serious7 Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Well...i know im too young to be here and i know i have many years before I get to where I want to be....lol *-). I'm about to start grade 12 and I went through a lot of different choices in my life for a possible career. Up till last year I was really interested in becoming a chartered accountant..i did all the research on all the universities and the marks/courses needed to get in and I was well on my way in life but after taking grade 12 accounting (i went one year ahead) I just lost interest in that career altogether T.T. I felt it was too boring and I wasn't even motivated in the course as much as I am with physics/bio/chem...yeah its stupid for me to choose a career when im not even interested in it. I didn't want to go into the sciences because I felt discouraged about everyone going into it with hopes of becoming a doctor and making lots of money.. My teachers actually call my mom to tell her that I'm making a big mistake going into business when I'm doing well in the sciences ..sorry for the random talk i'll get serious now I decided to give my childhood dream a shot..dentistry lol! I dont feel as discouraged as i was before and I'm just going to go ahead and do it but I'm freaked out about the gpa requirements for undergrad. From what i hear, 3.7 gpa is a competitive number that i should aim for (p.s i dont even know how gpas work T.T). Which universities should I apply to after high school that will give me a good learning experience/help me attain that* gpa? Is 3.7 that hard to get? And what about back-up plan if I dont get into dentistry =(...? I currently reside in Toronto just so you know my location Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Wow - you are already light years ahead of your peers simply by looking into universities, finding premed101, and planning for your career this early. It's great - you're not too early at all. You're in your last year and it pays to be prepared and to know exactly what needs to be done right from the start of university. There are many different fields that you would probably be interested in if dentistry does not work out or if you change your mind. Medicine is the first to come to mind, it offers a lot of variety and options in terms of specialization and is a very challenging but rewarding career. Don't be fooled by the misconception that being a doctor will make you lots of money - dentists make a lot of money as well, sometimes more than some primary care physicians (especially family docs). Pharmacy is a pretty interesting profession as well, and it's closely related to medicine. Dentistry is another specialty within medicine as far as I'm concerned, so there you have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serious7 Posted July 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 im not into making money..thats the thing that discouraged me because i didnt want to be in a program where 90 percent of the class is only dreaming about making money -_-" i actually want to do some humanitarian work or something like my couzin she got her doctorate and now is volunteering her services in africa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modafinatic Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 It's great that you're looking at potential future professions. Dentistry is an excellent profession! But to be perfectly honest, I sort of disagree with the above poster. I don't see how answering the questions you're asking can possibly help you at the moment (no offense intended). Take it from someone who got into both medicine and dentistry: As a grade 12 student, what you want to be concentrating on now is developing really, really good study habits. Believe me, grades will take care of themselves if you have excellent study skills. And the university you attend will matter less because you'll be able to kick ass everywhere. And even if you don't get into dentistry, you'll probably be in a good position for pharmacy or any other profession that interests you. Come back to these forums later. All the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick90210 Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 In reality you are looking more at a 3.9 especially by the time you matriculate. But no it isn't too difficult. Focus on school, don't let first year BURN you. It is quite simple infact when you have a goal you are striving for. Your backup plan is going to be d-school in the States And yeah, one last thing. Don't put yourself through hardship you don't require. Don't take all the hardest courses and the toughest program if you plan to do dentistry. All the students in plan Biology will take your spot ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slick90210 Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 And you can't fool us about not wanting to make money. There is a reason you wanted to be a chartered accountant ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.BadVibes Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 yah i dont believe the money thing for a second either.....next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adversary Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Don't be too hard on the guy. You know, we spend 2 years with UBC Med students and along the way, I have met a number of them... and to be honest, money and social status are major factors in their career choice. This is NOT a problem. It's a choice and what motivated them to choose their career. Sure, it would be great if every doctor was a humanitarian, but they are just people like every one of us. All I hear is which specialty makes how much. In fact, a number of the MD profs that lecture comments about the lifestyle of their specialty. In all 2 years, I have only heard one MD speak about the joy of seeing their patients and that was in growth and development. I still remember the path MD. He told us to remember him when in the ER as he will be sleeping and that he unlike many others get to go home to eat dinner with his family. He mentioned for the med students to think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 im not into making money..thats the thing that discouraged me because i didnt want to be in a program where 90 percent of the class is only dreaming about making money -_-" i actually want to do some humanitarian work or something like my couzin she got her doctorate and now is volunteering her services in africa. That's very noble of you. If you are not interested in making money - that doesn't mean that you cannot enter into high paying professions. Physicians, especially primary care ones, can make a HUGE impact on people's lives, especially in impoverished regions of the world - you can contribute a lot to humanity as a doctor, if this is what your main goal is. That's not to take away from dentists either, you are also doing a lot for the public as well - but you should know that it is actually dentistry that attracts more people who are "dreaming about money". The lifestyle and working conditions are quite nice, the income is usually higher than a family docs, and you basically make most of your money from insurance companies - if somebody cannot afford to see you, well, they don't see you. In medicine, it's not like that. Dentistry is great and I hope I don't offend anyone (not looking to start a flame war), but the general public, including me (and I consider myself to be well informed of both professions), consider medicine to be more essential than dentistry. Medicine offers you more opportunities to make a bigger impact then dentistry. You have to go through a more intense educational path - and I'm referring to residency. Don't get me wrong, I know dentists are responsible for the oral health of the public, and in some cases - dentists do save lives as they will be the first to diagnose serious oral pathologies, they are the ones that fix up a severely deformed jaws, etc BUT, when you compare the overall day-to-day impact, you are making a more significant contribution as a physician. If you are not interested in making money - you can do wonders for people if you open up a dental practice that caters to those without insurance and who are below the poverty line...you can then charge patients discounted price. Will you be able to pay back your student debt? Your bank loan to open up your office? Your loan for your dental chair and other equipment? Probably not, so it's difficult not to think about money. It is also possible to go to Africa and perform humanitarian work as a dentist. You should look into social work or law (go into that field of law where you help the poor - you don't make much but you're doing a great deed) as well if you're looking to make an impact. Politics is another route to consider. Teaching is GREAT - definteily not a hhigh paying professionn, so you don't have to feel guilty about your income, and how much more can you do for society by educating and influence tomorrow's world? Very noble profession. Look into that. Financial planning is also another profession where you can make a huge impact on people's lives, but you'd be dealing and thinking about money all the time - just not your own. If you're not into making money, then you can do an even greater deed for humanity by providing your financial planning services at really discounted prices so that those from the lower economic strata can afford quality financial planning advice. Finally, the vast majority of people in medicine, by the time they apply or are in med school - already know that the pay is not that great and money is not really the primary motivation. The uninformed public may think that doctors are filthy rich and that people enter that profession for that reason but that is far from the truth. People know that medicine doens't pay that much, and when compared to dentistry, defintely doesn't pay that much for the working hours and conditions and years of schooling. Yet, medicine does have that prestige factor, the status - it's pretty much Status>Interest>Money for most med students (maybe 50/50 or 60/40 with Interest>Status>Money). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adversary Posted July 16, 2008 Report Share Posted July 16, 2008 Sorry for diverting the topic to med. I think Dr. Cave over at the premed section sum it best below with regards to medicine. I think his reasons are just fine. It's just a job, you don't have to be Mother Teresa to become a Doctor. I think what matters is that people who choose medicine as a career, whatever their motivations (non-maleficent of course) need to be dedicated enough to put in the hard work in training, and need to get enough personal satisfaction out of the job that they continue to improve their skills and knowledge and treat their patients well. If there weren't people going into medicine who were motivated by money and power then we would have a real shortage of surgeons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serious7 Posted July 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 And you can't fool us about not wanting to make money. There is a reason you wanted to be a chartered accountant ;-) i wanted to be a chartered accountant because it is way easier than medicine and I wanted to follow my mother's footsteps..shes a cga.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolio Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I feel for you, I'm in the exact same position. About to go into grade 12 and totally nervous about how I'm going to manage to be able to get these amazing grades and make it into dental school. Heck, I'm worried about which school to go into for undergrad, being that I really don't want to have to move and I'm not sure if the nearby universities are good enough. So if you would like to chat with someone, I'd love to freak out with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mare Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 I agree with Modafinatic...don't worry too much about which Undergrad school will get you the best shot at Dental School admission 3-5 years from now. Instead, focus on doing your work, attending and paying attention in classes, and doing your best. In my opinion, more often than not good grades will follow good study habits. Keep your options open. It is a good idea to take the necessary pre-reqs for Dental Schools (they're different depending on your Dental Schools of choice), but also a variety of other courses too - just in case your interests and/or career plans change along the way. I'm 100% for dentistry, I think it's a wonderful career with lots of different opportunities (many have been mentioned already)... but then again, I could be slightly biased Good luck! (I'm not worried about you though... just being here and asking such intelligent questions at this stage in your life leads me to believe you'll end up with a great career - whatever you end up pursuing!) M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 I agree with Modafinatic...don't worry too much about which Undergrad school will get you the best shot at Dental School admission 3-5 years from now. Instead, focus on doing your work, attending and paying attention in classes, and doing your best. In my opinion, more often than not good grades will follow good study habits. Keep your options open. It is a good idea to take the necessary pre-reqs for Dental Schools (they're different depending on your Dental Schools of choice), but also a variety of other courses too - just in case your interests and/or career plans change along the way. I'm 100% for dentistry, I think it's a wonderful career with lots of different opportunities (many have been mentioned already)... but then again, I could be slightly biased Good luck! (I'm not worried about you though... just being here and asking such intelligent questions at this stage in your life leads me to believe you'll end up with a great career - whatever you end up pursuing!) M Because I must... Your presence on these forums is promising like the above posters have said. However, what you are doing on these forums is poor. You shouldn't be asking how you can get into Dental School, but instead asking about Dentistry. Your quest for knowledge should go beyond the superficial "give me marks" but instead be "grade me fairly." Questions about what school increases one's odds of getting in should be replaced with where can I learn more about dentistry or who can I shadow in my town to learn more about the profession I will be spending the next 50 years of my life in. Don't focus on dentistry. Keep your options open and learn for learning. You are naive to think you know everything u need to know and/or are mature enough to pick your career path with this much certainty at this moment in time. Start thinking about Dental School after you are sure - not when you are in Grade 12. Pre-med syndrome is destructive and malignant (similar to Pre-dental). [i cringe when someone calls him or her self a pre-med or a pre-dent. They seem to do this more in the states. And smack the next person you see applying for medicine and also dentistry as a backup. Just for me.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contach Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 i wanted to be a chartered accountant because it is way easier than medicine and I wanted to follow my mother's footsteps..shes a cga.. That's awesome. Why take advantage of all the opportunities we are given by our parents and society when you can simply be what your parents are. Selection bias? I think soooo! I think one cause about career choices could be the simple question "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I've stopped asking children and peers this question for the simple reason: it's too hard to know when you are young. And with recent statistics reporting that people change their career path at least multiple times.. what more is that question than talk about the day's weather... Which, ironically, is probably more certain than one's career aspirations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutEast Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 I agree with both Mare and Contach. Like Mare said, good marks will come with good study habits, learn how to study in first year and the rest of university will be a breeze, just don't burn yourself first year. Like Contach said, trying to say you know what you want to do for sure when you are only going into grade 12 seems a little soon. When I was graduating high school I had a full ride lined up at a good arts university. Turns out I majored in Biochem and am headed to dental school next year. I think that you looking here now is a great idea but do try and keep your options open during your undergrad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarabidara Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 some may disagree with me, but my only advice for you if you want to go into dentistry is to choose an easier university. When I was in high school, I wanted to study genetics and so I went to UofT because of the good reputation of the school. But durig my second year, I decided to study dentistry, and honestly, going to UofT is the worst thing for someone who wants to go into medicine/dentistry. These schools do not care which university you did your undergrad in and it is a lot easier to go somewhere like Brock where you can get high marks much more easily than you can at some more prestigious universities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted July 21, 2008 Report Share Posted July 21, 2008 some may disagree with me, but my only advice for you if you want to go into dentistry is to choose an easier university. When I was in high school, I wanted to study genetics and so I went to UofT because of the good reputation of the school. But durig my second year, I decided to study dentistry, and honestly, going to UofT is the worst thing for someone who wants to go into medicine/dentistry. These schools do not care which university you did your undergrad in and it is a lot easier to go somewhere like Brock where you can get high marks much more easily than you can at some more prestigious universities. Very true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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