<p>hi I'm a highschool senior who will be graduating this year.
My dream is to go to harvard dental school after I graduate from
University of Maryland with a Chemistry major (pre-dental). And
I found this awesome dental assistance online program that I
could take online and become a dental assistance in a year!
My question is:
Should I become a dental assistance and get experiences by
working in a dental office ? ( would that help me to get into
harvard dental school ?)
Should I just study my ass off on DAT, and GPA because
those are more important factors in becoming a dentist?</p>
<p>My current GPA is 4.2 weighted
and My SAT score was 1920...
but I am willing to work extremely hard once I
get into University of Maryland and I'm not sure
whether I should work part time in dental office
while I'm studying in college... would that be
too difficult????</p>
<p>+++ any other useful tips in going to harvard dental school?</p>
<p>Yes. it would be beneficial to learn dental assisting…this experience would be a plus on your application for dental school, and while IN dental school, some experience will make your clinical experience feel less “foreign.” As far as Harvard, don’t hold your breath. Unless you are heavily into writing/research, you won’t be a good candidate.</p>
<p>My dentist/husband says a one-year online dental assisting course would be a huge waste of time, just get your schooling done. He and the other dentists in his practice prefer to train their own assistants rather than hire one from a training program and it wouldn’t be worth it to have an assistant for a short time. He’s had the same assistant for 20 years. The best thing to do would be find a dentist that will let you shadow him/her or do an unpaid internship or get a job in a dental lab. My kids have worked in his office doing things like pouring up models, trimming temporaries, chairside assisting, cleanup and running errands. They get paid but he wouldn’t pay anyone else to do it because it’s stuff other people can do that he is already paying. A couple other kids we know who want to go to dental school are doing unpaid internships with an organization in town who provides dental care to people who can’t afford it. I can’t remember the name of it but I’m sure there are organizations like that all over the country.</p>
<p>Some of the people dig through older threads and weigh in with their two cents forgetting/disregarding the date of the original post. 6 months late isn’t too bad… I’ve seen 2-3 year bumps.</p>
<p>There are definitely some great dental assisting programs that can help you get a lot of experience (like this one [Dental</a> Assisting - Index](<a href=“http://www.dbc.ca.gov/da_program/index.shtml]Dental”>http://www.dbc.ca.gov/da_program/index.shtml)). Also, working in an office will get you some great references for dental school, and you could even secure a job with them for when you graduate.
Another thing you may need to consider is the fact that getting into any dental school can be difficult, but Harvard may be even more so. Have a backup plan and consider your options. Sites like [Dental</a> Degree Programs: Become a Dentist or Dental Assistant](<a href=“http://dentaldegree.org/]Dental”>http://dentaldegree.org/) can help you with this research.
Good luck with everything!</p>