Hi, I'm new here...

[Mr Bear]

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My name is David and I'm 26 years old. I joined the Army and served for five years, two of those years in Iraq. Throughout my time in the service, I had an epiphany that I wanted to become a dentist. Heres how: I was actually taking one of my soldiers to the Dentist, and he was called back, so I sat down in the waiting area. In front of me on the coffee table was a bunch of interesting magizines; Times, Popular Science, Nat Geo etc. In front of me burnt a beautiful fire in the fire place. I thought to myself "what in the hell? this is really nice..."

I had a light bulb moment in that Dentists office, and ever since then I have wanted to become a Dentist. Heres why I think I'll make a good Dentist.

1. I've always been interested in the Sciences; ever since I was little I was into my Chemistry sets, animals, insects, etc.

2. I love to work with my hands, but I'm tired of literally breaking my back doing hard manual labor, being sleep deprived, sweating with an empty stomach.

3. I want to make money. I know this might sound superficial, but I want to life a certain life style; one that is comfortable.

4. Because of my Army service I can get my Undergrad for free. I don't pay any tuition for school as the Post 9-11 GI Bill pays for everything.

5. I'm very motivated and goal oriented. For the longest time I never had an idea of what I wanted to do when I 'grew up'. Now that I know I want to be a Dentist [I'm not sure which field or which speciality yet], I look at it as a path, and there are certain stones I need to step on to get to my goal.

6. I'm not ugly and I take pleasure from inflicting pain. Jk. 🙂

Now the bad stuff: I just started school, and I haven't been in school for a long time. My brain has been dedicated to learning seemingly pointless Infantry tasks in the Army [although they kept me alive], so my brain feels very deteriorated. I'm learning the bureaucracy of School, how to study effectively and how to become a 'professional' student. I haven't taken a math class since my sophomore year in high school, and on Tuesday when I take the Math and English placement tests, I'm probably going to test into Math 95, however I should test into english 101. 😎

In about 10 days I sit down with a school guidance counselor and i'm going to develop an "education plan". I'm going to tell the counselor that I want to transfer to UCSD [I'm in San Diego] asap, and I'm going to major in Molecular Biology.

I've read different threads on this forum, and already I've learned so much. I've learned what the DAT [Dental Admissions Test] is, and one of the books I should start studying; the DAT Destroyer.


Anyway, what can I do to get involved, get learning etc...? What should I know? Obviously I need to do extremely well in school, and I'm getting A's in all my classes so far [just after mid terms], except I did so-so on the second part of my History Mid Term...I didn't do well because I didn't know how to effectively study, but now I realize that History seems to be a lot of memorization. What do I need to do? What should I be doing? I'm a very proactive individual and I think that this forum is going to be a wealth of knowledge.

Any guidance anyone can offer would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[dentalWorks]

Hello David ,

It seems like you are on the right track. I assume your working on getting your bachelors degree correct? If so, thats great, I think you'll be done with it within the next 2-3 years.

In regards to what you should be doing right now.... its a no brainer, keep that GPA high and try to do some shadowing here and there. Oh and another thing, when you answer "why dentistry" on your personal statement or during the interview, try not to mention the "I want to make money" lol, or at least I advice you to.... Believe me I understand what your saying, and I am not judging, you want to build a good future with a nice paying job, and I respect that.

Good luck to ya, keep up the hard work and in no time, you'll be starting Dental school sooner than you think 🙂

 

[doc toothache]

Since the light bulb when on while in a dental office, why not first spend some time shadowing and see if the light bulb continues to be lit before embarking on a plan?

 

[bipster10]

First of all, thanks for your service in the military I really appreciate it. And in terms of where to start, I couldn't agree more with doc toothache. Shadowing allows you to follow a dentist around and learn many of the different aspects of dentistry that you do not usually get during your average cleaning. You will know for sure if dentistry is right for you after you shadow.
Now about the academics....I started college with pretty poor study habits, but they have deffinitely improved. When it comes to studying, everybody is different. What works for one person may be terrible for another. So it is all about finding what works for you and that may take time. I would take some easier classes your first year with maybe one introductory science class. Rather than memorizing things make sure you can put them into the "big picture" this will help out later in your upper levels and make it more interesting than just memorizing words.

I hope some of this helps

 

[jettadude123]

I agree with much of the above. Get involved. This is crucial not only for gaining experience for your resume, but it will truly give you an idea of whether or not you're cut out for the profession. And it's not necessarily about total hours. I feel like you'd be in better shape if you could get 100hrs spread across four dental settings than shadowing one person for the whole time. Also, this will be a great way to get to know some dental professionals and hopefully get a letter of recommendation from them as nearly all dental schools want at least one letter from a dental professional.

On the topic of letters of rec, that was one area I procrastinated on. Try to get to know one or two of your professors a little better. Do it now. Seriously. Most of the time, at least in my case, if you meet them early on in the quarter and just tell them, "I'm applying to dental school and I would like to get to know each other a little better so you might be able to write me a letter of rec" or something along those lines they're usually pretty cool about it. It's way stressful though if you only have one year or less to get 2-3 professor letters.

Lastly, I would definitely not say, "I want to make money" as your first reason, but I have always felt that it is a perfectly legitimate reason for pursuing a career. It would be irresponsible to embark on a four year education in which you will leave with $250,000 or more in debt without considering your income to pay that back. Also, if you elaborate on "living a certain kind of lifestyle" with something along the lines of providing for a family and putting your kids through college then I feel that is a very reasonable response. However, if your "certain lifestyle" is porsches and gold toilets, probably leave that out of your personal statement lol.

Good luck.

 

[dentalWorks]

However, if your "certain lifestyle" is porsches and gold toilets, probably leave that out of your personal statement lol.

omg, THATS WHAT MY PERSONAL STATEMENT WAS ALL ABOUT....

 

[jettadude123]

One last thing -

Average age of dental students is around 26 or 27 in most cases, and having an experienced, responsible background like yours is something that will catch the admission committees' eyes.

 

[jettadude123]

omg, THATS WHAT MY PERSONAL STATEMENT WAS ALL ABOUT....

lol