Dental School in the Caribbean: Is it a good alternative?

[PreDent1201]

If all else fails, I may have to turn to this. My GPA isn't as high as I'd hope and even though I still have a year or so to bring it up, I'm being a little cautious. I'll still apply to as many schools as I can....but with that being said, would Dental School in the Caribbean be an ideal alternative (assuming I don't get into any of my choice schools)? Have any of you experienced going to school there? I just wonder how it might differ from Dental schools in the US, as I've heard they're much easier to get into. I doubt it will make me any worse or better of a Dentist (since that depends on the person themselves) than someone who went to, say, UConn or Columbia....but I wonder, is it worth all the trouble of applying there? I've just come to the point where I might have no other option....and I don't want to throw all this hope of being a Dentist away. Any words of advice on this would be greatlyyy appreciated.

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[AwesomeTeeth]

Don't do it. Completely not worth it and you're going to have to reapply to dental school as an international student. It's not the same as Caribbean med school....

Get a masters or do a post bac program so you can get a somewhat new GPA. Study hard for the DAT and shadow/assist/whatever. There's always a chance unless you did something totally crazy like kill someone/deal drugs/etc.

 

[AlexOdentchkin8]

Do NOT GO!!! You will have to apply to an American school as an international student and get accepted into a two year program. This is in addition to the 4 years you did in the Caribbean school. You also have to take the NBDE 1 & 2 and do very well in them. The application is also around $1000 per school. BTW, the international spots are harder to get into than applying as an undergrad. The dentist I shadowed was from India. Trained in India, came to the states. She was one of many thousands of applications from internationlly trained dentists to get in to her school.

She was also one of the best in her country. In some cases, these internationally trained dentists have many, many years of experience and are looked up to for their experience while in dental school. So for an American to go to another country to study dentistry and then come back to the states does not look good. This is why I think dentistry seperates itself from the medical community a bit, since we can't get trained in other countries and come back with out jumping through tons of hoops.

 

[xaznxcountx]

I didn't even know Carribean dental schools existed.

 

[lkdeidaho]

I would run far the other way. One of the dentists that I shadowed is on the state board of dentistry. He said that in our state, the state board wont issue a license to anyone who hasn't graduated from an American ADA accredited dental school. It may not be the same in other states, but I would imagine it is a pretty routine/standard regulation.

 

[camshaft]

 

[jmt1984]

I didn't even know Carribean dental schools existed.

Me either, the post above is good advice though, re-applying as an internationally trained dentist staring down another 2 years of school would be rough.

 

[dentalWorks]

I didn't even know Carribean dental schools existed.

I didn't either.

I know there are carrib Med schools that will give you USA residencies... but I never heard of a Carrib Dent school.

Like the previous posters have suggested, if you do this route, your dental education will cost you 6-7 years of your life (4 in carrib, and 2-3 as an international dentist in a USA dental school)

 

[215]

[Deleted]

 

[John Durian]

I agree with the posters above man. Just study like crazy and boost that GPA back up to a 3.3+ and ace the DAT. Or apply to a masters in oral biology or one of the sciences and use that time to show an upward trend.

Carrib d-school will cost a lot and you'll end up having to repeat years 3 and 4 here in the states, so that's probably another $200,000+ in debt

 

[PreDent1201]

Do NOT GO!!! You will have to apply to an American school as an international student and get accepted into a two year program. This is in addition to the 4 years you did in the Caribbean school. You also have to take the NBDE 1 & 2 and do very well in them. The application is also around $1000 per school. BTW, the international spots are harder to get into than applying as an undergrad. The dentist I shadowed was from India. Trained in India, came to the states. She was one of many thousands of applications from internationlly trained dentists to get in to her school.

She was also one of the best in her country. In some cases, these internationally trained dentists have many, many years of experience and are looked up to for their experience while in dental school. So for an American to go to another country to study dentistry and then come back to the states does not look good. This is why I think dentistry seperates itself from the medical community a bit, since we can't get trained in other countries and come back with out jumping through tons of hoops.

Thanks so much for your input everyone. And yeahh, see that's where I was like hmm...maybe not. But I've heard so many different stories, such as how it's a lot easier to get in and it's much cheaper than schools in the U.S. But I guess now that you've made it clear it's not a good idea I'll just do my best to work my butt off and do well on the DATs. Just got scared when I discovered my gpa was just a mere 2.9 at my junior year :-/....not good. I did screw up my freshman year but I've been improving since (science classes got the best of me, unfortunately). So let's see what the future brings. And just for the record, I'm a girl loll.

Thanks again!

 

[PreDent1201]

I didn't even know Carribean dental schools existed.

hahaha yes, just like Caribbean Med schools, there are also Dental Schools. The one I found was University of the West Indies...the only English-speaking Dent school there lol.

 

[Odontos2015]

It's simply not an option. Completely different than Caribbean medical or veterinary schools.