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Journey to dental school (ongoing) (1 Viewer)

mrteeson

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Jul 13, 2011
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Hi there bosesr!
I have decided to make this thread about my journey to hopefully become a dentist, what inspired me to do this is from my close friends and family members who I have inspired throughout my lifetime in high school and early undergraduate years. The purpose of this is to give an insight to those who are also passionate for a certain degree or just curious what it feels like to put all hope and dreams on one pathway. So here goes nothing…

About me
My name is Tyson Nguyen (yeah I knew he be Asian…), currently studying in 3rd year medical science at UYSD. I graduated from De LaSalle Bankstown an all boys school with an ATAR of 85, which is where my passion for becoming a dentist grew exponentially.
It’s funny how I want to become something that requires high order of critical thinking, exquisite communication skills with people and only 70 domestic students from a possible of 5000 applicants are chosen from the dental faculty annually. Im not a bright student, never was. My marks in primary was poor, my highschool marks was mostly below average where people even picked me to become the threshold for the cohort or the “juxtaposition” to the dux of my cohort. My grades atm in uni is an average pass from intense studying, and I know you need average gpa of 5.5 to get to the MMI stage interview. So for me its really hard to get into DMD, especially at my current performance, but I don’t easily give up.

Where did the motivation come from?

It came when I told the world what I wanted to do out of school which I could remember the laughter that filled the classroom during year 10 mathematics class “Good joke Tyson”, “ I can only imagine this guy at most doing accounting”. It really got me, when people laughed and told me my dream is off limits and was just plain stupid. But then I realised this happens to pretty much everyone’s dream and passion where the society just shits on your hope and tells you to bend over and obey what it says. This is when my motivation was at its peak and I started to sacrifice almost everything I had, such as relationship (it was complicated anyways), my hobby as a shuffler and bboy dancer, anime and games.

My new lifestyle was just plain studying, this meant waking up at 5am start doing chapter reviews before school, revise during my lunch breaks and after school go to Bankstown library and study past paper till it closed (but this was obviously a bad habit). My results from this commitment did show when I got my HSC marks and got ranked 1 for standard English, especially coming from a below average guy who was ranked around 50 in the cohort and jumped to the top 10.

Although my life atm has improved greatly and is much healthier in terms of balance between studying and socialising. I am seeing my girlfriend and friends almost every week and on the days I’m not I would wake up around 7am and go to usyd library to study every day. I am still having trouble to keep up with the standards the DMD want. But my main reason of why I wanted to become a dentist kept me going at stressful times such as now as I am preparing for the GAMSAT which is less than 2months.

How I can describe this kind of motivation is that I would listen to motivational music usually Japanese ost from drama or anime besides the obvious final fantasy ost on my way to the library. This is where I will get a vision of my future if I made it (pretty much me in the dental Sydney hospital helping patients) and this really gets me pumped to work hard everyday even though its so painful to go through pointless subjects that won’t be applied to my future career.

So that’s a brief summary of my journey so far, I wanted to keep this thread as an ongoing forum where I post up my progress and also I would be pleased if you can leave your experience, questions or just opinion about anything in this thread. I keep you guys posted cheers! (or subscribe if your interested lol)
 

RishBonjour99

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Hey mate,

That is some strong dedication. Definitely admire that! You'll eventually get in to dent somewhere with a will like that.

Just a little q though, you speak of this intense desire to do dent? Is that simply to prove your class wrong or something else? have you considered med?
 

mrteeson

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Hey mate,

That is some strong dedication. Definitely admire that! You'll eventually get in to dent somewhere with a will like that.

Just a little q though, you speak of this intense desire to do dent? Is that simply to prove your class wrong or something else? have you considered med?
The class thing that happened and along with others who had doubts against me acted more like a driving force or a catalyst. I had interest in dentistry since primary but i was just very quiet and confused about my motive until these events occurred which you could say they play a role in giving me this motivation. But my core interest towards dentistry still hasn't changed and is also the reason why i have no desire to do medicine even if havard gave me an offer for MBBS, i refuse it and wait for DMD. :)

extra:
My core interest developed from meeting poor dental specialist (poor communication skills), science and medicine overlooking the importance of dental pathology in healthcare.
 

cormacshaw

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My core interest developed from meeting poor dental specialist (poor communication skills), science and medicine overlooking the importance of dental pathology in healthcare.
My career goal is medicine but I 100% could not agree more. I'm sure you'll do some great stuff with a will such as yours, and hopefully raise awareness of this oft-glossed over fact.
 

Alkanes

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You seem to be very focused on your studying side which is a good habit. But are you doing anything other than study such as extracurricular activities (e.g. sport, student societies) or employment work? I think whilst at university you should aim for a balanced work-study-social lifestyle and not just completely focus on one aspect. Obviously as uni students, our main focus should be studying - don't get me wrong. But it is best to have a balanced life style because down the track, I think you will enjoy your time at university more.

That being said, I definitely admire your mentality. Goodluck!
 

ManDarren

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hi could you enlighten me on the pathways on becoming one? :p i need help
 

mrteeson

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hi could you enlighten me on the pathways on becoming one? :p i need help
ahahaha, yes what do you need ManDarren?
For now just wait for my future post, i should post one right after doing GAMSAT on March 21st.
 

mrteeson

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Hi alkanes,
Im not really an outgoing type like i used to back in Junior highschool. I have volunteer occasionally but i don't think i will manage casual/part-time job since my focus can easily get interrupted. I definitely agree that university life should be balanced, rather then focusing on just one notion of it as it is very unhealthy. It's just atm with an upcoming huge hurdle (GAMSAT), I have to stick to my studies and lose my summer holiday break, but i have considered to apply for a part time job after the coming semester. but thanks for your thought! :)
 

Aysce

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Bump for the man who will become an oral maxillofacial surgeon some day ;)

Pls update this thread about your dent journey :D (that is, if you still check it of course)
 

aussienator

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Inspiration for a 1st year student like me good onya. From bankstown 2
 

Schmeag

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Bump for the man who will become an oral maxillofacial surgeon some day ;)

Pls update this thread about your dent journey :D (that is, if you still check it of course)
Will need to also do Med to be an OMF surgeon (a long road), but it sounds like he is happy with teeth.

This is where I will get a vision of my future if I made it (pretty much me in the dental Sydney hospital helping patients) and this really gets me pumped to work hard everyday even though its so painful to go through pointless subjects that won’t be applied to my future career.
Have you considered working at a regional or rural level? Would you consider another university?

My core interest developed from meeting poor dental specialist (poor communication skills), science and medicine overlooking the importance of dental pathology in healthcare.
Medicine overlooks dental pathology because there are dentists. It's probably a traditional turf thing as opposed to a lack of interest. The healthcare system suffers due to the lack of integrated care with medicine.

Good luck!
 

mrteeson

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[Update]
What’s happening?

So it has been a while since my last post and some people are waiting for my fate of whether I made it to dentistry this year (applicants for 2016). Unfortunately I didn’t make it since my GAMSAT marks were low due to failing section 1 which ruined my chance to apply. Because of this, I was put in the lowest point of my life where I question myself if it was even possible for someone like me to have a chance to even get to MMI stage at UYSD/melb/Adelaide. Besides GAMSAT, my GPA is also under the average- GPA cutoff so I also have that to worry about. So from all of this I’m finding my current position to be one of the worst and biggest barrier to face in getting into dentistry.

But this isn’t an issue anymore, as it took me the last 2 months to get over this loophole of having the same thoughts “I have to get HD for my remaining UOS, or do honours to boost my GPA” and “I have to do September UK GAMSAT ”. I have decided 3 possible options after finishing my undergraduate study:
1. Honours: I have done research for the past 2 weeks to finally find a project (development of tooth) I’m interested which is supervised by 2 dentist in the field of pathology.

2. Full time job: Working as a dental assistance full time + volunteer at dental hospital (assuming my GPA is credit average)

3. Undergrad Oral health: If I am not able to do honours and my GPA from my current degree is low. Reason of this being a last option is that its known to be a difficult degree (practical component marked very strict, where even the dean of dentistry advised not to do it) and its extensive contact hours will probably hinder my chance of acquiring that GPA credit average.

So for now my focus will be acquiring the credit average GPA, study throughout my summer break for the 2016 GAMSAT while doing one of the 3 options as I stated above. I probably update this thread once I make it into the interview stage (might take years xD).
P.S To those who have applied this year, I wish you all have made it!!!

To answer some people who have posted:

To utopianradical : wish you all the best of luck and I hope you made it into dental school this year . Just curious for medSci in UNSW does the degree put its students with science students or isolate them to specific UOS? In USYD they do it in 2nd year (BMED UOS) which is hard… might consider transfer if it’s more chill and flexible in terms of subject selection.

To Schmeag :
So like Aysce said about OMF, I have recently considered this specialist after the initial post of the thread. You are right, I need to do MD or MBBS with fellowship + 1 year residence to be a OMF surgeon. But nonetheless this specialist suits my interest of researching dental pathology (specifically congenital causes of oral disease) and expanding my capabilities in the dental field.

For rural or regional interest in working and studying, is definitely a yes! But I need to consider if my personal life is stable and financial aspect is good before proceeding to that life. That being said going to other university such as CSU, QU and other Australian universities that offers dentistry is in my mind, it’s just doing dentistry at USYD/MELB or Adelaide will prepare me for OMF program as they do reinforce medicine in dentistry!
Anyone who is curious about something related to this thread don’t hesitate to ask if not, you can pm me on facebook (Tyson Nguyen- Sydney- born in Antarctica).
 

Aysce

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Other news: I got rejected for medicine at GEMSAS universities (Deakin, Griffith, UWA, UQ, Monash, etc.) I was hoping to at least get an interview offer from Deakin. Oh well… Fingers crossed for a USyd DMD offer!

I’m still waiting to hear from UWA DMD… fingers crossed for interview there too!
Wow... I got rejected for USyd DMD.

Back to the drawing board.
Know that feel, bud. Received a rejection email for GEMSAS unis too and was shattered for a bit. Legitimately thought this would be the year I would move on to the interview but alas, that's life haha.

Sorry to hear about the rejection from USyd DMD :(

Chin up, there's next year! :)
 

chickencoop

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Would be great to hear more updates!

Hope everything is going swell!
 

ratba

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I have the same aim of being accepted into the DMD program at Usyd. Would be great to have an update on what option you chose to go through with @mrteeson!
I’ve almost finished my first year of nursing at Usyd after transferring from BSc after realising any undergrad degree is accepted when applying for dent/Med postgrad :)
Hope all is well and tbh I find your determination extremely inspirational !
 

user1006

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Hi there bosesr!
I have decided to make this thread about my journey to hopefully become a dentist, what inspired me to do this is from my close friends and family members who I have inspired throughout my lifetime in high school and early undergraduate years. The purpose of this is to give an insight to those who are also passionate for a certain degree or just curious what it feels like to put all hope and dreams on one pathway. So here goes nothing…

About me
My name is Tyson Nguyen (yeah I knew he be Asian…), currently studying in 3rd year medical science at UYSD. I graduated from De LaSalle Bankstown an all boys school with an ATAR of 85, which is where my passion for becoming a dentist grew exponentially.
It’s funny how I want to become something that requires high order of critical thinking, exquisite communication skills with people and only 70 domestic students from a possible of 5000 applicants are chosen from the dental faculty annually. Im not a bright student, never was. My marks in primary was poor, my highschool marks was mostly below average where people even picked me to become the threshold for the cohort or the “juxtaposition” to the dux of my cohort. My grades atm in uni is an average pass from intense studying, and I know you need average gpa of 5.5 to get to the MMI stage interview. So for me its really hard to get into DMD, especially at my current performance, but I don’t easily give up.

Where did the motivation come from?

It came when I told the world what I wanted to do out of school which I could remember the laughter that filled the classroom during year 10 mathematics class “Good joke Tyson”, “ I can only imagine this guy at most doing accounting”. It really got me, when people laughed and told me my dream is off limits and was just plain stupid. But then I realised this happens to pretty much everyone’s dream and passion where the society just shits on your hope and tells you to bend over and obey what it says. This is when my motivation was at its peak and I started to sacrifice almost everything I had, such as relationship (it was complicated anyways), my hobby as a shuffler and bboy dancer, anime and games.

My new lifestyle was just plain studying, this meant waking up at 5am start doing chapter reviews before school, revise during my lunch breaks and after school go to Bankstown library and study past paper till it closed (but this was obviously a bad habit). My results from this commitment did show when I got my HSC marks and got ranked 1 for standard English, especially coming from a below average guy who was ranked around 50 in the cohort and jumped to the top 10.

Although my life atm has improved greatly and is much healthier in terms of balance between studying and socialising. I am seeing my girlfriend and friends almost every week and on the days I’m not I would wake up around 7am and go to usyd library to study every day. I am still having trouble to keep up with the standards the DMD want. But my main reason of why I wanted to become a dentist kept me going at stressful times such as now as I am preparing for the GAMSAT which is less than 2months.

How I can describe this kind of motivation is that I would listen to motivational music usually Japanese ost from drama or anime besides the obvious final fantasy ost on my way to the library. This is where I will get a vision of my future if I made it (pretty much me in the dental Sydney hospital helping patients) and this really gets me pumped to work hard everyday even though its so painful to go through pointless subjects that won’t be applied to my future career.

So that’s a brief summary of my journey so far, I wanted to keep this thread as an ongoing forum where I post up my progress and also I would be pleased if you can leave your experience, questions or just opinion about anything in this thread. I keep you guys posted cheers! (or subscribe if your interested lol)
am just wondering how its going and if its possible? am planning to do medical science this year and get into dentistry, anyone know anyone who have successfully done it and how challenging is it?
 

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