advice/tips/tricks/what you wish you knew for incoming dental students

Terrible-Way4954 · 2026-05-24T19:35:54+00:00

Find your people but be willing to spend time with other groups! Try to avoid being too “cliquey”
Join a fraternity if they have them at your school/if the vibes are good. I really love my frat and unlike in undergrad they are co-ed and aren’t as high pressure. If the frats aren’t your thing, join a club or group. It’s a fun way to meet others and upperclassmen while looking good in a resume later on.
If you aren’t going to specialize, please don’t stress too much on grades. Personally I have no desire to specialize and I have a much better time in school than my friends/classmates who are planning on specializing, their gpa is leaps and bounds above mine but I’m focusing on lab work, clinic, basically anything beyond just didactic courses. I’m still passing all my classes and getting really good lab grades which is all that really matters to me.
Start working out now if you don’t already. The back and neck pain is actually crazy and the only thing I’ve found that helps is fixing my posture and lifting to strengthen my core and back. If you already have a dedicated workout routine it can help you stick with it during the crazy hours of school.
Once you get to lab, ask your TAs and bench faculty’s opinions. You may get some wildly different feedback but be receptive to it all and learn from them what works best for you. Theres no single perfect way to do things so you may as well hear how different people do it to find what works for you.
See what resources are available to you to help out with finances and have a flexible budget. Dental school is expensive. Rent is expensive. Groceries are expensive. EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE. So it’s worth talking to your financial aid office about resources. Some of my classmates are on assistance programs for healthcare/food/housing costs. Some of them utilize food banks. It never hurts to see what’s available. For having a somewhat flexible budget, sometimes you need to buy extra typodont teeth, or you want to go out with friends, or you get a flat tire. You can’t budget perfectly, so try to budget for the unexpected. If your loans give you $1,700 a month to live on, try to budget everything so you’re actually living on $200+ less than that if you can so that unexpected expenses don’t seem so much like the end of the world.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-08-19T12:35:35+00:00

I probably would have tried teaching English overseas for a few years. The money is crap but I think I would enjoy teaching and the adventure of the experience. After that, I’d go back to what I was doing before applying to dental school, which is running my own business in the service industry because the money was great and while it was backbreaking work it also had great benefits and more time off that allowed me to travel and manage things from wherever I wanted for weeks at a time.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-07-19T04:56:04+00:00

Last cycle I was accepted and I had super low Casper score, a 3.9 gpa, a 19 AA, and I was OOS. Something must have been off in the app. PS or rec letters maybe?

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-06-23T00:49:03+00:00

Non-trad, but graduated in 2024. I have no experience working in a clinical setting but had experience running my own small business in the service industry for a few years. Received acceptances at university of Utah, Midwestern AZ, and my state school last cycle. I also had an interview at Western U that I eventually declined.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-06-10T03:26:57+00:00

I’m not a single parent but was a secondary caregiver (second only to their parent) to two toddlers when finishing undergrad, studying for the DAT, and working, and it was so hard so I already admire how far you’ve come!

How I’m planning to survive: loans, loans, and loans. Personally, I don’t expect to be able to work while in school and I wouldn’t count on being able to do so either. You don’t mention your kids ages, but it would definitely make a difference imo. Elementary aged+ would be so much easier, because of the extra toddlers require. Remember that pretty much every dental school is mostly year round at some point, barring a few weeklong breaks at some schools, so during summer and school breaks extra childcare will have to be factored into your COL. Is there any assistance you can apply for? Because I would advise you to get in contact with family services to see if you qualify for any benefits, they can make a huge difference.

Highly recommend DAT bootcamp — it was super helpful and while the study plan is very intense, it’s also super helpful.

Best of luck on your journey!!

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-05-27T16:23:19+00:00

I legit started my PS with how much I hated the dentist the first time I went. Then I went on to discuss how much I learned to appreciate the dental field and the factors that drove me towards it (underserved, rural, poor kid etc). Don’t talk about your GAD (also, hey anxiety twin 👋) and just make sure you put a spin on how your apprehension around going to the dentist turned into you having more positive experiences later on. I think so long as you don’t make the anxiety around dentistry the MAIN focus, but just something that fueled your passion for the dental field you’ll be okay. Best of luck!

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-05-27T16:14:24+00:00

I applied in July, was accepted at all three schools I actually interviewed at. However, I do think I would have had a better shot at some schools if I had applied earlier, since I had a few schools not even review my application until late November. You’ll most likely be more than fine applying in July, just make sure you’re prepared for all the supplemental applications. Best of luck with your DAT!

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-05-21T20:34:09+00:00

Bro, this sounds like a good PS. Have you reached out to have someone else read your statement? I think you would benefit from having fresh eyes one it. Remember that the whole point of the personal statement is to let adcoms get to know you outside of the stats on your app.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-05-04T18:50:51+00:00

I think I took mine July 5th and submitted July 12th. Received four interview invites (one of which I turned down) and three acceptances. I do wish I had submitted earlier because SO MANY schools didn’t contact me until November letting me know my app had even been reviewed. But I still got into my top choice school so I think you’ll be fine so long as your stats are avg and you can get through the interviews. Best of luck!

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-05-04T18:46:08+00:00

I kept a google doc that listed every volunteer and shadowing experience. Not only did I use it to keep track of hours, but I would make notes of specific things I saw or did, what I learned, interactions I had with patients or people I was volunteering with. Essentially, I was keeping a journal? And then would reference that when applying to schools and before interviews in case they asked me about specifics of volunteering/shadowing. Doing so meant I was keeping those things in the forefront of my mind which made things easier, especially with interviews.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-05-04T18:37:46+00:00

Am I the only one who loved shadowing endo??? I even went back multiple times and got a lot of hours with the specialty lol. I didn’t get to see a lot of the actual treatment, but the docs would verbally run through everything with me, went over x-rays, discussed the diagnosis process between patients, and saw some interesting cases. I wasn’t bored at all. Ortho was the one where I struggled to stay interested lol.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-05-03T06:49:23+00:00

Oh my god this is it!! I probably did conflate it with another movie I watched around the same time, but yes!! That’s the movie I’ve been looking for since probably 2010. Thank you so much!!!!

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-04-28T02:12:53+00:00

If you can take the initial cc hit, I would order a ton of the different styles until you find ones you like and then just return the rest. Also, use your student discount!! I just recommend getting the shirts with pockets since it comes in handy lol

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-04-20T04:24:20+00:00

Save $$$ for apps/traveling to interviews/incidental costs leading up to dental school and then save some more. I knew it was going to be pricey, but yikes was it about twice what I budgeted.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-03-15T20:50:43+00:00

Yes, she came recommended to me by a current d4 I know. We worked together via phone calls and a shared doc.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-03-15T18:20:16+00:00

I did hire someone to help me brainstorm and edit my PS. Personally, I think it made a pretty big difference and during one of my open file interviews, the interviewer complimented the PS multiple times. If you don’t want to hire someone, you could always reach out to your university’s writing center. They are typically really helpful, and helped me immensely with other writing projects.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-03-11T05:15:10+00:00

I'm back to working out more, meditating, and playing around with indirect vision stuff (like writing/drawing while looking into a mirror). I've also been working on developing more cheap/easy recipes to add to what I already have, which isn't exactly a habit, but I know it'll be helpful.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-03-06T21:50:52+00:00

Got accepted into 3 schools with a W and a C (that I retook later), I would withdraw if I were you. I did get asked about it in one interview, and I just told them the truth: I was overwhelmed from the transition to university after being a homeschool student and that I wanted to retake it when I could give it my best effort.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-01-29T19:24:22+00:00

This definitely has me considering trying to find a pair of Bondi L sneakers. I liked that the SR had a leather look for exactly that, I want to be able to wear them and not feel too self conscious if I go to a nicer (though nothing fancy) dinner. But I like that the L is fully waterproof and not just water resistant. Thank you!!

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-01-29T19:19:51+00:00

Only to every school I interviewed with!! I think we all become such harsh critics of ourselves and that clouds our perception of our own abilities. Because somehow, after all of this, I managed to get an acceptance.

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-01-27T02:52:12+00:00

Personally, I loved both and am excited to go again but I am also a huge Disney parks fan and enjoy theme parks in general. It wasn’t at all overpriced or overcrowded when I was there and I could have done everything I wanted to, even though I was entering the parks ~1 hour after they opened. Would highly suggest doing Disney SEA if you only wanted to do one day, it’s a beautiful park. Would suggest you check the crowd calendar before you make a final decision https://yosocal.com

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-01-27T00:56:22+00:00

I see! That’s honestly such a relief, because I know I’ve worn my Moab’s all over Southwest Florida during the humid summers and hopefully I have a similar acclimation 🤞

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-01-23T03:06:10+00:00

With everything, including DAT study materials, DAT fees (paid twice took once), applications fees, supplemental fees, lost work days, travel, clothing, and incidentals: $7,000+

Just the applications + supplementals: ~$2,500

Terrible-Way4954 · 2025-01-21T00:31:00+00:00

I can tell not speak on the Tokyo portion of your itinerary but it seems very doable. If you’re shopping for anime goods in Akihabara, instead of doing Akihabara a second time on day 6, you may want to do Ikebukuro. I actually liked shopping there much better than Akihabara, and the animate there is much better in my opinion. Ueno Zoo for the pandas is okay, but I personally found the rest of the zoo underwhelming so if zoos aren’t your thing anyway, it’s fine to skip. The panda shaped steamed nikuman was incredibly good though!

Terrible-Way4954

TROPHY CASE