Wesley Clark: “God helped me through those trials so I could use my experiences to bless others”

“Wes, I just want to congratulate you again on starting dental school. Your discipline not only got you in the door, but I know it’ll also get you through DCG and take you far in life.”

In July of 2025, I heard these words from my mother as she spoke to me the night before I started dental school.
When she drove back to Atlanta, I sat in my apartment and began to reflect on all that I had experienced and overcome as a first-generation, non-traditional student to gain admission into DCG. I realized that perseverance had ultimately carried me through my pre-dental journey and into dental school.

When I was denied admission to dental school the first time I applied, I honestly was not disappointed. Instead, I was eager to strengthen my application and become a more competitive candidate. I enrolled in a master’s program at Georgia State University from 2020-2022 while working sixteen-hour shifts, six days a week during the COVID-19 pandemic. I also stepped into the ring with the DAT three times and completed a graduate certificate in anatomy at the University of Florida.

As I was striving to make myself a more competitive candidate for dental school, I had to wrestle with keeping my emotional health intact. I’ll never forget how my pre-dental advisor said, “Your grades are no good for DCG. They’ll never accept you, and you’ll never fit inside the DCG community.” In that moment, I asked myself multiple times, “Is it worth continuing?” When my head told me to stop, my heart said, “Keep going.”

When I got the call that I would be part of the Class of 2029, only one word could describe how I felt: vindicated! After years in the “waiting room,” my tenacity had finally paid off. Now, when I eat lunch on the fifth floor of DCG, I often look out the window and reflect on my journey and ask, “Why was my journey harder?” I believe God helped me through those trials so I could use my experiences to bless others. As a DCG Ambassador, I now help prospective students navigate obstacles I once faced and encourage them when their goals seem out of reach. My journey has taught me that a bad beginning can have a good ending. I am living proof that perseverance can turn the “waiting room” into the destination you once dreamed of reaching.