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Any questions about US dental schools?


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17 minutes ago, Flipperoni said:

How difficult is it to get your TN visa initially? And is renewing any easier?

TN visas don't have an annual limit like H1B and GCs do so you'll be able to get it renewed or apply for a new one quite easily. The difficult part is not securing the visa or getting renewal, its finding an employer to take you on as an associate. It's easier for them to hire local US perm residents or citizens. Some people that I know found it difficult initially with dental owners being reluctant to bring a Canadian dentist on TN but that's not always the case. As long as you're flexible with practicing in different states/areas, you'll find someone willing to take you on and then the TN/renewal stuff is smooth sailing.

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Hello, thanks for starting up this thread! 

Did you do a residency after graduating? If yes, how did you decide you wanted to do one and/or what factors did you look at in a program? If not, how did you decide you weren't going to do one and what were you looking for in a first job? 

What influenced your decision to stay in the US rather than going back to Canada to find work? 

Thanks in advance! 

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Thank you for starting this thread. I am also a Canadian (studying at UofT... wish I went to Western!!!) and I will be applying to US dental schools next year. I don't know anyone who's been accepted to US dental schools so I don't really have a good idea of what it takes exactly for a Canadian to get into a school like Case Western (which I am aware accepts quite a good number of Canadians every year). I have some questions for you:

1. As I am finishing up my undergrad, I am still wondering whether or not I am a competitive applicant- I am currently sitting at 3.55 cGPA. Could you please share with us what your GPA/DAT scores were if you still remember them? 

2. I've had a couple semesters in my undergrad where I took less than the ideal course load of 5 courses per semester... But I've read a couple times on these forums that this doesn't matter for US dental school applicants (or at least not as much compared to those applying to Canadian dental schools). Would you say that this is true?

I would appreciate some guidance. Also, I hope your hard work in dental school and undergrad is paying off. Thanks :)

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On 3/24/2018 at 7:35 PM, dental925 said:

Hello, thanks for starting up this thread! 

Did you do a residency after graduating? If yes, how did you decide you wanted to do one and/or what factors did you look at in a program? If not, how did you decide you weren't going to do one and what were you looking for in a first job? 

What influenced your decision to stay in the US rather than going back to Canada to find work? 

Thanks in advance! 

Hello!

I did not do a residency. I wanted to work right away. I would have to say paying the loans had a big part in my decision. I wanted a job that had another dentist who could mentor me. Surprisingly, there are a lot of jobs offering to give mentorship. 

I would have to say that since I did all the American board exams, it would be worthwhile to stay in the US :) . 

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On 3/30/2018 at 8:09 PM, chittychittybang said:

Thank you for starting this thread. I am also a Canadian (studying at UofT... wish I went to Western!!!) and I will be applying to US dental schools next year. I don't know anyone who's been accepted to US dental schools so I don't really have a good idea of what it takes exactly for a Canadian to get into a school like Case Western (which I am aware accepts quite a good number of Canadians every year). I have some questions for you:

1. As I am finishing up my undergrad, I am still wondering whether or not I am a competitive applicant- I am currently sitting at 3.55 cGPA. Could you please share with us what your GPA/DAT scores were if you still remember them? 

2. I've had a couple semesters in my undergrad where I took less than the ideal course load of 5 courses per semester... But I've read a couple times on these forums that this doesn't matter for US dental school applicants (or at least not as much compared to those applying to Canadian dental schools). Would you say that this is true?

I would appreciate some guidance. Also, I hope your hard work in dental school and undergrad is paying off. Thanks :)

1. I had 3.6 American cGPA. As for my American DAT from what I remember, I had 23 Math, 21 Chem, 21 Bio, 18 PAT, 19 Reading. 

2. The course load does not matter in the US!

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56 minutes ago, malkynn said:

Personally, I wouldn’t choose dentistry if it were to cost me over 400K in a time when the industry is hurting, associate salaries are dropping in over saturated cities, interest rates are rising, clinic prices are insanely high, and overhead just seems to keep growing. It feels like a pot about to boil over.

Add to that the changes in corporate taxes here in Canada...

Nope. I wouldn’t do it, especially if I were the primary bread winner and if I wanted kids. 

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, I’m just saying you need to be realistic about the sacrifices that are necessary to do it and that it’s very reasonable for a partner not to be okay with those sacrifices and that you may have to decide between dentistry and your partner. 

Take this from someone who has had an abnormally lucrative, abnormally cushy, and abnormally comfortable dental career so far in my first 5 years, so I’m not speaking from a place of discouraged cynicism:

it’s a brutally hard job and you will slave hard for every dollar you make and for many years you will just give that money away to the government and to the bank and will only keep a small portion for yourself, which will quickly be given back to the bank/gov for the most part for your mortgage and car payment(s) and property taxes, etc...

Think carefully before committing to that plan for many many years. Even the best dentistry job can start to not feel worth it in those circumstances. 

Thanks for contributing your point of view! In you opinion, what is a dental degree worth, in terms of money? I mean what's the maximum cost/debt you would say is reasonable for this career? 

I think for a lot of us who ask ourselves these questions about debt are those who are looking for options outside of Canada where the tuition is quite high. So although none of us here want to get indebted, it seems like the only option when committed to dentistry. Anyways for me it feels like that since I don't really have a plan B for it and can't seem to find any other careers I might enjoy as much...

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3 hours ago, malkynn said:

Personally, I wouldn’t choose dentistry if it were to cost me over 400K in a time when the industry is hurting, associate salaries are dropping in over saturated cities, interest rates are rising, clinic prices are insanely high, and overhead just seems to keep growing. It feels like a pot about to boil over.

Add to that the changes in corporate taxes here in Canada...

Nope. I wouldn’t do it, especially if I were the primary bread winner and if I wanted kids. 

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it, I’m just saying you need to be realistic about the sacrifices that are necessary to do it and that it’s very reasonable for a partner not to be okay with those sacrifices and that you may have to decide between dentistry and your partner. 

Take this from someone who has had an abnormally lucrative, abnormally cushy, and abnormally comfortable dental career so far in my first 5 years, so I’m not speaking from a place of discouraged cynicism:

it’s a brutally hard job and you will slave hard for every dollar you make and for many years you will just give that money away to the government and to the bank and will only keep a small portion for yourself, which will quickly be given back to the bank/gov for the most part for your mortgage and car payment(s) and property taxes, etc...

Think carefully before committing to that plan for many many years. Even the best dentistry job can start to not feel worth it in those circumstances. 

Not sure what part of the US you went too but it’s definitely not like that in most places. I’ve met, shadowed and even spent a great amount of time in the states and they’re doing way better than recent Canadian grads. Add the new tax laws and they are making real good money to pay their debts down. Don’t discount the US market, and the lower cost of living with a business friendly environment can help dentists make good income. Dentistry is a good career but definitely I agree it is taxing on your body and it’s not for everyone. 

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On 4/4/2018 at 1:00 PM, malkynn said:

... students tend to get distracted by what kind of job they can get right out of school, rather than what kind of career they might be able to generate if they put in the 4 years and insane work that dental school takes. 

Dingdingding.

Anyone actually considering spending half a million dollars to become a dentist just wants to stay in school and have some sort of 'guarantee' of a stable, solid, forthright and obvious career/path when they finish.

That doesn't exist. Not even in dentistry.

Colour me a cynist but I think most people pondering this are looking for the answer of, "Definitely do it, totally worth it, wouldn't have done anything differently, debt was a cinch to pay back, it's a drop in the bucket!" I just think it's hard to find people who will say that unequivocally.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/6/2018 at 4:19 AM, jhkoreacanada said:

1) I would have to say the quality of education varies greatly from school to school. However, I am very happy with the education I received from Case Western. The minimum requirement when I was in clinic was at least 8 arches of removables, 4 endos, 40 direct restorations, 6 units of crowns, 40 extractions. Most people do a lot more than the requirements. I know someone who did at least 12 arches of removables, 4 endos, 300 direct restorations, 12 units of crowns, 50 extractions. 

2) We have 24 hours access to the sim lab. Our card allows us to access the sim lab any time we want.

3) They are very helpful. My class at Case Western consisted of 75 people. I would have to say that pre-clinic, there was roughly 1 instructor for 7-8 students. In clinic, it is 1 instructor for 12-13 students. Case Western was really cool because in 3 and 4th year, you get assigned to 2 doctors. One doctor comes in Monday, Wednesday and the other doctor comes in Tuesday and Thursday (alternating Fridays). You get to treatment plan with each doctor and do treatment. It is so nice to be paired up this way because you get consistency. Also, you understand how different doctors treatment plan differently.

 

I also graduated in 2016 but from Detroit Mercy. Our graduation requirements is almost the same as yours except ours was 5 canals. I think just 4-5 endos and 6 crowns is severely lacking though. I did 5 canals and 8 crowns. That's not enough especially compared with previous classes when they did a lot more. 

I don't know about Case Western but in Detroit Mercy, we had a grad Endo department that sucked in all the "good endo" cases from the dental students.  I was disappointed that molar endo was not a requirement in Detroit because I found that in the real world after graduation, a lot of places that hire want you to be able to do molar endo. It was tough for me at the beginning, and I had to take some CE courses to make up for the shitty endo experience I got from dental school. Whereas, it seems like in Canadian schools (I know UBC) requires you do molar endo to graduate.  

 

That is good that you took the American boards (CDCA) exam.  I did too. It's nice to keep your options open. I wrote both American and Canadian boards and worked (and currently work) in Canada right after graduation.  But who knows, I may decide to work in the States in the future. 

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On 3/30/2018 at 5:09 PM, chittychittybang said:

Thank you for starting this thread. I am also a Canadian (studying at UofT... wish I went to Western!!!) and I will be applying to US dental schools next year. I don't know anyone who's been accepted to US dental schools so I don't really have a good idea of what it takes exactly for a Canadian to get into a school like Case Western (which I am aware accepts quite a good number of Canadians every year). I have some questions for you:

1. As I am finishing up my undergrad, I am still wondering whether or not I am a competitive applicant- I am currently sitting at 3.55 cGPA. Could you please share with us what your GPA/DAT scores were if you still remember them? 

2. I've had a couple semesters in my undergrad where I took less than the ideal course load of 5 courses per semester... But I've read a couple times on these forums that this doesn't matter for US dental school applicants (or at least not as much compared to those applying to Canadian dental schools). Would you say that this is true?

I would appreciate some guidance. Also, I hope your hard work in dental school and undergrad is paying off. Thanks :)

 

I'm Canadian but also went to an American dental school (Detroit Mercy). I also graduated in 2016, but can answer your questions as well.

1. My GPA was pretty much similar to yours (about 3.60). I don't remember my DAT scores, but I did take both American and Canadian DAT. I don't remember my scores, but I did remember that I bombed the soap carving (got a 14, lol). 

2.  Absolutely does not matter in the US.  I think as long it's at least 4 courses per semester, you're good. 

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On 4/14/2018 at 11:43 PM, Mauricio45 said:

 

I'm Canadian but also went to an American dental school (Detroit Mercy). I also graduated in 2016, but can answer your questions as well.

1. My GPA was pretty much similar to yours (about 3.60). I don't remember my DAT scores, but I did take both American and Canadian DAT. I don't remember my scores, but I did remember that I bombed the soap carving (got a 14, lol). 

2.  Absolutely does not matter in the US.  I think as long it's at least 4 courses per semester, you're good. 

 

On 4/2/2018 at 8:41 PM, jhkoreacanada said:

1. I had 3.6 American cGPA. As for my American DAT from what I remember, I had 23 Math, 21 Chem, 21 Bio, 18 PAT, 19 Reading. 

2. The course load does not matter in the US!

Thank you both! Feels good to get feedback from people who have been in my shoes. Cheers

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/5/2018 at 10:29 PM, jhkoreacanada said:

Hello everyone,

I graduated from Western in 2012 and went onto Case Western (Cleveland, Ohio) in the US for dental school.

I graduated in 2016 and have been working in Ohio as a dentist.

I know that this forum has been really helpful to me, so I really wanted to give back.

Please let me know if any of you has questions about US dental schools. I will do my best to reply in a timely manner. 

If we had an option to either attend US dental school or improve our application for Canadian dental school. Which one would you recommend? Coming to US or taking a year off to improve our stats.

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I would still go to US dental school. 

For me, it was really nice to be able to go to US school. I thought that my education was worth the money. There are many opportunities to work as a dentist in the US. 

Yes, finance is a big factor. When I was going to school the Canadian dollar was 1:1 so it was really worth it. But now with the currency as it is, it is a completely different situation. I'm not sure if I will re-do it if the currency was what it is now.

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