Dental School as a second career?

[scamac01]

Hi all,

I've applied to dental school and will be starting NYU soon. I was curious to know if there's a large number of people who are doing this after already having another career. I worked as a technical writer for a few years and now Im making the change to dentistry. I had to go back to school for a while before applying so that I could complete my pre-reqs. Has anyone else had to start all over again? I'd just like to see how many people come to the career with other skills/perspectives.

Thanks,

--scamac01

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[PBR95]

I worked for five years in Consulting before returning to Dental School. I liked what I was doing, but it wasn't my life's passion. The positives I see with my situation are: having a deeper skill set (knowledge of the buisiness world) and being a little more mature. And the obvious negative of being a little older than my classmates.

 

[spooky42]

I was in IT was a couple of years.

 

[misogi]

I've worked 6 years doing computer programming (The first two years as a coop student). I already knew I did not want to remain in the computer science field even before I received my undergraduate degree. I already had an interest in dentistry, so I began taking pre-requisites while working.

It's only 2 more months before I quit my job, move to a new apartment, and prepare to begin dental school!

 

[msummar_smc]

I was an e-Commerce Marketing Manager for a large retail chain. I wanted a more fulfilling life and always dreamed of being a dentist ... I should have chased the dream the first time through college, but I had a road block. The athletic department for the school I attended HIGHLY recommended not being a pre-med/dentistry major for its athletes. Man did I waste some major time.

 

[Energon]

You know what, age means nothing in dentistry. Infact, in my experience, older guys have really successful and fulfilling careers after they graduate. Its just 4 years of school and 1 year of residency and then you are done. Msummar, you are going to have a serious advantage when it comes to setting up your own practice. You guys have made a really good choice... welcome to the club.

P.S. the dean of my school was a very successful civil engineer before he gave it up to become a dentist, even funnier, his team coordinated the design and construction of one of our clinic buildings back in the late 70's.

 

[critterbug]

2 years as an industrial chemist ......but it paid da bills while I was "finding myself"

 

[jota]

I've been a consultant/computer application developer for over 7 years. I am making a sudden jump to dentistry, and am pretty nervous (but excited) about it.

Luckily, I fulfilled all of the pre-reqs with my bachelor degree so I didn't have to take any additional courses. But the downside is that I haven't seen the basic science material in quite awhile.

 

[esspressive]

I worked in biomed research for 8 years, and pharm for 4 years before that!
Just finishing my 1st Year of dental school at NYU. yeahhh!

 

[r_salis]

I'm in optometry school now, but I was a software engineer for 12 years before "finding myself".

 

[lnn2]

......but it paid da bills while I was "finding myself"

UPS loader, 4 yrs as Microbiologist for food testing and animal vaccinations R&D before "finding myself"
Still trying to find myself and my other better self still clueless

 

[mathnerd]

I worked five years at my dream job of busboy at Sizzler.

 

[ShawnOne]

I was also in IT(app developer) for a couple years.

 

[djsux]

I was also into the consulting world for a while doing software development/management for 4 years. Took the plung to go back to school and take my pre-reqs and applied and thankfully got in.

Dental school is tough, but you have to prioritize - if you can't get enough of school and want to specialize or do a GPR or AEGD, then you'll have to study quite a bit to stay near the top of your class to get into a residency program.

If you've had enough of school, need to make money to support the fam, or a number of other reasons, then you putting in a reasonable effort your first two years should be enough to get you through to the clinic years when life is much easier (or so I hear)...

good luck with your upcoming semesters and welcome to a great profession, fellow colleague...

cheers.