I need advice please help

[mp2023]

hi everyone, I really need advice on my dental school journey so please advise.

for some background:
- I graduated in 2021 with a degree in Biology (3.4 GPA/3.0 sGPA) but my junior and senior year were prime pandemic years so I kind of lost interest in what I was doing and just graduated to graduate. I was working as a medical assistant because I was previously interested in medical school.
-once I graduated I decided to pursue a masters in biomedical sciences and in the middle of my first semester (fall 2021) I decided to drop out due to a lot of personal problems.
-I got a job the following year (march 2022) at a pharmaceutical company in compliance and I've been working there ever since
-about a month ago, I looked into dental and I found it really interesting so I've been shadowing a dentist ever since and I decided that I do want to pursue dental

the questions I have:
-I need letters of recommendation and to get a refresher on how to be a student again so what would be better post-bacc or masters program? and does anyone have recommendations for either?
-what should I do to prepare for the DATs?
-how many hours are recommended for shadowing and/or volunteering?
-how do you guys fight imposter syndrome?

also, if anyone has any advice in general, please share! I feel like I decided a career in dental really late and I'll probably graduate dental school at 29 or 30 which I know isn't old but I'm feeling the pressure of "wasted time" from literally everywhere :/

thank you in advance!!

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[Ryxndek]

I'll try to answer some of your questions based on my experience, but I can't answer all of them because I just don't know and don't want to speculate.
For letters of rec, yeah, you'll either need to do a post-bacc or a master's program. Given your undergrad GPA you'll need to do well in either. I am not sure about a masters program since you did drop out. I want to say it won't impact things if you go on and actually finish one, but I don't know. Your masters program GPA will be separate from your undergrad while your post-bacc will be added on top of your undergrad GPA. There's also SMPs (special masters programs) where you take classes alongside medical students. However that's a much higher risk/reward since not doing well may lead schools to think you can't handle the rigor of the education.

For the DAT I used Kaplan, but most use DAT Booster, or DAT destroyer it seems. You can check the DAT subforum and see what others have been using. I used Kaplan because they had a self-taught online course that I used and it seemed to work well for my needs. But it is costly and there are cheaper options out there.

I had roughly 100 hours of shadowing which is probably the most schools will require. Usually, it's somewhere between 50-100 but having 100 should meet all the requirements for wherever you apply but having more won't hurt you! (Pay attention to what types of shadowing schools want, some want you to stick with one practice, others may like to see you shadowing multiple docs to get a greater idea of the differences between practices, and most will want you to shadow general dentists). Volunteering is another story. I had about 70 or so hours of true volunteer work, but I had other volunteer experiences through my EC's that were organized for students. So all in all, I think I had around 90 hours or so? I'd have to go double-check. The main thing on my app was my extensive research experience. But in regards to volunteering, 100-200 hours will probably suffice. Find something you feel passionate about, I helped at a soup kitchen when I could and I really enjoyed my time helping the less fortunate and being able to give back. I've also done other experiences like packing food.

I'm sorta battling imposter syndrome right now because I did not do as well this past senior fall semester due to chronic health problems and misc things I discovered about myself. But, I'm back on track this semester and hoping to finish and graduate strong. I usually tell myself I didn't just get into multiple schools for no reason and that they saw something in me and they wanted me to attend their school. And I know I am a good student and I know I will be capable of matriculating and succeeding in school. I just need to keep my eyes on the prize and not compare myself to others. I've been told that mentality will crush you, and I've been working on just focusing on myself.

And don't feel bad about graduating dental school at a later age, many have started their journey later and in a lot of my interviews there were many students who were on their first to third gap year and they too will graduate around the same age as you. So you aren't alone!

I hope this helps!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

One thing at a time. You need more time working in dental offices, either shadowing or being a dental assistant. Given that you have been a medical assistant before, it won't be that hard, but it will be different.

My opinion, you should take about twice as much time to convince yourself dentistry is what you want over medicine or other health careers (push yourself to 200-300 hours). It sounds like you are hopping around, and you have a good reason to. But be sure this is going to be worth the effort you need to take with a postbac (must finish strong) and be really prepared for dental education.

 

[mp2023]

I hope this helps!

Thank you so much for responding! It actually did help a lot. I think I need to find a program specific to dentistry since the masters I did was specific to premed. If you don't mind me asking, what were your stats?

 

[mp2023]

My opinion, you should take about twice as much time to convince yourself dentistry is what you want over medicine or other health careers (push yourself to 200-300 hours). It sounds like you are hopping around, and you have a good reason to. But be sure this is going to be worth the effort you need to take with a postbac (must finish strong) and be really prepared for dental education.

Thank you for responding!

Also, how did you know you wanted to be in the dental field as opposed to something else? And why a post-bacc over a masters?

 

[Ryxndek]

Thank you so much for responding! It actually did help a lot. I think I need to find a program specific to dentistry since the masters I did was specific to premed. If you don't mind me asking, what were your stats?

I applied with a 3.7 gpa and a 22AA DAT, 9 schools I applied to, interviews at 5, accepted to 4. I had around 700 hours of research, 100hrs of shadowing 90ish hrs of volunteer work. Biochem major if that makes any difference

 

[askadds]

hi everyone, I really need advice on my dental school journey so please advise.

for some background:
- I graduated in 2021 with a degree in Biology (3.4 GPA/3.0 sGPA) but my junior and senior year were prime pandemic years so I kind of lost interest in what I was doing and just graduated to graduate. I was working as a medical assistant because I was previously interested in medical school.
-once I graduated I decided to pursue a masters in biomedical sciences and in the middle of my first semester (fall 2021) I decided to drop out due to a lot of personal problems.
-I got a job the following year (march 2022) at a pharmaceutical company in compliance and I've been working there ever since
-about a month ago, I looked into dental and I found it really interesting so I've been shadowing a dentist ever since and I decided that I do want to pursue dental

the questions I have:
-I need letters of recommendation and to get a refresher on how to be a student again so what would be better post-bacc or masters program? and does anyone have recommendations for either?
-what should I do to prepare for the DATs?
-how many hours are recommended for shadowing and/or volunteering?
-how do you guys fight imposter syndrome?

also, if anyone has any advice in general, please share! I feel like I decided a career in dental really late and I'll probably graduate dental school at 29 or 30 which I know isn't old but I'm feeling the pressure of "wasted time" from literally everywhere :/

thank you in advance!!

Im willing to bet if you stay in pharma and start moving up the ladder you will have a great retirement, great salary, great benefits and not 500k+ in debt. consider all options. dentistry is not what it used to be for someone in your position.