edkNARF said:
I would like to tell you guys about a conversation I had recently with my dad.
Dad: So why aren't you applying to start in the fall?
Me: I am submitting my application now for fall 05 admissions.
Dad: That sounds like an awful lot of time, are you sure you can't start in the fall?
Me: Well, I just finished the DAT a month ago, all the spots are filled at schools, I haven't submitted an AADSAS or FAFSA for next year, and i have not been interviewed.
Dad: What is an AADSAS?
Me: More forms to fill out.
Dad: I thought you liked filling out forms?
Me: (looking bewildered) Are you really my father?
Dad: I think you should apply, you did so well on the SAT.
Me: It was the DAT, not the SAT!
Dad: You had braces for so many years. I think that qualifies you to start in the fall?
Me: ?????????
Dad: Dr. Ostreicher (my dentist) always said you brushed real well, does that count for something.
Me: Yes, it means I only need to go for 3 years instead of four.
Dad: Don't get fresh with me! Do you want me to call the principal? I am sure explain to them that you are really smart, and should start in the fall.
Me: (seriously questioning if I inherited genes from this man) Please leave the applications to me Dad.
I am pretty sure that most of you have parents who don't understand the application process. Anyone else have similar stories?
I just had a quick question before I comment on this thread (and this is directed at you
edkNARK). Really random, really random (but it would be very interesting if this worked out)...your dentist Dr. Ostreicher...is his office in Levittown, New York (on Long Island) by some chance? Tall guy, two kids, really an orthodontist, and works with a woman orthdontist? If it is, haha, I know him very well. I won't continue just because I could be really really wrong about my assumption, but if this is the guy, let me know. He's my dad's best friend from grade school and I've been seeing him for years.
Anyway, on a different note, I do understand where everyone is coming from. Although, my situation is a little different. My mom made me shadow different careers in high school to determine what I wanted to be later in life, and dentistry was one of the first careers I (well she) chose. Luckily, I loved it. Actually, I fell in love with it when I saw how much science and art were involved, and I couldn't really see myself being a doctor. My mom liked it because she thought it was a safer route than medicine plus she felt it was a conducive career for a woman (but she worries too much). Anyway, when I got to college and did fairly well, my uncle (who's a pediatrician) kept telling me to be a doctor and both of my parents told him, "but she wants to be an orthodontist." So, I never really had to convince them much that dentistry was what I wanted to do. The problem for me comes down to two things: 1) if I decided that I didn't want to be an orthodontist, my mom would be upset and 2) they don't understand why I would consider going to a non-state school or basically a more expensive school just becasue I liked it
Now, I'm conservative with my money, but I truly believe that I can pay back the debt I accrue in dental school. Or, at least choose a school that's in the middle? Or get a nice scholarship like the one at upenn? I'll have to see what happens when the time comes (sometime next year), but overall I will say that my parents haven't really bothered me about anything else. I'm doing all the application work and I took my DAT this past winter, but neither parent asked "well why are you paying for that? etc etc. I just do it and then I tell them about it, and they say, "ok, sounds good. just make sure it gets done on time." I would say both parents are quite understanding that the application is complicated, but they only realize this when I tell them all that's involved.
