Changing careers to become a dentist

[pharmacist28]

Hello:

I am a 28 years old pharmacist with 160 000 dollar debt from pharmacy school.
I have been a pharmacist for two years and I hate it. I want to become a dentist for many personal reasons such as helping people, autonomy, working with my hands, one patient at a time, procedures, one day to help the poor as a volunteer/dentist. This is not about money at all. My salary is currently 122,000 at Walgreens.
Any thoughts? Am I crazy??? Am I too old with too much debt to pursue my dream? Any comments are appreciated. Thank you.

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[GTFOOMICT]

Hello:

I am a 28 years old pharmacist with 160 000 dollar debt from pharmacy school.
I have been a pharmacist for two years and I hate it. I want to become a dentist for many personal reasons such as helping people, autonomy, working with my hands, one patient at a time, procedures, one day to help the poor as a volunteer/dentist. This is not about money at all. My salary is currently 122,000 at Walgreens.
Any thoughts? Am I crazy??? Am I too old with too much debt to pursue my dream? Any comments are appreciated. Thank you.

Have you looked into a pharmacy residency? Do you think that may bring you out of your rut?

I must say I don't know much about the programs or training but I'd hate to see you exhaust your pharmacy education.

That being said, you only have one life to live, and most of us are capable of living well into our 70s so go for it! Pay down that debt!!

 

[8 SNAKE]

You're 28 years old and have only been a pharmacist for two years. When did becoming a dentist enter the picture for you? You mention that being a dentist is your dream, but it must be a pretty new dream. I'd let this one simmer a bit before making the leap. How much time have you spent shadowing dentists?

 

[sokrman14]

Hello:

I am a 28 years old pharmacist with 160 000 dollar debt from pharmacy school.
I have been a pharmacist for two years and I hate it. I want to become a dentist for many personal reasons such as helping people, autonomy, working with my hands, one patient at a time, procedures, one day to help the poor as a volunteer/dentist. This is not about money at all. My salary is currently 122,000 at Walgreens.
Any thoughts? Am I crazy??? Am I too old with too much debt to pursue my dream? Any comments are appreciated. Thank you.

My dad did the exact same thing. He graduated pharm school, then worked for a year, and went back to Dental School. He doesn't regret one minute of it. Not only that...if you are gutsy enough, you can get a PT job as a pharmacist and make good money through dental school. Thats what my dad did. If there is a med school or hospital near the dental school you can have a good paying job and still go to school.

 

[pharmacist28]

Dear 8 SNAKE:

I applied to dental school and pharmacy school simultaneously.
Dental school was my plan A, pharmacy school was my plan B.
I did not get into dental school because of my DAT score: 17. I had a 3.6 GPA.
I did better on the PCAT so I got accepted into pharmacy school.

I decided to pursue plan B because I was going to finish quick and make money. Life teaches the hard way right? I learned that money does not make you happy and I don't care about money now because I am unhappy at work. I rather make a LOT less and be happy at work. It is my life, my EVERYDAY life.
Dentistry has always been a dream since I was little. I was just young and without guidance.

My advise to people out there is to follow their dreams and not give up, don't seattle for a plan B.
You live and learn, and learn from the mistakes. Trust me, I am paying for it every morning I get up to work.

Don't misunderstand, pharmacy is a great profession if you like it. I don't like it. This is why I feel this way.

 

[DrReo]

Dear 8 SNAKE:

I applied to dental school and pharmacy school simultaneously.
Dental school was my plan A, pharmacy school was my plan B.
I did not get into dental school because of my DAT score: 17. I had a 3.6 GPA.
I did better on the PCAT so I got accepted into pharmacy school.

I decided to pursue plan B because I was going to finish quick and make money. Life teaches the hard way right? I learned that money does not make you happy and I don't care about money now because I am unhappy at work. I rather make a LOT less and be happy at work. It is my life, my EVERYDAY life.
Dentistry has always been a dream since I was little. I was just young and without guidance.

My advise to people out there is to follow their dreams and not give up, don't seattle for a plan B.
You live and learn, and learn from the mistakes. Trust me, I am paying for it every morning I get up to work.

Don't misunderstand, pharmacy is a great profession if you like it. I don't like it. This is why I feel this way.

There's no point not being happy. The only issue may be the debt. Start figuring out what pre-reqs/dat scores you need. Live frugal and pay off as much debt as possible. There are some students who come in easily with 60-100k from undergraduate. Treat it as the same and try and get into a state school.

 

[yappy]

You prob know more than I do as you're a pharmacist, but have you looked into other forms of pharmacy? Nuclear, inpatient, ICU, ER? They may require additional training the form of residency but it might be easier than going through another grad school. That said - you know what you want to do and go for it... just putting it out there.

 

[omaralt]

You prob know more than I do as you're a pharmacist, but have you looked into other forms of pharmacy? Nuclear, inpatient, ICU, ER? They may require additional training the form of residency but it might be easier than going through another grad school. That said - you know what you want to do and go for it... just putting it out there.

+1 i have a friend whos a pharmacist. he was miserable working at CVS, and was making similar money to you. however he ended up working at a hospital and loves his job a lot more. he was telling me all the crap these chains (walgreens, cvs, walmart, etc) make you do; all of which he doesnt have to do at the hospital. so before you completely switch careers, consider changing jobs.

however, if you still want to pursue dentistry, you first have to see if your pre-reqs are still valid. then you have to study and re-take the DAT. during this time, live as frugal as possible and pay off as much debt as possible. if your single, you should have no problem paying off this debt in 2-3 years. IMO dont start dental school with more than $50K of debt. good luck

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

........so before you completely switch careers, consider changing jobs.

.......however, if you still want to pursue dentistry, you first have to see if your pre-reqs are still valid........

I will completely agree with the first quoted part above. My wife graduated with her PharmD back in 2002. She worked for Walgreens for a year. When we lived in a small town in Washington, it wasn't a bad place to work. Hours were actually pretty nice, but when we moved to San Antonio, TX her satisfaction with her job quickly changed. She ended up applying for a clinical pharmacist position at a small hospital in San Antonio. She fell in love with her job. It actually gave her satisfaction unlike Walgreens was doing. She has worked in a hospital setting ever since. If you get on in a large hospital, there may very well be jobs that are for a pharmacist that you might not have thought about. My wife fell into a couple job opportunities at her current job that she has really liked including being a pharmacy educator and now working in pharmacy computer support. You jjust never know what opportunities are out there for you until you look closer. As Omaralt said, change jobs. Give hospital pharmacy a chance. If it still doesn't do anything for you, join our wonderful profession.

As for the pre-reqs being good still, there are a lot of schools that don't care about how old they are if you performed well in them. When i applied, my oldest pre-req was 14 years old. Not one of the schools I applied to (accepted to all of them) felt I needed to repeat any of the courses. There are probably some schools out there, but there are plenty others who probably won't require you to repeat the courses especially having a PharmD.

Good luck!

 

[pharmacist28]

Thank you everyone for your input.

I truly appreciate it.

 

[DrReo]

Thank you everyone for your input.

I truly appreciate it.

What are you going to do?

 

[Lethstang]

op,

i was in the same position, cept i was an i banker. great effing money, but wasnt happy.

we only live once brah. take the paycut, do another 4 years of college, and do what you know will make you happy for the rest of your life. you still have ALOT of working years in you.

but please shadow a few before you leap.

 

[pharmacist28]

I am going for my dream! Pay my loans as much as I can and apply to dental school.

 

[drhobie7]

One of our third year OMS residents went to pharmacy school, practiced for a few months and bailed. Went to dental school. Then obviously decided to do OMS. I got such a kick out of that. I'll tell you what, no other resident in the hospital knows drugs as well as he does! I keep telling him he's gotta have his white coat say DDS, MD, PharmD. HAHAHAHA, that'd be so rad.

 

[armorshell]

One of our third year OMS residents went to pharmacy school, practiced for a few months and bailed. Went to dental school. Then obviously decided to do OMS. I got such a kick out of that. I'll tell you what, no other resident in the hospital knows drugs as well as he does! I keep telling him he's gotta have his white coat say DDS, MD, PharmD. HAHAHAHA, that'd be so rad.

Hey we've got one of those too, except if he did that the degree list would be longer than his full name

 

[odontologia]

I am going for my dream! Pay my loans as much as I can and apply to dental school.

Good luck to you!! Changing careers is not an easy thing to do, I started d-school when I was early 30s and ended mid/late 30s. Happy as can be w/my career choice. I remember when I was a pre-dent, this website was such a great help for everything. Good luck to all applying for d-school, it's truly an awesome career!! 👍

 

[pharmacist28]

Good luck to you!! Changing careers is not an easy thing to do, I started d-school when I was early 30s and ended mid/late 30s. Happy as can be w/my career choice. I remember when I was a pre-dent, this website was such a great help for everything. Good luck to all applying for d-school, it's truly an awesome career!! 👍

Dear Odontologia:

From what career did change to dentistry? It would be nice to hear your story. Thanks for the words of encouragement.

 

[xia101010]

The cost of getting dental degree from this is 400K(tution+living). Paying a loan of $2000/pm will take me 200 months to pay off. Other schools are also in same ballpark except home school.


???

 

[deleted158872]

I am going for my dream! Pay my loans as much as I can and apply to dental school.

Please keep us updated. 🙂

 

[deleted158872]

I'm kinda in the same situation as the OP: I applied for both schools, and ended up in Pharm, hating it... but I have a question: when I apply for Dental, should I tell dental school that I applied for both (pharm and dent) back then?

 

[sjv]

I'm kinda in the same situation as the OP: I applied for both schools, and ended up in Pharm, hating it... but I have a question: when I apply for Dental, should I tell dental school that I applied for both (pharm and dent) back then?

The application asks, so I would be prepared to explain in not just on the application but also at interviews because it will surely come up.

Q5. Have you ever applied to dental school prior to the present application cycle? (Yes/No)
If "yes", include the name of schools to which you applied and year(s) of application. If accepted/enrolled, indicate dates of enrollment. You are limited to 600 characters, including spaces. Indicating “yes” to this item does not jeopardize your candidacy to dental school.
There are many reasons why an applicant would have applied in previous years. Answer this question truthfully, providing all information requested. AADSAS Instructions

Q6. Have you previously, or are you currently applying to a health profession school other than dental school? (Yes/No)
If "yes", indicate school(s), type of program, year applied, and also indicate if you were accepted and/or enrolled. You are limited to 600 characters, including spaces. Indicating “yes” to this item does not necessarily jeopardize your candidacy to dental school, but you should be prepared to tell admissions committees why you are applying to two (or more) types of programs simultaneously.

 

[W19]

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[john3322]

your decision is right, dentistry is a great career

 

[irishmom]

I have worked for 2 dentists who were pharmacists before they became dentists. Both told me tht after they had been held up at gunpoint they decided to switch careers. Neither of the ever looked back. Follow your dreams.

 

[Dr.p53]

I'm a Registered Nurse with 2 years of Nursing experience.. I'm currently preparing for my Dental proper on my 3rdyear DMD 🙂