Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Dental is a huge commitment; it's as hard as medical school, maybe harder, and then you usually don't just hang out a shingle; there's already a dentist on every corner. Typically you work for an established dental practice for a while, then maybe buy it out from the owner when they retire or move away. Dentistry is a great field, don't get me wrong, but you will need to get your practice established. General medicine is better in that there's a wider range of high demand positions in every town in the country, and if you're good enough to get into dental school, you can probably also get into med school.
Engineering is equally hard, though shorter path to a job, but you sound like you'd have a lot of fun at it. Engineers have traditionally not been treated great in this country. They make pretty good money right out of school, but it doesn't grow that much and it's common to burn out after 15-20 years. But if you're good at it, and find a good job, you can do well. Manufacturing is growing in the U.S. after a long decline, and there's high demand for various types of engineers. If you go into robotics and automation, you'll probably be all set.
Finance is a broad term; if you want to work in a financial company such as Fidelity or Bank of America, the degree will come in handy, as would an MBA. You can potentially make a lot of money but it'll take time to work your way up, do the necessary networking, or maybe you can luck out and get into a start-up with stock options and make a ton of money on the exit.
I would suggest you defer dental admission, get the finance degree, then do the dental and you'll be well qualified to start your own practice, if you can find a place where there's room for one more practice.
Dental is a huge commitment; it's as hard as medical school, maybe harder, and then you usually don't just hang out a shingle; there's already a dentist on every corner. Typically you work for an established dental practice for a while, then maybe buy it out from the owner when they retire or move away. Dentistry is a great field, don't get me wrong, but you will need to get your practice established. General medicine is better in that there's a wider range of high demand positions in every town in the country, and if you're good enough to get into dental school, you can probably also get into med school.
Just thought about this too and wanted to add it.
If you're really good and smart in school (top 10% I believe), you can become a specialist. I hear Pediatric Dentists are in very high demand.
If you go into robotics and automation, you'll probably be all set.
I would like to correct that a bit, having had an automation systems engineering company providing services to many companies for 20 years it was all set for the past decades yes, but now if there is any work to find in automation most likely you are setting it all up for production and once complete it goes overseas. Not talking DoD here. Yes at one time they wanted the production here with all the Pick and Place machines, and automated test sets, but now even the technicians and guys putting it in a box at the end of the line cause them to move it to China or elsewhere where they can pay cents/hr for those jobs.
Yes there is defense that doesn't do this, but it is real hard to find the automated manufacturing in electronics or anything else that does anything but get setup then moved overseas anymore since the US cost of labor and benefits seems unacceptable to companies. Never-mind the obscene pay the executives get, the engineers setting up automated manufacturing, then the techs and other staff basically at this day companies feel don't deserve much anymore so they move it overseas immediately if not from the get go. I have seen hundreds of companies go overseas moving thousands of systems with them, but coming back... well have not seen it. Possible it happened somewhere, some system like Tesla or something but not much for most electronics. There were plants with thousands of Pick-in-place in one plant, at this point I see a plant with 1 or 2 is about all one sees anymore left in US.
I would like to correct that a bit, having had an automation systems engineering company providing services to many companies for 20 years it was all set for the past decades yes, but now if there is any work to find in automation most likely you are setting it all up for production and once complete it goes overseas. Not talking DoD here. Yes at one time they wanted the production here with all the Pick and Place machines, and automated test sets, but now even the technicians and guys putting it in a box at the end of the line cause them to move it to China or elsewhere where they can pay cents/hr for those jobs.
Yes there is defense that doesn't do this, but it is real hard to find the automated manufacturing in electronics or anything else that does anything but get setup then moved overseas anymore since the US cost of labor and benefits seems unacceptable to companies. Never-mind the obscene pay the executives get, the engineers setting up automated manufacturing, then the techs and other staff basically at this day companies feel don't deserve much anymore so they move it overseas immediately if not from the get go. I have seen hundreds of companies go overseas moving thousands of systems with them, but coming back... well have not seen it. Possible it happened somewhere, some system like Tesla or something but not much for most electronics. There were plants with thousands of Pick-in-place in one plant, at this point I see a plant with 1 or 2 is about all one sees anymore left in US.
Okay I may be all wet on this, but I have read that manufacturing is making a comeback, albeit mostly automated. Could that not be an opportunity for young engineers? Or is this more of a plug-and-play trend -- machines made in Asia are installed in warehouses in Utah or suburbs of LA, and they hire three technicians to operate them? And if a part breaks, they send out for a specialist from Asia to fly over and fix it?
Okay I may be all wet on this, but I have read that manufacturing is making a comeback, albeit mostly automated. Could that not be an opportunity for young engineers? Or is this more of a plug-and-play trend -- machines made in Asia are installed in warehouses in Utah or suburbs of LA, and they hire three technicians to operate them? And if a part breaks, they send out for a specialist from Asia to fly over and fix it?
Fully automated manufacturing has been around a long time. Just techs to load parts every now and then while doing other work, and people putting on labels of packages, etc. Anything is possible given time. Who knows what it will look like in ten or twenty years from now in US. There are still some great remains of US companies that could do so much more. Companies like the original HP, that then became Agilent, then Keysight + Agilent and other similar stories. They could still make a comeback if things happen right. Would a new graduate in next year get some benefit from that turnaround that is speculated? Well probably not if you are serious in next few years but given time perhaps. If you really want the high tech engineering job today you have to go overseas. I know even professor that have moved to Hong Kong to teach engineering or optics and so on. There is lots that can happen here and some company parts left, but it will take time for it to come back with the right economics happening.
Advantages: potential to be your own boss. They can't send your job to India.
Disadvantages: Dental plans vary in quality and you may need a full time employee just to manage collection. Inflicting pain causes depression for those who don't enjoy it.
One question: Don't dentists need to have an MD before they become dentists?
Dentists don't inflict pain - they prevent and relieve pain.
And no, they don't have an MD first though they certainly take some of the same types of medical classes to start with.
Dentists need to love working with their hands, be very dextrous and strong. In today's world, they also need to be able to rotate among multiple patients - while one is numbing up they are working on another, while impressions are being taken they are filling a cavity on another...etc. Just something to keep in mind - you have to be well organized mentally and in your office design. It also costs a lot to get an office started though you may be able to buy into a practice of someone retiring.
You're not ready to decide. If you were you wouldn't be posting here. See if you can defer your acceptances and go get a full time job. That's what you should have done four years ago. It would be great if you could get an entry level job in one of these fields but any job will get you more focused on what you like and don't like about just going to work every day.
Right now you're ready to give yourself a 67% chance of choosing the wrong career and that will be a very expensive mistake in terms of both time and money. By the time I check back here tomorrow you could already have taken that ten dollar screening online that was suggested above which will be the best thing you've done for your career since you got out of school. It's a start.
[*]Student debt concerns - dentistry is gonna cost like 400k+ in loans after graduating (not kidding here) vs finance at around 60k and BU's program at 150k. The latter two don't bother me at all. But I can see myself in dental school losing sleep over that 400k figure.
If no one else has mentioned this - $150k is A LOT of debt for an engineering degree. If you decide on the engineering route, how much would a second bachelors cost at your state university? Maybe finishing up your prereqs at a community college first?
I actually just took the 10 dollar career test and I was listed as an ICR type -- investigative, conventional, and realistic. Honestly, I don't think I'd fit in as a dentist given what a social career it is. But given my undergraduate major in natural science, and the fact that I enjoy working with technology in general, I think bioinformatics might be a good career choice for me. But I can definitely see myself as an analyst in a finance role too. I think in general I'd prefer a job that lets me work with and analyze data. I'm not shy either, so while I might be introverted I have no qualms whatsoever discussing results with coworkers higher-ups, or even giving full blown presentations.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
