- Joined
- Mar 22, 2021
- Messages
- 2,934
- Reaction score
- 62
(sorry in advance for the long post, felt like a lot of context was needed).
I'm currently a second semester sophomore, and very worried that I decided to pursue dentistry (relatively) late. I was always interested in dentistry throughout childhood and high school, but once I reached college, I faced a lot of uncertainty in what I wanted to do in the future. The pandemic made this uncertainty worse, as my relatives that are dentists had a very rough time.
However, after shadowing a relative during winter break, I feel like I had been overthinking everything. My passion definitely lies in dentistry, and I had been pushing myself away because I thought it was too difficult or that I wasn't cut out for it. I've been feeling discouraged as I practically did nothing except focus on school these last 3 semesters.
At the moment, I have about a 3.7 cGPA, and have minimal (< 50) shadowing hours with a relative. I have contacted another dentist that will allow me to shadow during my breaks. No volunteering hours either, but starting some this semester. In addition, my major already requires me to participate in research to graduate, so I've been inquiring about opportunities that our advisors have recommended.
I guess I'm just worried about my prospects if I aim to apply the summer after I graduate. Since admissions typically like to see EC's carried out for a long time, I'm also just wondering if it would be a red flag that I'm starting almost halfway through my undergraduate years.
— Experts please respond to this post —
I'm currently a second semester sophomore, and very worried that I decided to pursue dentistry (relatively) late. I was always interested in dentistry throughout childhood and high school, but once I reached college, I faced a lot of uncertainty in what I wanted to do in the future. The pandemic made this uncertainty worse, as my relatives that are dentists had a very rough time.
However, after shadowing a relative during winter break, I feel like I had been overthinking everything. My passion definitely lies in dentistry, and I had been pushing myself away because I thought it was too difficult or that I wasn't cut out for it. I've been feeling discouraged as I practically did nothing except focus on school these last 3 semesters.
At the moment, I have about a 3.7 cGPA, and have minimal (< 50) shadowing hours with a relative. I have contacted another dentist that will allow me to shadow during my breaks. No volunteering hours either, but starting some this semester. In addition, my major already requires me to participate in research to graduate, so I've been inquiring about opportunities that our advisors have recommended.
I guess I'm just worried about my prospects if I aim to apply the summer after I graduate. Since admissions typically like to see EC's carried out for a long time, I'm also just wondering if it would be a red flag that I'm starting almost halfway through my undergraduate years.
— Experts please respond to this post —
Last edited by a moderator: