I am not going to tell you to stick with it or tell you to not pursue it. Only you really know what is best for you. I am only going to talk about ME.
Some here know this and some don't. This is NOT my first time in dental school. In college, I wanted to go to medical school. I wanted to be a surgeon. I loved all aspects of what a general surgeon was able to so as smaller hospitals in real small cities. They got to do a lot of very cool things. That really attracted me. But then I met this sweet gal whose father just happened to be the big shot neurosurgeon in the area. I really got to see what the lives of a surgeon really were like since I got to see their family plus many of the other surgeons when we went to social functions together. I soon realized that being a surgeon wasn't really for me sicne I wanted a family life. I began looking at my options outside medicine. I finally decided to pursue dentistry because I felt I could do it and all the dentists I knew had great family lives. So, dentistry is what I chose to do at the last minute. I did well in school. I did well on the DAT. I did end up getting into every school I applied to. In retrospect, that really didn't matter because I knew nothing about dentistry and did not have a passion for it. $40,000 and a year and a half later I ended up withdrawing from dental school because my heart was not there. I really didn't care about it. I only did what I needed to do to pass my classes. When I began to accept C's and realized I was more interested in partying than studying, that told me I didn't belong there. I withdrew the next day. I placed my application for a slot in the Navy's flight program. It took over a year, but I finally got into it. In the meantime, I had to work 2 full-time jobs to pay the loans off. (It wasn't until a year ago that I got the $40,000+ loan paid off.) Anyways, I wasn't ready for dental school. But what I didn't know is that I was meant for dentistry. A few years down the road, I was now married and had gotten injured during flight school at which they deemed my unfit to fly after I sustained a head injury (a big no-no for the aviation community.) So, I had to figure out where my career was going to go. Eventually, I decided to talk to my dentist friends on the aircraft carrier I was stationed on. I eventually began to get interested in it. After discussing things with my wife, we decided that I would give dental school another try. I ended up gettign off active duty to get ready for dental school. After getting off active duty but before applying to dental school, I met the director of the dental residency programs at Lackland Air Force Base. He let me come in and volunteer as an assistant. Because I was a Naval Officer, they treated me like an officer (and a dental student) even though I was doing the job of an enlisted person NOT in dental school. The residents taught me things about their specialty all the time. Everyday, I would come home telling my wife about all these cool thigns I learned that day. I couldn't wait to get back to the clinic the next day at 7 am and work until 4 pm for absolutely no pay! That is when I KNEW I was meant to be a dentist. By this point, I had grown up, had served as an officer on a Naval aircraft carrier during a time of war, had gotten married, etc. I had matured! In 1996, I really didn't belong in dental school. But, when I reapplied and was accepted to all the schools in 2006, I KNEW I wanted to be there. To this day, I LOVE going to school. Yes, exams suck and lectures can be very long, but I am so grateful to be here and in a profession that I LOVE!
My point is that don't necessarily give up on dentistry all together. Right now may not be your time, but there is some reso why you did pursue it. You just need to figure out what that reason is. You may choose that right now is not your time. That is fine. But don't ever just brush off dentistry unless you know for a fact that it is not what you were meant to do. One day, like me, you may decide to give it another try. Whe you do, hopefully, your heart and attitude towards dentistry will change as it did for me. Just because you cannot figure out why you cannot give a straightforward answer right now doesn't mean that you weren't meant to pursue it. Sometimes, it just means you need to find somethign for the meantime until you are shown the light.
I wish you success in finding out what is the right thing for you.
I have thought about going into Dentistry for a little over a year. I am finishing up my Senior year (bio major) as an undergrad and now I'm thinking about throwing it all away. I took my first DAT this past August and did very poor (16 AA & 16 TS). I submitted my app in June and paid all my additional fees from the 10 schools I applied to. (spent about $1600)
I already paid to retake the DAT on October 20th, but I believe it will be too late for the 2010 cycle and I just can't even imagine trying to study for it again. I spent months studying a bit on and off and about 3 weeks of hard studying.
People always ask me why I want to become a dentist and, to be honest, I can't give a straightforward answer. I decided to get in this field because I wanted to do something in the health field and this was just the only one that stood out. I would love to get into the forensics/criminology field but it's just a big step backwards. I feel if I don't accomplish this I would look like a failure to my family. (A lot of doctors and pharmacists in my family)
I'm just disappointed with myself and I can't picture myself being a dentist. I just don't know what to do with my life anymore after that devastating exam.
This thread was just a little venting for me. But if anyone has anything they would like to say that could help me it would be appreciated.
