Scary Question

[Easton]

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This may seem pestemistic however, reality allows it. If I don't get into dental school does anyone have any suggestions for other jobs. I know I can reapply next year and all that, but I need to also think about other alternatives. Anyone majoring in Bio/Business have any alternatives they were thinking about??

 

[Hot-n-Aml]

I agree, that question is scary...and it gave me nightmares for quite a while.

With a bio/business degree you can teach. You can also go on and do a masters degree buying you 2 more years to apply and get into dentistry.

Or just take a year off and travel!!🙂

Just relax and have faith in your qualifications. Give the application process all you got instead of worrying about alternatives. If dentistry is what you really want to do, then there is no alternative.

Good Luck!

Hot-n-Aml

______________________________________________
UPitt, SDM, Class of 2007

 

[ecdoesit]

Or you can find a part-time and work as much as you want or work as less as you need. I am currently taking a year off working a part-time job. Just had a vacation to the East Coast. Since dental school is intensive 4 years program, it wont hurt to relax for a year and enjoy life then dive back into studying. 🙄

 

[3rdMolarRoller]

Become a Pharm rep.

One of my buddies didn't get into med school with his Bio major and minor in business. He's like 3 years into his job and making about $65k a year and may I add he gets a company car that he doesn't have to buy gas for or pay insurance and gets to use it for personal use.

teaching is always an option, but if you don't love to teach...well I don't think its the best road.

 

[ecdoesit]

how do i get a job to teach?
what kinda teaching is avavilable for a b.s. degree?
like high school?

 

[Hot-n-Aml]

ecdoesit,

You first have to apply to teacher's college. It's usually a one year program, and then you can apply for job placements after you graduate.

Hot-n-Aml
_________________________________________________
UPitt, SDM, Class of 2007

 

[Balki]

I am not sure where you are from but teaching may be a great alternative. On the east coast, especially NY there is a scary scarcity of teaching staff. NY state will allow you to teach with the agreement that you get your master's degree in the next five years (NY state will even pay you). So it varies from state to state. I'd personally recommend master's program however. In biology you'll even get a stipend and be in an academic environment, where hopefully you'll raise your GPA and gain lab experience all of which should increase your chances of getting into Dental school. Another comment is my opinion that once out of school and working it becomes very difficult to go back, so need to consider that as well when thinking about teaching.

At any rate good luck.

 

[Comet208]

you can:

- beocme a Research Associate and move your way up

- Go to pharmacutical company and market the new medications to physicians (pays really well)

- get a masters in Public Health

- get your masters in Bio and teach

- get your MBA (can do lots with it)

- possibilities are endless for the willing.

good luck to you.

Comet

 

[FMLizard]

The big problem is that all of these options are extremely difficult to actually do in this economy with just a degree and without many years of experience.

It is basically impossible to get into pharm sales without at least 3-5 years of sales experience and an advanced degree.

Public Health may as well be Arabian Literature as far as usefulness to get a job.

Teaching is possible, but most areas in the country are laying off teachers as fast as they can and not hiring any new graduates until all the experienced slack is used up. To get a job, you will have to work somewhere very undesirable.

A MBA without years of experience isn't worth the paper it is printed on. The business job market is the worst it has been since the depression, and it shows no sign of improvement.

Go after dental school and never give up. Applying to D-school is wayyyyyy easier than landing any of these jobs that you mentioned, especially pharm sales or anything decent with a MBA.

 

[3rdMolarRoller]

About the MBA, that is not true at all. I just finished my MBA in the spring and there were many individuals that were hired before they even graduated with very limited experience. I even left a great job with citibank to go to dental school ( zero experience when I started).

Example, my buddy got a job as a VP in a chemical company with 0 years experience and still had 2 semesters to finish!!!

MBA opens many doors and is a very viable option if you do things correctly in school..ie network with the right people.

Oh yeah, make sure you go to a good accredited MBA program. I think last count there were 1100 mba programs and 600 or so were accredited. You will know the better schools bec they usually req an interview and have great job placement stats.

Last point, jobs are limited in some markets and abundent in others. Bec people are hiring MBA's left and right in Jacksonville, doesn't mean they are hiring in Boston at the same rate, if at all. So do some good research.

OK OK...one last point and its a negative. A person with an MBA only stays with one company for an avg of 5 years. I think that includes layoffs and voluntary change in companies.

 

[ecdoesit]

what's up with people who like to work?

assuming u plan to work full time till 65.
it is not a bad idea to go travel, especially before 4 yrs of ds.

i plan to work as a dentist (after ds) for the rest of my life.
so now i m working bcos i m curious about other working environment. I am not working for money. Though just doing something that i enjoy and feel appreciated.

Life is sweet.

 

[Centrum]

Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to travel. Myself included. It just isn't an option.

 

[UBTom]

Back while I was applying to dental school I also wondered what the hell I was going to do if I couldn't get in. None of the options looked particularly appealing. 😛

At that time I was working a full-time IT job at a university admissions office, right before the tech bubble burst. I was mentally steeling myself to try to fight and keep my job, maybe even take a pay cut to stay on as university staff so I can at least continue past my Masters in Biology with free tuition, and maybe a Ph.D. in the future. And even then that looked grim because I don't want to be on that publish-or-perish treadmill for the rest of my life.

Changing careers to something else was out of the question. I have no interest in law, business administration, accounting or other such fields. I do have an interest in astronomy and cosmology but there is also that publish-or-perish treadmill, and unless you are a bigwig distinguished professor who discovered or developed something to change the paradigm (on the order of Stephen Hawking, Sir Martin Rees or Lyman Spitzer), you ain't going to make much of a living.

I'm glad things worked out differently in early 2000 when I started receiving fat envelopes from the schools I applied to.. 😀

My suggestion for those who also don't find the alternatives appealing: Pray to St. Apollonia daily for lots and lots of fat envelopes.

 

[FMLizard]

I graduated from a top 10 undergrad business school and had zero offers. Heck, I only got one interview. There are a grand total of 4 MIS jobs posted this fall for 70 MIS majors who are graduating. The placement rate here last year was about 40%, and only about 27% in MIS, a program that was ranked #3 in the nation last year.

If it is happening somewhere, it sure isn't happening here. I always hear these stories of people getting these really high flying jobs in cool fields after completing a non-descript academic career at an average school, with no experience at all, yet I can't even get temp agencies to accept my resume without "office experience".

I did finally manage to get a temp job in mortgage, and my boss makes over $100K per year, and she is a DeVry graduate. Now, you could be a Harvard MBA and nobody will give you that initial break into a new career field. This is the major problem. The labor market is so horribly glutted that all new entrants get squeezed out and nobody will let anyone start their career.