To be or Not to Be

[notsowisetooth]

---

Members do not see this ad.

So here's my problem.

Before committing myself and my parent's money to 4-6 year of dental school, I want to really make sure that being a dentist is what I want to do.

I am currently a rising sophomore at Penn, and so far have been on the whole pre-dental track until now but really want to really make a choice after this summer to either drop it or continue with it. This summer I'll be interning at this language institution in Korea.

A part of me wants to go into dentistry because of the chance to help people as well as to make money, but the other part of me is interested in economics, politics and that area (I'm planning on majoring in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, PPE for short)

One part of me tells me I should give up dentistry since I'm not a 100% committed to it, but the other part of me really wants to give it a try.


Any advice, words of wisdom, or stories on how you came to choose dentistry and teeth as a career? anything shall be much appreciated.

 

[jackbauer!]

get a job in the field.. maybe assisting. that will tell you 100% if dentistry is for you.

jb!🙂

 

[diane07]

Shadow a dentist.

Take some upper level division sciences and see if you can hack it.

On this forum, most individuals are predent so their opinions are biased towards the field. You need to do your own research in order to make an informed decision.

 

[xdianaax]

Agreed, don't jump into it if you feel you are not going to be 100% committed. Do what you really have a passion for, you're going to be doing it for the rest of your life. So take the above advice and shadow some dentists. If you find you're not all that interested, well, you know what to do. Best of luck!

 

[notsowisetooth]

I've been getting B's in my biology class..

would that be considered "being able to hack it?"

 

[wigglytooth]

I've been getting B's in my biology class..

would that be considered "being able to hack it?"

Since you're a nonscience major and not 100% into it right now, you may want to put it on the "middle" burner for awhile. You don't necessarily have to decide RIGHT now. What you should do is get some good shadowing experience (meaning consistent and at a few different places) and exposure to dentistry during the upcoming year. If you then decide you could be 100% committed to it (as opposed to something related to PPE), you could just take the rest of your science prereq's in a postbac program. B's are ok, but you want to make sure you can throw some A's in the mix too. If you find that you are spending more time on your PPE classes than your science classes, then doing the post bac program may be the best way to go to get the best grades you're capable of.

Penn has a pretty competitive post bac program that may be for you:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/CGS/postbac/premed/

If you give yourself more time to think about all of your options for a career, you may end up happier with a better chance of getting into the one you *really* want.

 

[notsowisetooth]

yea question about that the post-bac thing...
Do you know if I need to retake the science courses I took during my undergrad year if I do a post-bac?

 

[wigglytooth]

yea question about that the post-bac thing...
Do you know if I need to retake the science courses I took during my undergrad year if I do a post-bac?

It might depend on the type of program you're doing. You may want to shoot career services an e-mail to get the scoop on post-bac.

 

[tresbon]

Shadow a dentist.

Take some upper level division sciences and see if you can hack it.

On this forum, most individuals are predent so their opinions are biased towards the field. You need to do your own research in order to make an informed decision.

👍 advices.

 

[yorkiepoo]

shadow a dentist that gives you a close view.

volunteer doing assisting (try a hospital, mobile dental van)

look into the other professions that you are interested in.

realize that no matter what you want to go into, its going to take time, years of study, graduate programs, money, time, effort. No matter what it is- that is you want to excel in it.

consider time commitments- ie. dentists have far better hours than journalists, but journalists have more flexibility.

what courses do you enjoy more? science or politics? bio or econ?

think about it, relax, plan, execute... and if you change your mind, realize that you are only a 2nd year in college and that plenty of people nearly 2x your age change career paths and love their new profession, so consider youth to be a gift allowing you to explore your options.


Enjoy and good luck.

 

[yorkiepoo]

oh also, you also might be able to do all your pre reqs without doing a post bach if you can take some summer classes.