So I’ll be starting college next fall and I am currently enrolling as a dental hygiene major. However I have always wanted to go to medical school and become a pediatrician or an OB/GYN, but I don’t think I could get into medical school with a dental hygiene degree and considering switching my major to Chemistry with emphasis in Biochemistry or Forensics. While I would also enjoy being a chemistry major, I’m worried about the job prospects I would have with a chemistry degree, since its prospects are not as high as a dental hygiene major from what I have heard. I also worry about going to medical school because of the inevitable loans I would have to take out. Someone help me out!!!
The first thing you need to do to shadow both physicians and dental hygienists to see which career you want to pursue.
I think you’re right that your chances of gaining admissions to med school will be diminished by a dental hygiene major. This is for several reasons–vocational health majors at many colleges take a different science sequence than do science majors. Unless the required science courses for dental hygiene majors are the same ones required for science majors, those classes will not deemed acceptable by med school admission committees. Also, vocational health majors seem to have a tougher time getting accepted to med school than more academic majors. In part this is because they tend to score lower on the MCAT than other majors. And in part because majoring in back-up career can cause adcoms to question your commitment to becoming a physician.
Chemistry like biology doesn’t have wonderful post-graduation employment prospects, but there are jobs available. Those jobs may not be in a location you desire or pay as much as you’d hope, but if you look hard enough, are willing to relocate, have good references and grades, you should be able to find an industrial or government job or a lab tech position. You can also do things during college as a chem major to make yourself more employable–things like learning some computer programming, developing technical writing and data analysis skills, and doing industry-based summer internships.
Med school is expensive and you will likely graduate with substantial debt. There’s no way around that. But most physicians are able to pay off their loans and live a comfortable, but not extravagant, life.
There are a few scholarship programs for primary care physicians (pediatricians are primary care physicians) that will either pay for med school or help repay your loans (up to $40,000/year) if you agree to work for at least 4 years in medically underserved area.
If you are worried about the cost of medical school, one of the smartest things you can do is to minimize your undergraduate loans so that you won’t have those adding to your debt load.