Quitting dental school for pre med

[inquirdmed]

Currently 2nd year dental student at a TX school. Lately I have been thinking I made the wrong choice with dentistry. I started shadowing dentists at first due to the financial appeal and grew to enjoy the restorative nature of it and cosmetic cases. I never really considered medicine seriously in undergrad. So I ended up sticking with dentistry, shadowing, taking the DAT, and got accepted to all 3 of my state dental schools, and now I’m here.

But now in school, I realized that learning dentistry is more boring than I thought it would be, but I am fascinated with the more medical type classes I have been taking (path, gross dissection, physiology). I am thinking of leaving dental school and going to medical, but what holds me back is 1) the loans I have taken so far: $80,000 not including interest 2) feeling I wasted time until now 3) wasting more time to study for mcat/apply

Stats: Undergrad: 3.95gpa and 3.93sgpa biology major Dental school: Class rank top >15/110 (currently 3.88gpa).
- I am worried that my drop in gpa from undergrad to dental school will be a red flag, but the workload is a lot more than undergrad so I don’t think I can do more than maintain 3.8+

We start clinics next year, not sure if should stay in school and study for mcat when I have more free time because of clinics instead of classes mostly. Or just leave now to prevent further loan increase. I am also not sure if I should just stay in school, since my future is currently “secured” even though I would enjoy learning medicine more.

edit: I am not interested in omfs

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[rx001]

Question would be asked and to be answered is what makes you think Medical school more interesting than Dentistry.

 

[Sterling_Archer]

Sounds like maybe you're bored with the "bread and butter" of your specialty. Most medical specialties have similar bread and butter cases that make up a large portion of what they do, and interesting cases make up the minority. I'd wager you'd get bored in either track

Currently 2nd year dental student at a TX school. Lately I have been thinking I made the wrong choice with dentistry. I started shadowing dentists at first due to the financial appeal and grew to enjoy the restorative nature of it and cosmetic cases. I never really considered medicine seriously in undergrad. So I ended up sticking with dentistry, shadowing, taking the DAT, and got accepted to all 3 of my state dental schools, and now I’m here.

But now in school, I realized that learning dentistry is more boring than I thought it would be, but I am fascinated with the more medical type classes I have been taking (path, gross dissection, physiology). I am thinking of leaving dental school and going to medical, but what holds me back is 1) the loans I have taken so far: $80,000 not including interest 2) feeling I wasted time until now 3) wasting more time to study for mcat/apply

Stats: Undergrad: 3.95gpa and 3.93sgpa biology major Dental school: Class rank top >15/110 (currently 3.88gpa).
- I am worried that my drop in gpa from undergrad to dental school will be a red flag, but the workload is a lot more than undergrad so I don’t think I can do more than maintain 3.8+

We start clinics next year, not sure if should stay in school and study for mcat when I have more free time because of clinics instead of classes mostly. Or just leave now to prevent further loan increase. I am also not sure if I should just stay in school, since my future is currently “secured” even though I would enjoy learning medicine more.

edit: I am not interested in omfs

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[Cornfed101]

If you are interested in cosmetic dentistry why not specialize in that? You would still have to do some bread and butter, but dentistry does afford you the ability to cater your practice AFIK. I have two uncles that primarily do cosmetic dentistry (lots of veneers) in Vegas.

Edit: before you make any change you need to shadow a physician. Preferably a PCP so you can see what the "bread and butter" of medicine is. You may find that it's not that different and you should stick dentistry out.

One of the adcoms at UMN is an MD, DDS. He went to med school a few years after dental school, specialized in ENT and did a fellowship in facial plastics. If you have any issues with the front of your head he has you covered.

 

[kritten]

can't dentists specialize and go down the oral surgery route to be DMD, MD? that seems like it would marry all your interests

 

[gyngyn]

can't dentists specialize and go down the oral surgery route to be DMD, MD? that seems like it would marry all your interests

OP is not interested in OMFS.

 

[DoctHouse]

You got clinical/nonclinical volunteering or experiences? MD/DO Shadowing? Your GPA is great and a future MCAT score matters, etc. I doubt med schools would care about the minuscule dental school gpa drop but would care more on the fact that you went 2 years in and decided to switch over suddenly. I say be prepared to give a good explanation for that. And yea, $80k loans suck but you're a Texas resident, Texas med schools charge little in-state tuition so that's a plus.

 

[electropartyogram]

Have you thought about an Advanced Dental Education Residency Program? Endodontics, Orthodontics, Periodontics, Prosthodontics...

 

[Tenk]

Everything gets boring and repetitive. I rarely have cases where I am like: whoa cool!!! and I work in an ER.

Before you make such a big financial decision you need to look at the end game here. What do you want in life OUTSIDE of work. Dentistry actually affords a really nice lifestyle. If you jumped ship you’d be looking at a good 8+ years of relatively no life if you include your gap year or two + 4 years med school + 3 or more years residency.

That’s a huge investment of your LIFE. Not even talking money, just the time you spend alive. That could be more than 10% of your entire LIFE even depending on when you die.

My advice would be stick to it. The grass is always greener and right now you’re on a guaranteed path to a good lifestyle. If you leave there is no guarantee you’re going to get into medical school.

 

[9blade]

My brother did the same. He went to dental school and found himself more interested in the medical classes, so he quit dental school at Christmas break of his 3rd year. He wanted to quit after 2nd year, but his advisor convinced him that he wouldn't hate it in clinic. So he stuck around until he started clinic and he says he hated it, so he quit. Decided to take the MCAT and applied and got accepted to medschool the following year. He graduated from medschool and is now happy as a general surgeon. He had some dental school loans but he was lucky to have minimal loans for medschool. He had some scholarships for medschool. He says even if he had to take full loans for medschool, he would do the same all over again. He thought about sticking it out and doing OMFS, but before becoming an oral surgeon, you have to be a dentist and he hated the dentistry part of it. He couldn't stand it. He always jokes around and says the best thing about dental school was him meeting his wife(endodontist).

 

[Goro]

Currently 2nd year dental student at a TX school. Lately I have been thinking I made the wrong choice with dentistry. I started shadowing dentists at first due to the financial appeal and grew to enjoy the restorative nature of it and cosmetic cases. I never really considered medicine seriously in undergrad. So I ended up sticking with dentistry, shadowing, taking the DAT, and got accepted to all 3 of my state dental schools, and now I’m here.

But now in school, I realized that learning dentistry is more boring than I thought it would be, but I am fascinated with the more medical type classes I have been taking (path, gross dissection, physiology). I am thinking of leaving dental school and going to medical, but what holds me back is 1) the loans I have taken so far: $80,000 not including interest 2) feeling I wasted time until now 3) wasting more time to study for mcat/apply

Stats: Undergrad: 3.95gpa and 3.93sgpa biology major Dental school: Class rank top >15/110 (currently 3.88gpa).
- I am worried that my drop in gpa from undergrad to dental school will be a red flag, but the workload is a lot more than undergrad so I don’t think I can do more than maintain 3.8+

We start clinics next year, not sure if should stay in school and study for mcat when I have more free time because of clinics instead of classes mostly. Or just leave now to prevent further loan increase. I am also not sure if I should just stay in school, since my future is currently “secured” even though I would enjoy learning medicine more.

edit: I am not interested in omfs

And how do we know you won't find Medicine boring, and then bail again?

 

[ltgallagher12]

Currently 2nd year dental student at a TX school. Lately I have been thinking I made the wrong choice with dentistry. I started shadowing dentists at first due to the financial appeal and grew to enjoy the restorative nature of it and cosmetic cases. I never really considered medicine seriously in undergrad. So I ended up sticking with dentistry, shadowing, taking the DAT, and got accepted to all 3 of my state dental schools, and now I’m here.

But now in school, I realized that learning dentistry is more boring than I thought it would be, but I am fascinated with the more medical type classes I have been taking (path, gross dissection, physiology). I am thinking of leaving dental school and going to medical, but what holds me back is 1) the loans I have taken so far: $80,000 not including interest 2) feeling I wasted time until now 3) wasting more time to study for mcat/apply

Stats: Undergrad: 3.95gpa and 3.93sgpa biology major Dental school: Class rank top >15/110 (currently 3.88gpa).
- I am worried that my drop in gpa from undergrad to dental school will be a red flag, but the workload is a lot more than undergrad so I don’t think I can do more than maintain 3.8+

We start clinics next year, not sure if should stay in school and study for mcat when I have more free time because of clinics instead of classes mostly. Or just leave now to prevent further loan increase. I am also not sure if I should just stay in school, since my future is currently “secured” even though I would enjoy learning medicine more.

edit: I am not interested in omfs

I am by no means a frequenter of SDN, but this post resonates with me and thought I could help provide some insight. I felt much like you did a year ago today (middle of my 3rd year in dental school, fully knowing my passion was medicine). I left dental school that Christmas break (with>>$80,000 in loans), studied for/took the MCAT in March, and shadowed physicians during Spring 2019. I am now in the middle of the application cycle, having applied to ~25 MD schools. Most of my applications were complete end of July/mid-August and I have received 2 II's thus far (with an additional 5 pre-II holds/rejections). Let me tell you, this has been one of the most stressful years of my life, with lots of unknowns. However, I could not see myself ever wanting to practice dentistry and knew that I needed to follow my heart, as cliche as it may sound. That said, dentistry does come with a great lifestyle (and I can see that now more than ever as my dental school friends are graduating with nice salaries/hours). I do not regret my decision but I did spend many months exploring every possible field within dentistry and further exploring medical specialties. Some people were very supportive while others were convinced no medical school would ever want me. At the end of the day, its YOUR life and I chose to take the risks that came along with leaving dental school to pursue medicine.

 

[allantois]

Grass is greener

 

[hydrophobicmed]

And how do we know you won't find Medicine boring, and then bail again?

how do you know you will still be alive next year? lol.

 

[jecki46]

how do you know you will still be alive next year? lol.

Always the charming and supportive comment. I’m sure you will make a compassionate doctor too.

 

[Goro]

how do you know you will still be alive next year? lol.

Med school is a seller's market. We want students with a proven track record, like yours.

 

[zero0]

OP is not interested in OMFS.

He should get interested

 

[inquirdmed]

I wanted to update everyone:

After a lot of reflection, I began to realize the reason I started to lose heart with dentistry was because my hand skills were very bad (even with hours of practice), - and nobody wants to do what they are bad at, so I started thinking medicine was my way out.

As the year progressed, I noticed my skills improving, and my practical grades reflecting my improvement. I also started seeing patients, and my experience in the clinic reminded me of the things I love about dentistry, and why I want to stay with it. My advice to anyone reading this, is do not doubt yourself. Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[penpenclown]

One of the adcoms at UMN is an MD, DDS. He went to med school a few years after dental school, specialized in ENT and did a fellowship in facial plastics. If you have any issues with the front of your head he has you covered.

I got some fillings done by a dentist who was friends with that guy and my god would he not stop talking about him lol. It was like just focus on my teeth, dude. He's very impressive but I don't need his life story while you're drilling in my mouth.

Glad to hear things worked out for you @inquirdmed !

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I wanted to update everyone:

After a lot of reflection, I began to realize the reason I started to lose heart with dentistry was because my hand skills were very bad (even with hours of practice), - and nobody wants to do what they are bad at, so I started thinking medicine was my way out.

As the year progressed, I noticed my skills improving, and my practical grades reflecting my improvement. I also started seeing patients, and my experience in the clinic reminded me of the things I love about dentistry, and why I want to stay with it. My advice to anyone reading this, is do not doubt yourself. Thanks everyone for the replies.

Good. I will always remind people when you pick a health profession, you gotta stick with it. Each one has its own cross to bear, but dentistry is so focused on you making a difference by being good with your hands and your heart. This is why I always want to know about hand skills and what you've done to endure practicing with fine motor skills. Even people who have been good with sculpting or wood carving can have trouble because you're not always used to the precision. Not everyone comes in with excellent hand skills; that's why you're in school and that's why you practice.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

You are in a Texas school paying a fraction of tuition and want to drop out?
You will enjoy clinic much more than lectures as I have. Just hang in there

 

[solitarius]

Do not quit.

 

[SunBakedTrash]

What about oral pathology? I’ve seen them go as far as functioning as head and neck pathologists alongside MD pathologists. If you like path and dissection, etc, it would be a good lifestyle with probably more variety if you don’t mind giving up patient contact.

 

[GreenDuck12]

This post is quite old. The OP already added an update saying they were sticking with dental school.

 

[clutchfans]

If you are interested in cosmetic dentistry why not specialize in that? You would still have to do some bread and butter, but dentistry does afford you the ability to cater your practice AFIK. I have two uncles that primarily do cosmetic dentistry (lots of veneers) in Vegas.

Edit: before you make any change you need to shadow a physician. Preferably a PCP so you can see what the "bread and butter" of medicine is. You may find that it's not that different and you should stick dentistry out.

One of the adcoms at UMN is an MD, DDS. He went to med school a few years after dental school, specialized in ENT and did a fellowship in facial plastics. If you have any issues with the front of your head he has you covered.

I know this post is 8 months old but cosmetic dentistry is not an ADA Recognized dental specialty.

 

[Cornfed101]

I know this post is 8 months old but cosmetic dentistry is not an ADA Recognized dental specialty.

why does it matter if the ADA recognizes it? People still pay you for it

 

[allantois]

why does it matter if the ADA recognizes it? People still pay you for it

Any general dentist can call themselves a cosmetic one