Dentistry vs Engineering

[Amalhalawa]

I am having trouble deciding between dentistry and engineering. I graduated a year ago as a pre dental but I am having second thoughts. With the amount of debt for dental school I would be owing about 500k in loans and barely making 120k a year at least the first few years. It would also take me 4 years to finish dental school as opposed to a 1 year master's program in biomedical engineering where i'll start making 100k with no debt in only 1 year. Is my outlook to dentistry wrong or am I being realistic with the number ? Thanks for any advice you're willing to give.

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[Teeth and Titanite]

You've gotten an acceptance to a dental school? Just wondering how you're certain you'll owe $500k

 

[Amalhalawa]

I did not get one yet I am applying this cycle. I do live in Michigan where the only 2 dental schools are a private school that costs about 500k to attend and university of michigan which is very hard to get into.

 

[P7898]

Biomedical engineering. Do that. Both are great fields but BME would be a great career with minimal debt.

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

Consider applying outside of Michigan to cheaper schools.

Beyond that, I think it's inaccurate to say you'll "barely" be making $120k after dental school. However, even if you made $170k that would not make it worth $500k. So I wouldn't go into dentistry unless you believe you have what it takes to make significantly more and be frugal to handle your loans. Specializing is also an option, but again only if you think you have what it takes (and are interested).

 

[yappy]

I am having trouble deciding between dentistry and engineering. I graduated a year ago as a pre dental but I am having second thoughts. With the amount of debt for dental school I would be owing about 500k in loans and barely making 120k a year at least the first few years. It would also take me 4 years to finish dental school as opposed to a 1 year master's program in biomedical engineering where i'll start making 100k with no debt in only 1 year. Is my outlook to dentistry wrong or am I being realistic with the number ? Thanks for any advice you're willing to give.

I feel like you cannot go wrong with either. Keep the debt <300k if you go dental. Other than that, do the career you like the most.

 

[Amalhalawa]

I feel like you cannot go wrong with either. Keep the debt <300k if you go dental. Other than that, do the career you like the most.

The thing is after counting in interest after 4 years and checking tuitions at alot of dental schools being out of state, I am finding it very hard to find anything under 400-500k

 

[OMFSLife123]

Two completely different fields. I went to dental school with BME degree as well. At this point, I could not imagine doing engineering, and no matter the debt I love what I do everyday. Put the money aside and think what you will be happier doing for the next 40 years.

 

[Undecided__]

Biomedical engineering is not a degree I recommend getting. I got an engineering degree and worked as an engineer for one year. Switched to dentistry

If you do engineering, I recommend chemical or mechanical engineering. There’s no jobs in biomedical engineering except for research, and there are a few jobs for that. Chemical/Mechanical engineering will have plenty of job openings. Also, you get to knock out most dental school pre-reqs with chemical engineering. There's chemical engineers who work at oil companies making over 6 figures their first year...

If you like office politics, choose engineering

If you like having the final say on what you do at work, then choose dentistry. Your creativity in engineering is determined by your managers

If you like flexible hours, go to dentistry. In engineering, you’re expected to give up more free hours to get “promoted”…

When engineering jobs pay you more, they want more work and free time from you. In dentistry, you can work more and get paid per procedure… your pay in dentistry is the reflection of the procedures you do.

I wished I’ve known about dentistry sooner

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Software engineering is the best type of engineering to get into imo

 

[PerioDont]

Avoid getting into 500k in debt at all costs

 

[Amalhalawa]

Arent most out of state schools gonna cost me about 400-500k in loans ?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I would advise against going above a 1:1 debt to earnings ratio. Maybe 2:1. So unless you have a practice that a family member will give you, I don’t think it makes sense.

 

[P7898]

I would advise against going above a 1:1 debt to earnings ratio. Maybe 2:1. So unless you have a practice that a family member will give you, I don’t think it makes sense.

Preach my friend. ^ This I wouldn't even say 2:1 because 2:1 is really 2.5:1 with interest and taxes on the gross income. I say 1:1 or 1.5: 1.

 

[yappy]

I wonder how the career-selection-landscape would change if student loans were not necessary for undergrad or dental school. What would we even talk about?

 

[2TH MVR]

I wonder how the career-selection-landscape would change if student loans were not necessary for undergrad or dental school. What would we even talk about?

It's all relative. I entered dental school in 1986. I had an acceptance to USC dental. Back then .... anyone with a pulse could get accepted to USC. They actually came to OUR school (Arizona State) to conduct the interviews. I was also accepted to a nice, cheap midwestern dental school. Even BACK THEN .... I laughed at how high the USC tuition was. I can't remember the exact tuition amount, but it was expensive for that current time.

My good dentist friend attended USC. Always bragged about it. He attended that school for one reason. Trojan College Football. Didn't care about the high tuition rate.

 

[charlestweed]

It's all relative. I entered dental school in 1986. I had an acceptance to USC dental. Back then .... anyone with a pulse could get accepted to USC. They actually came to OUR school (Arizona State) to conduct the interviews. I was also accepted to a nice, cheap midwestern dental school. Even BACK THEN .... I laughed at how high the USC tuition was. I can't remember the exact tuition amount, but it was expensive for that current time.

My good dentist friend attended USC. Always bragged about it. He attended that school for one reason. Trojan College Football. Didn't care about the high tuition rate.

Yeah, many my college friends picked USC dental school for the same reason. They were very surprised that I picked Loma Linda over USC. LLU is in the middle nowhere and USC has a football team. I chose LLU because it charged lower tuition (20k/year vs USC’s 24k/year). But then UCLA accepted me at the very last minute……and of course, I picked the cheapest school…only $8k/year….and it too has a football team🙂.