Accepted to both medical (DO) & dental school. What should I choose now?

[PBJellytime]

I have gotten accepted into both medical school and dental school. I am currently choosing between Western University of Health Sciences for Osteopathic Medicine (DO) or University of the Pacific (DDS). I have been considering both for a long time now, but I still cannot come to a final decision..but I need to soon bc they are asking for $2000 deposits...! I feel that I truly want to go to med school, but I have a lot of thoughts/doubts that are making me scared and hesitant to make a life-time commitment.

My considerations:
1) Intellectually Stimulating: I am more interested in medicine because it has more options, and I find that dentistry may become very laborious and repetitive..
2) Tuition: dental school, especially UOP's, is very expensive. One of my sister's friends says he has been in debt for 10 years and still cannot pay if off. Further, he and his wife (also a general dentist) cannot find jobs in California, so are moving out of Cali to find jobs and start a family.
3) Location Location..
-For grad school: if I go to WesternU, I will be living in Pomona, which is where I have been living in for the past 3 years of undergrad. There is not much to do there, and I think I will have nothing to look forward to during my studies. Whereas if I went to UOP, at least I'd have a new city to explore after exams.. not to say I have always wanted to move to norcal and explore San Francisco!
-For medical residencies: if I go to WesternU, does anyone know what are the chances of getting into a residency in a location that is in California? or at least in a location that is not out in the middle of no where? I know most residency matches give priority to MD>DO>foreign medical students. I am happy as a primary care physician (Family Doc, Internal med, pediatrician, OMM)
-For dental specialties: If I go for medicine, I will most likely want to specialize (bc I hear there are way too many general dentists and it is hard to find jobs...true or not?) But I also hear dental specialties are very competitive and will most likely be located outside of California. Is this true also?
4) Lifestyle: I care about having a balanced and healthy lifestyle both during graduate school and after. For me, that means having the time to exercise and spending some time with people I care about after exams. I understand both medical school and dental school will be very rigorous, but is this possible during medical school, rotations, and residencies?

Thanks for taking the time to read this..I would love some advice/knowledge/experience that you guys may have!

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[Doctor4Life1769]

Dental.

 

[txprodigal]

dental

 

[MossPoh]

Recommendation, don't post your indecision in a subspecialty forum.


and dental

 

[MagicalTrevor]

Without a doubt, Dental

 

[flatearth22]

Why is everyone saying dental? Would it be medical if MD and not DO?

 

[PistolPete]

Dental. MD/DO not worth it compared to dental. It's not all about money or lifestyle, but you really can't beat the life of an oral surgeon compared to most other physicians. $300k+, no call, no weekends, payment up front. Can't get that in many places as a doctor anymore.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

 

[Zetterberg07]

I don't think its as cut and dried as most people are saying. Unless you have a relative waiting to hand you a dental practice, starting a new practice is difficult and expensive, and many areas are pretty saturated. While oral surgery is a sweet field my understanding is that you have to be at the very top of your class (like top 5%) to get into an oral surg residency. So I wouldn't really count on being able to do it.

 

[WDeagle]

Dental. I was in the same boat. DO vs Dental. Chose DO. Should have been a dentist. Id be a few months from raking in a 6 figure salary.

 

[SFO-IST]

there have been studies that show that over a certain threshold, money doesn't make a difference.