Dental School Extra-curriculars vs. Med School ECs

[housie07]

Hey guys, I tried searching around and looking at profiles a bit but could not come up with much.

I am considering taking up the dental school pre-reqs (as a post-bacc), and have been trying to figure out what kind of expectations there are for applicants' extra-curriculars. It seems that for med school, applicants are expected to have 100 (or whatever) hours of clinical experience, however many hours of shadowing, and various other volunteer work. From what I've read so far, it seems like dental school applicants are expected to shadow 50-100 hours, but I am wondering if there is any other essential component of the application. I am volunteering with AmeriCorps in a leadership position next year, have taught this year, had good ECs in college, and have done some shadowing with a dentist. Is there anything I am totally missing? Thank you in advance!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dentalWorks]

as far as volunteering goes, it doesn't matter what you do, it can be medical/dental related OR NOT. volunteering means your doing something for you community because you care. Medical and dental schools like you see applicants involved in some sort of volunteering program. and no you don't have to go to africa to help starving children, but just have some sort of volunteering in your application.

as far as shadowing / "exposure" goes. This is kinda of important. Both med and dental schools like to see applicants who know what theyr getting themselves into. If you've never been exposed (via shadowing for example) to any healthcare field, then how exactly do you know you want to be a dentist/doctor? This question I imagine gets asked alot in interviews if your not showing any sort of exposure to the field.