I dont want to say that these rankings are meaningless, but you have to take them with a big grain of salt. In recent years there has been a lot of media coverage of the rising cost of dental schools. Think USC or NYU, where if someone is responsible for the entire cost they're graduating with well over $500k of debt. I think those doing the rankings probably use the rising cost of the education to justify their rankings.Dentist Ranks Among Best Jobs of 2020
See how dentist stacks up against other occupations.money.usnews.com
2017-#1
2018-#2
2019- #4
2020- #2
2021- #9
2022- #47
Within a 4-year period, there was not much movement, but there was a sudden drop in 2021 and especially in 2022. Just curious to see what you guys think.
That's just it though, you're saying "If you don't have much debt.... Suddenly, dentistry seems like a wonderful career." The point is, most people are coming out with 300k+ debt now. That reduces your effective income, making your true salary actually not great.
That's exactly the point. Dentistry is a fantastic career if and only if you can limit the debt. If you aren't relying on Daddy's money, aren't competitive enough to get into an inexpensive school, smart enough to get a scholarship, or frugal enough to make sacrifices on living expenses, it's probably wise to pursue something else.
Job security and an opportunity to become your own boss. That's why all of the former engineers in my dental class quit their well paid jobs and went back to school for dentistry. They knew that getting laid off were inevitable and their jobs would be taken away by the younger grads; therefore, they preemptively switched career. And dentistry was a safe choice for them.
This is a fallacy. What are the breakdown of degrees in that study? They don't give that information. I am not denying that plenty of millennials get overly priced degrees in saturated markets, BUT there are plenty of BS degrees/trade jobs that can provide a decent income and easily rival the starting salaries of a dentist after a few years of hard work. My point was that as time goes on you have to work harder to stay afloat thanks to renegotiated insurance fees and ridiculous school costs.
Only a few BS degree jobs that pay well....not plenty. And in order to maintain employment, you have to be up to date up your knowledge and skills…..otherwise, your job will be taken away by the younger grads. Colleges that offer these BS degrees are everywhere but there are only around 60 something dental schools in the entire country. With dentistry, as long as you know how drill and fill teeth, you can get a job anywhere in the country (many states accept reprocity after 5 years of practice)…even when you are 60+years old (if you still want to work at that age).
My brother is a civil engineer, with a certification level that maybe a couple dozen people in the entire US have. He's been working over 10 years and I'd be pleasantly surprised if he's making over 80k/year. Not a lot of proven opportunities outside of healthcare to make dentist salary.
I think you're overestimating how much your degree choice matters. It may have been like that 20 years ago, but not anymore. There's only a select few careers where the degree is almost a precursor to your career... and engineering is one of them. There are industries that pay very well where they don't care what your degree was in. Consulting or tech are two industries that employ people from all majors and pay extremely well
