Despite being born in Cuba and speaking only Spanish at home, my mom made me sacrifice 1 of my electives in school in order to take a formal Spanish class. Honestly, I was very annoyed with her at the time . I couldn't understand why I wasn't allowed to take dance instead! Apart from a random hip hop class, my mom was able to sign me up for when she could (I still cringe at the pic that exists of this ) the truth is, she really couldn't afford to put me in dance full time otherwise. So why in the world was I wasting an opportunity on something I already knew? ⁠ ⁠ My mom would always emphasize ..read more

Check out the first part in my series as to how to find the RIGHT associateship straight out of dental school or residency. I'm also including a Q&A sheet of all the questions you SHOULD be asking to get the full picture as to whether or not a position is the right fit. If you would like more content like this, make sure you subscribe to Decode Dental or become a member, it's totally free! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRLyf3ksfh8&t=11s&ab_channel=JosieDental ..read more

,Why You Should Apply! The SHPEP 6 week summer enrichment program is an incredible opportunity that offers pre-dental students a unique exposure to the dental field as well as engagement with faculty and peers. This year the SHPEP will resume in-person and programs are available at a total of 12 universities. The deadline to apply is 02/05, but don't be discouraged if you just found out about the program. https://youtu.be/5nLdsjL6DiQCourses include: Anatomy/Physiology, Physics, and Organic Chemistry. Some programs even offer test-taking strategy classes, health policy instruction, and financia ..read more

Let me preface this by noting that I had to be ready to go by 6:30 AM for this experience. Ever since transitioning from the Sim Lab to Clinic, I have not had as early of a start if we're not counting traveling. ,With that said, this was 100% worth it! ,6:30 AM: Meet up with the group and drive over to Milwaukee's Children's Hospital We then had to sign in and find the surgical floor. The hospital is massive and consistently being renovated, so we had fun getting around. The hospital requires us to change into scrubs the hospital's surgical team uses, which happens to be a Caribbean Blue! Thi ..read more

Why I Pay It Forward When I started Josie Dental it began with me sharing application advice for pre-dental students on Youtube! As the account grew, I never wanted to lose the essence of paying it forward! As a first-generation doctoral candidate, I wanted to bridge some of the barriers that exist when applying to dental school. Contrary to popular belief, some type of barrier exists for every single applicant. Whether it's lack of income, lack of mentorship, lack of information, lack of resources, or honestly just not having someone to motivate them to keep pushing, I wanted this account to ..read more

Can you believe the last oral health report was published over ,2 decades ago by the U.S. Surgeon General? 3 years ago, I was just a D1 sitting in a public health lecture learning the findings of that report. I figured many of the same disparities still applied to our present-day populations, but still wondered what may have changed over the years. Well, today is the day! The NIH blessed us with a report compiled by over 400 researchers that took a staggering 2 years to complete! An incredible feat, considering the attention span of the average person on social media is about 15 seconds. Since ..read more

Our patients come in with a host of reasons as to why a dental appointment is inconvenient or scary. At a dental school, it can be tricky to tailor our patient experience. Sure nitrous or maybe an anxiolytic are options, but don’t rule out something as simple as music! ⠀ ⠀ Not to mention, you’re going at it for 3 hours, so spice up your life! ⠀ ⠀ I’ve created playlists to fit every patient, so you don’t have to! Here’s how to use them: ⠀ ⠀ ✨,Clinic Jams: These are generic top hits with the right BPMs that won’t have you stressing or spinning those burs out of control ☺️⠀ https://open.spotify.c ..read more

Applying to dental school? Join @brittanyindentistry and @josiedental for a chat!⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ Come ask us anything about:⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ✨The application cycle⠀⠀⠀ ✨The DAT⠀⠀⠀ ✨Interviews⠀⠀⠀ ✨Life as dental student⠀⠀⠀ ✨What it’s like being a practicing dentist⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ If you’re not on Clubhouse yet, you should be! There are so many great convos happening for aspiring dentists, dental students, and practicing dentists. ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ Clubhouse is invite only and we have 7 invites to give for those of you who need one! So, how do you win one? ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ 1. Must be following @josiedental and @brittanyindentistry ⠀⠀⠀ 2. S ..read more

Hi Everyone! We are so excited to have Dr. Jessica Vargas join us for the first ever Dental Bio series. Dr. Vargas is a 2020 graduate from Marquette University School of Dentistry and is currently at UCLA for Pediatric residency. Dr. Vargas will share with us how she decided dentistry was for her, insights to her experience in the dental field as a minority, and her journey to pediatric residency. You won't want to miss this webinar. Register using the link below! https://us05web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwuf-6rqjojHdb8rgssdFpFVA2kh9E2oZ8q Would you like to submit some questions ahead of tim ..read more

Everyone take a deep a BREATH!⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ✨ Should you put off applying?⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀ Depends on how low it is. You’re competing against really impressive applicants. GPA on the other hand is not everything. If you feel your 3.0 still needs to be heard because of your killer DAT, incredible essay, and other unique aspects of your application, you’re probably right! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ✨ Do you have a low GPA with an upward trend? ⠀⠀⠀⠀ One thing is bombing undergrad consistently until the day you graduate for no reason, and another thing is having a bad start that puts you in a GPA hole that is too hard to clim ..read more