Ditch dentistry to practice family medicine

Hello all,

*I'm cross-posting this here since my post is FM and allo forum-oriented*

I'm a few months into third year of dental school and have come to the stark conclusion that I have near zero passion to continue on this path. Quick background story: I chose to apply to dental school as an alternative because I was concerned I'd be unable to match as an IMG - I was accepted into a few foreign (non-Carib, Asian) medical schools in 2012. My initial goal was to try to pursue IM or FM in the 2016 Match. Viewing the match statistics and Charting Outcomes report at the time, the prospect of being unable to match after several tries haunted me so I looked into alternatives - I applied and was accepted to dental school for the following year. I felt this would be an acceptable path for me since I'd be a health provider and have the opportunity to run my own practice, albeit focused on the oral cavity.

Throughout these nearly two and a half years, I've found that I've generally disliked all of my dental courses (sim lab, crown and bridge, removable prosthodontics) but enjoyed the biomedical ones (anatomy, pathology, pharmacology, etc). My fear is that I'll never feel complete if I finish dental school because, looking back, I let the fear of being unable to match steer me into this alternative path - I want to be a doctor, not a dentist. Dentistry is a fine career, with its own positives and negatives, but it doesn't stir my soul. What I'd like to truly do is primary care, more specifically direct primary care. I want to practice family medicine.

I'm pondering leaving dental school to transfer into a foreign medical school that I was previously accepted to; doing it this way, I'd save significant tuition money and be able to come in at advanced standing under ECFMG eligibility criteria.

My question for this community: how tenable is this goal?

TLDR: Want to practice medicine and leave dental school to go transfer to foreign medical school. Crazy?

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

Ditch dentistry to practice family medicine