Need Immediate Advice

[unsure student]

Hello SDNer's. I posted last year around this time and got some good feedback and was wondering if anybody could dispense some good advice again. I have spent the last year working and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and it seems to somehow always come back to dentistry. I have to be honest here, I do not get excited by the though of fixing people's teeth. I have shadowed a dentist last summer and enjoyed and got the feeling that I could definitely do the work. The problem is that I am married with a 10 month old and while money is not so much of an issue now, I want to make a career as soon as possible. Originally, my plan was to become a lawyer. I took my LSAT's scored a 176, but I am not so sure the law is for me. With dentistry, I can become something I have always dreamed of but never had the guts to go for; a doctor, have really good job security, which is most important for me, work for myself, plus not having to be in such a saturated profession (i.e. the law) I have a 3.4 undergrad g.p.a and only took 3 science courses: General Chem; got an A; Cell and Molec Bio, got a D, and Plant Bio; got a B. So I have a good amount of prereq's plus retaking the cell bio course, and then the mother of all beasts the DAT's. Assuming I would score 20+ on the DAT's, what would be my chances if any at NYU, Columbia, and any other NYC based dental schools. Sorry for the long post. I appreciate any advice or comments.

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[umc27]

so you would have to go back and finish your pre-reqs, correct?

 

[onetoothleft]

well a 176 on the LSAT is like 99.78 percentile or something . . . I am sure you will at least ace the DATs but it will be a few years until you can even start dental school since you have to take a couple years worth of predent classes, whereas you could go to an ivy league law school for just 3 years and start making tons of money right away. But you should do what you want, even if it takes longer!

I don't blame you for not wanting to be a lawyer. I work at a new york law firm (as a paralegal) and I would never want to do this forever- even if I had a 176! I can't wait to start a career in dentistry!

 

[unsure student]

Thanks for replying. Yes I would need to do my pre-reqs. As for the poster who works at the ny law firm, are you a paralegal there? I am not so sure I would ace the DAT's. I think with enough study, I canconquer the sciences and math, reading is no problem, but I have tried some PAT problems and have no idea what to do.

 

[wimmcs]

Thanks for replying. Yes I would need to do my pre-reqs. As for the poster who works at the ny law firm, are you a paralegal there? I am not so sure I would ace the DAT's. I think with enough study, I canconquer the sciences and math, reading is no problem, but I have tried some PAT problems and have no idea what to do.

PAT takes a lot of practice. I'm unsure as well and plan to take the test next month, but I'm confident that after I practice for hours and hours it will come... at least I hope. I've heard of people that studied for the PAT, that after some time it just clicks one day... after enough work and dedication, it just comes to you. Again, this is from reading many posts regarding the subject.

I'm an older non-traditional student and will be 33 when I start school (old!! ) (of course if I get accepted) I also have 3 children... I started taking all my pre-reqs in Jan. 2003 and just completed them in the Spring. I started slow because I had been out of school over 7 years (non-science degree) and I wasn't sure I could just "jump" in and take a full load of science courses. Each semester I increased my load by one class, and so far, I have 40 hours completed. It is a bit stressful and frustrating putting your family to such stress as having mom go back to school, but it has worked fine with us. This is the road we decided to take and there's no looking back, we made the commitment to make it work and so far it has worked. I grew up around dentists throughout my childhood, so I know what I'm getting into and I'm excited about the possibilities. However, make sure this is absolutely what you want to do and don't do it solely for the money or the prestige, it may backfire. I've heard of a lot of dentists who are dissatisfied with their career because they chose it for the wrong reasons. Good luck!!

 

[Dr.SpongeBobDDS]

I think you would have an excellent chance of getting into the NY schools. You would be a shoe-in at NYU. NYU is one of the easiest (and most expensive schools) to get in to. No offense to those of you who go there; I'm sure it's still a great school.