PA vs Dental School?

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nigelbutter

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I graduated with a degree in biochemistry in 2007 (sGPA 3.33, cGPA 3.4 not great not terrible but a difficult major). I worked in 2 labs while going to school (part time). Since graduating I've been working in the US, Canada and Africa as a geophysical surveyor exploring for resources (I spent 3.5 months last year on the Eritrean side of the Sudan boarder looking for gold). I started school again yesterday to complete my prereq's for PA school. I was also recently hired as a scribe in the emergency department of the local hospital. This will be my first experience working in a hospital or any medical setting for that matter. I have solid work/life experience (lots of travel, 3 time grant recipient, sponsored athlete) and a mediocre gpa. I turn 26 in less than a month and need to make up my mind about school. Im my situation would you choose PA school or dental school? Something else? Im interested in med school but I don't think my gpa is competitive enough. I want the option which will afford me the best lifestyle (time off and pay) and Im also very interested in international volunteer health work after I've completed my professional degree. Im very open to feedback. What would you do?

Thanks
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Your GPA is a little bit low but you've got a chance to get into medical school. I don't see any particular interest in dental school frankly and PA is an option since its similar to being a doctor. But it all depends, if you want to be a doctor spend some time and score a good mcat and continue the clinical experience. It's not too hard with a 3.4 gpa.

Just to point out for MD schools the average is like 3.6/31. For DO schools its like 3.5/26-27. So you aren't extremely below medical school averages.
 
If you just want good money and a good lifestyle, go into dentistry. The major difference is that in dentistry you are your own boss and as a PA you are not. As a dentist, you'll be probably be making greater than 3x the income of a PA.

If you like teeth, go into dentistry. If you don't, go PA.

It all depends on where your interests lie and what is best suited for you. Money and free time isn't everything. And I'm pretty sure that whether you're a dentist, doctor, or physician assistant, you can volunteer
internationally.

But if your dream is still medical school and becoming a physician, don't give up on it.
 
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muhali3 said:
If you just want good money and a good lifestyle, go into dentistry. The major difference is that in dentistry you are your own boss and as a PA you are not. As a dentist, you'll be probably be making greater than 3x the income of a PA.

If you like teeth, go into dentistry. If you don't, go PA.

It all depends on where your interests lie and what is best suited for you. Money and free time isn't everything. And I'm pretty sure that whether you're a dentist, doctor, or physician assistant, you can volunteer internationally.
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Dentist makes : 143k ~ School costs between 12k ( State schools) to 80k ( Privates like Upenn & Midwestern) a year.
PA Makes : 81k ~ School costs 100k for the entire program.
Unless you're interest is teeth don't go into dentistry as you will be very unhappy in the field. If your interests are medicine then PA or MD/DO.

Source : bls.org
 
I don't want to get in a debate about dentists' income, but most websites that report the average income for dentists are either surveying salaried dentists or private practice dentists that under-report their annual earnings. Anyways, the main point is that they make significantly more than PA's.

I would still rather be a PA though if I was forced to make a choice.
 
If being able to do international volunteering is one of your primary reasons for continuing your education, go dental or MD. With either of those degrees you'll be able to volunteer in any country. However, the PA degree isn't very well accepted internationally and neither is DO for that matter (although international acceptance of DO is growing). Although i find it ridiculous, its something to think about. Like others have said, you could definitely go to an MD school if you work hard and do well on the MCAT.
 
Your GPA is almost competitive enough for a shot at Dschool. With a 3.4 sGPA, 3.4-3.5 cGPA, you'll have a good shot if you get around a 21-22 on the DAT (95-99+ percentile).

I have no information about PA school, but I do know you have a good shot for DO school as it stands. If you also spend a years doing masters/post-bac you might have a shot at MD schools.

What I can say about PA and dental schools is that dentistry offers more options IMO. With dentistry, you can be your own boss, work for others, or work in the hospital. You can also have the option to specialize and we all know how much orthos make while maintaining a 40 hour workload. Endos, perios, etc also make bank while maintaining a respectable lifestyle. On top of that, you can always have the option of pursuing M.D. if you choose to do OMFS MD programs (but these are obviously very competitive).

That being said, you need to like teeth/mouth. If you don't, it will be miserable for you.
 
I'm pretty sure volunteering internationally is allowed whether you are a PA/MD/DO/DMD/DDS. Living and practicing in that country for an income is a different issue.
 
PA: $72k-$95k/yr

Dentist $85k-$160k/yr

These depend also. Do you work for Q-dental or private practice? Do you live in NYC or Wyoming?

Since you have no medical experience thus far, I would say DMD/DDS. PA schools generally require extensive clinical experience.

If you really like medicine, however, get this experience and go to PA school.

If you don't mind dentistry, then go to dental school. Both would require some sort of experience.


My dentist owned ~$70,000 BMW and worked Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Private practice.

Said his lifestyle was far superior to his MD friends.

I don't know too much about PA lifestyle.

Either way, you're going to have to work. If you think about it, ~40% of your day will be devoted to work, assuming a 40 hour work week. That's 40% of you life.

I wouldn't sacrifice 40% of my life to do something I hated to make my other 60% (33% would be sleeping, so 27%) really great. Either way your lifestyle won't be bad. Do what makes you happy. If you don't know, find out.
 
The PA field and DDS/DMD field is COMPLETELY different. What do you have a passion in? You can't say you're too old. My mother has a colleague who went to med school when he was 50. You're never too old.
With a GPA like that you could still succeed in the Caribbean. There are the top 4 that offer federal loans and approval in all 50 states for licensure. You can PM me if you have any questions or post on valuemd.
 
muhali3 said:
If you just want good money and a good lifestyle, go into dentistry. The major difference is that in dentistry you are your own boss and as a PA you are not. As a dentist, you'll be probably be making greater than 3x the income of a PA.

If you like teeth, go into dentistry. If you don't, go PA.

It all depends on where your interests lie and what is best suited for you. Money and free time isn't everything. And I'm pretty sure that whether you're a dentist, doctor, or physician assistant, you can volunteer
internationally.

But if your dream is still medical school and becoming a physician, don't give up on it.
Click to expand...

This is what make you sound so ignorant towards the field of Denistry. It's not just teeth, it's far from that. There is craftsmanship involved, being your own radiologist, surgeries, etc. It's just just about "liking teeth"

Shaking my head.
 
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mulberry said:
The PA field and DDS/DMD field is COMPLETELY different. What do you have a passion in? You can't say you're too old. My mother has a colleague who went to med school when he was 50. You're never too old.
With a GPA like that you could still succeed in the Caribbean. There are the top 4 that offer federal loans and approval in all 50 states for licensure. You can PM me if you have any questions or post on valuemd.
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SDN rule : Carib should always be the last option.
USMD >= USDO >>>>>>>>>> FMG
 
serenade said:
SDN rule : Carib should always be the last option.
USMD >= USDO >>>>>>>>>> FMG
Click to expand...

It's also the Caribbean rule over at VMD. However, some people have a problem with the Osteopathic title so I was giving another recommendation. I always always warn people that US DO is a much better route. I forgot this time 🙂
 
mulberry said:
This is what make you sound so ignorant towards the field of Denistry. It's not just teeth, it's far from that. There is craftsmanship involved, being your own radiologist, surgeries, etc. It's just just about "liking teeth"

Shaking my head.
Click to expand...

Obviously it is not just about teeth, but that is what the whole field of dentistry is focused on. It may have sounded like I was downplaying the field but I wasn't. It's a great field if you have a passion for it and I do respect dentists for what they do.
 
mulberry said:
It's also the Caribbean rule over at VMD. However, some people have a problem with the Osteopathic title so I was giving another recommendation. I always always warn people that US DO is a much better route. I forgot this time 🙂
Click to expand...

Lol people with a problem with USDO are lame.
 
As a PA you would be working 50-60 hours for someone else, generating income for the practice or hospital and only receiving about 20% brought in. As a dentist you can be an associate and easily make over 120K working less than 40 hours a week.

Justing going by lifestyle and income dentistry is the better deal.
 
Negrodamus said:
As a PA you would be working 50-60 hours for someone else, generating income for the practice or hospital and only receiving about 20% brought in. As a dentist you can be an associate and easily make over 120K working less than 40 hours a week.

Justing going by lifestyle and income dentistry is the better deal.
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👍 Teeth can be pretty cool. Go for the pearly whites...or whatever makes you hot. 🙂
 
What's your MCAT? You aren't that off depending on your MCAT and if you have time to raise that GPA a little etc. You seem to have some very interesting/unique experiences.
 
nigelbutter said:
... Im interested in med school ...
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There's yer answer. Apply to med school, or PA school.

But lemme give you some advice. If you do take the MCAT, and you think you may have a desire for dentistry, take the DAT right after the MCAT. It's almost completely the same info. However, the DAT is waaay easier.
 
I wouldn't sacrifice 40% of my life to do something I hated to make my other 60% (33% would be sleeping, so 27%) really great. Either way your lifestyle won't be bad. Do what makes you happy. If you don't know, find out.
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Beautifully put, sums up the entire topic in my opinion
 
The money in dentistry is more than excellent, especially considering how many of them have a 4 day workweek. I've worked in a dental lab for 5+ years (but I'm not going to dental school), and we do a lot of cosmetic cases and work for high volume dentists who easily bring in 400k+ in annual revenue, even in this economy. I think dentistry is a great option if you enjoy working on patients, having flexibility and greater control over your practice, like working with your hands in a very detail oriented job and desire very manageable work hours. In my opinion, the money and lifestyle are unbeatable. But personally, it just wasn't for me, which is why I'm going to med school.
 
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Salient said:
I've heard that as a PA you are fairly limited internationally since PAs are a fairly American construct. Is there any truth to that?
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There are a number of international relief organizations that PAs can volunteer with. Here is a link to a long list of organizations, some of which (not all) specifically name PAs as health professionals they recruit: http://www.imva.org/Pages/orgdb/wblstfrm.htm
 
Anyone else find the irony that the thread deciding whether to go PA or DDS is posted in an MD forum.....
 
I find it ironic that this discussion had been on the predental forum discussing med school as a backup to dental school. Unfortunately for those interested in dentistry dental school has become just as, if not more, competitive than med school thanks to all the reasons listed in this discussion. Just an FYI to those looking to d school as a back up.
 
civy87 said:
I find it ironic that this discussion had been on the predental forum discussing med school as a backup to dental school. Unfortunately for those interested in dentistry dental school has become just as, if not more, competitive than med school thanks to all the reasons listed in this discussion. Just an FYI to those looking to d school as a back up.
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I can't be 100% sure, but I find it hard to believe that getting into dental school is "more" difficult than med school.
 
The average stats are not hard to find feel free to look them up, the biggest contributing factor is that there are about half as many dental schools as medical schools and that's not counting DO programs, so it's simple supply and demand. As the demand for d school spots increase the more selective the schools can be.
 
civy87 said:
I find it ironic that this discussion had been on the predental forum discussing med school as a backup to dental school. Unfortunately for those interested in dentistry dental school has become just as, if not more, competitive than med school thanks to all the reasons listed in this discussion. Just an FYI to those looking to d school as a back up.
Click to expand...

Dental school isn't more competitive than medical school. The average gpa for dental school is like 3.5 and the Dat is significantly easier than the Mcat ( a lot of dentists here who've taken both will agree with this).

Personally I don't think I could do dental school because I've heard a lot of people have trouble make crowns/fillings and fail out of dental school due to this. I personally don't think my hands are very conducive towards that so I'd be very afraid I'd fail out. Not to mention dentistry in major metropolitan area's is beginning to become difficult as you have an over saturation. But anyways, good luck with the dent path.

Also just because dental school has less seats does not make it more competitive. If someone with a 3.7/30 mcat applied to dental school ( I'd assume that's also a competitive score ( Probably very competitive) on the Dat) that applicant would have no trouble getting in.
 
muhali3 said:
I don't want to get in a debate about dentists' income, but most websites that report the average income for dentists are either surveying salaried dentists or private practice dentists that under-report their annual earnings. Anyways, the main point is that they make significantly more than PA's.

I would still rather be a PA though if I was forced to make a choice.
Click to expand...

Why PA/Dentistry? just curious
 
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