Pathway to Answers about Dental School

In high school, Andrea Asan developed a curiosity about dentistry after her orthodontic treatment. She wasn’t quite ready to give up on her dream of becoming a veterinarian and wanted to try dentistry. With her parents’ help, she found Rutgers School of Dental Medicine’s (RSDM) Decision for Dentistry program, geared toward introducing high school students to the dental profession. 

“It really sparked my excitement,” she said. “It was also really reassuring to me because I remember meeting some people who were ‘I love everything about teeth,’ and other people who were in the same boat as me and liked a different aspect of dentistry and were still figuring it out.” 

RSDM offers various pathway programs for children in elementary school all the way up to college to introduce them to careers in oral healthcare and provide a glimpse of dental school life. For Asan, the experience helped confirm her interest. After completing Decision for Dentistry, she worked in a pediatric dental office. She later majored in biology in college, during which she returned to RSDM to participate in the Gateway to Dentistry. 

“It was an incredible week for me,” she said. “I remember saying to my parents, I felt like a kid at Disney World.” 

During the program, Asan toured the clinics, practiced pouring dental models, and learned about drilling techniques. She also connected with dental students, who offered an honest perspective on the challenges and rewards of dental school. “It just made me really excited for the future, so I'm really grateful to have done those programs.” 

Today, Asan is a third-year student in the school’s Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) program and has just begun treating her own patients. She has come full circle, mentoring pre-dental students through the American Student Dental Association and helping others navigate the same questions she once faced. 

Other connections came full circle in her journey as well. She became a classmate of Christina Arida, who had participated in the Decision for Dentistry program alongside her and later in the Gateway to Dentistry program. Although Arida’s father is a dentist and gave her first introduction, Arida also credits programs like these for deepening her understanding of the profession and helping solidify her career path. 

“Dental school is the portal to becoming a dentist, and I don't think a lot of people understand the nature and the rigor of the dental school curriculum. I didn’t either, and it definitely gave me a good idea of what the day-to-day would look like.” The experience also allowed her to build connections with faculty members and current students. 

She was drawn to dentistry because she liked how personable dentists seemed. “I saw myself in them in a way,” she said. She also liked that dentistry is hands-on and artistic. After studying biology and completing the pre-dental track at Ohio State University, she chose RSDM. Now a year into her clinical training, Arida enjoys working directly with patients and building relationships with those in her care. Looking ahead, she may one day join her father's practice and continue a family tradition that spans three generations. 

“I have been exposed to dentistry for most of my life,” she said. “But it was not until these programs that I figured out that I wanted to pursue this path for myself.”