So you’ve decided that the dental assisting field is right for you and hope to earn a dental assistant salary. Now you are looking for information about how to choose a school. First of all, you’ve made a good choice in your career field. The health care industry offers job stability and earning potential that many other industries can’t offer, especially in a slow economy such as the one we are in right now. But to take advantage of the stability of the health care field, you have to have a good education – which is why you are here reading this.
So what should you look for in a dental assistant school? Are some better than others? Do some help you get jobs? The answer to these last two questions is that yes, some dental assistant schools are better than others, including the ones that help you find employment after you graduate. But there are other things you need to look for in a good school, which include:
- Accreditation by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)
- A balanced mix of classroom and hands on training
- Flexible scheduling options
- Job assistance after graduation (as mentioned above)
- Affordable tuition and financial aid assistance
You can find these things in both traditional community college programs, as well as schools that focus only on dental assistant training. But with this second category, it’s extra important to make sure they are accredited. There are plenty of schools out there that offer dental assistant training, but if you attend one that isn’t accredited, you’ll have a hard time finding anyone to hire you once you graduate.
Another thing to consider as you research schools is how much they cost vs. how much of a dental assistant salary you’ll make. You don’t want to attend a school with high tuition if the average dental assistant salary in your area won’t be enough to cover your student loan payments. So as you are researching schools, also research what the average dental assistant salary is in the area where you plan on applying for jobs. Having this information can help you decide how much you can afford to spend on your dental assisting tuition, as well as where you want to apply for jobs once you graduate.