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Hello all,
I just wanted to write this thread for any of you dental students contemplating a switch to medical school. When I started having thoughts of doing it I found a notable lack of good guidance on the subject so I though I would share my experience. I was a dental student back in 2012-2013 but decided to withdraw after my first year. I was an honors student but just did not find the occupation that fulfilling, its a long story but suffice to say I knew all along I wanted to be a physician. After shadowing some physicians during break I decided to leave dental school with the full blessing of the administration and applied into the 2013-2014 MD and DO cycles. It is now the end of the year and I am on the wait list for two MD programs(both CA) and have gained admittance to two higher end DO schools.
I will start off by saying that the transition WILL SUCK YOUR SOUL OUT OF YOU! It is not easy to change from one profession to another after working so hard. My advice to any of you thinking of doing this is to make absolutely sure its what you want to do. Next I would recommend that when you do withdraw, you should take a year off to build your application and get a good MCAT score. Many of the EC's I did to get into dental school did not overlap well into the medical field. I had to spend ~30 hours a week in research and shadowing to even begin to compete with med applicants that had spent 4+ years building their resume. ADCOMS want to see that you have significant medical exposure. My first mistake was applying in haste, and as a result my MCAT score suffered.(you want to aim for 32 or above) Spend at least 8 weeks/8 hours a day preparing for the MCAT if you want to maximize your potential score.
The next big hurdle you will face is explaining why you withdrew from a professional program. If you do a good job of this in your primary application then it will not keep you from getting interviews. On the contrary, I found that most of the osteopathic schools were supportive. The best advice I can give on this is to share your concerns with your dean and get their blessing, if you can do that(and get a letter of rec/good standing) most schools doubts about you will evaporate. Many people will say to stick out dental school and then apply to medicine, I would personally only recommend this to people who are close to graduating(d3/d4). The debt your will incur otherwise makes this an unwise option.
Lastly I would say, if you have any connections to the medical field, use them. That is how I landed my research, one interview, as well as an amazing mentor. Making a switch between programs is not impossible or even improbable, its just hard. Applying to MD schools is more demanding(more essays, fiercer competition, more overachievers) so be prepared. If you have questions feel free to message me! I hope this helps!
I just wanted to write this thread for any of you dental students contemplating a switch to medical school. When I started having thoughts of doing it I found a notable lack of good guidance on the subject so I though I would share my experience. I was a dental student back in 2012-2013 but decided to withdraw after my first year. I was an honors student but just did not find the occupation that fulfilling, its a long story but suffice to say I knew all along I wanted to be a physician. After shadowing some physicians during break I decided to leave dental school with the full blessing of the administration and applied into the 2013-2014 MD and DO cycles. It is now the end of the year and I am on the wait list for two MD programs(both CA) and have gained admittance to two higher end DO schools.
I will start off by saying that the transition WILL SUCK YOUR SOUL OUT OF YOU! It is not easy to change from one profession to another after working so hard. My advice to any of you thinking of doing this is to make absolutely sure its what you want to do. Next I would recommend that when you do withdraw, you should take a year off to build your application and get a good MCAT score. Many of the EC's I did to get into dental school did not overlap well into the medical field. I had to spend ~30 hours a week in research and shadowing to even begin to compete with med applicants that had spent 4+ years building their resume. ADCOMS want to see that you have significant medical exposure. My first mistake was applying in haste, and as a result my MCAT score suffered.(you want to aim for 32 or above) Spend at least 8 weeks/8 hours a day preparing for the MCAT if you want to maximize your potential score.
The next big hurdle you will face is explaining why you withdrew from a professional program. If you do a good job of this in your primary application then it will not keep you from getting interviews. On the contrary, I found that most of the osteopathic schools were supportive. The best advice I can give on this is to share your concerns with your dean and get their blessing, if you can do that(and get a letter of rec/good standing) most schools doubts about you will evaporate. Many people will say to stick out dental school and then apply to medicine, I would personally only recommend this to people who are close to graduating(d3/d4). The debt your will incur otherwise makes this an unwise option.
Lastly I would say, if you have any connections to the medical field, use them. That is how I landed my research, one interview, as well as an amazing mentor. Making a switch between programs is not impossible or even improbable, its just hard. Applying to MD schools is more demanding(more essays, fiercer competition, more overachievers) so be prepared. If you have questions feel free to message me! I hope this helps!
