Goals & Learning

My current career goals are to attend professional school in dentistry and exceed those good grades to get accepted. I have these goals because when I was little I always had the desire to help people, especially children as a dentist. Nonetheless, this internship has prepared me for whatever challenges I may face in my future professional career. Soon I will begin studying for the DAT (Dental Admissions Test), to fully align myself for this upcoming year .

As I move forward in my internship, into the spring semester, my knowledge has changed in my career planning journey. Having a mentor who has been through many years of schooling has helped me determine that preform better when working at my own pace. I now know that my preferences and goals are beneficial to my personal growth and my work ethic. My confidence has grown tremendously in making career decisions. I am confident in attending dental school but deciding to finish out my undergraduate degree, then take a year to prepare for dental school. This means taking my dental admissions test and gaining more experience by working as an assistant in the field. He has also pushed me to always do what is best for myself to obtain my most beneficial future.

It is tremendous looking back at the amount of personal growth I have made. My goals have always been aimed towards applying to dental school and what I can do in present time to succeed. These goals consisted of making specific dental school requirements, equipping myself with the necessary skills for the DAT, and keeping up my grades. The progress I have made in March of 2025 have consisted of nothing but success. I have created a spread sheet of every dental school I am applying to, a checklist of the requirements to get accepted, and have maintained a grade of a B or higher in all of my classes. I have decided to take a gap year in between my undergrad and applying to dental school. This summer, I am starting to volunteer at riley children's hospital to add volunteer work to my applications along with working with children, since I would love to go into pediatrics. The rest of my time at IU Indianapolis, I will continue internships specifically relating to dentistry while putting all of my effort into confidently maintaining good grades.

My three goals are:

To learn how to read MRI and CT scans. 

Relevance: This connection to the future is relevant to my future because it is important to know X-RAYS and identifying them especially for dental school. It will help me get exposure and experience to radiation and how to handle it if I will be taking mouth x-rays.

Action Plan: To attend my internship in person and get exposure and learn how my supervisor explains each scan.

My progress in March is more detailed and specific. I have gained knowledge in reading CT scans. My research is directly related to CT scans and not so much MRI'S. I have used software such as slicer to investigate bone marrow and specific bones of the body under medical imaging. My exposure to reading images is great since now I not only know how to read images but also gain knowledge in medical imaging software such as slicer. I will continue to work with the software since there are so many features in using the software that I am being taught to work with daily.

Learning Goal #2: Have active communication

Relevance: This is relevant to every single task or job I will have. There is always room to strengthen this, especially to eliminate confusion in jobs or tasks.

Action Plan: My plan has already been working while emailing because I am not used to emailing which is a form of communication. I will keep communicating to stregthen them.

My active communication has not only improved in the workplace setting but also an educational setting. I am checking my email and quickly responding daily. My main form of communication with my mentor is email which helps strengthen those skills. I also have been improving with emailing my volunteer supervisor, professors, and classmates with clear communication. I have now understood that asking questions is never a bad trait to have to succeed in my work and personal life for a clear direction down the right path.

Learning Goal #3: Improve my work ethic

Relevance: This fits into my future because a good work ethic is essential for commitment.

Action Plan: I will be consistent from working from home and keep asking questions to do my best especially for the future.

My work ethic has improved in many ways. i now spread out studying in advanced for exams and have a set work schedule. Once I created a set work schedule for myself since my internship is hybrid, I have a great balance of my work ethic. I now know how to balance and clearly communicate to get excellent results and the output that I have been aiming for to succeed in my career and personal life.

In the fall, The skill I use the most is independence since I work from home and just work on my own schedule and get assigned tasks. By doing this I am strengthening my trait of independence and motivation such as finding places to work alone and being consistent with my studies. As my internship is coming to an end in March, I still always use independence and work from home. I have been independent by getting assigned tasks and working on them during my own time with deadlines. 

In the spring, I still use the skill of independence as my internship has went on. I provide a set schedule for myself such as studying in advanced and work on a schedule that does not interfere with school. I always put myself first while balancing a personal life as well!

In the fall, I would like to work on being consistent and matching the tasks my supervisor gives me. While I move on, I would like to open my horizon of medical software and apply that to my future job as a dentist. My consistency are constantly improving by the day and I have been finishing all of my assignments both at school and work. As my time in my internship comes to an end, I have improved in consistency and succeeded in the tasks I have been assigned with. The tasks have included working from home with patient record, using software such as slicer, and communicate with my mentor and his employees as well. 

In the spring, I have improved on consistence but want to still work on that. Some days I catch myself slipping and want to dive into my personal life which is okay. But, days like that I have to put in double the work for my school and work balance to stay consistent. I will carry on that goal after LHSI to keep up my study methods and working an in person job to balance my consistency and balance.

There are various ways that this internship helps me connect to my coursework. This internship has deepened my understanding of independence and motivation to work on my own especially gaining a sense of good productivity and time management. For example, I am taking many online classes. Doing this internship from home helps me stay productive with both my online classes and working from home. I tend to support my independence by working from home or trying a new coffee shop out of the house. Along with that, in my coursework I use excel and all I have been mainly do it navigate excel. By doing this internship, I am strengthening my skills with various platforms such as excel and Power Chart which is the software I use to chart patients. Overall, I am learning how to balance and use different softwares which will definitely help me with the rest of my undergraduate career! Moving forward in March, I have still gained knowledge that this internship confirms that I would like to one hundred percent work in the healthcare field. I enjoy learning about patients and staying productive with using that software. I respect my independence and if I am eventually a dentist, I will grow my strength of independence and how I specifically do my dental work.