Navy vs. Student Loans

For the most part many dental students today follow the loan, associate track when going through dental school. Most people totally disregard other payment options. My parents (my mother is a dentist and father a business man) are at the moment pushing me to join the Navy. Both of them understand the hardship as a new dentist.

I understand that many people are weary of the armed forces. I myself am very skeptical about the armed forces and that is why I have been asking many questions on SDN, to current dental students, past navy dentist, my parents, and to my recruiter. My goal is to fully understand what I am getting myself into.


My sister (BA in finance 2006; UF) did some research on the Navy vs. Associate/Public Health and to my surprise found that the Navy is a better option. If you hate the armed forces then you might not even want to look at the report. Please don't badger me about the opportunity cost of being in the Navy (to each is his own). If you have any questions message me on SDN (kevin512) or post a comment. Click this link to see the comparison.

If you haven't taken a finance or a business class you might have a hard time reading this document. If you want, print it out and show it to your friends in business school.

Please note that the information above is sited in the spread sheet. My income while in the Navy is based upon my stipend ($1,900 x 12 months) with a first year sign on bonus of $20k. Right now I am asking my friend, a CPA to complete another report similar to this. I'll post that one in about a week.

Conquering the DAT

So many people I go to school with (University of Florida) jump into the Kaplan boat without thinking twice. Many think that Kaplan will provide them something other products cannot! I can tell you Kaplan isn't the magic bullet, especially after scoring higher than my Kap going friends.

What the DAT/ MCAT or any other standardized test requires is discipline. In 2007 I studied partly during the Spring semester and mostly during Summer. I tried to study during the Spring but classes, club meetings, and drinking ate up most of my time.

Here are a few things you might want to ponder about:

1) Design a study plan! How many hours are you going to study? What materials are you going to use? Where are you going to study? If you are totally new to this go to the DAT forum on Student Doctor Network (SDN).

2) Get the right materials! Talk to your peers and see if Kaplan worked for them. Kaplan is great but cost $1,399. I spent far less than $300. I bought the Blue Kaplan DAT book for starters then progressed to Examkrackers (MCAT material). I also bought the DAT Destroyer, DAT Achiever, and Topscore. I also used my friends Kaplan account for some of the practice DAT test. Network with some of your pre-dental friends and share your materials. I didn't buy the Examkrackers books or Audio Osmosis (great for driving home with nothing to do!!!!). Audio osmosis can easily be found on Torrent Sites.

3) Eat, sleep, and think right! I treated the Summer as a chance for me to focus on one thing, the DAT. I read blogs on how to be healthy and how to absorb material at a fast rate. A quick search on Google will give you some awesome results.

4) Understand your body! There are a few things about myself that I knew I would need to address to conquer the DAT.
- I couldn't study with my good friends (we would just turn the Library into a party zone). Laughing with friends isn't compatible with hardcore studying, at least for me! I also knew that studying at home with my parents would never work out.
- I needed nuts, water (or gatorade), beef jerky, and some light gum. This prevented my blood sugar levels from dropping (I could study for longer periods without leaving to get food).
- I needed to drink (we're talkin' EtOH) at least once a week. Going out with friends and doing something totally random really took the stress out of my life.

In closing, you need to take the time to focus on what you want. My goal was a 21 on the DAT and I came close, a 20. Read this blog, SDN and talk with your friends/ advisers and then formulate your own plan for success. Good Luck!!!!

What does AADSAS look like?

On Student Doctor Network (SDN) many new comers will ask what to expect when looking at AADSAS. Just a year ago I couldn't fathom what the page would look like or what I was supposed to do. If you are smart and want to see what AADSAS looks like make an account in May a year before you apply. This way you will be educated and ahead of the curve. Above I pasted the status page of my application; if you can take out a magnification glass you can see I got a round house kick to the face from some schools (Case, Alabama etc).

The turn around time is very slow. Some schools like Temple and NYU didn't bother to change my status even though I was accepted to both. I didn't see my status start to change until I turned in all parts of my application. Be smart and apply early. I skipped two interviews because I had already accepted UF's invitation.

Later this month I will describe what I put in my application and then put all the information on Grinding DMD. Until then, keep on grinding.

Fishy

You have to look really closely to see whats swimming around this blog. A good family friend got her brother to paint this picture for me. It's actually not a painting, just a jumble of acrylic and graphite. If you want to check out some of his artwork and get a dental fish for your office go Google his name (Gregory B. Saunders) or check out this website: Barren Tree.

Once the picture is framed I will take a better picture of it. Enjoy it for now.

Later this week, before the festivities of Spring Break begin I will post some info about what I did for the DAT and put some info from my AADSAS application on the blog.