They say that most people decide what path they will take while they are in college. Now I've shadowed my dentist, but I never got a definitive "Yes I'm going to do this" answer out of it. I know what it's like and I know now I'd like to go in that direction, but I feel, for some reason, that in these medical fields you need to know going in that it's what you're going to do... What I want to know is at what point did you decide to go into this field, spend a boatload on schooling, and do it. I can't necessarily try dentistry beforehand- at least I don't think I can. The most I can do is watch or maybe hold the spit-sucker. I feel like all I can do is decide to go to dental school and... well, hope I like it. Any input?
How do you decide?
- Thread starter bpp1991
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you have about 3-4 more years to decide!
Imagine where you were 4 years ago; think about how much of an intellectual advancement you have made since then and how much more you know about what you want in the future. This will happen in the next 4 years as well!
Just keep as many doors open as possible, in other words: keep a very high GPA and volunteer.
Imagine where you were 4 years ago; think about how much of an intellectual advancement you have made since then and how much more you know about what you want in the future. This will happen in the next 4 years as well!
Just keep as many doors open as possible, in other words: keep a very high GPA and volunteer.
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Well, I'm not pre-dent, so I can't talk to you about the wonders of dentistry, but being pre-med maybe I can help out.
I think a lot of premeds (and predents, I'd assume) overplay the idea of the "aha!" moment. I don't think that anyone ever just comes to an epiphany. I have shadowed a lot of doctors, and every time I did it, there were certain things I loved and certain things I loved way less. The idea is that there was never anything that totally turned me off of medicine- and nothing else ever really sounded right for me.
A lot of the time, to make this huge a decision, you have to be your own devil's advocate. Is there anything else you've ever thought about doing that you'd maybe rather do? Shadow/research that. At least in medicine, the motto for pre-meds is "if there's anything else you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life, do THAT instead". For some people, this requires some trial and error. That's why you'll see a lot of "non-traditional" applicants, people who worked in different fields and eventually realized that the "medicine bug" or "dentistry bug" was still in them, and that they would rather go back to school to be truly fulfilled. So I guess my advice would be to try anything else you might be interested in as well as dentistry/medicine/whatever other field you think you might have a hankering for. The beauty of being in high school is that you have a zillion years to figure all of it out. And even if you end up just as confused in college as you are now, so what? Try a few things and see how they go.
The path to a health profession for the most part sucks. It's expensive and exhausting and annoying. It's almost better to start off with doubts than be one of those people who's wanted to be a doctor since he was 6- sounds good in theory, but it also might mean that he hasn't really considered anything else, and that he might regret it in the long run. Certainty isn't something we're born with, it's something we achieve through trials and tribulations and fixing mistakes. And realize that almost everyone who undertakes the path to a health profession has doubts occasionally. I definitely "dropped premed" for a while in college cause I was so sick of working harder than all my friends and taking a whole bunch of classes I hated. So I sat down and thought about what I liked to do and what I'm good at. And in the end, I reluctantly went back to medicine. In the end, it's the only thing that totally "fits" and that I know I would regret not doing (this is another big one!) so I just kept going. I'm sure I'll have a lot of "this is a really bad idea" moments in med school too, but I also have faith that I'll again realize that my passion for medicine is great enough to make up for my frustration, and soldier on.
Of course there are a number of people every year who drop out of whatever pre-professional school they're in. That's normal. Not everyone has it figured out even at that point. But- they are definitely a small, small minority. The process of getting to a pre-professional school (from taking the sciences and sacrificing quite a bit of your social life to taking the big entrance test to applying) is so grueling that usually those who aren't totally sold on the whole thing are "weeded out". And it's way better to realize it's not right in college than it is to realize it after you're hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
So my suggestion is: keep your mind and options open. Take a bunch of different classes, including some pre-health sciences and some other things you usually like. I majored in neuroscience and literature cause I loved both- you can definitely do that (or you can just major in literature, if you're so inclined). Look into any profession you might like, try to find people who do it, formulate questions, and ask. Think about what's important to you- from salary (it'll matter), to hours, to direct people contact. And know that doubt is the healthiest thing you can have right now, seriously.
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QofQuimica
Seriously, dude, I think you're overreacting....
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I don't think anyone ever knows with 100% certainty that they are making the right decision to enter a given profession. I'm in medical school in my 30s after another career, and I still have plenty of those days where I wonder if I really should be doing this. As LET said, go to college with an open mind, expose yourself to a broad variety of classes and experiences, and when the time comes to choose what to do afterward, make your best educated guess based on what you've loved and hated during college. I wouldn't stress yourself out too much over the possibility of choosing wrong though. Probably most people could find fulfillment and success in any one of several different professions. Worst case scenario, you can always change your mind later if you start down one path but then realize later that you'd rather be doing something else. 🙂
