Shadowing Requirements/Recommendations 2011

From a previous post: "Shadowing ranks among the top of misunderstood topics for DS admission. Shadowing is designed to acquaint the prospective dental student with the daily life of a dentist. It is about observing the atmosphere in a dental office, the interaction between staff, practitioner and patient and, more importantly,about the procedures performed in a dental office. It is for this reason that the number of hours required/recommended for shadowing is reasonable. It should not take months or years to make a determination that dentistry is for us. Shadowing most certainly is not intended for ojt. Ideally, an applicant should shadow a gp for 4-8 hours/day for about 3-4 days. Since not all offices are created equal, whenever possible, shadowing should not be limited to a single office, especially when the practice may be limited in scope. We should observe restorative, prostho, oral surgery, perio, endo, pedo and ortho procedures. For the more demanding applicant, shadowing a specialist is recommended."

Seeking a position as a dental assistant/dental hygenist for the sole purpose of "shadowing" is counterproductive. The time would be better spent immproving the gpa and/or the dat scores."

Source: 2012 ADEA Official Guide to Dental Schools

good stuff, thanks

anyone have an idea about Temple and its "substantial" amount of dental experience, I mean its not even on their website, at least I think. Same with Pitt, its not on their website from what I read.

yes, I think it is important to shadow several practices. They are all so different.

thanks for ur help

Maybe true for some schools. However, I spoke to a recent graduate who was on the admissions committee when he was a dental student at UMKC. They have a 100 hour job shadow requirement. He said that if you do the bare minimum compared to someone who doubled it, guess who they're going to choose? After that, I made my job shadowing goal 200 hours. I am using these hours to get to know most every dentist in my city. Plus not to mention, get a taste of everything such as practices with 1 and 1+ dentists, man-woman, general/specialized, in the city/small town, large/small, etc. Some I stop in once, and others I'm at for a prolonged period, which will come in handy for when it comes time for LORs.

11lreynolds said:

Maybe true for some schools. However, I spoke to a recent graduate who was on the admissions committee when he was a dental student at UMKC. They have a 100 hour job shadow requirement. He said that if you do the bare minimum compared to someone who doubled it, guess who they're going to choose? After that, I made my job shadowing goal 200 hours. I am using these hours to get to know most every dentist in my city. Plus not to mention, get a taste of everything such as practices with 1 and 1+ dentists, man-woman, general/specialized, in the city/small town, large/small, etc. Some I stop in once, and others I'm at for a prolonged period, which will come in handy for when it comes time for LORs.

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Because having free time and just watching the dentist is an excellent predictor of you becoming a better dentist?

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