Stopped pursuing Dentistry Last week. Pursuing IB all in.

Is this decision to go into finance still reversible? You'll probably be better off as an orthodontist.

Ouchhh. What did mom/dad say to that move?

just be a dentist dude

Serious props to you for having the courage to step out onto the ledge. Not in a position to offer as much advise as the search bar could, but best of luck in your endeavor.

Nothing is impossible, but you should prepare to work as a dentist or do a good MFin if you really want to get into finance.

It sounds a bit like you just got tired of studying and thought "hey, investment banking sounds a lot more fun/easy than this!"

I'm sure it's not like that :)

I would say to consider whether or not you're making a hasty decision. With a family in the medical field you could easily break in and be successful in that field. Finance is not necessarily an easy field to get into.

That being said, if you have strong quant skills an are really passionate about finance, go for it! WSO is definitely where you want to be.

be a dentist

What are your primary motivations for wanting to pursue a career in finance? If the only driver is money, I'd advise you think long and hard before abandoning the dental school route. Finance is a lucrative career, but so is the dental profession, with half the hours and twice the flexibility. You're going to have an uphill battle finding boutique IBD internships coming from UCI / UCSD, although I've seen it happen numerous times. And keep in mind that you could always pursue the dental route and then rebrand through an MBA. Best of luck to you and let us know what you ultimately decide. I just want to make sure you are fully thinking through your options and weighing the pros and cons of your decisions.

Lower tier UC means what exactly? We're talking UC-I/SD right or are you talking UC-R/ Davis?

For those of you posting UCI / UCSD / Davis I have to disagree with you. I would say that the lower tier UCs are Merced, Riverside, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. The others being good schools and UCLA / UC Berkeley being semi/target schools depending on where you are trying to be hired.

I think you may have the potential to pull it off with some very hard work, but you need to have a VERY strong story behind you and your reasoning to focus on IB. Who is to say something else may not just come along that you find more interesting? Then again, I'm not in the industry and my opinion doesn't mean shit.

How has nobody mentioned Jordan Belfort yet?

PLEASE go back to being a dentist... the lifestyle is soo easy and you can literally setup shop in whichever city you want...

I considered dropping IB to go to dentistry...but its kinda too late.

Getting the ib internship or FT is insanely tough from non-target. I would STRONGLY sit down and reconsider...

I ended up getting it, but it was going through hell and back..

Thanks for all the support and other comments. Haha. I forgot to preface my story by mentioning that I'm an economics major and have taken a fair share of finance course load. I was introduced to ib at midway through my undergraduate career and have been researching ib on and off since then. I wanted to be realistic and pursued med intially.

To note dental school cost around 400k and 4 years of my life. Also I spoke to recent grads and they are only making 90k-100k. A recent grad told me I could expect to make a whopping 120k afters 5 years! I believe if you want to move to Alaska you're looking at maybe 200k. I realize my path in the health professional is relatively paved but I can say for sure that if dentistry or med compensated 60k/year, I wouldn't have considered these careers in the first place.

Fortunately I am in good standing to apply to masters in finance programs (top 15) but wanted to give the cold calling emailing thing a go before I commit to investing 60 to 70k for another year on education and ocr resources. I believe this is the most sound plan I have at this point.

I have postponed my dental test to to the end of Sep. And I do agree that specialist make a good living. Ortho can do well as well as oral and endo.

Haha. My family is very supportive of my ambition. My heart is not in dentistry. It is as simple as that.

Would appreciate more feedback! especially from those who have been down the same road, or have gone the opposite way (from finance to health professional).

Much appreciated

oh. well if your heart is not in it then sure switch. Dentists have the highest suicide... don't want you dying on us brooo.

But seriously, yea if you don't have a passion...ditch but make sure its not a quick decision, take your time about it. Not everything in your career will be awesome. There will be a lot of bitch work and risk involved either way you go.

Can i take your spot in dentistry plz? On a serious note, I'd think twice.. or three times about it. I have older friends that have been practising dentistry for a couple years. Quality of life seems infinitely higher than mine. Not even just quality of life, i think dentistry has more entrepreneurial opportunity once you open your own shop. I assume it would be easier to get new clients as a dentist than a banker..

Didnt realize you were still in the prelim stage (studying for DAT). In that case I'd continue what you are doing. Goodluck!

I'm a dental student finishing up my 2nd year. I too, even recently was thinking about making a switch over to do something more business related. I think a lot of these thoughts are due to the "grass is always greener" mentality, and doing such a switch is easier said than done. Dentistry is really an eat what you kill profession. If one is content with just being an employee the pay you listed is maybe accurate, maybe a little low. However, for someone who is more than just a dentist, who has a business mindset, and chooses to own a practice, the profession can be very rewarding monetarily, and with pretty good hours.

Why not be a man and go to medical school?

take a look if you haven't already: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/from-dentistry-to-investment-banking

A little bit of a detour... I have heard that the work/life balance is good. OK.

However, what makes someone be like, "I want to be a Dentist!" I guess everyone's interests are different, and I understand the MD thing, but why dentistry?

I'm curious because something like that wasn't even remotely on my radar when I was in school. This is not meant to be offensive, I am just genuinely curious.

PS: Dental school is $400k?!?!...and I thought I got raped by my B-school's bursar office.

Heart isn't into dentistry, but wants to go into finance. I sense a mistake.

Honestly dude, if your heart not being into something is what you consider bad you might want to reconsider finance. I want to suck on a shotgun on a daily basis.

Icyevo send me a private message. I have a few thoughts that aren't relevant for the board but might be helpful to you personally. My immediate thoughts for those concerned are that I think dentistry is actually a good launching point for a healthcare-focused group since you know the background. Maybe even PE that has a bend towards dental practice management acquisitions.

For the sake of your future family and your sanity stay with dentistry. A friend of mine's wife works every wednesday and one saturday a month and she makes $55,000. That's $11,000 a day for 5-6 hours of work?

If you want to be depressed, calculate the IB pay vs. days/hours worked.

I'm the exact opposite of you now actually. I'm a rising senior studying econ/finance and just completed a S&T internship at a top BB. My dad is a dentist but for some reason I was never interested; after completing this I am. I realized that the money is not worth the hours or stress. Seriously considering doing a 180 and going to dental school.