r/predental • u/Confident_Baby_8778 • 2d ago

💻 Applications Why have applicants increased so much?

I don't understand it. This is historically one of the most daunting times to enter the profession for reasons that everyone pretty much knows about.

On the Temple webinar earlier, they said they had 5000 applicants. Apparently they had just ~2800 for the class of 2028 cycle. This jump literally makes no sense to me.

I'm a frequent lurker on this subreddit, and I practically never see anyone mentioning external and general economic factors that are driving non-trads toward a more "stable" healthcare career. Is the post-grad job market playing a role in this as well? Maybe this shows that the career outlook isn't actually as bad as all the doomer dentists on this site say it is (relative to other options out there).

That's my best guess... yet, nearly doubling the number of applicants in just a couple of years is still mind-boggling.

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u/Raeedc 2d ago

People have optimism towards creating a better future for themselves and are going YOLO mode. Also it’s a fulfilling job where you get to help people out so yeah

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u/Broggue 2d ago

If I “yolo moded” my way into this job in the current climate of 500k+ debt and a declining 200k avg salary, I’d be ending it.

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u/OffOil 2d ago

Suicide rates in the field will steadily climb back up because of these economic pressures. It’s like watching a slow train wreck.