Getting dental hygienist certificate while a pre-dental student

[93248]

Someone who is currently on the pre-dental track (Biochem major) told me that in addition to her undergrad studying, she also attends a local community college where she takes evening classes few times a week to get her Dental Hygienist certificate. (The college we both attend is really close to the community college, so it is possible distance vise.) She says although it is difficult to manage both, this certificate will help her in the future since she'll be able to work part-time as a dental hygienist, plus she'll get that priceless clinical experience which looks great on dental school application.

Any thoughts?

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[AwesomeTeeth]

Someone who is currently on the pre-dental track (Biochem major) told me that in addition to her undergrad studying, she also attends a local community college where she takes evening classes few times a week to get her Dental Hygienist certificate. (The college we both attend is really close to the community college, so it is possible distance vise.) She says although it is difficult to manage both, this certificate will help her in the future since she'll be able to work part-time as a dental hygienist, plus she'll get that priceless clinical experience which looks great on dental school application.

Any thoughts?

It's a waste of time. The payoff for clinical experience and looking nice on your app won't matter if it takes up your studying time. Do well on your DAT and have a good GPA. Add some volunteer and shadowing experience. And then laugh when you get into dental school and she doesn't.

When would she have time to work as a hygienist anyway?

 

[AlwaysSmiles]

I would just focus on your DATs and GPA rather than trying to do too many things at once. What year are you in school right now? Honestly, most students don't have time to work with the academic load of the first two years of dental school, after that, you can always take the hygiene exam and work as a hygienist anyways. No need to take hygiene courses right now.

 

[lululime]

I doubt dental student will have much time to work as hygenist. Summers are short, and generally classes go 8 to 5 pm everyday. I would just focus on the undergrad classes and avoid the burnout.

 

[wired202808]

for d-school admissions a dental hygiene license is worth significantly less than a solid GPA and DAT scores.

 

[baydentist2011]

i have strong gpa and dat score and am doing a hygiene program, and got no interview...i wonder if they just dont like hygienist

 

[HeyCharlie]

Very bad idea.

 

[smile1323]

I am a hygienist now and from my personal experience I would say it does not help land interviews at all, schools definitely care about DAT/GPA. But I will say it did get brought up during almost every interview I was on and many schools commented on how they liked hygiene students because of the dental background/knowledge.

 

[baydentist2011]

I am a hygienist now and from my personal experience I would say it does not help land interviews at all, schools definitely care about DAT/GPA. But I will say it did get brought up during almost every interview I was on and many schools commented on how they liked hygiene students because of the dental background/knowledge.

did you get any acceptance?

 

[wired202808]

i have strong gpa and dat score and am doing a hygiene program, and got no interview...i wonder if they just dont like hygienist

define strong. what's the DAT and GPA combo?

 

[HeyCharlie]

Maybe these are better questions to ask:

What percentage of hygienists get accepted every year?
What are the average stats for hygienists?
How successful are hygienists as dental students?

Perhaps there's a bias against them?

 

[smile1323]

Yes I did...I went on 8 interviews and was accepted at 7 places.

 

[baydentist2011]

Yes I did...I went on 8 interviews and was accepted at 7 places.

congrats! i didnt have such luck, hopefully next year will be better after working as a hygienist for me. but i am not sure how much employment opportunity is out there though

 

[baydentist2011]

define strong. what's the DAT and GPA combo?

3.96 and 24/22/20, EC sucked bad though..

 

[smile1323]

Thanks...I was a re-applicant this year so don't give up hope. Your DAT was definitely higher, but I did have tons of EC/volunteer and 2 and a half years of hygiene close to full time. I agree the job market sucks for hygiene but I work part-time at and office and temp at other places to be as close to full-time as possible.

 

[baydentist2011]

Thanks...I was a re-applicant this year so don't give up hope. Your DAT was definitely higher, but I did have tons of EC/volunteer and 2 and a half years of hygiene close to full time. I agree the job market sucks for hygiene but I work part-time at and office and temp at other places to be as close to full-time as possible.

which area did you work? how many days do the dentist usually offer? like one day/week or 2? i am t hinking of finding 2 jobs if each is 2 days.

 

[J-Dub]

Hygiene? Only thing I know about that is my hygienist cleans peoples teeth and she's expensive. What else do i need to know?

j/k....kind of.

Waste of time,energy and money. Spend that time getting better grades, spend the energy shadowing/volunteering, and save your money cause when you get into dental school and the brand new hygienist doesn't you'll have more expensive tuition to pay for...

 

[wired202808]

3.96 and 24/22/20, EC sucked bad though..

Are you Canadian or Asian? Maybe your LORs are bad. Did you get any interviews?