Athlete creates major with dental career in mind
Why interdisciplinary studies?
I wanted to go to dental school even before I chose to come to Richmond. I wasn’t sure what I was going to major in during my first year, but I took science classes to get started on my dental school requirements. Because the requirements for medical/dental school span across a few disciplines, I looked into the interdisciplinary major. After meeting with Dr. Davis, who is the advisor for interdisciplinary studies, I decided I wanted to study the history of medicine, specifically dentistry. Choosing the classes for my major was a really exciting process. Dr. Laskaris teaches a history of early medicine class and I went to her first to ask for help choosing classes. We built a curriculum with courses in political science, leadership studies, classical studies and biology.
Dentistry is a pretty specific career goal. What made you decide on dentistry so early?
My father and grandfather were both dentists and I respect and admire both of them. I knew I wanted to go into dentistry since high school since I was really interested in science. Dentistry is an art, and I consider myself artistic enough to succeed in this field.
Are you working with the pre-health studies program to prepare for admission to a dental program?
My preparation is actually the same as students preparing to apply for medical school. The pre-health studies program offers the MCAT review course, which reviews everything we've learned in biology and chemistry. It is a great alternative to something like Kaplan Review.
It's got to be hard balancing football, an interdisciplinary major and preparing for the dental school admissions process. What¹s a typical day look like for you?
It is hard. Unfortunately, none of the required classes for dental school overlap with my major, so I am taking courses for dental school and the major. Football takes up a lot of time. We have practice, watch film, attend meetings, do workouts, go to games and watch even more film. It is a lot of time to sacrifice, but the reward is great. A typical day consists of classes all morning—usually I take all 8:15 classes—then I eat lunch and go change so I can be at meetings by 2:15. Then we have practice, get some dinner and afterwards watch films of practice. Usually I'll get back to my room around 8:00 PM to do homework and study.
You¹ve got a crystal ball. Where are you 10 years from now?
I see myself owning my own practice, preferably somewhere other than New Jersey. I cannot see myself moving back home. It's too crowded up there!