Pre-dental to Pre-medical?

[deleted980811]

Hello,
I’m currently a 3rd year student and I’m in a tough spot as I plan to study and take either the DAT or MCAT this summer. I’ve been pre-dental since day one of college mainly attracted by the lifestyle and being able to make an impact by helping people improve their self image through there smile. As I went through undergrad I learned I want a career of meaning and want to use my abilities to make as big as an impact as possible, which makes me pretty much only want to be a fellowship trained OMFS, where I can do life changing face surgeries, whether it be for facial trauma, cleft lip, orthagnathic cases, or cancer resection and reconstruction. That being said, it sounds to me like I’d be better off just going into med school and shooting to be an ENT or plastic surgeon.

My main concerns at this point:
-I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I have a pretty stellar dental application at the moment that I would hate out to waste. I have a 3.8 cGPA and a 3.77 sGPA, 200 volunteer hours through out of country service trips, volunteering at a senior center, and volunteering at an elementary school. I have served as Treasurer, VP, and will be president of my schools pre-dental organization. I have Co-founded and led an out of country dental mission club at my school. I have ~100 hours research and will be doing my own research next year in psychology and writing my honors thesis on it. And I have close to 100 shadow hours. BUT NO MEDICAL EXPERIENCE. I’m worried that being so heavily involved as a pre-dent will hurt my chances as a medical applicant.
-I’m worried ENT or Plastics may be too hard to match into vs if I went to a dental school known for specialization and went for oral surgery.
-I’m worried if I go with oral surgery I may not have the opportunities lined up to do all the heavier impactful cases I want to do that I may be able to do as an ENT or Plastic surgeon.

Do y’all think I’d be a competitive med applicant? What should I do if I want to switch to med to have the best possible application? Do you think my reasons are valid for wanting to switch from pre-dent to pre-med?

I know this is a long post, but any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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[Kodite]

Hello,
I’m currently a 3rd year student and I’m in a tough spot as I plan to study and take either the DAT or MCAT this summer. I’ve been pre-dental since day one of college mainly attracted by the lifestyle and being able to make an impact by helping people improve their self image through there smile. As I went through undergrad I learned I want a career of meaning and want to use my abilities to make as big as an impact as possible, which makes me pretty much only want to be a fellowship trained OMFS, where I can do life changing face surgeries, whether it be for facial trauma, cleft lip, orthagnathic cases, or cancer resection and reconstruction. That being said, it sounds to me like I’d be better off just going into med school and shooting to be an ENT or plastic surgeon.

My main concerns at this point:
-I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I have a pretty stellar dental application at the moment that I would hate out to waste. I have a 3.8 cGPA and a 3.77 sGPA, 200 volunteer hours through out of country service trips, volunteering at a senior center, and volunteering at an elementary school. I have served as Treasurer, VP, and will be president of my schools pre-dental organization. I have Co-founded and led an out of country dental mission club at my school. I have ~100 hours research and will be doing my own research next year in psychology and writing my honors thesis on it. And I have close to 100 shadow hours. BUT NO MEDICAL EXPERIENCE. I’m worried that being so heavily involved as a pre-dent will hurt my chances as a medical applicant.
-I’m worried ENT or Plastics may be too hard to match into vs if I went to a dental school known for specialization and went for oral surgery.
-I’m worried if I go with oral surgery I may not have the opportunities lined up to do all the heavier impactful cases I want to do that I may be able to do as an ENT or Plastic surgeon.

Do y’all think I’d be a competitive med applicant? What should I do if I want to switch to med to have the best possible application? Do you think my reasons are valid for wanting to switch from pre-dent to pre-med?

I know this is a long post, but any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I’d recommend you shadow an ENT (Clinic+OR) or plastic surgeon and then also shadow primary care (IM or FM) before making a decision. As a pre-dental you might not be as drawn to the amount of damage ENTs have to do to people’s mouths/teeth to treat the diseases they treat. I recommend you shadow IM and FM, because the odds are long that you match ENT or plastics, because they’re some of the most competitive fields (ENT has the highest STEP 1 average of any specialty). If you’re switching careers, you should be at least content with ending up in the less competitive specialties. I think you’ll actually be surprised by the primary care specialties, because many aspects of their practice, especially the relationships with patients, are similar to dentistry.

 

[Catalystik]

Hello,
I’m currently a 3rd year student and I’m in a tough spot as I plan to study and take either the DAT or MCAT this summer. I’ve been pre-dental since day one of college mainly attracted by the lifestyle and being able to make an impact by helping people improve their self image through there smile. As I went through undergrad I learned I want a career of meaning and want to use my abilities to make as big as an impact as possible, which makes me pretty much only want to be a fellowship trained OMFS, where I can do life changing face surgeries, whether it be for facial trauma, cleft lip, orthagnathic cases, or cancer resection and reconstruction. That being said, it sounds to me like I’d be better off just going into med school and shooting to be an ENT or plastic surgeon.

My main concerns at this point:
-I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I have a pretty stellar dental application at the moment that I would hate out to waste. I have a 3.8 cGPA and a 3.77 sGPA, 200 volunteer hours through out of country service trips, volunteering at a senior center, and volunteering at an elementary school. I have served as Treasurer, VP, and will be president of my schools pre-dental organization. I have Co-founded and led an out of country dental mission club at my school. I have ~100 hours research and will be doing my own research next year in psychology and writing my honors thesis on it. And I have close to 100 shadow hours. BUT NO MEDICAL EXPERIENCE. I’m worried that being so heavily involved as a pre-dent will hurt my chances as a medical applicant.
-I’m worried ENT or Plastics may be too hard to match into vs if I went to a dental school known for specialization and went for oral surgery.
-I’m worried if I go with oral surgery I may not have the opportunities lined up to do all the heavier impactful cases I want to do that I may be able to do as an ENT or Plastic surgeon.

1) Do y’all think I’d be a competitive med applicant?
2) What should I do if I want to switch to med to have the best possible application?
3) Do you think my reasons are valid for wanting to switch from pre-dent to pre-med?

1) It depends on your MCAT score and accumulating the expected ECs.

2) -At least a year of active clinical experience, interacting with sick and injured folks.
-About 1.5 years is the average, volunteering for 150 hours. Shadowing physicians as suggested by @Kodite. About 50 total hours is average.
-Volunteering to help those in need. Depending on your role, the senior center and elementary school might cover that.

3) Only you know what it will take to make you happy, but you'd better have a good answer to the question, "What if I can't match into OMFS, plastics, or ENT? You only get to take the boards once (in medicine), unless you fail. If you can't be happy treating kids ear infections, adult allergies, and chronic sinusitis or strep as a FP, stick with dental school.

 

[deleted980811]

Much appreciated advice kodite and catalystik!