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[cooliyak]

Hey guys,

I'm currently a 3rd year undergrad who is seriously considering the switch from pre-med to pre-dental. Since I have been pre-med up until now, a lot of my ECs are more directly related to MD admissions such as about 200h of shadowing physicians, 2 years of part-time EMT work, 300h volunteering in an emergency room, etc.

I'm afraid this is going to make it look like I switched to pre-dental because I couldn't get into medical school, even though I won't have even applied to any medical schools. I'm going to start shadowing in the Dental field soon, so I should be able to get a 100h+ before applying, which is a start. Anyone else have a similar experience or can offer any advice?

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If you are doing it for the right reasons, you’ll be able to field any questions that come your way. Just move forward, shadow, and make sure that dentistry is really where you want to be.

 

[Cthuluhoop]

Hey guys,

I'm currently a 3rd year undergrad who is seriously considering the switch from pre-med to pre-dental. Since I have been pre-med up until now, a lot of my ECs are more directly related to MD admissions such as about 200h of shadowing physicians, 2 years of part-time EMT work, 300h volunteering in an emergency room, etc.

I'm afraid this is going to make it look like I switched to pre-dental because I couldn't get into medical school, even though I won't have even applied to any medical schools. I'm going to start shadowing in the Dental field soon, so I should be able to get a 100h+ before applying, which is a start. Anyone else have a similar experience or can offer any advice?

On the application there is a question that asks if you applied to any other health field's school, so it'll be clear you didn't apply to med school which is beneficial to you. Your medical related volunteering is fine too, it probably adds to your application if anything, but I would definitely try to get some dental related volunteering if you can.

The only problem I see is being able to convince a school that you truly are interested in the dental field and writing a convincing personal statement with only one semester of experience in the dental field. Are you trying to apply this cycle?

 

[Let me out!]

Many people go from medicine to dental, including myself. Don't worry about it.

There are several things to prepare for/with:

• There will most likely be questions as to why you switched during the interviews. Prepare a good answer to this. As you said, you do not want yourself to look like you are applying to dental schools because you couldn't get into a medical school. Getting interviews, given the right credentials and grades from you, will not be a problem. You just have to prepare the answers to such questions.
• Get some dental experiences done. Shadow dentists. For some schools, it is a requirement. For some, it is not. However, showing that you have a dental experience in your application will certainly boost your chances to get into a dental school regardless of it being a requirement. Some schools require both GP and specialist shadowing.
• Get some EC/volunteering in varying fields beside the medical field.
• Make sure that you love the dental work.

Good luck!

 

[dent_wannabe]

I think if you never applied to med school, then you can make a case for change of heart. If you do end up applying to med school, then that may potentially come to haunt you. I personally made the switch after an unsuccessful application to med school, and I think that has been a significant contributing factor to my unsuccessful cycle. If I were asked to explain it, I would say that I just figured out that medicine wasn't exactly my passion and knowing I wanted to go into the health professions, I initially went with medicine just because that seemed like what everyone was doing, and I didn't really think about what I personally wanted to do. But I don't think anything will be able to convince dental schools that not being able to get into med schools was not one of the reasons. Now the fact that I once applied is a black mark that I forever cannot erase.

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

I did the same thing, switched from med to dent because I liked the scope of practice more, lifestyle, business model, procedures, etc. My app had things that could go both ways (ER scribe, translator in surgical center, shadowed physicians) and so I highlighted the relevant things relating to dentistry, or patient care in general etc. It's less about what you did and more about how you can spin it so that it shows you were prepping for a life of patient care.
That said, make sure you have the dentally things done (shadowing chief among them). If you do a gap year, try to work as an assistant in a dental office or in a lab.

Again, dental school and the experience I have is so different from what it was shadowing, which is COMPLETELY different from what it will be practicing. So just make sure you're comfortable with mouths, beautiful and disgusting alike, and working with them every day for the rest of your life. That's what the shadowing really shows you before you go to school.

So long as you have decent grades and a decent DAT, you'll get in somewhere. The trick there is to ONLY apply to schools you would ACTUALLY attend if accepted to that school.

Have fun!

 

[Frychicken]

You’re not the first one to do so and certainly won’t be the last.

 

[flossadvocate]

That's completely normal. Dentistry and medicine go hand in hand, so it makes sense if the fields overlap. Now, preparing an answer as to WHY you switched and WHY dentistry is your question and one you have to think of. If your switching for the right reasons, your answer will come to you easy! Don't stress!