I really thought I had it in me but I just did not see myself doing this for four more years... backstory: I graduated early from undergrad (3 years) with a really high GPA and I got in my first try with average DAT scores. I guess I just wasn't as passionate as I thought I was- or maybe it was wrong timing. Nevertheless, I'm still hopeful for the future. What do you guys think I should do? Dental hygiene and PA school have always been in my radar. I just don't know if I have what it takes now after what happened these 2 weeks. It's as if water was coming at me from a fire hydrant. I was super behind in the didactic portion and I just couldn't keep up with the pace. Then came the hand skills. Of course I could've gotten better with time, but I was also not getting the whole basics such as the dental anatomy - the ridges and all of that. It was just horrid. My wax ups literally looked like if a kinder student made them. There was obviously a lot of other personal factors, but these were the main ones. I just followed what my mind told me and it told me that I would not survive, my essence would be completely gone, and I would be beyond miserable... for what?
Quit dental school after 2 weeks- what now?
- Thread starter GokuxGON
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Did you get a refund?
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Sounds like you need to do some soul searching and figure out exactly what you are looking for in a career. And if you can handle the training that goes with it. Dentistry definitely is not for everyone, I am less than 5 years out and I already have a few classmates who are either very part time or left dentistry all together. (For those who inevitably will ask— all women with husbands who do well). You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, take the time to figure out your next step. Don’t rush it.
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If these women were just looking for a Mrs degree, then dental school is surely the most expensive way to do it lol
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Or maybe it’s more about those who dislike dentistry AND who have the (financial) freedom to leave it. I know of other classmates who would definitely throw in the towel if they financially could…
And I am not trying to be a negative nelly, both of the above mentioned groups combined make up a minority of my classmates. Dentistry has been solid for me and many of my classmates. The faster path to ownership the happier we are generally.
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Sad to see you go from our class, but you do what's best for you. I wish you the best and I hope you find a fulfilling career. If you ever need to talk, just hit me up whenever.
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With the good undergrad GPA, I don’t think you have any problem getting accepted to another health program. If the BS degree that you earned in college is in Biology (or another non-science major), then you don’t have an option to stop right here because it is pretty much a useless degree. Keep in mind that each health field has its own set of problems.
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It's really interesting to see multiple stories on here from people quitting or dismissed from dental school.
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Take some time to re-evaluate your life and see where you want to take it. Get a job if you need money for rent and save enough for a few months expenses till you are financially stable. Then see where you want to go. This is definitely not an end point for you
Yeah I hope so. I did graduate with Bio this May at 21 yrs old. I think I'm going to work in a lab or something, shadow various Physician Associates, and try to get direct patient care hours to try and go the PA route.
I appreciate it! I am going back home (7.5 hours) from where I started school. The future looks bright!
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So you gave up after 2 weeks because the world of dental anatomy confused you and your first time waxing up a tooth went poorly?
Geez man, what are you going to do when face a problem where quitting is not an option?
Geez man, what are you going to do when face a problem where quitting is not an option?
probs die
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This sounds like MUD.
If you really did quit after 2 weeks, healthcare is not for you.
If you really did quit after 2 weeks, healthcare is not for you.
doubt it
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I think @gryffindor was alluding to the rigors of training. It's a lot of information coming at you very quickly. It is a challenge to learn and compartmentalize it all. Don't expect PA school to be any less volume of material coming at you. If you couldn't cope with it in dental school, you may very well struggle again in PA school.
Big Hoss
That's true in a sense. I know it will be a challenge, but big part of why I decided to withdraw was cause I just wasn't passionate about what I was destined to learn in the end (teeth). I just got highly unmotivated. I feel If I really wanted to I could've grinded my butt off to learn the material, but I just didn't want to in the end. People that know me were highly surprised because I am a natural hard-worker and have been at it with my studies non-stop with no breaks. For a fact, I know healthcare is the route to go because I do not see myself doing anything else. I do want to shadow to confirm that PA school is the route for me, and I feel my mind will be more rested and matured (hopefully). Another factor is that the school I was at was 7.5 hours from home and hopefully the school I get into is just 30 minutes from my hometown... wishful thinking
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If you keep chasing your “passion,” you’ll likely become pretty disillusioned when you realize that your passion has really just turned into a “job.”
Many, if not most, PA programs will expect you to have 2-3 years of full time direct patient care experience. It’s not going to be as simple as just shadowing a PA for 40 hours and writing a new personal statement. I don’t think the transition from dental to PA will be as smooth and direct as you think. Additionally, the fact that you dropped out of one professional program will cause PA programs to look at you as a liability when you apply.
Regardless, best of luck in your future endeavors
Big Hoss
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schmoob
Dude, a D2 can do wax ups better than me at this point. Because I don’t do them. Anatomy is tough, but do you think it’s any easier in PA school? I don’t remember every nerve and blood vessel in the body, but all I had to do was remember enough to pass the course.
You will be fed with a firehose in any professional program.
My advice is to not feel like you need to pick a career right now.
I was in your shoes at one time; I picked a career that did not challenge me in the ways I wanted to be challenged. I got the most clarity by leaving education / training and getting a full-time job. I was able to make okay money, and most importantly I had time to think about my future. What interested me? What were my life goals (professional and non professional)? How does my career fold into said goals?
Full time work will also teach how to grind when you don't feel like it.
At one point you were younger and decided on dentistry. It's okay to change your mind now that you're older and know more. You've likely learned a lot more about yourself through this process, and with careful introspection, you can make a better career choice for yourself going forward.
I was in your shoes at one time; I picked a career that did not challenge me in the ways I wanted to be challenged. I got the most clarity by leaving education / training and getting a full-time job. I was able to make okay money, and most importantly I had time to think about my future. What interested me? What were my life goals (professional and non professional)? How does my career fold into said goals?
Full time work will also teach how to grind when you don't feel like it.
At one point you were younger and decided on dentistry. It's okay to change your mind now that you're older and know more. You've likely learned a lot more about yourself through this process, and with careful introspection, you can make a better career choice for yourself going forward.
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The world is big and USA is center of global capitalism there’s lots of stuff out there. I have many many friends who out of college have used their pre-Med undergrads to start careers in management consulting, finance, and analyst roles. You could look specifically into healthcare/pharma/health related consulting. Even pharma/Med device sales (if you can demonstrate some track record of sales with numbers. I talked to a recent grad from my alumn who did this w/ less than 1 yr in HR.)
ofc I guess it depends on your undergrad, but if you start working then that takes the place of what’s on your resume and you can use that as a jumping off board. My close friend from college was the bottom of her CS class and 1 yr out used the degree and LinkedIn to get a good entry level role in finance (by good I mean likely breaking 6 figures in 1st yr, not retail type sales). Ofc she would’nt have been able to do that without the prestige of the degree and maybe alumni connections but LinkedIn and Blind are amazing networks which pple never before have had access too, essentially democratizing access.
it’s hard work to prep and get into interviews it’s not easy and very discouraging. If you want smthn more guaranteed, look into a data science masters. The program itself will have demonstratable record of graduates placing into certain types of companies and roles so you get a good idea what career track ur getting on. I’d def recommend this over PA school, even if you need to take a few pre-reqs (like advanced math courses) first and study for the GRE.
If it were me I’d also look into the masters for anesthesia (assistants?) and pursue that over PA as well.
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2 weeks in, you didn’t know **** about teeth. You had no idea what dentistry is. You won’t really KNOW a field until you’ve already gone through training.
Good luck.
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Many underclassmen I've talked to feel the same way you do, and it did not help that you likely had no support group in dental school to go through endless exams and feeling like you don't know anything with. Pre-covid, we got through things together. Your peers don't have this, and I feel for you guys/girls. Don't be so hard on yourself. Understand that it is hard going through grad school right now, but that you got in for a reason and you can excel in your next steps whatever you choose
obliqueridge96
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It’s a shame to have taken a seat in your class when there were so many hopeful applicant/reapplicants that would have *killed* for your seat.
Dental school is not easy and the first year is difficult for 90% of the class. Some classmates in D1 had tutors and worried about failing out of dental school their entire fall semester only to make straight A’s the following semester. Being successful in life is all about how much work you’re willing to do. I agree with a previous comment, it sounds like you have some soul searching to do. Good luck in all your future endeavors.
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I personally think you should have followed through and suffered like the rest of us in dental school. The only reason im saying this is because you are saying dental hygiene has been on your mind. Hygiene is much worse than being a dentist, like by far. A dentist owns their own business and becomes pretty much a small business entrepreneur while if you want to be a hygienist or PA you will always work for someone.
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My first wax up was **** I didn’t know what I was doing. My first operative practical I failed so I practiced like crazy till midnight. Ended up with a b in the class and eventually an A in my final operative class end of my sophomore year.
I think 2 weeks is a bit too premature to quit but hey one of my classmate quit after first semester and went to med school the following year
I think 2 weeks is a bit too premature to quit but hey one of my classmate quit after first semester and went to med school the following year
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Actually, more and more hygienists are setting their own shops nowdays so they become their own boss.
hygiene and PA are fine careers, imo.
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yea like where? Canada? You can become your own boss for anything like candle making, but you cant sit there and compare a successful dentist to a hygiene factory
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You can go the hygiene route, if you don’t mind cleaning people’s teeth for next 20-30 years of your life. A few states allow the hygienists to set up their own shops but I think it’s hard to make a living when the scope of practice is very limited…..only cleaning teeth. A lot of dentists don’t want to take the risk of getting hand and wrist injuries; therefore, they dump all the cleaning procedures to their in-house hygienists. Every health career has its own set of problems.
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I think the people on this thread are being unnecessarily harsh. OP- Do not doubt yourself or your decision. Only you know what was going through your mind when you decided that dentistry wasnt for you. You dropped out before you inquired a huge amount of debt for a career that had the potential to make you miserable for the rest of your life -- good for you! It is NOT the end of the road for you, as many of these posters above have insinuated. You're only 21! Instead, it is a time of reflection for you. Take this time to shadow, talk with professionals in the fields you're more interested in, and work.
For me, dentistry is my passion. I knew it the second I walked into the doors of the sim lab on the first day, and now nearly 1.5 years later, I still feel that same fire and passion for the field. Even though school is incredibly tough, I grind through it because I truly enjoy what I am learning and the field that I am preparing to go into. You don't necessarily need to feel the same to get through it, but if you know its right for you, YOU KNOW.
A number of students in my class dropped out in D1 year. They are now in medical school or back in the careers they had prior to coming to dental school. They came here, realized it wasn't for them, and left. You did the same, and you're completely valid in your decision OP. Wishing you all the best!
For me, dentistry is my passion. I knew it the second I walked into the doors of the sim lab on the first day, and now nearly 1.5 years later, I still feel that same fire and passion for the field. Even though school is incredibly tough, I grind through it because I truly enjoy what I am learning and the field that I am preparing to go into. You don't necessarily need to feel the same to get through it, but if you know its right for you, YOU KNOW.
A number of students in my class dropped out in D1 year. They are now in medical school or back in the careers they had prior to coming to dental school. They came here, realized it wasn't for them, and left. You did the same, and you're completely valid in your decision OP. Wishing you all the best!
Well said! Good-luck to the OP, this is your life and you have to live it how you see fit. Ignore the negativity, the pursuit of happiness is what life is all about and if dental school wasn't making you happy then you had every right to move on- regardless of the timing. For the record, Its great that you had this awakening 2 weeks in versus 2 years in!
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@GokuxGON you graduated early, so treat this as your 4th year of undergrad. There's plenty of time for you to figure out what you want to do... plus you have a high GPA so I assume you're a very motivated individual. I'm sure you'll figure out a way to make things work.
If you don't mind me asking, what draws you towards becoming a PA?
Also, HxH is mid-tier. Change my mind.
If you don't mind me asking, what draws you towards becoming a PA?
Also, HxH is mid-tier. Change my mind.
I appreciate your kind words!!! Keep going at it ... you are going to be a great dentist
Thank you!
I was drawn to medicine since high school but was a little bit discouraged by my parents because they thought it would be a really long career. After I got my braces I got more into dentistry, but I always had medicine in the back of my head. There was many instances in my life when I was SO interested in healthcare like when I got my appendix out my freshman year of HS or when I fractured my ankle two years later due to a soccer injury... During my childhood I was always getting taken care of by a PA. She was always so sweet, attentive, and although there was language barrier between her and my mom, she would always pull through. I just really like PAs because they play such a huge role in healthcare in general; they are able to navigate through different specialties and diagnose all sorts of things. I was also really tempted to turn down my offer to start dental school to pursue that masters degree since my Alma mater offers it. Then my interest stemmed out even more this past year- from January until like July I was a medical scribe. I really liked the flow of the work and I was always so intrigued by what the physician said and the interactions between DR & patient. I just really saw myself doing that someday....
Also HxH is mid towards the end but the Yorknew City arc is fire.
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Idk how to tell you this, but what you experienced your first few weeks is COMPLETELY NORMAL. Aside from maybe a handful of people in each class, you will not be a natural with hand skills. Your wax ups will look like ****, your first preps will look like ****. Dental school is hard, dentistry is hard, its not something you just pick up and are amazing at instantly. Dental anatomy is insanely hard and you will struggle at first and then suddenly you go to second year and youre speaking like a dental professional. You just need to give yourself time to adapt those skills. Out of a class of 150, no one in my class has failed out and especially not because their hand skills never improved. My wax ups and preps were insanely terrible in the beginning, didnt even know how to melt the wax properly.
It sounds like you're young and havent taken much time off and went straight from undergrad. Take a year off, work a random job, go travel. Come back after some time with a clean slate and ready to go back to school, maybe even dental school. Id see if you could defer your acceptance and just take a leave for this year.
Seriously go travel and do some youthful stuff and come back energized and ready to go.
It sounds like you're young and havent taken much time off and went straight from undergrad. Take a year off, work a random job, go travel. Come back after some time with a clean slate and ready to go back to school, maybe even dental school. Id see if you could defer your acceptance and just take a leave for this year.
Seriously go travel and do some youthful stuff and come back energized and ready to go.
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So you are a quitter?
You gonna quit other fields too. No doubt about it!
Stay away from medical field, it's not for quitters.
You already took the spot of someone who really needed to get into dental school, and you quit after 2 weeks, is this for real?
Who said other fields are easy? They all are hard!
I know people who quit after 4-5 months after actually trying!
but 2 weeks, what kind of education you got before dentistry that made you quit after two weeks?
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I have to be REAL with you just because you are still young and you can still change your mindset. What made you think it was okay to drop out after 2 weeks?! Like seriously? You didn't learn a single thing about dentistry in that span. Loan or no loan, you committed to dental school so you should have AT LEAST tried it out for 1 semester. It would have been fine to decide to drop out after 1 semester but 2 WEEKS?! Quitting like that is NEVER okay with any profession or anything in life. Life is not fair so you just gotta man the F up. I don't mean to be so harsh but you really need to understand how adult life works. I hope you learn from this and never do this again.
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People above suck, dont let people on any forum ESPECIALLY SDN dictate your life. You'll be fine. Situations arent as black and white as they seem and im sure your situation isnt as clear as you typed it out to be to all of us strangers. 90% of your classmates in dental school will be chill and not cut throat and the other 10% will be like people above to eat sleep and breath dentistry and try to back stab their way into a specialty.
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breathe
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I don’t think I can breathe if the OP was my son/daughter. My sister had been depressed for the whole month when her straight A daughter, who scored 1520 on the SAT, told her that she didn’t want to be a pre-med anymore and wanted to switch to mechanical engineering.
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Major in mechanical engineering, take the med school prerequisites, and have a undergrad degree that’s actually worth something just in case. Problem solved.
Big Hoss
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Respectfully charles, I think some parents are far too invested in their kids lives.
I am not a parent myself, but frankly I think being depressed for a month over this issue is utterly ridiculous. It is not like mechanical engineers are starving and she will most likely be just fine.
Like Big Hoss mentioned, she can still even go to med school later if she wants.
I think the popularity of MD worship common in some cultures is really bad for the mental health of the kids. Kids should have the freedom to choose how they want to live their lives
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I just want my kids to be their own boss and become financially independent like me. That's all. If they choose a different career path, neither my wife nor I can do anything about it. They are 18+ yo adults. They don't have to listen to us. No one can force them to do things that they don't like. We can only pray that they will be successful and be completely independent from us after we are gone.
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schmoob
I tell my kids that education is important. Do not major in 17th century German Literature and then complain you can’t find a job. You need to have a skill. Whether that skill is medicine, dentistry, law, accounting, etc it doesn’t matter. What matters is to be the best at whatever it is that you do. These days even having a trade is in high demand, and they pay you to go to school.
So if my son wants to be an electrician or a plumber, that’s fine. As long as he is the best electrician or the best plumber, we will do very well financially. My daughter still wants to go into medicine though so that’s cool.
So if my son wants to be an electrician or a plumber, that’s fine. As long as he is the best electrician or the best plumber, we will do very well financially. My daughter still wants to go into medicine though so that’s cool.
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If I recall. Charles needs his kids to make good money so they can take care of him when he's old and decrepit. New Teslas are expensive. I kid. I kid. Or am I???
Until you're a parent .... this concept of wanting your children to be successful, self sufficient is hard to comprehend. As a parent ... we all want our kids to be successful. We want to brag about our kids. Admire them for their success.
Now the question becomes. What is success? Older parents view success one way (like Charles and I) and I'm sure the younger gen views it another way.
I pushed my kids to succeed, but not as hard as Charles. It's their life. It's the parent's responsibility to provide the kids with all the necessary tools to allow them to be successful in their own way.
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Nah. Instead of buying a $300k car like some of my colleagues, I bought a house. With the rental amount of $2675 that I collect from this house's tenant every month, I can lease 2 new Teslas every 2-3 years for the rest of my life. Hopefully by the time I retire, the car will have the full self-driving capability. Right now I still have to pay attention to the road with the Tesla's current Autopilot system.
Yes. As parents, we want our kids to be better than us in every way…..having a bigger busier practice, having higher income, not having to work on the weekends and charge low fees like us. We want them to be able to provide for their own kids the same way (or better) we have provided for them. They should be able to buy their own house(s) without having to come back to ask us for help with things like down payment, co-signing etc. Hopefully, by being successful, they can meet and marry the right person. No one wants to marry a loser, who has no serious future plan and money.
Yes, I want to brag about my kids’ success the same way my parents brag about my and my siblings’ success. Whenever my dad’s friends came to visit him from out of state, he usually asked my wife and I if he could come to show his friends our 5200 sf house.
That’s what I want for my kids but I am not sure if they will listen to me or not. They are only 16 and 17 yo right now. I continue to work (despite being debt free) 5 days/week to save for them in case they want to do something else and won’t be as successful as us. Thanks God ortho is an easy job and it pays well too.
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I mean this respectfully, but if your sister is depressed that her " straight A daughter, who got a 1520 on SAT, and now wants to be a mechanical engineer", you need to tell her to get a grip, there is alot of things kids do to make parents depressed, this aint one of em.
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I can’t tell my sister this because I would react the same way if my kids told me that they don’t want to be a doctor or dentist. IMO, having a BS/BA degree is not enough in this competitive world. I guess we are “spoiled” being our own boss…being financially independent. It would break our heart to see our kids having to work underneath someone else….struggling to find jobs….worrying about getting laid off. I think my sister would be less depressed if her daughter just had average stats in HS and wanted to be an engineer.
As parents, we always want our kids to be better than us....more successful than us.
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