On the bus...always meeting new people

A few weeks ago, I met a girl on the bus that made me really appreciate the system of schooling we have in America. She was a dental student and sort of explained the way her schooling and career would pan out. To begin with, admissions works differently because you just sort of apply without really any experience or credibility to your name because it`s just like you are right out of high school. The dental schools receive the pool of applicants and choose seemingly almost blindly compared to the particularly strenuous application procedure that we go through. Needless to say, she had waited a few years of reapplying and being patient before she could even start. When she did, she found that much of the curriculum had become hazy which did not help the already rigorous load which is thrown in their lap. Plus, she was hurting for money because they just started heavily charging dental students in the last few years, which was not expected beforehand. Basically, her frustrating situation was that she had not passed a semester yet, so said she would probably be there for 9 semesters or so and get out with a black hole of debt that would not allow her to save at all for a house, a comfortable life, and retirement until later in her career of which she must retire at 65. I actually appreciate that strenuous application method that I am about to begin because of the kind of doctors it puts out into society. Im certainly not saying our system is perfect, for it is far from that, but the dental student that day made me appreciate at least the long process medical and dental schools undertake.