Nervous about dental school

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Doctorman45342

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Hey guys. I just finished by freshman year of undergrad. I took all the basic classes (gen chem, bio, math, english and gen eds.)

I did pretty well with keeping my GPA up, but I am thinking about the future alot. I believe I can get into dental school as long as I keep working as hard as I am now but I can't help but to keep thinking about the future.

Will dental school be miserable for me? Is it hard to get through all tremendous workload?

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too early to start worrying
 
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If you're worried now, it means you're in great shape. Seriously. If you want to take some stress off, bulk up on extra curriculars and volunteer hours and be proud of those as steps toward grooming your resume. Don't stress now though or you'll lose your mind. Save stressing for the month before your DAT and the months waiting for an acceptance letter.
 
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This is the pre-dent forum. These are all people trying to get into dental school. That means few, if any, of us can accurately assuage your concerns about the challenge of dental school. That won't stop some people here from acting like they know what ds is like, so take everything with a grain of salt.

I would recommend doing some dental shadowing. If you see things first hand and decide it's what you want to do, the future workload won't seem like such a big deal. Just my two cents.

EDIT: Some dentists/dental students peruse this forum, so they'll be able to help you out if they pop in.
 
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Not to discourage you but you along with any other hopeful pre dent will have lots of Fuuuuuuunnnnn... Waiting for you once you're there. It's a lot about time management and managing your stress because the workload will seem overwhelming at first.
 
It is far too early to worry, as others have said. I will add that it might be a good idea to take a year or two in between undergrad and dental school. It will give you time to relax and make some money before entering easily the hardest 4 years of schooling you will experience. In the meantime, get involved at your school and study hard for your courses.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if everyone going to dental school is at least a little "nervous." New school, new friends, new apartment, new grades, new state, new lifestyle etc

Id say uncertainty is normal
 
He's a sophomore, at this point it's still new school, new friends, new dorms, new grades, new lifestyle.
 
Hey guys. I just finished by freshman year of undergrad. I took all the basic classes (gen chem, bio, math, english and gen eds.)

I did pretty well with keeping my GPA up, but I am thinking about the future alot. I believe I can get into dental school as long as I keep working as hard as I am now but I can't help but to keep thinking about the future.

Will dental school be miserable for me? Is it hard to get through all tremendous workload?

Hey Tariqd,

You're not alone! You can do it!
 
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It's a lot more doable than you think. Easier, I'd say. Especially, if you're not seriously thinking about and dead-set on specializing. That will require more work (you're kind of back to the beginning where you have to build an application - ECs, research, grades, working the letter circuit, whatever it takes to be competitive). You aren't around a bunch of pre-dents and counselors that don't really know what they're talking about. You've arrived at this destination you've been dreaming/agonizing about for years. Then you're a part of a family. All of you are in the same boat. Only this group of people knows exactly what you're going through in life. This small family for four years. You have all the support and structure you need to get through it. And there is all sorts of stuff going on to balance out the hard work. I'm still kind of shocked at how much people have time to do. Maybe it's just Midwestern, but there's a ton of fun going on all the time. Very few schools out there are still following an oppressive, boot-camp sort of curriculum. It won't be easy in that you won't have to study or put your time in the lab and patients can be a pain in the [whatever body part you want to put here]. But it's the whole atmosphere that is totally unique and what makes it a different kind of stress, that I think is more palatable than undergrad environments.

The stress and nerves now are almost a good thing. It keeps you focused on the goal and working hard on grades and ECs and stuff. Look around and you'll see plenty of proof of what a sub-par GPA can do to your doors of opportunity: they are narrow, delayed, and sometimes closed. Focus on that one thing (and eventually the DAT) more than anything. I know we all want admissions to be holistic, but it's not there yet. It's still a grades game. If you have the time and capacity, take on some ECs that you enjoy! Dental-related or not. Don't kill yourself over this. There are pre-dents who will drive themselves into the ground by thinking they need every section/space on the application filled out. They take on research they hate and put in tons of unproductive hours of useless volunteering they don't like because it's what they think admissions will like. Silly.

Just keep chugging along. Everyone had the same feeling at some point. But when you get there, it's a different world, and you'll be just fine.
 
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