Many dental hygiene students search for programs that not only teach the discipline’s essentials, but also help students enter the workforce upon graduation. “My dental hygiene program was very rigorous, not to mention the worldwide pandemic that occurred midway into my training,” says Joel Bautista, a recent graduate of West Coast University’s dental hygiene program. Read on as Bautista reflects on his experience as a dental hygiene student in an accelerated program during a pandemic and shares some words of wisdom for allied dental students entering similar programs.

“Whether you are in the process of applying to a dental hygiene program, about to start your first semester or maybe even just beginning to think about dental hygiene as a career, you may want to consider what day-to-day life would look like in this academic program,” says

Third-year Dental Hygiene Student Caitlin Gray and Fourth-year Dental Hygiene Student Rachel Schwartz. Both attend the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and want to provide you with some insight on what to expect in a dental hygiene program and how to manage your personal life while in the program. “We’ll walk you through what a typical ‘day in the life of’ looks like for both junior and senior dental hygiene students.”