Applying without much of shadowing and volunteering hours

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jz123

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Hi, I am going to apply this cycle and I have not taken the DAT yet.
I only have a little shadowing experience and a little volunteering hours. One year of research in chemistry.
I know this makes my application not as good as many others. But did anyone who have/had similar situation got accepted in dental schools? Just wondering. Thanks.
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That would all depend on what you are considering "little." This is incredibly vague. How many hours is "a little?" What is your GPA? Do you have any leadership experience? There are WAY too many unknowns for anyone to answer you. As a side note, it is not uncommon for applicants to begin the application process prior to taking the DAT.
 
I don't even know what the DAT is, muchless its scoring system.
I added a comment here because it's 1:30 and I'm procrastinating.
 
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Can you please give us a summary of your past few years in college? We can't really give advice without a starting point, my friend.
 
DentalLonghorn2014 said:
Can you please give us a summary of your past few years in college? We can't really give advice without a starting point, my friend.
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oGPA:3.77
sGPA:3.78
at a state university in NY

Chemistry Major
 
JLT223 said:
Bump up the shadowing to 100 and you're set. Just do as much as you can because 40 is a bit low.
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I have been calling to nearby dentists asking if I can shadow, all rejected. So this is something i can't really do anything about it.
 
jz123 said:
I have been calling to nearby dentists asking if I can shadow, all rejected. So this is something i can't really do anything about it.
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Go into some offices in person, one is bound to let you shadow. Some schools may not think you've "been exposed" enough to the field. I think 40 is enough personally, but I don't work for a dental school 🙂 The general rule of thumb is to have ~100. Your GPA is solid and you'll probably do well on the DAT so it would be silly to get some rejections just because somebody else has more shadowing hours than you do. Anything is better than nothing.
 
call up more doctors and get in more hours before your app is sent. when are u taking the DAT? and what state university?
 
I had some difficulty early on in college. My overall GPA when applying was something like a 3.3, my BCP was like a 3.4-3.5. I had a ts/aa/rc/pat of 21/21/25/24. I had 25 hours of shadowing experience, no volunteering experience to speak of (although I started during the app. cycle and kept schools updated), but 1000+ hours of research experience. I was in the middle of an MA trying to figure out my life. I applied to 12 schools, was immediately disqualified from 2 due to lack of shadowing experience, denied from 7, offered an interview at 3, went to 2 interviews and got into both.

If it helps you at all during my interview at BU the doctor told me flat out that they didn't care so much about extracurriculars, only about my ability to handle the coursework. That's not to say you shouldn't pad your app, though.
 
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Jumpman81 said:
I had some difficulty early on in college. My overall GPA when applying was something like a 3.3, my BCP was like a 3.4-3.5. I had a ts/aa/rc/pat of 21/21/25/24. I had 25 hours of shadowing experience, no volunteering experience to speak of (although I started during the app. cycle and kept schools updated), but 1000+ hours of research experience. I was in the middle of an MA trying to figure out my life. I applied to 12 schools, was immediately disqualified from 2 due to lack of shadowing experience, denied from 7, offered an interview at 3, went to 2 interviews and got into both.

If it helps you at all during my interview at BU the doctor told me flat out that they didn't care so much about extracurriculars, only about my ability to handle the coursework. That's not to say you shouldn't pad your app, though.
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do you mind sharing over here or through PM which 2 schools those were that disqualified you?
 
DentalLonghorn2014 said:
I would think the low volunteer hours would be a little concerning since you are entering a service based profession right?
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Yeah I was always under the impression that you need at least 100 volunteering + 100 shadowing to be competitive. Do you concur with that number?
 
Incis0r said:
Yeah I was always under the impression that you need at least 100 volunteering + 100 shadowing to be competitive. Do you concur with that number?
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Always under the impression from whom? What people post on here? In terms of shadowing, definitely. It is known that many schools have requirements for the number of shadowing hours an applicant must have. But volunteering? Who knows what the actual "sweet spot" number is, but as one user just posted, you do not need anything close to 100 for some schools. I would think that adcoms would more so want to see you involved and passionate about something and be able to balance that with a full courseload... Whether they are ECs, or volunteering, I feel like it's irrelevant.
 
Incis0r said:
Yeah I was always under the impression that you need at least 100 volunteering + 100 shadowing to be competitive. Do you concur with that number?
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I wouldn't say there's an exact number for volunteering but I know for a fact that Baylor has stated numerous times that they absolutely LOVE volunteering. I guess every school is different ya know?
 
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ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz said:
do you mind sharing over here or through PM which 2 schools those were that disqualified you?
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Sorry, it was Tufts and Western.

Western wanted like 5 more hours than I had. Tufts gave me the opportunity to complete the rest of my hours, but I had a lot of trouble finding someone to shadow. The guy I was shadowing basically told me it was too much 🙁
 
I applied with I think around 60 shadowing hours and multiple schools asked me why my shadowing was "low" during the interview. You definitely need a good volunteer experience that means something to you to talk about at the interview, I got asked that at so many interviews- tell about your volunteer work. So it's not just about adding hours for the application.
 
If you have the right softs/ECs you can get in with minimal shadowing hours. I had 50 hours of shadowing per my AADSAS app and got interviews at UF, OSU, UNC, UNE, VCU, Nova, and got the post-1-Dec "hey are you still interested in us" email from Louisville and ECU. Got into UF, OSU, and UNE on 1 December and wait listed at UNC.

No my other numbers aren't outlandish; 22 AA, 3.5 GPA, 3.6 sGPA.
 
willwash said:
got interviews at UF, OSU, UNC, UNE, VCU, Nova, and got the post-1-Dec "hey are you still interested in us" email from Louisville and ECU. Got into UF, OSU, and UNE on 1 December and wait listed at UNC.

No my other numbers aren't outlandish; 22 AA, 3.5 GPA, 3.6 sGPA.
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What is your state of residency?
 
Incis0r said:
What is your state of residency?
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Florida and Ohio (active duty military stationed in Ohio but Florida is my legal state of residency). ECU called me in-state because NC is my home of record but UNC classified me out of state.

So for application purposes, I was considered in-state at UF and OSU, but not UNC. I never interviewed at ECU but 99% sure I would've gotten in.
 
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