DrStudentDentist

This is a frequent topic of interest on the SDN forum and usually takes the form of “Which school? State school X or Private School Y?” I, myself, never had to ask or answer that question as I 1) had my eyes on UOP from Day 1 and 2) didn’t get interviews from my state schools or any public schools for that matter.

I’ve posted my thoughts on the issue a few times on the boards. I’ve read individual situations and, at that time, gave the best advice I could. Others have posted and of course, opinions were divided. I didn’t think too much about it until I happened onto this article, What to do in college to be successful in your career by Penelope Trunk. Although she writes about college and not dental school, a few of her points are still applicable. In it she writes,

3. Don’t take on debt that is too limiting.
This is not a reference to online gambling, although it could be. This is about choosing a state school over a pricey private school. Almost everyone agrees you can get a great education at an inexpensive school. So in many cases the debt from a private school is more career-limiting than the lack of brand name on your diploma.

I’ve been fortunate enough have been able to go through my undergraduate years without debt. However these past few weeks of living at home without a job has given me a lot of time to think about money and what that means to me. For those who haven’t sat down to think about this, I’d urge you to do so.

My ex-boyfriend used to say, “money doesn’t buy happiness but it does buy you the things that get you there”. For some that may be material things like a nice house; others, something less tangible, maybe a stress free life. After some thought, I realized that for me, it’s about buying the time in my life to have other pursuits outside of dentistry.

What does all this have to do with your state school vs private school? Simply, money matters. For a while, I didn’t want to think this was a good enough reason to pick a state school. Instead, things like how a person “feels” at a school and the weather seemed more important. My reasoning, when I posted, was that if one doesn’t enjoy their dental school experience then they might not want to continue pursuing dentistry. I’ve come to realize that debt in the amounts that private school would put a person in would cause even more stress over a longer period of time than dumpy weather. It can also, as Penelope Trunk wrote, be “career-limiting”.

Then again, this is still a matter of personal choice. I’m merely giving the reader some more to mull about and hopefully show that life doesn’t end after the ecstasy of December 1st. If you ask me, though, I would have picked UOP no matter what but again, this is a moot point.

This is an interview with Dr. Lippman, DDS. He’s the assistant Dean of Admissions at Nova Southeastern University. In this interview, Dr. Lippman goes into things like what he and his staff look for in a potential student, extracurriculars, red flags, research, etc. It’s worth reading through.

Any other advice or tips on the application process?

The best advice I can give is to apply early!

I echo his answer as the best advice you can take during applying.

You can read the interview here: 20 Questions with Dr. Lippman, DDS

There are lots of places I could start. In fact, I started writing in reverse chronology like in Memento but opted to start where all good starts start, the beginning.

I can’t say I always wanted to be a dentist. The only thing I did know was that I wanted to provide a service. It wasn’t until I started working at my step-father’s dental office in 2003 that I began to see dentistry as a viable career choice. For all my life, I had seen dentists as television and movies set out to portray them. When I began working with actual dentists, that stereotype was shattered. I wanted to do what they did but how to get there was the million dollar question.

I wasn’t really committed to dentistry until the fall semester of 2005 and it reflected in my grades. I didn’t know that then. To me, I had poor grades but couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong. Family troubles, an external locus of control mindset, a lousy record, and being able to mooch off my parents culminated in a general sense of apathy. I didn’t see why or how I needed to change while I continued to trudge onwards towards the mirage of getting into dental school. I had already taken all my prerequisite courses with B’s and C’s. There was also a D or two speckled in there for variety. Aside from the A’s I got as a freshmen and another I got in a summer business 101 class, my grades were that of a low B student.

Then during fall 2005, my senior year, I registered for physiology. This was my second upper division biology course; the first was microbiology and I earned myself a C+. I was a psychology major with a B and C in General Bio 1 and 2, respectively. Also, at my undergraduate school, this is rumored to be a tough course. It was. The professor was a huge b*llbuster and he liked to write exams asking for the most incorrect answer. With only 20 questions per exam, it wasn’t hard to have points lopped off left and right. I respected him right away. That wasn’t enough to get me to care, though, and I ended up with a 60 on the first exam. That was supposed to be the easy one. Then the second exam rolled around and I got a 30. With a lot of things in my life pointing to the fact that the only direction I was headed was to McDonald’s School of Burgers, a soul driving, passivity crushing discontent began to brew in my gut. I hated how things were going, the feeling of having little control over my life, and knowing I would never reach my dream of anything professional, let alone dental school. With that, I came to realize I just needed to start doing something, anything at all since there really wasn’t any place to go but up.

After my grade of 30, I spent some quality time with my good friend, box o’Kleenex. I made up my mind to not only not fail but to get an A in the course. I probably knew that was absurd with a 60 and a 30 but I set the lofty absurd goal anyways. My thought was, aim for the stars because even if I don’t get there, I’d still be amongst the clouds. I put everything into that class, really truly studying for the first time. It was different to say the least. For the third and final exam, I ended up with an 80. I walked out of that course with an A-. Later that week, I overslept and missed my a 200 level psychology final. I walked out with a C+ in that class. Baby steps.

With my appetite whetted, for Spring 2006, I signed up for as many upper division science courses I could see myself confidently handle. SuperC from the SDN forum once wrote about his academic turnaround and said, “… go big or go home…”. I made that my motto for getting into dental school. I knew if I could show that despite my lackluster performances of years past, I was capable of performing on par or better than those who’ve performed steadily then I had a good shot. And if not, I’d keep going until they noticed me. I put in another good semester with 2 As and 2 A-s in the upper division biology courses and a B- in my psychology statistics class. For the first time since freshmen year, I made the Dean’s List. For me, that was a big accomplishment and a notch in my academic bedpost. Confidence +1. I wasn’t overly excited since one great semester does not an awesome applicant make.

For the summer of 2006, I set out to apply and take the DAT. There was no point in pussy footing since I didn’t know what the outcome would be if I tried but I knew exactly what it would be if I didn’t. I studied like fiend, took my DATs and scored in the 99.9 percentile for my total science (TS) and 99.6 percentile for my academic average (AA). I applied and the rejections started piling up. In the end, I was interviewed at Columbia and University of Maryland. I was rejected from the former on December 1st and wait-listed then rejected from the latter.

I continued onto another year of undergrad and set out to show that I could do well and be consistent with my results. I did just that and reapplied later that year. I ended up with five interviews, one with the school of my dreams. I was accepted into my top choice, University of the Pacific, and now I’m waiting to start.