Ep. 52 - Dentist - Jennifer Irving, Student at The Ohio State University/Engsign in the U.S. Navy

Welcome back to the Joust About Careers podcast!  This episode features a conversation with Jennifer Irving, 2015 Van Buren High School graduate who will be a dentist after finishing dental school at The Ohio State University and will be moving into the U.S. Navy to serve as a dentist.  Jennifer shares about how she decided to join the Navy, how her life will look as a dentist, advice she has for current students who want to be dentists, how important it is to take initiative when pursuing an internship, and much more.  Anyone interested in a career as a dentist will find information related to getting started down that path in this episode.  Enjoy the show!   1:30 - How life looks for someone finishing dental school  2:34 - Dentistry unique when it comes to passing Board exams  3:24 - Not a shortage of dentists, but there aren’t many schools that offer dentistry as a major  3:56 - Dental school graduates don’t have many problems finding jobs  4:52 - Originally wanted to be an orthodontist  5:35 - Intended to go to dental school when she graduated from high school  5:50 - Attending a school that has a graduate school in your desired field leads to a smoother transition  7:00 - Started on the pre-dental track, which led to hearing about the Navy in a pre-dental club meeting  8:05 - Interned at The American Dental Association in Washington D.C. after her junior year of college, which led to her thinking about the potential debt of dental school  9:05 - Many dentists encouraged her to go into the military  9:30 - Reached out to a recruiter, who helped her apply for the Health Professional Scholarship, which carries a four-year commitment to the Navy with the Navy paying for her dental schooling.  10:06 - Commissioning into the Navy - what that means  11:00 - There are some options for Jen as she prepares to graduate  11:25 - Jen will be working on a base as a dentist upon graduation  11:52 - Officer Development School is what Jen will do as a new officer in the Navy  12:48 - Perks of staying in the military if a person chooses to do that  13:25 - ROTC can be a path to pay for an undergraduate degree  14:10 - Average student debt for dental school is $300,000  14:40 - Having a good recruiter is important  15:30 - Jen will have two hats - dentist and officer  15:58 - A grant through Ohio State led to Jen’s summer internship  16:25 - The ADA created an internship for her simply because she reached out to them  17:18 - The hardest part of becoming a dentist is being accepted to dental school  17:37 - Learn how to study because grades really matter when getting into dental school.  18:16 - Be involved and well-rounded  19:31 - The biggest time of struggle on the path to becoming a dentist was her freshman year of college.  20:45 - Grading on a curve was a surprise  21:22 - The culture of Ohio State is one of the best parts of attending the school  22:00 - Professional careers (like dentistry) are different from other careers, so people need to figure out strategies to achieve their goals  23:01 - “The more you know, the better off you are going to be.” - Starting to volunteer, etc.   Questions?  Connect with Brian on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-bratt/) or e-mail ([email protected]).   Connect with Jennifer at [email protected]