The problem is most of the applicants are already in too deep in the process. Most of them are 3rd and 4th Bio (or other prehealth majors) students. They’ve worked hard for the last 3-4 years to maintain a decent GPA. Many have spent time doing extra work like research and volunteer to help boost their resume. And now you are telling them not to do Dentistry? What other options do they have beside dentistry? Work….but how can one find job with just a BS degree in Biology? Switch to a different major (ie engineering, computer science etc) by spending more time in school and taking out more student loans? Switch to Pharmacy and optometry? But these 2 fields are also expensive and oversaturated…and have very low opportunity for owning a business. Apply for med schools? Medical schools are super hard to get in.....having a good GPA and high MCAT score is not good enough, especially if you are Asian. As Yappy pointed out, there are a lot of expensive medical schools as well…and you can’t pay back the student loans right away (and the interest continue to accrue) because you have to do a minimum 3 years of residency.
Since the pathway to become a dentist is a lengthy and expensive process, one needs to have a good plan to help minimize the time and the cost. One should go to a cheap state school, take all the prerequisite classes, earn good grades and try to finish them in less than 4 years. Many dental schools don’t require one to have a BS degree. And with good GPA and DAT score, one should get accepted to multiple dental schools and he/she gets to pick the cheapest one to attend. The problem is most HS kids don’t really know if they want to become a dentist at such young age. Many of my friends picked dentistry because they couldn’t get into med school. Many of them quit their engineering jobs and pursued dentistry. Another problem is most smart 4.0+ GPA HS kids don’t want to attend a cheap local college…they want to attend a more famous (and usually a lot more expensive) school so they can prove to other smart classmates that they are also very smart. Sadly, many parents also encourage their kids to pick the more expensive “famous” schools. The majority of my friends and cousins, who have college-aged kids, disagree with me when I say it doesn’t matter where one attends school.
