Dentistry as a Career

DENTISTRY AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MEDICINE

Dentistry offers an attractive alternative career for borderline premedical and preosteo-

pathic juniors. In such circumstances you should carefully evaluate whether dentistry is

of sufficient interest to you as an alternative career. If this is the case, you should con-

sider applying for admission to both medical and dental schools simultaneously at the

end of your junior year in college (although obviously not to both types of schools at the

same university). This can be done because admission requirements are almost identical

and the medical and dental aptitude tests are very similar. Students who apply to med-

ical and dental schools should inform their preprofessional advisory office of this fact so

that appropriate evaluations can be prepared.

Trying to gain admission to dental school with the intent of using this as an avenue

or lever to get into medical school, however, is self-defeating. Medical schools will not

be favorably impressed by an applicant who is taking a valuable dental class place and

is obviously using it primarily to aid his or her transfer from one professional school to

another. When such a student lacks a genuine interest in dentistry, he or she may also

end up wasting time and money in dental school.

If you fail to gain admission to medical school and did not apply to dental school in

your junior year, you can consider doing so in the senior year or even later. Dental

school admission committees are well aware that premedical or former premedical stu-

dents will also apply for admission to dental school. While they naturally prefer

"straight" predental majors, they know that many able and successful practicing dentists

were former premedical students.

Dentistry as a Career - Page 5