Unconventional Path to RSDM

Many different routes bring students to Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. For Bo Hwan Wang, it was a long, meandering path with stops at a conservatory and then a theological seminary.

First-year DMD candidate Bo Hwan Wang, who is also a musician and a pastor.

“I spent my twenties wondering, trying different things,” said the 31-year-old Wang, who taught guitar on the weekdays and worked as a youth pastor on the weekends.

But he felt that something was missing.

While he appreciated music and ministry, he wanted something more, something different, but didn’t know what it would be. With the guidance of his wife, a graduate student at Rutgers, he discovered his interest in dentistry.

He enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania’s pre-health post-baccalaureate program to complete the prerequisites for dental school. Coming from a non-science background, he had a lot of catching up to do. “In chemistry, we talked atoms. What's a proton? What's an electron? I had no idea. I forgot everything so I had to start from scratch, learn everything, catch up, and be successful,” he said. “Penn really pushed me academically.”

In the meantime, he also shadowed a dentist down in Princeton. “I knew dentistry was it,” he said, “but this confirmed it more.”

Following the program, he took the DAT and immediately applied to RSDM. Wang is now a first-year student in the traditional DMD program.

In August, he arrived with excitement, which soon veered to fear after seeing the packed schedule. “My biggest fear was failing. I worked so hard to be here,” he said. “But then I made good friends, and a lot of people help me.”

Asking for help was something new to Wang. He used to study alone and never really thought about reaching out to faculty or classmates for support. “I realized you can't do solo here,” said Wang. “There’s 90 of us. Emotionally, physically, and mentally, we all need each other. … I feel like we are like an army. We're in this together, we've got to look out for each other. I have a sense of belonging and responsibility as a classmate to help and to be helped too.”

Two semesters into his studies, he’s starting to see a connection between his interests.

“Looking back, music and seminary were like raw ingredients: meat and potatoes,” he said. “But dentistry is really what gives meaning and flavor to my past experiences.”

Music, he explained, instilled in him the discipline to be persistent. He also learned to use both hands to play an instrument, which gives him the manual dexterity needed for the field. The seminary expanded his perspective. “I met so many people with different perspectives, different ideas, different thoughts,” he said. It also showed him the meaning and importance of caring for others.

“I'm glad I can do more of that with dentistry,” he said. “I’m looking forward to using my previous experiences and gifts to reach out to patients with music, with theology, with care and love. I'm excited to see how I'll combine all these things to have a more positive influence on people.”