Pre-med vs Pre-dental

[msd21]

---

Members do not see this ad.

.

 

[vrazzles]

Hi!

First of, I would like to say that it is difficult to gain an idea of what the day-to-day life of a physician in a specialty through only shadowing. Though you say that are not interested in peds/IM/FM because you believe that it comes with high stress and a low work/life balance, this is an over generalization. While training will be rough for most specialties, many physicians that you mentioned have a lot of freedom in structuring their schedules and practice models to fit their needs. Though medicine is rarely gonna be as stress free as some other professions, many primary care and EM physicians have a lot more freedom to choose their schedules than do orthopedic surgeons and cardiologists. I would recommend asking physicians about their work/life balance as opposed to just drawing conclusions from shadowing - the answers may surprise you!

I know little about dentistry so I can't speak to much there but I would recommend following your interests. Are you interested in teeth and gum pathology or just what you perceive as the comfortable lifestyle of a dentist? Do you have a fascination with the inner workings of the human body as a whole? To each their own but I would rather work harder and longer while doing something that fascinates me than doing stuff that I couldn't give 2 ****s about.

Only you can decide your priorities and motivations! Good luck.

 

[Reverb]

Many people criticize this country's academic system due to the unspoken expectation that you graduate from high school and suddenly know exactly what you want to do with your life; it's no different with graduating from college.

First off, don't feel pressured by anyone. The decision should be yours only. Try making a list of pros and cons. If your main focus is on lifestyle, dentistry is certainly on par with many specialties in medicine. What other factors have you considered? time in school? salary? job security? staring at teeth all day?

 

[msd21]

Many people criticize this country's academic system due to the unspoken expectation that you graduate from high school and suddenly know exactly what you want to do with your life; it's no different with graduating from college.

First off, don't feel pressured by anyone. The decision should be yours only. Try making a list of pros and cons. If your main focus is on lifestyle, dentistry is certainly on par with many specialties in medicine. What other factors have you considered? time in school? salary? job security? staring at teeth all day?

Thank you, yes there's a variety of aspects I'm considering. Time in school is not important if I'm specializing in something I truly like which is why I would be disappointed with IM, Peds, etc because I think I would've spent too much time on things that don't interest me. Both professions have a wide range of salaries but I am content with both, even general dentistry and I'd like to open my own practice regardless of which option I choose. The whole COVID situation, however, makes dentistry questionable with the crippling student loans new graduates accumulate considering it has been one of the worst-hit professions.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

would much rather prefer ortho, cardiology, gastroenterology, or dermatology... think the biggest similarity between them is in the relatively low stress and great work/life balance which is common in dentistry.

Who in the hell told you ortho is low stress? Also, cards and gastro are always among the most competitive fellowships for IM, ortho is always one of the top 3 most competitive residencies and derm is also one of the top 3. Aside from ortho, they may be low stress as attendings but if you approach them with a low-stress attitude in med school you're not going to get into any of these.

 

[msd21]

Who in the hell told you ortho is low stress? Also, cards and gastro are always among the most competitive fellowships for IM, ortho is always one of the top 3 most competitive residencies and derm is also one of the top 3. Aside from ortho, they may be low stress as attendings but if you approach them with a low-stress attitude in med school you're not going to get into any of these.

I actually have several family members in Ortho, and yes if you specialize in hand, for example, it can be low stress. Also, you may have misunderstood but that is not how I am approaching them but a consideration that I definitely am taking into account 🙂

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

I actually have several family members in Ortho, and yes if you specialize in hand, for example, it can be low stress. Also, you may have misunderstood but that is not how I am approaching them but a consideration that I definitely am taking into account 🙂

Yea, I have some familiarity with ortho hand and those guys still work long hours. Maybe less stressful because you get to sit when operating 😛