad school. People who have children in grad/professional school generally have a working spouse.
 
Dental school is going to be more work than medical school (you have to do all the lab work on top of all the sciences). Why not just take it easy during med school and then do an easy psych residency afterwards? If you graduate Dental school and are looking to just have a carefree, relaxed family life for 4 years after you graduate dental school, then you are probably going to do an associate or work at a dental chain (make around only $100-$120k as associate). If you want to start into private practice after dental school, you are going to have to run a business and cut down time spent with family. Psych residency wouldn't be too difficult and you could make $50k-$60 as a resident.

I think you should give psych or family med a look. Keep in mind that those who make on the higher end of dentistry are private practice owners, NOT associates. Private practice Dentistry, while it certainly has less haggles than medicine, is going to take some time off your family time. You can still nag $250k as an employed MD with little stress.
 
Hey Guys,

Just wanted to update everyone on my progress in the event someone is looking through this thread years in advance. I got into VCU (yippee). And I've withdrawn my acceptance from VCU Medical, and enrolled in VCU Dental. I plan on applying for the NHSC (Health Corps Scholarship), my wife is already a recipient of this, so if both of us were to get out of dental school scotch free that'd be pretty awesome.

Anyways, I'd just like to reiterate my reasons for choosing Dental over Medical School for future lurkers. I became disillusioned with medicine after I saw the amount of lifestyle sacrifices it requires. I'd have to give up a significant portion of my time with my wife and future kids, and as a family oriented person, that's something that I would regret. Also, staying in school for so long (residency) just doesn't appeal to me and the hierarchy in the medical world is another thing I am not too fond of. However, if you are a person that is genuinely interested in healthcare and cannot imagine doing anything else, regardless of the costs, I hope the best for you.


I changed my mind late in the game, but am fortunate to be going to school with my wife, and being each other's support system.


P.S. As a result of the responses I got on this thread, we are now planning on having kids post grad....I agree that it would be way too hectic. We'd initially planned on having my wife's mother live with us for 2-3 years, as she's amazing, but that would defeat the purpose of us going into dental in the first place, so we could invest that time in our children's lives.


So yeah, thanks everyone.
 
As an addendum to what other posters said about Psych...Psych is a SERIOUS residency and is suited only for those who are VERY comfortable with their own mental health.

Personally, I take on the attitude of my workplace and know that I would be seriously conflicted and unhappy in a psych workplace so for any future premeds PLEASE do not do psych because it's perceived as a "lifestyle" specialty...that would be a horrible, horrible mistake in my opinion.
 
DrissShafi said:
As an addendum to what other posters said about Psych...Psych is a SERIOUS residency and is suited only for those who are VERY comfortable with their own mental health.

Personally, I take on the attitude of my workplace and know that I would be seriously conflicted and unhappy in a psych workplace so for any future premeds PLEASE do not do psych because it's perceived as a "lifestyle" specialty...that would be a horrible, horrible mistake in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I took a senior seminar in psych for mental health professions and it is not a joke... at all. These practitioners must have sound mind before dealing with the issues of other people. We had a guest speaker who came in and told us she was almost burning out and contemplating suicide after dealing with so much stress and people which even to this day haunts her. I think most of the commenters here telling you to go to psych assume psychiatrists are pill-dispensers as opposed to therapists which to a degree is true - giving a false picture of the profession as a more relaxing specialty as opposed, to say, surgery. But no, they just don't hand out subscriptions and shoo the patient out the door.

On a side note, congrats on getting into VCU. Hope everything works out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.