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- Dec 1, 2013
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- Dentist
Well, it's that time of year again. The weather is warming, people wear less clothing, allergies are in full swing, and thousands of predents hit the boards in preparation for their applications to their "dream school".
All of the above are great, but as I reflect on my own experience applying to dental school, I feel I should give some advice:
1) Don't post a "chance me" thread without having taken the DAT. Your GPA may be insane, or it may be in the toilet, or you could have created a new type of resin bonding in a UG lab, or whatever. Until you've taken all the metric steps, we can offer no actual concrete advice on your situation. It doesn't matter what your practice exam scores are, or what you are "aiming for" (no one tries to get a low score on this thing guys). Take the test, get your score, then ask for advice on your situation.
2) When choosing schools to apply to, don't choose a school you wouldn't be happy attending *even if it's your safety school*. Period. Every year these threads fill with some accepted predent who is now asking "should I reject an acceptance and apply again" because they got into a school they wouldn't actually be happy attending due to cost, location, etc. Don't be dumb, and do your research.
3) Listen to experience, and remember that you probably know next to nothing. You've never been a dentist before. Sure, maybe you worked in an office, or lab, or perhaps you're one of the many in who's family veins flows the "thrill to drill". Good for you, you still know next to nothing. I throw myself in that boat too. So when you defend your opinion with one anecdotal experience, and five, six, seven other experienced doctors are on here telling you otherwise, maybe you should take what you have heard with a cup or two, or maybe a Costco serving of salt.
4) Run the numbers. This has to do with #2, and #3, because often people just don't understand how much debt is incurred and how it stays with you. I still don't get it completely, but that's why I went HPSP. You need to have a handle on debt, and what that looks like when you want to buy a practice, house, car, kid, happiness, etc and you're already up to 300k+ (on the low end these days) for a piece of paper saying you can work in a person's mouth for the rest of your life.
5) Beware the rainbows and butterflies. Every so often people start posting with questions about a tough situation/stats/application, and there are always one or two people who come on and say "if you believe, it'll happen". That probably worked great for elementary school when we all wanted to be firemen(women) or the president of the US, but that's really not how D-School works. Again, we all have heard of the anecdotal outliers of a new grad who pulled down 400k first year, or a gal who got in to a Texas school OS with a 2.7, or whatever. Just know that these cases, though they may exist, are NOT the norm, so it's important to have real perspective on things pertaining to school and the career that awaits you after.
6) Beware the nay-sayers. As a flip side to #5, don't give credence to every single negative thing you hear here. We are all different with different backgrounds, so take what you hear here, and do what YOU want with it (Don't get me started on the "my parents want me to do X but I want to do Y" thing. Are you an adult or what?).
Anyway hopefully the above helps. Good luck to you all. Make good choices.
-BFT
All of the above are great, but as I reflect on my own experience applying to dental school, I feel I should give some advice:
1) Don't post a "chance me" thread without having taken the DAT. Your GPA may be insane, or it may be in the toilet, or you could have created a new type of resin bonding in a UG lab, or whatever. Until you've taken all the metric steps, we can offer no actual concrete advice on your situation. It doesn't matter what your practice exam scores are, or what you are "aiming for" (no one tries to get a low score on this thing guys). Take the test, get your score, then ask for advice on your situation.
2) When choosing schools to apply to, don't choose a school you wouldn't be happy attending *even if it's your safety school*. Period. Every year these threads fill with some accepted predent who is now asking "should I reject an acceptance and apply again" because they got into a school they wouldn't actually be happy attending due to cost, location, etc. Don't be dumb, and do your research.
3) Listen to experience, and remember that you probably know next to nothing. You've never been a dentist before. Sure, maybe you worked in an office, or lab, or perhaps you're one of the many in who's family veins flows the "thrill to drill". Good for you, you still know next to nothing. I throw myself in that boat too. So when you defend your opinion with one anecdotal experience, and five, six, seven other experienced doctors are on here telling you otherwise, maybe you should take what you have heard with a cup or two, or maybe a Costco serving of salt.
4) Run the numbers. This has to do with #2, and #3, because often people just don't understand how much debt is incurred and how it stays with you. I still don't get it completely, but that's why I went HPSP. You need to have a handle on debt, and what that looks like when you want to buy a practice, house, car, kid, happiness, etc and you're already up to 300k+ (on the low end these days) for a piece of paper saying you can work in a person's mouth for the rest of your life.
5) Beware the rainbows and butterflies. Every so often people start posting with questions about a tough situation/stats/application, and there are always one or two people who come on and say "if you believe, it'll happen". That probably worked great for elementary school when we all wanted to be firemen(women) or the president of the US, but that's really not how D-School works. Again, we all have heard of the anecdotal outliers of a new grad who pulled down 400k first year, or a gal who got in to a Texas school OS with a 2.7, or whatever. Just know that these cases, though they may exist, are NOT the norm, so it's important to have real perspective on things pertaining to school and the career that awaits you after.
6) Beware the nay-sayers. As a flip side to #5, don't give credence to every single negative thing you hear here. We are all different with different backgrounds, so take what you hear here, and do what YOU want with it (Don't get me started on the "my parents want me to do X but I want to do Y" thing. Are you an adult or what?).
Anyway hopefully the above helps. Good luck to you all. Make good choices.
-BFT
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