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If I don't get into Dental School, Should I be a Physician's Assistant?
- Thread starter Yma13
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what?! NO! If you really want to be a dentist, you can be a dentist. Yeah, you might have to put in a year or two to get your stats up and prepare yourself, but don't quit. And being a PA is nothing like being a dentist. Do you really want to do all the betch work for a doctor or do you want to be calling the shots?
I understand what ur saying, but isn't wise to still have a back up?
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I can vouch for a lot of the predents when I say were pretty hardcore peeps and this shizz right here... This is it. No back up required because we take it all the way to the top. You gotta treat this as if you don't become a dentist you a scum. Jk but seriously pursue dentistry like there's nothing else you could be doing or else you might loose focus.
Ok Thanks
If anything I would say to go for dental hygiene. Dental hygienists get paid well and still get to be around dentistry. That's my plan if I don't get in after like 3 tries (hopefully that won't be the case).
Remember you always have post-bac and masters options to bring up your undergrad GPA.
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I would become a DO instead of PA school...why???? it is one of the easiest professional programs to get into. students at my school are getting in with sub 23's on the mcat, with very average gpa. MD programs take students with significantly higher mcats. In some aspects getting into PA school w/3.0 gpa can be more difficult than dentistry, physician, optometry etc.
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Wow! That sounds like a great idea! So are you going to get a degree and then apply to a dental hygienists school?
I already graduated college and I am applying to dental school this cycle. Dental hygiene is my back-up-plan if it ever comes to that in the far future. If I don't get in this cycle, I'll probably do a post-bac program and apply to dental school again.
So what did u major in? I'm a sophomore now and cannot decide. In order to increase my GPA as well as still take my prereqs, I decided to perhaps major in Human Relations.
I will disagree that DO is easiest program to get in. Beside from this fact, a lot of PA programs requires 1000 to 3000 hours of clinical exposure which is almost equivalent to 1-2 years of clinical work. Hence, be ready to have these clinical hours before you apply oeven if you have the grades.
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Wasn't there a different discussion that decided this HR idea was a cop out? I think admissions committees are far more impressed by decent (but not perfect) GPAs from science majors than perfect GPAs from easy and irrelevant majors.
I majored in Psychology. Not necessarily because it was "easier" (the psych classes in my school were tough to be honest) but because I find it interesting and applicable once I become a dentist. I think someone with a solid psych background has an advantage when they're dentists/doctors and have to deal with patients versus someone who majored in a science or human relations. That's just my opinion though.
Also, the psych major in my school is a B.S. not a B.A. I don't know if that'll make a difference though.
To the OP: With your GPA I doubt PA school would be an option. Contrary to many uninformed predent and premed students' posts on SDN, PA school is pretty hard to get into and is by no means a 2nd or 3rd option. I know the requirements of Texas schools as well as many people that are in different programs, and other than Texas Tech it is pretty tough to get accepted. If you know you want to be a dentist, stick with it as long as you feel you can. IMO, you don't really know what you want to be. Pharmacy, then Dental, then maybe PA or DO....
No matter what major the person is in, admission will see the "science GPA" so I don't think the person should worry too much as long as the person has solid sGPA.
Whoa, you're jumping around all over the place. First dentistry, then settle for Pharm - quit, now PA before dentistry?
I dont know your age but it sounds like you're not ready for college yet. I say this because you have a low GPA and are not sure of what you want to do. I would suggest taking two years off of school if you can secure yourself a job and live real cheap in order to save money for when you go back. Just figure out what the h*ll you want to do when you're mature enough to decide. It's okay that you've changed - people change likes and interests as they go from teen to adult. But once you're an adult you should be able to make decisions and stick to them.
GL
I dont know your age but it sounds like you're not ready for college yet. I say this because you have a low GPA and are not sure of what you want to do. I would suggest taking two years off of school if you can secure yourself a job and live real cheap in order to save money for when you go back. Just figure out what the h*ll you want to do when you're mature enough to decide. It's okay that you've changed - people change likes and interests as they go from teen to adult. But once you're an adult you should be able to make decisions and stick to them.
GL
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the truth hurts at sdn. yeah man, you need to figure your life out before you pursue dentistry. they'll grill you on why you switched out and if you're having second thoughts. they only want committed people.
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Dont you think for this reason it makes it 100 times easier??? not to mention you really have to have a 3.6 or better and solid gre to even be considered. All i am saying is that DO programs take the applicants that have 20-25 on mcats and also offer bridge programs which accept 18 and 19 on mcat!! wtf that is like scoring a 15 on your DAT. Sure there are those applicant with high everything and just like the holistic approach, but around where im from, if you cant get into MD program they go DO because they are not as competitive.
Yeah... I'm not so sure about DO. I have doubts about many of the applicants getting into DO school at my school... how are they going to handle complex medical cases as an IM physician if they pull a C in biochem and get a 23 on the MCAT (true story). Not saying these are the best predictors but still...
I'm thinking in the future DO school will get more competitive as it becomes more common. You can see this as schools on the east coast are more competitive than those on the west - DO has been around alot longer on the east coast.
I'm thinking in the future DO school will get more competitive as it becomes more common. You can see this as schools on the east coast are more competitive than those on the west - DO has been around alot longer on the east coast.
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Personally, I could never be a P.A (no disrespect). If I couldn't/didn't get into dental school, i'd either go back my old career in I.T or try to get into medical school (MD/DO/or Caribbean)
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Listen to some Will Smith Quotes about having a plan B:
"There's no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A."
"Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What's the point of being realistic? I'm going to do it. It's done. It's already done. The second I decide it's done, it's already done."
"The first step before anybody else in the world believes it is you have to believe it."
"If it was something that I really committed myself to, I don't think there's anything that could stop me becoming President of the United States."
"There's no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A."
"Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What's the point of being realistic? I'm going to do it. It's done. It's already done. The second I decide it's done, it's already done."
"The first step before anybody else in the world believes it is you have to believe it."
"If it was something that I really committed myself to, I don't think there's anything that could stop me becoming President of the United States."
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i disagree. PA programs are actually pretty easy to get into, no entrance exam and most people have gpas from 3.0 to 3.5. I think dental schools are harder to get into than most medical schools, since we dont have the option of being either a DO or a Caribbean school grad. I know plenty of people that went the PA and Caribbean MD route without any problems. im working a 100 times harder to TRY to get into dental school, then they ever did! 😀
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Keep trying! Perseverance will get you where you want to be. Regardless of whatever career you choose, an MD/PhD student told me the other day that he thinks medical school just requires average intelligence and A LOT of perseverance. You can get there if that's the route you want to take.
It's okay that you don't know which career path right now. You still have some time to figure it out.
The most important thing right now for BOTH career paths, whether you choose dental or PA programs, is to keep your science GPA and overall GPA high. That ensures that you can be as competitive as possible for these two professions or any other health profession you wish to prefer. Also, volunteering does not hurt if you have the time for it =)
As for figuring out, if you have a little inclination towards one career, shadow professionals or talk to other people about it to get a better idea if that's something you'd like to do.
Good luck!
It's okay that you don't know which career path right now. You still have some time to figure it out.
The most important thing right now for BOTH career paths, whether you choose dental or PA programs, is to keep your science GPA and overall GPA high. That ensures that you can be as competitive as possible for these two professions or any other health profession you wish to prefer. Also, volunteering does not hurt if you have the time for it =)
As for figuring out, if you have a little inclination towards one career, shadow professionals or talk to other people about it to get a better idea if that's something you'd like to do.
Good luck!
Thanks 🙂 That's the best advice I've received thus far. And yup, I'm already shadowing a dentist in my area 🙂
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