Major choice?

[PharmDr.]

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I have posted this in the pre-dent forum but I thought since you guys are already in dental school then you may know more. I have completed a year of college level work and am currently in summer classes, I am planning on a career in dentistry and would like some thoughts about different major choices. I am planning on a molecular and cellular biology degree, but I was curious about if a bachelors in dental hygiene would be looked as favorably or less than one in bio. I think if you become a rdh than you can be making good money for a young college student(around 59k in my area says salary.com!) and get good valuable dental experience. My current school is SPC(St. Petersburg College) and they just got 4 year degrees in nursing,education,dental hygiene, etc. What do you guys think? I know it would take longer to get my pre-reqs done, but is this possible?Also I am 19 years old if this helps.
<Also do you think it is worth getting an associates at a community college in dental hygiene and then continuing my bio major?

 

[ItsGavinC]

The short of it is that you can choose ANY major you want and still be VERY successful in dental school.

You never know what might happen down the road, so my advice would be to choose a major that revolves around something you love--specifically, something that would leave you career alternatives if dental school doesn't pan out.

As far as the RDH goes, you would get some experience with it, but I don't know if the extra time involved in getting it would benefit you as much as you might suppose. If dentistry is your goal and you are set on it, then I would plow through the coursework as quickly as you are able in an effort to achieve the goal.

Bio major, math major, history major, hygiene major, music major, or English major (like myself)... it doesn't really matter much. All that matters is you enjoy your undergrad education AND prepare yourself for dental school.

 

[Dr.SpongeBobDDS]

My personal suggestion would be to choose a degree with a little more "usability" than dental hygiene. A dental hygiene degree will pretty much limit you to doing either hygiene of completing your pre-reqs and going to dental school. You are already considering one drastic change in your intended career-path; who is to say you are not going to change your mind again? College is a great place to explore and find out about yourself. I seriously considered teaching music, teaching high school science, medicine, social work, and getting a PhD in entomology, before I finally decided on dentistry. That list doesn't even include the things for which I kind of had a passing fancy. Any bio or chem degree will leave you with a huge variety of employment or post-grad training options. Even if you do ultimately decide on dentistry, I think you will be happier with your career decision if you feel you still have some freedom when you make the choice rather than having dentistry as your only real alternative.

Just my opinion. 🙂

 

[PharmDr.]

That's a good point dr.spongebobdds, but actually I have thought about a lot of different careers. I have been a pharm. tech for 2 years now and used to want to become a pharmacist,optometrist, then wanted to become a physician, now a dentist. Now though, I have seen a lot of the sides of each profession and I think dentistry has more things to offer to me than the others. I know I want to do something in the health related field so other careers are not even an option. I just like the lifestyle and pay as well as an interest in the oral cavity. My general practioner said I can shadow him and I guess then I will know a little better if dentistry is right.

 

[Dr.FeelGood]

I actually went to school at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, and it is very good that you are thinking of a major that could diverify your options if you choose not to go "the dental route", because if worse comes to worse, your stuck with making a career out of a bachelors in "underwater basket-weaving". Choose something you love!!! I did not do that, however, because it was dental school OR BUST for me. I knew 100% what i wanted to do. i do know that

if you have 3,000 people applying to your dental school and 2,999 are "biology" majors, the one that is not a bio major will stand out.

However, when i took my dat, a lot of the questions i saw were not only fro, the basic core requirements to get into dental school, but from my UPPER DIVISION ELECTIVES LIKE EMBYOLOGY, MICROBIOLOGY, HEMATOLOGY.....ETC that were NOT required to get in, but requirements for my major (i majored in Microbiology/Molecular Biology in undergrad.) Majoring in a science provided me with tons of background infor that helped me with the dat. I was like "a business major, considering they took their science that are req to get into dental school, would not fair too well on this test."

Although a bachelors in microbio would have landed me only in three places if i didnt go to dental school---1) teaching or 2)grad school finding the cure for cancer, or 3)working in a lab, I was willing to take that chance cause i KNEW that I was gonna make it.

Good luck!!!

 

[dentite001]

Keep as general as you can for as long as you can. You can find plenty of good paying jobs with any BA. Take a degree that gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of electives. Admissions officers want well rounded students. That way, you can explore a variety of disciplines and meet the basic requirements in the professional schools of your interest. Remember that undergraduate is all about strategy, balance the tough courses with easier ones so you can pull off good marks. Grades are quantifiable and this often becomes the bottom line.