the year off

[abina81]

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Hi guys,

It seems like I will be taking a year off before I start dental school. I was wondering if anyone is doing the same? If so what are your plans?

Also, for people who are in dental school and took a year off, what did you do?

hear from you guys soon

abina81

 

[wise146]

Hi, how are you doing? I took two years off before starting dental school. My time has been spent working full time. I have actually accumulated enough money now so that my debt will be less. I will probably take a month off before school starts to relax and brace myself.

 

[ecdoesit]

Same here. I am working full time.
Just trying to save some money to do a massive traveling trips before dental school starts. Also will spend a portion to the "emergency" fund. Just in case, anything happens in the next 4 years.

 

[trypmo]

Originally posted by abina81
Hi guys,

It seems like I will be taking a year off before I start dental school. I was wondering if anyone is doing the same? If so what are your plans?

Also, for people who are in dental school and took a year off, what did you do?

hear from you guys soon

abina81

Speaking not from direct experience but rather from what I would do if I were in your place, I'd probably start by volunteering in a couple different dental offices, see where I fit in the best, and if there's a job opening for a dental assistant (which, as I gather, requires no formal education per se) then spend my time doing that. If I needed money right away and didn't have the luxury of volunteering first, I'd apply for several dental assistant positions and choose the atmosphere that best suited my personality and goals.

It would be one way of making money (though not a huge amount) and getting experience at the same time to improve your chances for dent school admission:

* the experience you have (# hours worked in dental setting = enormous) would be a big plus on your application
* you'd be exposed to the day-to-day lifestyle of a dentist and could even start formulating your own strategies for when you become a dentist
* the dentist for whom you work would probably be happy to write you a letter of recommendation to dental school, which is a BIG PLUS to have on your app, as I understand
* if you haven't taken the DAT yet, having a nice 8 hr/day job would give you ample time for test preparation
* you'd also get exposure to whatever kind of specific dental work is done, and with this in mind think about what you might like to specialize in down the line.

Last I heard, dental assistants make around $13 per hour, which actually isn't that bad (depends on cost of living wherever you are). Can someone else verify/supplement/update/refute this?

Just my $0.15 (corrected for inflation, keeps going up every time) 🙂

Best of luck!!

 

[wise146]

where i live (long island) the going rate for dental assistants is around 7-10 dollars an hour and you have to compete with high school students for those positions.

 

[ecdoesit]

lol, we are college student, if not graduates.
please, is competition really that hard?

 

[trypmo]

Originally posted by wise146
where i live (long island) the going rate for dental assistants is around 7-10 dollars an hour and you have to compete with high school students for those positions.

Yeeeeeeks! I had no idea about that. Well, I quasi-retract my advice, pending further investigation on the part of the OP as to what might be available locally. I would think many dental offices would prefer assistants with a higher degree of maturity and would pay a little more for it; at least that's certainly going to be my position if/when I have a dental practice of my own!

 

[hardingsk]

I graduated last May and will start dental school this August. During my year off I have been working as a nanny for two small children for nearly 2K/mo. I tried to get a dental assistant job, but couldn't for two reasons. 1. I would have to be trained as I have never worked in a dental office before, and nobody wants to train someone they're just gonna lose in a few months. 2. The pay wasn't nearly as good as this childcare job I found in a ritzy part of town. I have tried to volunteer as much as possible though...and I have tons of time to surf the internet at work and learn all kinds of things about the dental profession! 🙂

 

[rsweeney]

I moved to NC, work and workout at the YMCA, and I will begin classes next week to be certified in the Outer Banks as a substitute teacher. My goal is to keep busy and stay productive. I will move from Duck, NC to Chapel Hill, NC on May 28th! I'll tell you what, though, I cannot wait until school starts!

 

[arns51]

I will have taken 2 years off before I go to school. Worked as a research assistant at the medical school near me and took free classes at the university which I'm entitled to because of my job.

I also tried to get a dental assisting job at first, however I had absolutely no luck because I wasnt trained and had no experience. also I believe the going rate was around 10$/hour.

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

Dude...travel...thats the best thing you can do when you are young and have no commitments.....its a no brainer....

and dont give me the excuse about money...I travelled to Central America during the summer for 5 weeks and spent only $700 dollars....of course I hitchiked back, so that cut down the cost, but add another $150 to that for a bus and you are golden!

If I had a year off, I would totally be nomadic, but thats just me!

 

[Sam Spade]

I also graduated in May and am enjoying my year between college and dental school. I've moved from New York to North Carolina and am doing research at the dental school that I will enter this fall. Echoing RSweeney, I can't wait to get back to school!

 

[maxell123]

I agree with some of you. Trying to find a dental assistant position is NOT easy, if not impossible for pre-dents.

These dentists know that you will be there for a short while, so they WILL NOT train anyone they are going to lose.


Any ideas?

 

[zimaad]

If you know where you want to go to school are will be going to school, you can move there and get a job at the dental school clinic. They always need people to sterilize instruments, do file work, etc. Pay may be crappy,but if it's a school you want to get into...exposure is great. The flip side is you have to watch every move you make as to not tick anyone off.

 

[KDBuff]

While I agree that assisting jobs are sometimes hard to come by, they can be found. Also, you have over a year before you start school, which should lessen the concern of someone who doesn't want to lose you right away.

As for me, it will be two years when I start. I took the first year and worked to save money, then went to Europe for two months. Now that I'm back, I've found a job as an assistant and have been working full time since august. I'm making $10 and hour, and it's only so low because I had no prior experience, and I'm working for a non-profit clinic. I could make more doing something else, but I think the experience is worth it. There are opportunities such as this everywhere. I've heard a lot of dentists don't want people eith experience because they want their assistants to do things their way, not how they learned somewhere else.

 

[zimaad]

YOu can also look in local newspapers in the want ads. I've seen multiple listing where I live for part-time or full-time help in dental offices...whether it be up front or assisting. One thing though, if you do want to assist..X-ray certification may help.

You could always take some dental lab tech classes at a local comm college or something too. Wouldn't hurt!

 

[Comet208]

On my year off, I take the time to practice on my Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan. Ok, gotta go practice!

 

[abina81]

sounds like some people got cool plans. I just want to take advantage of this time. Its really unique because this might be the last time you really have no major responsibilities such as school or work. I just want to fully utilize it. I am thinking about something super unique like train to run a marathon or something.

abina81

 

[hi-speed513]

I graduated from college this May and will be starting dental school fall of 2004 and just wanted to share my experiences with dental assisting. I took a dental assisting course over the summer and got my x-ray certification. In the course I took, I learned all of the basics-we practiced proper suctioning techniques, did alginate impressions on real people and learned a TON of other useful stuff such as infection control procedures, sterilization techniques, etc. I have worked in two dental offices, and these jobs I was lucky to come across because they had just suddenly lost staff without notification and were desperate for the help. I received a lot of on the job training and it was a wonderful experience to witness the everyday nitty gritty and the amount of work that goes into managing a dental practice. However, I would caution anyone not to underestimate the difficulty in finding a job just because you have a college degree because that did not help me in the slightest. Also, pay is not good. I made between $9 and $11 an hour, and that was WITH the prior training and x-ray certification. At one of my jobs I am NOT ALLOWED to take x-rays even though I am certified and I am NOT ALLOWED to even take alginate impressions!! (and this is not becuase I am bad at doing them, I have never been given the chance!) Remember also that some dentists are more friendly towards their staff than others. As a dental assistant new to the job, you are the last one on the office food chain, even after the potted plant! (j/k)Dentists, by nature, and especially successful ones, can be perfectionists and if you do something correctly but not EXACTLY the way they want it, they will yell at you in front of a patient and it can be VERY embarrassing. No one cares if you're a DMD minus 5 years and have a bachlor of science from a hot school. You are a dental assistant that just got ranked out in front of a patient. NOT fun. The other dental assistants will check your work because you are new and don't trust you. For instance, they will check the autoclave and make sure it's not still running at the end of the day when you told them 5 times you took care of it. (Seriously, it's not because I did something stupid on the job. I was very conscientious about learning everything and doing it well.) Would I do it all over again? In a heartbeat. The experience I gained was invaluable, especially with respect to interacting with patients. The dentist I work for usually sees 7-10 patients a day, and I am the one that gets to chat with them before the dentist comes in. I have had so many wonderful conversations and gotten to meet so many interesting people. I feel like I have made so many new friends. Even with the assistants that always check my work 🙂 We go out to lunch together and joke around with the dentist and have a grand old time. In this past year, I have learned so much about dentistry and now I am 100% sure it is for me. I would encourage anyone to become a dental assistant for the in-depth look at the profession it provides.

 

[predentchick]

Sometimes there are jobs for sterilization assistants that dentists don't mind having to hire without any training due to the high turnover. The office I assist at now has one. I would just ask the offices you apply at if they have that position. That could have been stated in the post above but it was way too long to read. 😴 🙂