How can I get a head start in dentistry while I still have time?

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Seems like a troll thread but just relax and go through high school first.

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My advice would be to go through high school doing the absolute bare minimum. Just skate through keeping your parent's and teacher's expectations of you low. Have fun, play sports, party, dont take yourself too seriously, dont join the band, or be one of those weird kids in drama class. The best way to be cool in high school is to pretend you dont care about anything, kids respect that. Dont do anything weird like dye your hair blue, or wear a kilt, you dont want to get a reputation or nick name you dont like. Don't join the student government, dont join any clubs, remember you dont care about anything you have to own that. Dont even think about dentistry for the next four years, dont tell your friends or teachers or classmates you want to be a dentist. Once you graduate you can begin to think about dentistry, if this is still what you want to do. Dont worry about going to a good college, go to a university, any university. If you want to have fun and enjoy high school, listen to me, if you want to suck, continue worrying about preparing for a career in dentistry at age 14. Let me know if you have any questions.
 
but also don't be lazy in high school

you can be cool while getting A's

you need to have fun but also study.
 
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You can get a head start in many ways.

Throughout high school, take a lot of science and math classes. Get A's or do your best in all your classes.

Talk to your teachers and counselors. Ask a dentist in your town if you can observe for a day to make sure this is what you want to be.

Have extracurricular activities like the beta club and etc.

Have a good high school, with great grades and be a leader. Volunteer and have plenty of ECs or extracurricular activities.

Really, don't be too concerned because you are in high school and the road won't get real tough til college.

Enjoy high school!
 
honestly, be a normal kid and stop thinking about career. you'll have plenty of time for it later. and who knows you might change your career choice down the road, but if you dont come back when you're in jr year of high school and just prep for advantage programs
 
I think the red flag for trolling was the misspelling of college as "collage," but hey, you know...

Anyhow, I agree that you don't have to go to a top university to get into a good dental school. That doesn't mean you don't need to work your butt off, though! Make straight As, take as many AP classes as you can, and be involved in as much as you can. It's hard work, but it pays off when you get scholarships. Go to whatever school gives you the most money (within reason... I'm not talking about community colleges here!). Working your hardest is also good preparation for college. Make sure you get to know a few teachers and your counselor well so that they can write you good recommendation letters.

You don't have to be cool in high school. You will be cool when all of the people who thought you were lame for being smart and caring about your grades see you succeed in life. You can party now and spend the rest of your life working your butt off, or you can work your butt off now and party the rest of your life. Life decisions.
 
Bottle said:
but also don't be lazy in high school

you can be cool while getting A's

you need to have fun but also study.
Click to expand...

This is true, but it takes way too much effort, and you will regret wasting your time. The bottom line is, there is NO reason to get A's in high school. I graduated hs with a sub 3.0 GPA, graduated undergrad with a 3.9+. If high school blows for you, you will be looking to redeem yourself in college, you will be able to have fun, get crazy a lot more easily than in high school but this will likely come at a cost, a less than stellar GPA. All im saying is college counts, high school doesnt mean ANYTHING. Do the bare minimum, these are words to live by in HS. You'll thank me later.
 
ewu6three said:
All im saying is college counts, high school doesnt mean ANYTHING. Do the bare minimum, these are words to live by in HS. You'll thank me later.
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I took 10 AP classes and came to college with over 30 credit hours. I made all As. I got lots of scholarship money. I got into all of the colleges I applied to. I knew how to study before I came to college and didn't struggle like many of my peers did with learning how to balance school and life.

It pays off.
 
ewu6three said:
This is true, but it takes way too much effort, and you will regret wasting your time. The bottom line is, there is NO reason to get A's in high school. I graduated hs with a sub 3.0 GPA, graduated undergrad with a 3.9+.

All im saying is college counts, high school doesnt mean ANYTHING. Do the bare minimum, these are words to live by in HS. You'll thank me later.
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The above statement couldn't be any better. I was in the same boat with a solid 2.5 GPA in high school including some failed classes and graduated college with a 3.9 GPA within a pretty tough science background. I spent my time playing soccer in high school instead and it got me a soccer scholarship. One year of college grades trump ALL 4 years of high school. Remember that and waste your time accordingly 🙂
 
Same here. Terrible grades in high school. 3.9 GPA in college. Initially, you'll just want to get the A and that's it. Later and hopefully, you'll enjoy and appreciate learning and the hard-work will be second nature.
 
ewu6three said:
This is true, but it takes way too much effort, and you will regret wasting your time. The bottom line is, there is NO reason to get A's in high school. I graduated hs with a sub 3.0 GPA, graduated undergrad with a 3.9+. If high school blows for you, you will be looking to redeem yourself in college, you will be able to have fun, get crazy a lot more easily than in high school but this will likely come at a cost, a less than stellar GPA. All im saying is college counts, high school doesnt mean ANYTHING. Do the bare minimum, these are words to live by in HS. You'll thank me later.
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Eh, it doesn't matter getting into dental school, but it's nice being able to go to the college of your choice to make for a better experience.
 
******** said:
Hello, I'm 14 years old. All of my life I've known I've wanted to be a dentist. Next year I'm starting high school and before I know it ill be off to collage. My question is how can I get a head start of any kind in becoming a dentist. Further more, how do i plan to run my own practice? Any help is accepted! Honestly I'm clueless and have no idea where to begin!
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All your life? You're only 14 lol, I think you're thinking too early. Imo you should just take as many hard classes as possible to get a birds eye view on everything
 
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I failed out of high school and rocked college, high school is pointless.
 
The one thing I would say is make sure you take AP Bio and AP Chem in high school and do well in them. Then when you get to college, take Intro Bio 1+2 and Intro Chem 1+2 and do well in them. Don't skip those classes because you took the AP's.

What this would do for you is make sure that you got a head start on a good portion of your basic prerequisites in high school and that you went over the material for the bio and gen chem sections of the DAT 2x before you started studying for the DAT. Then it should be easier to remember the material when you actually study for the DAT. Not to mention that taking the AP's in high school will make those two courses easier when you get to college, so you'll get A's in the college courses (since most dental schools don't accept AP's, you'd have to retake these classes anyway).
 
Baba Yaga said:
Not to mention that taking the AP's in high school will make those two courses easier when you get to college, so you'll get A's in the college courses (since most dental schools don't accept AP's, you'd have to retake these classes anyway).
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Schools often accept them, especially for classes that aren't prereqs... however, if they are prereqs, they often just suggest that you take more upper-level classes in those disciplines in which you have AP credit. For example, this is straight from ECU's website:

"Advanced Placement (AP) credits will be accepted, provided that they are accepted by the undergraduate degree granting institution. Students who have earned AP credit for pre-requisite courses should avail themselves of the opportunity to take additional, advanced level courses."

I realize there are a few schools out there that straight up don't accept AP credit or CC credit, so someone correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think this is the norm, though, especially if you've proven yourself with upper-level courses for those classes in which you had AP credit. For example, I placed out of Intro Bio 1 at my school but have taken tons of bio classes since. I don't think it will hurt me whatsoever.

Here's a spreadsheet doc posted. It's the first post in the thread.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=527335
 
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Okay, dude, it is COLLEGE! That's your first step--spelling it.
And you don't go straight into dental school after high school. You have to get your undergraduate degree first. Do well in high school and get scholarships to go to "regular college" before dental school. That way, you won't accrue extra debt.
 
I would learn to start carving teeth from wax. If you can't carve teeth from wax you won't be a good dentist.

Also, failing your tooth carving practical your first year may be grounds for repeating the first year. Just something else to think about.


https://www.pearsondental.com/catal...atid=1168&majcatid=48&dpt=0&pre_cat_id=&mart=

If I were you, I would order about 100 blocks of wax from the above website and start carving.
 
*********** said:
what makes you think a 14 year old interested in their future career is a troll? really???
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Well , here is atip:
study and understand the science . not just Memorizing it for final exams.
 
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Just get decent enough grades and you can also look into universities with dental programs and see if they have one of those accelerated programs, where if you maintain a certain undergrad GPA and take the required prereqs you gain admittance into their dental school after only 3 years. Or you could just do what I did and coast through high school and not get involved with any extracurriculars, pick the party school to go to college at, then party, and 6 years later you find you've ruined almost all chances of getting into dental school.
 
At least this kid got some good answers. When I went into the pre-dental tiny chat to ask a question I was ridiculed and then banned. -_-
 
Brosyden said:
At least this kid got some good answers. When I went into the pre-dental tiny chat to ask a question I was ridiculed and then banned. -_-
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And what was your question sweetheart?
 
********* said:
Hello, I'm 14 years old. I've wanted to be a dentist for a while. Next year I'm starting high school and before I know it ill be off to college My question is how can I get a head start of any kind in becoming a dentist. Further more, how do i plan to run my own practice? Any help is accepted! Honestly I'm clueless and have no idea where to begin!
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:smack:
 
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You're 14? How come you haven't done any internships yet? What about research? When I was your age I was already pulling teeth out. You have 0 chances for dental school since you're already way too old. You're a bit late, my friend. I'm sorry.
 
KillaCam said:
The above statement couldn't be any better. I was in the same boat with a solid 2.5 GPA in high school including some failed classes and graduated college with a 3.9 GPA within a pretty tough science background. I spent my time playing soccer in high school instead and it got me a soccer scholarship. One year of college grades trump ALL 4 years of high school. Remember that and waste your time accordingly 🙂
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This gives me hope because I have a 2.6 right now and i'm a junior.
 
nysegop said:
You're 14? How come you haven't done any internships yet? What about research? When I was your age I was already pulling teeth out. You have 0 chances for dental school since you're already way too old. You're a bit late, my friend. I'm sorry.
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:laugh: I wonder if the OP will take this literal and start freaking out.

I actually noticed you were kidding when you said "way too old" 🙄
 
OP's dialect has me convinced they're 14 and not a troll. To answer the question, shadowing is a worthwhile investment for someone in high school. Odds are you'll have nothing to do with dentistry by the time you finish your undergrad.
 
Arijos0222 said:
:laugh: I wonder if the OP will take this literal and start freaking out.

I actually noticed you were kidding when you said "way too old" 🙄
Click to expand...

Haha. I think that OP will be able to tell I'm kidding (I hope...).
 
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