Advice..

[Badgerfaithful]

Hey, everyone.

I fairly recently decided that I was going to start applying for dental school next year. I graduated in May from Wisconsin with GPAs of 3.5/3.7. I am taking the DAT in the spring, and am starting to study for it. I took the MCAT while in college because I was originally intending on going to med school, but kind of gave up. But I got a 33 on it, so I'm hopeful for a similarly good score on the DAT, like 22/22 or something, but at least 20/20. I'm working for a biotech company now, and spent 2 and a half years as a research assistant under a professor while in school.

My problem lies in my complete lack of dentist shadowing/volunteering. The real problem is that I work all day during the week and therefore can't do it during the week. I'm looking for general advice on my chances without shadow experience, or if there's a possibility of doing shadow/volunteer work on the weekends? I'm not sure about these types of things yet.

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[nydds25]

my advice... run from this forum. People here can be nasty and will assassinate you for wanting to apply to dental school without ever shadowing.

You have to shadow someone with weekend hours or volunteer at a clinic at the weekend. Aim for at least 50 hours and see if you like it. You also have to consider your personal statement which will be all about why you want to be a dentist.

 

[nydds25]

Also tell me if you honestly applied to medical school? Because if you did, you have to disclose that information in the dental apps, and expect most of your interviews, if not all, to be focused on that piece of information.

 

[Danny289]

33 is prety good score for MCAT! if you got 33 in MCAT easily you will hit 21+ in DAT!

 

[sl2obel2ts]

go look around. there are dentists who open their office at 6 or 7 to accomodate ppl with jobs. i think if u spend 2 hours a day before your work, you can def get some shadowing experience.

 

[Badgerfaithful]

Honestly, I did the primary application for all schools on AMCAS, but never sent in any supplemental applications because during that time some personal life issues made me re-consider medical school. How will that affect my dental school app?

 

[NyCzPeter]

Honestly, I did the primary application for all schools on AMCAS, but never sent in any supplemental applications because during that time some personal life issues made me re-consider medical school. How will that affect my dental school app?

You'll be required to put that you have applied for medical school in the past. They are going to drill you on why you decided to come into dentistry instead. Alot of people use dentistry as a backup in case they don't get into med school and dental adcoms greatly look down upon that for obvious reasons. So I guess you really have to convince them that this isn't just the backup plan for you.

 

[nydds25]

Honestly, I did the primary application for all schools on AMCAS, but never sent in any supplemental applications because during that time some personal life issues made me re-consider medical school. How will that affect my dental school app?

Well since you filled out and paid for an amcas, you officially applied for Med school. You could say on the dental apps that you have never applied to medical school, but it is risky since you are in the AMCAS system. It's not a big deal, just that interviewers are very sensitive to people who applied to medical school in the past. They ask you a lot about it.

 

[Badgerfaithful]

Ugh. Doesn't sound good. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Orgodox]

Well considering your change of mind and the fact that you applied you will def be asked about it on interviews. This is not necessarily a bad thing though. Just you really want to get some shadowing to show that you care about dentistry and it wasnt a fallback plan or something and you can show them that you know what it is about and are willing to put in the work.... Good luck!

 

[AggieDDS]

Honestly, I did the primary application for all schools on AMCAS, but never sent in any supplemental applications because during that time some personal life issues made me re-consider medical school. How will that affect my dental school app?

....such as getting rejected from medical school?

 

[dentalmagnet]

don't worry too much about shadowing/volunteering. At least get in 50 hrs before you apply. If you hate it, you will know. You sound like a really great applicant.

 

[Badgerfaithful]

Thanks.

Haha didn't get rejected but I can't say I wasn't expecting to.

 

[JamesOSU]

Most schools require you have 20+ hours of shadowing. You'll have to take days off work, shadow at night or on weekends, but you'll most likely have to figure out a way to do it. Plus, the experience is really important for pre-dents, to see if you really fit with dentistry. It looks a lot different while not sitting in the chair staring at the ceiling. If you don't shadow a dentist I would not expect to get interviews. It is a whole section on the AADSAS, and several schools' secondary applications as well.

You will figure out how to do it.