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Do dental school admission committees care if you also applied to medical school and most of your extra curricular activities are medical because med school was your first choice.
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- Thread starter craigferguson
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Yes, they care. How does that demonstrate your passion for the profession: "Yeah, the only reason I am applying is because I didn't get into medical school, thats okay right, because you guys aren't real doctors and all dentists are just people who couldn't get into med school, right?"
Yes, the adcoms will care, but it depends on your individual circumstances as to if it affects you a lot or not. They will certainly ask you about it, but if you can articulate well why you decided to switch career paths, then it will not kill your chances.
Here's the tale of two students: who do you think they would pick to admit?
1. "I am applying to dental school and med school simultaneously and I will only attend dental school if I am rejected by all the med schools." Does not bode well.
2. "I did apply to med schools in the past, and all my extracurriculars are med related since I thought that's what I wanted to do. I didn't get in but I have taken a few years off and re-evaluated what I want in life and ___blah blah blah." I think this student has a good chance.
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I applied to medical school the year before I applied to dental school, and it was never brought up... Not even once! I received around 7 interview invites, too... It is really all about how you sell yourself... Illustrate your dedication to dentistry in your PS, have good LORs, and the picture of you will paint itself.
people sometimes forget that it IS possible to have passion for >one field at the same time! Many people would be ecstatic to do either medicine or dentistry, and not every person has wanted to be a dentist since they were in utero.
people sometimes forget that it IS possible to have passion for >one field at the same time! Many people would be ecstatic to do either medicine or dentistry, and not every person has wanted to be a dentist since they were in utero.
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I agree with your thought.Thank you for your sharing.
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Yes. It was brought up in 2/4 interviews (Chicago, NYU, Temple, Buffalo): NYU and Temple (student interviewers) did not ask. It's a terribly difficult question to answer, too, because the interviewers don't want to believe you.
NYU was the only school that took me, so it's definitely possible that I am just not the strongest interviewer. But be prepared for conversations like:
- Why'd you switch?
- Well, I shadowed doctors in several different specialties and volunteered in various different hospital settings, and nowhere did I get a positive vibe. After I took a year off a friend suggested dentistry, so I did some shadowing, asked a ton of questions, and assisted for a summer. I tried to get several different perspectives, so I shadowed at a boutique-y Manhattan practice and talked to the owner and the associate, and also at a more "drill and fill" place in Staten Island.
Dentistry is the first place where I found an intersection between a varied, interesting healthcare profession and people committed and happy with what they are doing.
- You know that there are happy doctors too, right?
- Yes, I've had some friends who have had positive shadowing experiences, but as the vast majority of mine were negative, and I only really want to make life decisions by what I've seen firsthand, I stopped pursuing medicine. Dentistry has given me a really positive experience.
- How do I know you've shadowed enough, and that you won't drop out of dentistry like you dropped out of medicine?
- Etc.
Basically if the interviewer chooses to do so, they will have you at every way you turn, so you should be prepared with perfect answers (read: answers better than mine above, because I didn't get accepted at the places that asked).
Also, if you're wondering, it wasn't just that the interviewers didn't like me (at least I don't think so) - one of my interviewers moved from a very congenial discussion about fly fishing and paradiddles on the drumset directly into this line of questioning. Maybe I offended him by showing him my paradiddle??
NYU was the only school that took me, so it's definitely possible that I am just not the strongest interviewer. But be prepared for conversations like:
- Why'd you switch?
- Well, I shadowed doctors in several different specialties and volunteered in various different hospital settings, and nowhere did I get a positive vibe. After I took a year off a friend suggested dentistry, so I did some shadowing, asked a ton of questions, and assisted for a summer. I tried to get several different perspectives, so I shadowed at a boutique-y Manhattan practice and talked to the owner and the associate, and also at a more "drill and fill" place in Staten Island.
Dentistry is the first place where I found an intersection between a varied, interesting healthcare profession and people committed and happy with what they are doing.
- You know that there are happy doctors too, right?
- Yes, I've had some friends who have had positive shadowing experiences, but as the vast majority of mine were negative, and I only really want to make life decisions by what I've seen firsthand, I stopped pursuing medicine. Dentistry has given me a really positive experience.
- How do I know you've shadowed enough, and that you won't drop out of dentistry like you dropped out of medicine?
- Etc.
Basically if the interviewer chooses to do so, they will have you at every way you turn, so you should be prepared with perfect answers (read: answers better than mine above, because I didn't get accepted at the places that asked).
Also, if you're wondering, it wasn't just that the interviewers didn't like me (at least I don't think so) - one of my interviewers moved from a very congenial discussion about fly fishing and paradiddles on the drumset directly into this line of questioning. Maybe I offended him by showing him my paradiddle??
