eziam zirash
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- Aug 18, 2023
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Hey Guys! I wanted to come here and ask for your opinions on how to proceed with my dental school application. Since I graduated high-school, I knew I wanted to work in a health related field for the opportunities it would provide to help people physically and mentally, the ability to work in a field that applied hand work (working manually and using your hands in surgical related work), and the stability the job position would provide. After starting my freshman year of college, COVID came and practically ruined all my chances when it came to shadowing both Medical and Dental fields. I reached out to all of the dental clinics around me in 2020, 2021 and again in 2022 when COVID started cooling down but no clinic was willing to take in students for shadowing purposes due to health liabilities. I was able to shadow virtually (online) both fields and honestly speaking, I found dentistry boring when compared to to the different medical surgical specialties. I kind of knew what to expect when it came to working as a medical physician but didnt really know whether I would enjoy the everyday job of a dentist. With my junior year coming to an end, I felt the pressure to just choose one and go with it and figure things out along the way. I ended up applying to medical school and got accepted. At this time, I was still unsure on how to proceed and I decided on reaching out to dental clinics out of my state with the hopes of being offfered a shadowing postion to finalize my choice and not regret commiting myself to a life long career I would later on hate waking up to. I was able to shadow a general dentist as well as an orthodontist and I started to like the dental more and more as I spent time shadowing while getting to know the dentists everyday work schedule, time-off, and dental mission trips opportunities that these dentist took part in annually helping hundreds of patients in thrid world countries. I ended up deffereing the acceptances from medical school as I saw that the dental field contained the manual work in every specialty (including general dentistry), had the stablility I was looking for job wise, balanced life style, and opprotunites to do charity work in many different aspects of the dental field. I continued shadowing and was able to land a Dental Assisting position at a free dental clinic that helps and treats the underserved community in my city. While I do regret being undecisive with my career choices (mind you I was 16 when I started College and overwhelmed by the choices available to choose from), I now know that the dental field is what I want to pursue after I was able to see its different aspects. COVID really took a toll on me when it came to shadowing opportunities and I wish I was able to shadow both fields prior to making any decision. I took the DAT and got a 20AA (20TC) and have both shadowing and dental assisting hours as well as volunteering and an undergraduate research thesis. I read online that schools tend to look down on previous health related school applicants but I also heard of many students that were in a similar situation as me and were able to get accepted into dental school. I am unsure of how to include this part my dental school journey in my personal statement and would really appreciate any advice from dental students that are/were in a situation like this or know how to proceed. Thank you so much for your time!
A piece of advice to anyone who is unsure of ANY career/field to pursue (health related or not), MAKE SURE TO SHADOW ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST to get a sense of what you will be doing for the rest of your life.
A piece of advice to anyone who is unsure of ANY career/field to pursue (health related or not), MAKE SURE TO SHADOW ALL FIELDS OF INTEREST to get a sense of what you will be doing for the rest of your life.
