I did get into pharmacy school during my sophomore year, but decided not to go because I realized how saturated pharmacy is. There are so many pharmacy schools open, it's ridiculous.
I also did get into investment banking but after doing an internship in it, realized that I didn't want the life associated with it (i.e., the long hours and tremendous stress). In finance, you're as good as your last trade or your last deal. If you're not performing, you're out. Dentistry is a much more stable career and while I may not LOVE dentistry, I can tolerate it and that's good enough for me. I also think I'll be good at running a business so I'm not worried (and pretty excited actually) about opening my own practice.
To sum it up, I'd rather be making $200k working 40hrs/wk in my own dental practice than $600k working 80hrs/wk in finance.
We should save this post for posterity. For the hundreds of future threads arguing that there is no money in dentistry, that the lifestyle ain't what it used to be, and that banking, pharmacy, etc. are far better career options.
Doc Toothache makes a great point, and something that's important for everyone to consider: When you're choosing dentistry, you're making what can amount to a life commitment.
Fair points, but you also can't divorce working in general. Everyone has to pay the bills, and so for some dentistry may not be what they're passionate about (as is OP's case), but that doesn't mean it isn't their best option. It sounds like OP has tried several different avenues and decided that they're not for him/her. Furthermore, OP seems to have done his/her due-diligence and decided upon dentistry based upon a number of important lifestyle and career factors. I see nothing wrong with that, and to me it's no worse than choosing dentistry because it "makes you happy" or you "can't see yourself doing anything else".
At this stage, the most any of us on here can say is that we
think that we love dentistry. None of us owns a practice, and none of us have taken home the stresses that come from managing a business. I think I will love it, and I'm sure most of the posters here do too, but we can't really know until it happens.
In reference to doc's marriage analogy, it's hard to know exactly what the commitment of marriage entails until you are married. No one gets married intending to get divorced. Likewise, no one goes to dental school with the idea that they will be miserable. I would argue that no one here can profess to
love dentistry anymore than two people in a budding relationship can honestly claim to love each other after three or four dates. We don't know it that well, and what we think we know is only a tiny glimpse of the reality which awaits. Once we're through dental school and into the profession, I suppose then we can state our true feelings for the profession as we come to understand it more completely.
