and why? i'm curious to see the paths that people weighed against dentistry before dentistry won.
what did you take off your list before choosing dentistry?
- Thread starter kamjah
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Quit graveyard shift at an all-night adult arcade, 1 week before D-school.
were you still in school for engineering when you made the switch? I'm a mechanical engineer and i've been working for 2 years. and i'm quite unsatisfied with how things are currently, and how they are looking for the future.
i'm curious to hear some of the thought processes people went through before switching
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I was a mechanical engineer, worked for a year with NASA before entering dental school.
i'm a a mechanical engineer as well. i've working for a power plant engineering company for about 2 years now. what made you wanna make the switch? i'm soul searching like a mad man and i just wanna prove to myself that i'm not just using dentistry as an escape.
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I was a business major and worked as a consultant for four years. I will be starting dental school Aug 2011!
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Astrophysics/space sciences. Spent about all of high school and a few month of college working towards going into astrophysics until I realized it wasn't really anything I wanted out of life besides a hobby (astronomy).
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Now if you said "astronaut" I'd have spanked you, because seriously, astronaut >>>>>> dentist, any day!
I was considering physician assistant (and giving up respiratory), but after working with them and talking to them in various departments, I decided I might end up unhappy and go back to medical school, which I didn't want to do to begin with; alternatively dentistry seemed like a good healthcare profession.
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In my life as an Air Force dentist I worked with a couple of guys that were pilots first and OMS second.
These guys were great to work with on the tough cases. When the stuff hit the fan they were cool and laid back and worked through it.
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Now if you said "astronaut" I'd have spanked you, because seriously, astronaut >>>>>> dentist, any day!
Nope, too tall.
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These were "career explorations" as a college student, rather than "career experiences," so do take these with a grain of salt
Editor: I interned part-time for a month and contemplated suicide every day. The whole time I felt like my 'job' could be done quicker and faster with a software application. Nearing the end of my internship, when I asked for expanded opportunities to see more of publishing, they took me upstairs to the Production center, where I found that indeed, all of my work was being double-checked, re-edited, and corrected by a computer program.
Teacher: I love teaching, but talking with [high school] teachers about the constant politics (the "parent-principal dance"), the workload, the [lack of] satisfaction, and watching the situation for educators nationally slide from bad to worse convinced me that this wasn't the way to go. University professors seem to have it pretty rough also, with openings for even a part-time professorship being extremely limited. On top of that, earning the DDS qualifies me (or puts me on the road towards) being faculty at a dental school or being part of the faculty practice, so going for Dentistry instead of Teaching actually allows me to be a "Teacher 2.0."
Doctor: Increasing politics, increasing public mistrust, increasing insurance craziness, decreasing professional autonomy. Increasingly the target of power-hungry attorneys, lotto lawsuits, and media looking for a quick story. Couple all of that with long hours and high stress, and you have a job that I was only interested in as an ideal from watching Scrubs, not a job that I want to hold down for 40-50 years. In years of shadowing, I found very few happy doctors that I could use as role models, and finally threw in the towel as a pre-med, because it got to be depressing just thinking about it.
Starcraft 2 or Video Game Professional: Even as a D1 I'm still contemplating this one, but I hear the duration of the career tends to be fairly short, so it's probably going to have to be professional Dentist, hobbyist gamer
---
Dentist: a mentally stimulating profession where you have the opportunities to: open your own practice, become faculty, specialize, do research, be an employee, work for the government, do overseas work, do charity work, do crazy things like open a dental practice inside of a fire truck.
Rated highly as a family-friendly job, full of happy and productive individuals that actually want to talk to you about Being a Dentist, instead of how they Hate Being a Doctor. High autonomy, good pay. Yes, that seems like a pretty darn good match for what I want to do for the years to come
Basically Dentistry felt like a good match in terms of "I could do this for 40 years," and it felt like I was opening doors instead of watching a ton of doors close on me.
Editor: I interned part-time for a month and contemplated suicide every day. The whole time I felt like my 'job' could be done quicker and faster with a software application. Nearing the end of my internship, when I asked for expanded opportunities to see more of publishing, they took me upstairs to the Production center, where I found that indeed, all of my work was being double-checked, re-edited, and corrected by a computer program.
Teacher: I love teaching, but talking with [high school] teachers about the constant politics (the "parent-principal dance"), the workload, the [lack of] satisfaction, and watching the situation for educators nationally slide from bad to worse convinced me that this wasn't the way to go. University professors seem to have it pretty rough also, with openings for even a part-time professorship being extremely limited. On top of that, earning the DDS qualifies me (or puts me on the road towards) being faculty at a dental school or being part of the faculty practice, so going for Dentistry instead of Teaching actually allows me to be a "Teacher 2.0."
Doctor: Increasing politics, increasing public mistrust, increasing insurance craziness, decreasing professional autonomy. Increasingly the target of power-hungry attorneys, lotto lawsuits, and media looking for a quick story. Couple all of that with long hours and high stress, and you have a job that I was only interested in as an ideal from watching Scrubs, not a job that I want to hold down for 40-50 years. In years of shadowing, I found very few happy doctors that I could use as role models, and finally threw in the towel as a pre-med, because it got to be depressing just thinking about it.
Starcraft 2 or Video Game Professional: Even as a D1 I'm still contemplating this one, but I hear the duration of the career tends to be fairly short, so it's probably going to have to be professional Dentist, hobbyist gamer
---
Dentist: a mentally stimulating profession where you have the opportunities to: open your own practice, become faculty, specialize, do research, be an employee, work for the government, do overseas work, do charity work, do crazy things like open a dental practice inside of a fire truck.
Rated highly as a family-friendly job, full of happy and productive individuals that actually want to talk to you about Being a Dentist, instead of how they Hate Being a Doctor. High autonomy, good pay. Yes, that seems like a pretty darn good match for what I want to do for the years to come
Basically Dentistry felt like a good match in terms of "I could do this for 40 years," and it felt like I was opening doors instead of watching a ton of doors close on me.
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Degree Masters in computer science. (interest: Software)
Did not like where my future was going. The reasons are mainly did not like working in the corporate office. Did not like the people who i was working with and especially did not like where the field is going. I know my future with/for(i am not willing to throw my colleagues under the train just to get a measly promotion or bonus, but they will throw me out into space for a managers pos.) computer science is not going to get me far in life. I not only have my experience in the field but a lot of my family members has forced me to look into other options since they themselves are in IT business. Which is a good thing because i was not satisfied with the options that i have in IT field. I shadowed a dentist and I do not regret my decision at all. The whole process just like everyone was very stressful but god willingly got though it.
No matter how many people were there to judge me for my decisions. I know in my heart i made a right one. Just the sense of achievement of just getting into dental schools was very satisfying and reassuring. This is my new dream and I am going to do everything that i can to get that dental degree.
PS: The company that i worked for has laid of many people when i left. and some of them god knows has 30 years of experience very brightest in the field have very hard time finding jobs. Even couple of my friends are trying to get part time MBA because they know whats at the end of the road
Did not like where my future was going. The reasons are mainly did not like working in the corporate office. Did not like the people who i was working with and especially did not like where the field is going. I know my future with/for(i am not willing to throw my colleagues under the train just to get a measly promotion or bonus, but they will throw me out into space for a managers pos.) computer science is not going to get me far in life. I not only have my experience in the field but a lot of my family members has forced me to look into other options since they themselves are in IT business. Which is a good thing because i was not satisfied with the options that i have in IT field. I shadowed a dentist and I do not regret my decision at all. The whole process just like everyone was very stressful but god willingly got though it.
No matter how many people were there to judge me for my decisions. I know in my heart i made a right one. Just the sense of achievement of just getting into dental schools was very satisfying and reassuring. This is my new dream and I am going to do everything that i can to get that dental degree.
PS: The company that i worked for has laid of many people when i left. and some of them god knows has 30 years of experience very brightest in the field have very hard time finding jobs. Even couple of my friends are trying to get part time MBA because they know whats at the end of the road
did you work as an engineer/science teacher before switching or was this a switch during school?
These were "career explorations" as a college student, rather than "career experiences," so do take these with a grain of salt
Editor: I interned part-time for a month and contemplated suicide every day. The whole time I felt like my 'job' could be done quicker and faster with a software application. Nearing the end of my internship, when I asked for expanded opportunities to see more of publishing, they took me upstairs to the Production center, where I found that indeed, all of my work was being double-checked, re-edited, and corrected by a computer program.
Teacher: I love teaching, but talking with [high school] teachers about the constant politics (the "parent-principal dance"), the workload, the [lack of] satisfaction, and watching the situation for educators nationally slide from bad to worse convinced me that this wasn't the way to go. University professors seem to have it pretty rough also, with openings for even a part-time professorship being extremely limited. On top of that, earning the DDS qualifies me (or puts me on the road towards) being faculty at a dental school or being part of the faculty practice, so going for Dentistry instead of Teaching actually allows me to be a "Teacher 2.0."
Doctor: Increasing politics, increasing public mistrust, increasing insurance craziness, decreasing professional autonomy. Increasingly the target of power-hungry attorneys, lotto lawsuits, and media looking for a quick story. Couple all of that with long hours and high stress, and you have a job that I was only interested in as an ideal from watching Scrubs, not a job that I want to hold down for 40-50 years. In years of shadowing, I found very few happy doctors that I could use as role models, and finally threw in the towel as a pre-med, because it got to be depressing just thinking about it.
Starcraft 2 or Video Game Professional: Even as a D1 I'm still contemplating this one, but I hear the duration of the career tends to be fairly short, so it's probably going to have to be professional Dentist, hobbyist gamer
---
Dentist: a mentally stimulating profession where you have the opportunities to: open your own practice, become faculty, specialize, do research, be an employee, work for the government, do overseas work, do charity work, do crazy things like open a dental practice inside of a fire truck.
Rated highly as a family-friendly job, full of happy and productive individuals that actually want to talk to you about Being a Dentist, instead of how they Hate Being a Doctor. High autonomy, good pay. Yes, that seems like a pretty darn good match for what I want to do for the years to come
Basically Dentistry felt like a good match in terms of "I could do this for 40 years," and it felt like I was opening doors instead of watching a ton of doors close on me.
thanks for the in-depth look into your thought process. your reasons for choosing dentistry definitely are what drew me to dentistry as well, but i'm trying to get a better understanding of the cons so i can ease my fears of making the right move.
and lol @ pro gamer. wouldn't that be the life? i have a friend who went pro for counter-strike. she made some dough and got free computers and stuff, but not enough to make a living.
we share a lot of the same thoughts on the corporate atmosphere. i don't doubt that people can find great satisfaction and pay in the tech/engineering field, but at the end of the day, i find too many things about the overall industry/environment that go against my work ethic/values.
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This is a similar reason for why I didn't pursue medicine but mine also included the fact that residencies are not required in dentistry and the residencies that there are already are not as intense as medical residencies. A MD without completing a residency can't do too much but a dentist w/o one can be okay.
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Cross off gynocologist or any womens and babies hospital cause i can't deal w/ babies dying (volunteered at NICU for 3 years). Loved anthropology but don't think i can make a living out of that (becoming my hobby. I minor in it). Physical therapy is cool but i have to redo two years of schooling before i can head into physical therapy. Love health care and dentistry fits me (independence). Problem solved
My mind wander a lot throughout the year so i finally had to make a decision. I knew i wanted dentistry since freshman year but I still had a bit of doubts. Shadowing helps stop that doubt.
I'm amazed at how many engineers are going into dental. I never knew that.
My mind wander a lot throughout the year so i finally had to make a decision
. I knew i wanted dentistry since freshman year but I still had a bit of doubts. Shadowing helps stop that doubt. I'm amazed at how many engineers are going into dental. I never knew that.
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I crossed off unemployment. It was a depressing job. Everyday searching, submitting resumes, etc.
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When I look back on my career search, one thing that sticks out in my mind is this: For most of the careers that I considered and then crossed off my list, I would have relied on an element of "luck" to get the job or jobs that I dreamed of.
Here's one example: academia. There are very few tenure-track jobs available, and I am somewhat picky about where I would like to live. If I could have been happy teaching at a community college in Idaho, I might have gone for a PhD. Realistically, though, I would only have been happy with the sort of job that very, very, very few PhDs actually get.
Another example: mental health. Unless I became a psychiatrist and did mostly medication management -- something I very much did NOT want to do -- I would likely have had to deal with things like poor reimbursement, odd and unpredictable hours, tons of student loan debt relative to income, and competition with tons of other practitioners in a field that is becoming increasingly saturated.
High school teaching? I only wanted a professor-type job at a good public or private school. That would not have been an entirely unrealistic goal, but it might have taken me decades of working at teaching jobs I didn't care for or even hated to get there.
Dentistry is about as predictable and reliable as any career field can be.
Here's one example: academia. There are very few tenure-track jobs available, and I am somewhat picky about where I would like to live. If I could have been happy teaching at a community college in Idaho, I might have gone for a PhD. Realistically, though, I would only have been happy with the sort of job that very, very, very few PhDs actually get.
Another example: mental health. Unless I became a psychiatrist and did mostly medication management -- something I very much did NOT want to do -- I would likely have had to deal with things like poor reimbursement, odd and unpredictable hours, tons of student loan debt relative to income, and competition with tons of other practitioners in a field that is becoming increasingly saturated.
High school teaching? I only wanted a professor-type job at a good public or private school. That would not have been an entirely unrealistic goal, but it might have taken me decades of working at teaching jobs I didn't care for or even hated to get there.
Dentistry is about as predictable and reliable as any career field can be.
I guess I'm another engineer to the list! I'm so mad at myself for wasting so much time pursuing engineering positions during the job slump. Is it just me or did a lot of engineering companies make you jump through so many hoops during the interview process. After shadowing I fell in love with dentistry and decided to pursue it by completing some of my prereqs. I'm so happy with my decision and can't wait to start D school.
I am currently accepted into a few med school, and have a seat paid/reserved at a wonderful school, however I have all but decided to back out and pursue dentistry. Sucks to think of tackling the DAT after all the hours on the MCAT, but as stated before, the hours, the lawyers, the government, the countless hours shadowing tons of doctors who aren't happy and advised me not to pursue the career, telling me they weren't letting their own children pursue it(in one ear - out the other at the time), the fact that med school is so ridiculous now the winner is determined by who can pop the most adderalls, all to have 4 years come down to 3 tests to determine what type of doctor you can become is simply ridiculous to me now.
EVERY dentist I have shadowed loves what they do. It is still stimulating, you have the opportunity to own your own practice, and most important to me, have a family one day and be a good parent who is involved. This has been the toughest decision for me, however I believe I am doing the right thing for me.
EVERY dentist I have shadowed loves what they do. It is still stimulating, you have the opportunity to own your own practice, and most important to me, have a family one day and be a good parent who is involved. This has been the toughest decision for me, however I believe I am doing the right thing for me.
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Good for you! It takes a lot of guts to turn down the security of an acceptance to med school in order to pursue something else. I wish you the best.
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If you did well on the MCAT, you will prob do well on the DAT....
I thought about med, but talked to about a dozen doc's who advised against med school, but all the dentists I talked to encouraged me.
Good Luck
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Incoming unsolicited advice!
Don't make the mistake of "I took the MCAT - the DAT will be easy". They're different: the DAT is a memorization test, whereas the MCAT is a comprehensive thinking test, but the fact remains that if you don't do the memorization, your test scores are doomed to mediocrity. The MCAT wasn't that bad for me, since I'm a fast reader who loves the material - the DAT was hell. I didn't memorize all the little details about fungus because I just didn't give a crap. Studying for the DAT is mostly about flash cards, but as long as you put in the time, you'll be fine.
Oh yeah, and prep your butt off for the PAT. I think my post-MCAT DAT studies were 80% PAT, 20% flash cards, and I turned out fine.
What you should be worried about, honestly, is your interview. If you do decide on this course of action, be ready to give a concise, non-waffly, non-b**chy, non-ranty, intelligent, maybe even slightly sexy (but not edgy), response to "Why did you decide to switch?", "Why dentistry?", "There are plenty of happy doctors, you know", and so on, so forth. A million hours of shadowing and assisting will help. Know (and be able to speak intelligently on) the difference between the environment at a "mill" and at a "boutique", and preferably be able to give an opinion on what you think about each.
I switched to dentistry after I took the MCAT and finished a few of my secondaries. I realized that I didn't really want the acceptances, and that I felt more like I was closing doors than opening doors. And every interview I went to, with the exception of NYU, I got grilled - politely, but firmly and repeatedly - on why I was switching. Conveying that kind of subtlety in a 15-20 second blurb was the most difficult thing I've done in my interviewing life, even prepped, and I feel like most of the time, they didn't believe me, and just assumed I was rejected from med school.
The fact that you're accepted may help or hurt you. Another question to prep for is "if you switched out of medicine after being 'sure' about medicine, how do we as admissions committee know that you're 'sure' about dentistry?"
If you're lucky, your interviewers will be chill like my NYU interviewer (my one acceptance). If you're not lucky (or extremely adroit with subtlety), they will hang around these points, disbelieving, for the entirety of the interview (like at Buffalo).
Good luck!
Thanks for the support, and any advice is always appreciated. PAT is my biggest fear, simply because it is so foreign, everything else I hope to tackle through many practice tests just like the MCAT. One school recommended Crack the Dat Pat and DAT destroyer, saying many of their students found success with those. I have an interview next week for a Dental Assistant job so I can know what I am talking about in the interview. If only I could get that 3 grand back for my med school seat!!!
--New York, I could not have put my feelings toward medicine into words as great as you did in that first post, the Dr's who hated it especially. I was accepted into a joint medical/Ph.D. program and I hate to leave that, but there are just as many opportunities with a dental degree. Thank you for the interview advice, but I hope they will be able to see I simply had a change of heart...
Oh and just for fun, my best friend (in third year of med school) yelled at me to remember the scene from the hangover, the doc at the ER picking on the dentist about not being a Dr., to which I said, true but both are Dr.'s and the Dentist is the one in Vegas who got with the stripper while the Doc was the one in the ER till 5 a.m.
--New York, I could not have put my feelings toward medicine into words as great as you did in that first post, the Dr's who hated it especially. I was accepted into a joint medical/Ph.D. program and I hate to leave that, but there are just as many opportunities with a dental degree. Thank you for the interview advice, but I hope they will be able to see I simply had a change of heart...
Oh and just for fun, my best friend (in third year of med school) yelled at me to remember the scene from the hangover, the doc at the ER picking on the dentist about not being a Dr., to which I said, true but both are Dr.'s and the Dentist is the one in Vegas who got with the stripper while the Doc was the one in the ER till 5 a.m.
