Too late to switch to dentistry?

[Simon18]

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Hello everybody, I recently graduated from Syracuse University undergraduate majoring in CPA Accounting and am now about to begin my Master's program for Accounting this fall. I started my freshman undergraduate year as a pre-dental student, but switched to accounting because I am interested in both accounting and dentistry. Now that I am almost done with accounting, I would love to go back to school and pursue my interest in dentistry. I still have about two years but I would like to start preparing and planning out what I need to do in order to get into dental school.
Since I did not graduate as a science major will I have less of a chance to be considered for dental school? I graduated with only a 3.1 undergraduate, so even if I do good in my science classes that I plan to take at a 4 year city college, will the 3.1 nonscience GPA hurt me or will my undergraduate GPA not be looked at since it is a totally different major from dentistry?

These are the steps I plan to take in order to reach where I want to go:

1. Summer 2010: Pass 2 parts of CPA exam
2. Fall - Spring 2011: Graduate from Master's Program
3. Summer 2011: Pass other 2 parts of CPA exam
4. Fall- Spring 2012: Work 1 year in accounting field to be certified as a CPA
5. Take prerequisite classes (Chemistry, Physics, Orgo) for 2 years or hopefully less if I take summer classes as well. Shadow a dentist.
6. Prepare for DAT

Any additional advice, tips, guidance, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Simon-

 

[razorback2009]

Still plenty of time to get back into the dentistry side of things...

You should move this thread to the Pre-Dent forum though.

Only one concern... most dental schools require you to take your science classes (i.e.- organic, gen chem, physics, biology) at a four year accredited university, so be sure to check on that.

Otherwise, good luck 👍

 

[Huggies]

You're in a tough spot. But if you truly want to be a dentist, why spend two yrs doing your masters/work. By the time you're done w/ that and then 2yrs for your science courses, may take you another 4yrs before you can start dental school.
Programs may wonder why you're making the switch, after such a specialized masters program, to a completely different field.
I wouldn't worry about your gpa, but you would have to do really well in your science courses, b/c that will tell schools whether you can do well in dentistry.

If you don't mind it taking so long, you can follow your plan, but I would just skip the masters. That's what I did, was in the exact same spot, now I'm glad I didn't waste 2yrs on grad school. It was risky not to do masters, b/c it would give me a job, should I have failed. But luckily committing to what I loved paid off, and I got in. I think it'd be different if you were doing masters in biology or physiology, but accounting??? May go against you a bit, w/ some schools.

Good luck w/ whatever decision you make.

 

[DrReo]

I agree with Huggies, with regards to getting the masters degree. If you really want to do dentistry, pull the trigger now- not later.

Also, shadow a dentist now, not next year, to give some insight if dentistry is what you want to do. Although shadowing is superficial, it does have some benefit. The earlier you start, the more commitment will be shown on your application.

 

[Pedosmakebank]

I agree with Huggies, with regards to getting the masters degree. If you really want to do dentistry, pull the trigger now- not later.

Also, shadow a dentist now, not next year, to give some insight if dentistry is what you want to do. Although shadowing is superficial, it does have some benefit. The earlier you start, the more commitment will be shown on your application.

+1 Another in agreement with huggies and lance.

 

[DMD 4 Me]

Yea, I would drop the accounting masters as well. Dental school is going to sink you into more debt then you want to be in to begin with. Why add more to the pile with grad school for a degree you won't use.

The only reason I can see for doing this is if you are afraid you won't make it into dental school. IF that happens, then you can go back to accounting.

Spend your time taking the pre-rec's, preping for the DAT, and shadowing

Bio 1 and Bio 2 both with labs
Chem 1 and Chem 2 both with labs
OChem 1 and OChem 2 both with labs
Physics 1 and Physics 2 both with labs

With a 3.1 GPA you have to kill the DAT AND kill those pre-recs. I would also suggest taking some upper division science classes too like biochem, cell bio, physiology, and microbio

 

[FutureDent020]

If you choose to spend all the time and effort obtaining your CPA just continue down that road. There are plenty of financial opportunities ahead of you as well as job security. Like others said, if you choose to complete your maters and get your CPA, don't also pursue dentistry. And if you have a passion for dentistry then don't bother with all the accounting titles.

 

[Simon18]

Thanks for all the great advice everybody. My original thought was that I could do the masters and get the CPA since I've already spent my whole undergraduate doing Accounting and even if I spend two years completing masters and CPA I'll be 23 years old, 24 or 25 after science prerequisites (have some sciences under my belt already because I started as a premed major in college) with a strong accounting backup in case my path to dentistry fails. I also thought that being a CPA would offer me some financial knowledge, enough for me to run my own clinic in the future. After having read all of your posts, I am starting to realize that I may be wasting my time with accounting and am going to have to reevaluate my plan and weigh my options again.

I agree with what many of you said, being that it would be better to choose one or the other.