I have a pile of lab work to do. I have an everest of FACS
data to churn through. AND, I have a thesis to write.
But that’s not what’s on my mind right now. I certainly came in to my lab this morning to pursue these tasks, but one thing has changed between then and now.
One e-mail. It could’ve been another clearance email from Barnes and Noble, or it could have been another email from my alma mater’s alumni association inviting me to some drab drink session I wouldn’t bother going to.
No.
This was different. Something wrong, something criminal upset the balance.
USyd is the culprit; provisional offer to the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) is the charge. I went to the University of Sydney in July to interview for the DMD as a practice run for the MMI (my previous interview experience is in the Semi-structured Interview format). I was hoping that this practice would help my interview from the GEMSAS consortium. The only problem? I didn’t get an interview offer!
My first reaction upon reading the email? Delight. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Dentistry hasn’t piqued my interest at one time or another; I’ve always considered dentistry as an extension of medicine rather than a separate entity. I must also confess, until now I considered the post-graduate dental programs as intellectually and prestigiously inferior to the medical programs. That was until I actually spoke to a dental student and was told of the ridiculously long hours they spend, especially in Year 1, studying the same material the med students have to and more. Further reading onto the DMD wetted my appetite for lab work procrastination, where I discovered the extensive research component of the course.
Before I go off enrolling into Dent and buying my golden plated retractors (if that’s what they use), I have to concede that my ultimate goal for 2013 was to be enrolled into a graduate medical program. Having relinquished an offer for 2012 entry to take on a year of honours research to try and better my GAMSAT for a University that wouldn’t require an upheaval of my personal life, I feel the offer for Dent is an omen, an opportunity to rectify the same mistake I made last year. Who am I to pick which course, let alone which university I choose to study? Just to be accepted should be an honour in itself!
But alas, there is a bigger issue at stake, and that is; what do I do with the next few years of my life? Despite the fact I will graduate at the end of this year with a Bachelor of Science (Honours ) degree which I can add to my undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree, I don’t think I envisioned my professional career to end up as an RA or in acadaemia. I have nothing against the two, I think they are both noble professions and by no account are they easy (quite the opposite, especially acadaemia!), I just think I saw myself dealing with people directly than with their molecular constituents.
As such, I have the following options to consider:
(1) I could decline the DMD offer, work as an RA next year whilst studying arduously for the AU GAMSAT 2013, and if necessary, UK GAMSAT 2013 to ensure I secure a GAMSAT score that will make me competitive for a graduate medical program I’d like to attend.
(2) I could continue my research studies and undertake a PhD. My lab supervisors have expressed a great interest in me continuing with a PhD, but it’s not a decision that one makes in haste. A PhD is realistically, a 4-year commitment of your life where you’ll be paid around the minimum wage mark (if you’re lucky) to get a result that may or may not have any clinical or biological significance. If I was going to consider studying for 4 more years, at least the DMD would reward me with a degree that could get me a lucrative job upon graduation
(3) I could accept the DMD offer and be conferred a dental degree 4 years later. Presumably, this is the most sensible choice as;
(i) with the trends for graduate health science admissions on the increase and more schools moving to the Melbourne model, the competition to get a spot at any of the graduate programs is a perennial challenge in itself,
(ii) I could get some of the basic life sciences covered and improve my logical and clinical reasoning by having to critically assess information as a clinician, even if that may be a dentist (although Med & Dent are two different degrees, I’m sure that the critical and logical reasoning skills you develop in either are transferrable). Furthermore, I could still apply for a medical degree after my dental degree (if I feel that dentistry isn’t my passion) and support myself with part-time dental work rather than rely on government benefits. Furthermore, the possession of both degrees would make me eligible to pursue a specialty in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (should I choose to pursue that path), which you can’t pursue if you only have a medical degree.
Either way, at this point the DMD sounds like the most sensible choice. Some may read this blog and think I’m just settling on dentistry because I wasn’t good enough to get a medical interview. I like to think of it as me taste-testing different career paths before I settle on one. I am 23, which to some may seem old, but is relatively young in the grand scheme of things. If I was to pursue both dent and med, and still hope to specialize in either, I wouldn’t be a fully fledged consultant until I reached my late 30’s/early 40’s. Given that the median age of retirement for specialists is around 65 (don’t have the data but its on Pubmed somewhere..trust me :) ), 25 years of practice doesn’t sound too bad considering I would have ended up in a profession I was passionate about rather than one I merely fell into.
If you feel that every year missed on a potential graduate medical place feels like another year wasted, please heed the words of the visionary Steve Jobs (R.I.P):
But that’s not what’s on my mind right now. I certainly came in to my lab this morning to pursue these tasks, but one thing has changed between then and now.
One e-mail. It could’ve been another clearance email from Barnes and Noble, or it could have been another email from my alma mater’s alumni association inviting me to some drab drink session I wouldn’t bother going to.
No.
This was different. Something wrong, something criminal upset the balance.
USyd is the culprit; provisional offer to the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) is the charge. I went to the University of Sydney in July to interview for the DMD as a practice run for the MMI (my previous interview experience is in the Semi-structured Interview format). I was hoping that this practice would help my interview from the GEMSAS consortium. The only problem? I didn’t get an interview offer!
My first reaction upon reading the email? Delight. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that Dentistry hasn’t piqued my interest at one time or another; I’ve always considered dentistry as an extension of medicine rather than a separate entity. I must also confess, until now I considered the post-graduate dental programs as intellectually and prestigiously inferior to the medical programs. That was until I actually spoke to a dental student and was told of the ridiculously long hours they spend, especially in Year 1, studying the same material the med students have to and more. Further reading onto the DMD wetted my appetite for lab work procrastination, where I discovered the extensive research component of the course.
Before I go off enrolling into Dent and buying my golden plated retractors (if that’s what they use), I have to concede that my ultimate goal for 2013 was to be enrolled into a graduate medical program. Having relinquished an offer for 2012 entry to take on a year of honours research to try and better my GAMSAT for a University that wouldn’t require an upheaval of my personal life, I feel the offer for Dent is an omen, an opportunity to rectify the same mistake I made last year. Who am I to pick which course, let alone which university I choose to study? Just to be accepted should be an honour in itself!
But alas, there is a bigger issue at stake, and that is; what do I do with the next few years of my life? Despite the fact I will graduate at the end of this year with a Bachelor of Science (Honours ) degree which I can add to my undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree, I don’t think I envisioned my professional career to end up as an RA or in acadaemia. I have nothing against the two, I think they are both noble professions and by no account are they easy (quite the opposite, especially acadaemia!), I just think I saw myself dealing with people directly than with their molecular constituents.
As such, I have the following options to consider:
(1) I could decline the DMD offer, work as an RA next year whilst studying arduously for the AU GAMSAT 2013, and if necessary, UK GAMSAT 2013 to ensure I secure a GAMSAT score that will make me competitive for a graduate medical program I’d like to attend.
(2) I could continue my research studies and undertake a PhD. My lab supervisors have expressed a great interest in me continuing with a PhD, but it’s not a decision that one makes in haste. A PhD is realistically, a 4-year commitment of your life where you’ll be paid around the minimum wage mark (if you’re lucky) to get a result that may or may not have any clinical or biological significance. If I was going to consider studying for 4 more years, at least the DMD would reward me with a degree that could get me a lucrative job upon graduation
(3) I could accept the DMD offer and be conferred a dental degree 4 years later. Presumably, this is the most sensible choice as;
(i) with the trends for graduate health science admissions on the increase and more schools moving to the Melbourne model, the competition to get a spot at any of the graduate programs is a perennial challenge in itself,
(ii) I could get some of the basic life sciences covered and improve my logical and clinical reasoning by having to critically assess information as a clinician, even if that may be a dentist (although Med & Dent are two different degrees, I’m sure that the critical and logical reasoning skills you develop in either are transferrable). Furthermore, I could still apply for a medical degree after my dental degree (if I feel that dentistry isn’t my passion) and support myself with part-time dental work rather than rely on government benefits. Furthermore, the possession of both degrees would make me eligible to pursue a specialty in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (should I choose to pursue that path), which you can’t pursue if you only have a medical degree.
Either way, at this point the DMD sounds like the most sensible choice. Some may read this blog and think I’m just settling on dentistry because I wasn’t good enough to get a medical interview. I like to think of it as me taste-testing different career paths before I settle on one. I am 23, which to some may seem old, but is relatively young in the grand scheme of things. If I was to pursue both dent and med, and still hope to specialize in either, I wouldn’t be a fully fledged consultant until I reached my late 30’s/early 40’s. Given that the median age of retirement for specialists is around 65 (don’t have the data but its on Pubmed somewhere..trust me :) ), 25 years of practice doesn’t sound too bad considering I would have ended up in a profession I was passionate about rather than one I merely fell into.
If you feel that every year missed on a potential graduate medical place feels like another year wasted, please heed the words of the visionary Steve Jobs (R.I.P):
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Your indecisive blogger,
MTC
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