Path to Dentistry

Video Transcript

"I've always wanted to be a dentist. I've had family friends who were dentists, and stuff like that. I didn't have a lot of cavities growing up, but I went through orthodontics and braces and stuff, and realized I wanted to be a dentist. The way it started, pretty much you've got to make decent grades through high school and stuff, and then once I got through high school I decided to go to college. And the counselors there, they can pretty much direct you on where to go. There's pre-med, pre-dental, biology, biochemistry. And from there you could--I think I did about three years of undergrad. Then I took what they call the DAT--Dental Admissions Test. And what they're looking for is in certain areas you've got to score a certain percentile, and that's what dental schools look for. Not your grades, not your extracurricular activities, but what you score on this test. So, there's a lot of factors going in. I took the--I cleared as an undergrad, took the test, scored well in it, but I decided to stay and finish my degree, and take in the rest of college life, and ended up leaving college with two degrees in biology and biochemistry. Then went to Baylor Dental School from there. And spent the next four years there. So, total I ended up spending five years undergrad, four years at dental school, so nine years. There is some ways to do it in seven years. You can do it eight, or, you know, nine. It kind of depends how quickly you want to get in and get out, but I was taking my time."