Extra Curricular Question/Opinion

[Andrew Chong]

Hey,

So I was wondering if you guys could offer your opinion as to what I should do this summer in terms of extra curriculars. I think I want to become a dentist and at the same time I want to start developing my resources for applying to dental school.

I was thinking of shadowing a dentist, to obviously get a feel for what its like and second of all to get some hours in because I understand you need volunteer hours in a dental setting. Lastly, the possibility of getting a recommendation letter.

OR

I was thinking of going on a community service project to somewhere like costa rica where you can volunteer as a "dentist" and get some really good hands on experience as a dentist. I really DO enjoy volunteering and I think this would also look good on my application....but most likely no LOR.

Opinions as to what is better?

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[AwesomeTeeth]

Hey,

So I was wondering if you guys could offer your opinion as to what I should do this summer in terms of extra curriculars. I think I want to become a dentist and at the same time I want to start developing my resources for applying to dental school.

I was thinking of shadowing a dentist, to obviously get a feel for what its like and second of all to get some hours in because I understand you need volunteer hours in a dental setting. Lastly, the possibility of getting a recommendation letter.

OR

I was thinking of going on a community service project to somewhere like costa rica where you can volunteer as a "dentist" and get some really good hands on experience as a dentist. I really DO enjoy volunteering and I think this would also look good on my application....but most likely no LOR.

Opinions as to what is better?

Go to find a local dentist to shadow or a clinic to volunteer at is best in my opinion. You can take classes and work at the same time. And the LOR like you said.

If you have a bunch of money to blow and time to take off, do the costa rica thing. And you're not a "dentist" when you're there, you're still a volunteer/assistant. They're not going to let you extract people's teeth just because you're in another country....

 

[nlbaker7]

They're not going to let you extract people's teeth just because you're in another country....

Haha oh they definitely will, you just have to be very careful and say no!

 

[OneThree]

So as far as ECs are concerned, shadowing/assisting at a dental office and getting a LOR out of it is > everything else?

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

So as far as ECs are concerned, shadowing/assisting at a dental office and getting a LOR out of it is > everything else?

More or less. Volunteering at a community dental clinic is also good. I mean, we're going to dental school so everyone has to do the shadowing/assisting thing at some point. All the rest of the ECs like habitat for humanity or whatever are nice but you don't need a ton of it.

 

[spearmint]

Do both. I'm assuming the Costa Rica trip would be 2-3 weeks long? This leaves you with the rest of the summer to shadow a dentist.

 

[dentalWorks]

Hey,

So I was wondering if you guys could offer your opinion as to what I should do this summer in terms of extra curriculars. I think I want to become a dentist and at the same time I want to start developing my resources for applying to dental school.

I was thinking of shadowing a dentist, to obviously get a feel for what its like and second of all to get some hours in because I understand you need volunteer hours in a dental setting. Lastly, the possibility of getting a recommendation letter.

OR

I was thinking of going on a community service project to somewhere like costa rica where you can volunteer as a "dentist" and get some really good hands on experience as a dentist. I really DO enjoy volunteering and I think this would also look good on my application....but most likely no LOR.

Opinions as to what is better?

There is a difference between volunteering vs shadowing.

Shadowing is when you go and observe a dentist (thats it). Get an idea what he does. It'll give you perspective if this is something you wanna do as a career. You can have as many shadowing hours as you want, but anything more than 150 hours and it becomes a waste of time.

Volunteering is different. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE DENTAL OR HEALTHCARE RELATED. It can be anything. Its purpose is to show that you care about your community.

I guess you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone if you found a volunteering opportunity in one of those free dental clinics (you get to observe and volunteer).... But if you don't, its okay to split up the 2 activities.

do not... DO NOT MENTION THIS ever in your application
"somewhere like costa rica where you can volunteer as a "dentist""
Its extremely unethical to be practicing "dentistry" without a degree.