need advice & suggestions please!

[Red Devil]

hey all,

I'm new to this site, but I was told to post on this
forum with all my q's about the dental application
process, etc...
So, here goes...

I recently decided to shift my focus from medicine to
dentistry, but I haven't shadowed a dentist as yet.
However, I volunteered at a orphanage a few years ago
where I informed and taught children about the
importance of hygeine and maintaining good dental
care. It was a great experience, and I could
definitely see myself making a difference as a future
dentist.

So, I have filled out most of the AADSAS for the 2006
cycle (just have the essay part left). I need to,
however, shadow a dentist and take the DAT.

1.) I just wanted to know if any of you think it's possible for
me to shadow a dentist for 2 months (June and July), and would
this be enough time for me to shadow and get a LOR
from a dentist?

2.) Would I be too late in the application
process if I took the DAT in August? I have already
started preparing for the exam, and it's going well so
far. If I feel like I need to take a Kaplan course, I
will sign up for the one in July. Otherwise, I am just
planning on using the Barron's and Kaplan's DAT books
and Topscore.

3.) Would I be too late to apply if all my
LOR's went out in August along with my DAT scores?

4.) Should I send in the AADSAS as soon as I'm done even if the DAT
scores and LOR's are sent out later?

5.) Also, is it better for me to just get 3 separate LOR's from
professors/dentists, or do I have to go through a
pre-health committee?

I just want to make sure it's possible to still get
interviews at schools even if all my materials
(besides the AADSAS) are sent in August. I feel like I
have more than enough research experiences, volunteer
experiences, extracurricular activities from college,
leadership activities, etc... and good grades to be
ready for applying. Also, I'm currently doing research
in a lab, and so I will have had 2 years of work
experience before entering dental school in 2006.

I think that's about it...any advice/suggestions will
be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

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[F*R*I*E*N*D*S]

Red Devil- CONGRATS on pursuing dentistry!
1. i think that 2 months of shadowing is good enough to get a LOR from a dentist. if your stats are competitve then it wouldn't hurt to wait until august mabye? up to you, of course.

2. you don't need to wait to take your DAT's to submit your application. august is definitly not late so study hard and good luck! i'm also taking mine at the end of august. if you're going to study on your own, KAPLAN's blue book is the same as KAPLAN's review book that's given to the students who take the classroom course (just w/o the subject tests at the end of each chapter). a lot of ppl who take the kaplan course take another month or two to study on their own so that's something you should keep in mind.

barron's is good for PAT, but when studying for QR, i found mistakes in answers so be careful. I would do the bulk of your studying off of kaplan and use barrons and top score for specific sections (like the PAT).

3. not too late for LOR's to be sent out in august

4. send in your application as soon as you can. don't wait for the LOR's and DAT's. the testing center will send your scores to all the designated schools so you don't need to delay the submission of your AADSAS application.

on aadsas's website, a COMPLETE application is one that has the questions answered and all official college transcripts in. so, don't worry about the LOR's and DAT scores.

5. your school might not have a pre-health committee so it may be your only option to get 3 prof to write you a LOR. however if you do have a committee it is RECOMMENDED, not required.

hope this helps you out. the sooner you get your application submitted the better since it takes AADSAS about 4-6 weeks to send it out to the designated schools. last year i submitted in late october when A LOT of ppl sent theirs in so it took almost 8 weeks to get aadsas to send out my app to the schools. also, it depends on the schools you apply to. i read somewhere on this forum that UOP fills their class by dec.1 so if that school is your #1 then submitting it early is key.

GOOD LUCK!