STUDENT PERSPECTIVES
The road
to dentistry
Brian P. Black
 |
| Brian P. Black, SD’00, is a captain in the Air Force, stationed at Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, Texas. He placed above 90th percentile on Parts I and II of the National Board exams, and was honored with several awards at graduation, including Omicron Kappa Upsilon honor society and the Pierre Fauchard Academy. |
I never thought
that I would become a dentist. It was never in my plans. In 1995, I found
myself dissatisfied, wanting to broaden my horizons and experiences outside
of the career I had chosen. Unfortunately, I was not sure what I wanted
to pursue, and I simply grew increasingly frustrated over my lot in life.
I really had no direction until I became a Christian in May of that same
year. That is when God gave me direction and led me to one of the finest
experiences in my life; the day I was accepted to attend Loma Linda University
School of Dentistry, and the miraculous way in which it occurred.
I made my decision to apply to dental school during a lunch
meeting with an oral surgeon I had never met. My mother had worked for
an oral surgeon for many years, and, knowing my frustrations, had encouraged
me to meet a new partner surgeon to “get some ideas.” I decided
to meet him for lunch, and, after about an hour of talking, he said something
I will never forget. He said, “You know, after talking with you,
I think you might make a good dentist.”
A light went on. I had never even considered that. I had
always believed that doctors were from rich families or had been super
brilliant kids. So I asked him: “What do I have to do to get into
a dental school?” and then, “Where is a dental school around
here?” (My wife and I were living in Riverside and had grown up there.)
I truly was clueless, but he responded: “You would have to take the
DAT and apply to a school. Loma Linda University is where I graduated.
It’s just a few miles away.” So, within an hour after we parted
from our lunch meeting, my wife and I were getting a tour of LLUSD.
At the end of the tour, we stopped in at the admissions
office. I asked for an application and was told that normally the school
does not give out its last AADSAS application, but because it was so late
in the application season I could have the last one. I had literally two
days to complete it and have it postmarked if I were to be accepted for
the Fall of 1996. Moreover, this DAT thing had to be dealt with. By the
time I received the DAT application, I had one day to complete it and
have it postmarked. Furthermore, if I were given a seat for the exam,
I would only have four weeks to prepare for it. Though I had a biology
degree, I hadn’t studied organic chemistry nor any of the other basic
sciences since before I graduated from college in 1992. I spent one evening
trying to “study” for the exam from the sample booklet that
came with the application and gave up in complete frustration.
A month later, I sat for the DAT exam. A month after that,
I sat before Dr. James Crawford (execute associate dean) for my interview
at LLUSD, the only school to which I applied because, after all, it was
close to home. Again, I was completely clueless about the process. I thought
that everybody got an interview. All I knew was that my wife and I, along
with many of our church friends, were praying that God would open doors
for me.
 |
| Brian Black (left) was part of a team of dental students who ministered to Amazon villagers in the summer of 1999. |
My undergraduate GPA was a very noncompetitive 3.32 and
my DAT scores were quite miserable. Miraculously, I received my copy of
the DAT results the day before the interview, but LLU had not gotten a
copy. Had the admissions office seen them I probably would not have had
an interview. At any rate, I remember handing my DAT to Dr. Crawford and,
to my great concern, hearing him mumble: “Your science is pretty
low...hmmm. But your perceptual ability score is good. Well, I suppose
I could defend these to the committee.” What committee? Wasn’t
a 12 in organic chemistry a good score? What about a 14 for total science?
And what about my 15 in academic average?
By now I figured the doors were closed. I had three strikes
against me: my grades weren’t competitive, my DAT scores were weak,
and I wasn’t a Seventh-day Adventist. So, I continued to pray with
my wife and friends. I heard nothing for four months until I received
a notice in the mail one Friday afternoon. I remember waiting all weekend
to open it since my wife was away on a church retreat. When she got home,
we opened the letter and found that I was neither accepted nor rejected.
I was an alternate. I was a definite maybe.
So I waited some more. We continued to pray fervently. I
got discouraged by the end of May and sent away for another AADSAS application.
The dental school at Loma Linda University must have filled all of its
positions. Who was I kidding, anyway... It was always a long shot. I remember
reconsidering if I should reapply at all. In early June I got my new application,
but I was rather depressed and didn’t open it.
 |
| Brian P. Black, far right, was joined by his parents, Larry and Kathy Black, his wife Pearl, and newborn daughter Julia Tai, at the Alumni-Student Convention. |
The very next day, Sylvia Davis (director of admissions)
called me at home. A position had become available. All I needed was $1,000
to secure it and another $2,500 to get started with financial aid. My
wife and I used all of our savings and an almost overdrawn credit card
to pay $2,000. That is all we had. Apart from borrowing money, we had
no other sources for the additional $1,500. We chose not to borrow because
we already had significant credit card debt. We prayed again. We prayed
for a $1,500 miracle.
On July 24, we received a letter from LLUSD informing us
that an anonymous donor had posted $1,500 to my account. My wife and I
moved to Loma Linda and I started dental school in September. I had a
rocky start that first quarter, but I began to find myself fitting in
and working harder each day. God enabled me to excel beyond my wildest
dreams.
I suppose that I have always felt that I had to prove myself
worthy of the position given to me. But shouldn’t we all? Shouldn’t
we live to show ourselves worthy before God and the people around us?
For me, dental school has been more about maturing my faith than about
a degree. By His grace, God has been good to me and Loma Linda University’s
School of Dentistry has participated greatly in His plan for my life.
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All rights reserved. Revised February 14, 2001
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