Do all USA D-school need volunteer experience in Dental Field?

[limzhu]

Do all USA D-school need volunteer experience in Dental Field?
Would you tell me any do not need ? Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dr_benj]

I don't believe it is an actual requirement at most schools, but is definitely strongly recommended by every school. You will be selling yourself short by not having any experience. Have at least 30 hours shadowing or volunteer experience before applying. Additionally, I think there is a difference between volunteering and shadowing. I personally have no experience "volunteering" in the dental field but had many hours shadowing. Hope this helps.

 

[Mudduck]

I agree with dr-benj. Volunteering, as opposed to observing/shadowing, is above and beyond the expected. If you have volunteer experience, that is a major plus on your application. But I have not come across a single school that REQUIRES VOLUNTEER experience.
On the other hand, if the OP is referring to observation/shadow hours, I think it is an absolute must to have at the very least 30 hours time. That is not even a full week in the life of a dentist. You need at least this much time to even catch a small glympse of what a dentist does. For me, I did not even decide I wanted to go into dentistry until after I had logged many hours beside several dentists. Sure, what I had heard got me into the clinics to check things out, but it was what I saw that intrigued me, not what I had heard about dentistry.

Bottom line: expose yourself to the field as much as possible. But don't do it because it looks good to adcoms, but do it so you can gain information for yourself.

 

[ecdoesit]

There is actually one or two dental school(s) that ask for proof that the applicant has completed 30 hours of dental experience. Is it Tufts? or BU? I forgot.

 

[honestpredent]

They don't officially require dental experience but it's almost a necessity. Of course that depends on how strong of an applicant you are. Students with GPA's in excess of a 3.7 will always get more breaks than those who don't.

 

[MarkFitzsimmons]

Ohio State requires proof of 20 (I think its 20...) hours of GP shadowing.

Like Madduck, I didn't know I wanted to be a dentist before shadowing for several hours.
Unlike Madduck, it wasn't what I heard about dentistry that got me in the clinic, it was that I just happened to be dating the daughter of a dentist when my high school required me to do some job shadowing!

 

[Mudduck]

ecdoesit,

Yep, there are actually a good handful of schools that require some sort of proof of experience. What I was trying to contrast was volunteer(assisting/lab work/etc.) experience with shadowing experience. I do not think any school actually REQUIRES you to WORK in a dental office, but yes, some do require proof of observation experience, and all schools will eventually ask (interview) about your experiences with dentistry thus far.

 

[Bickle]

Originally posted by ecdoesit
There is actually one or two dental school(s) that ask for proof that the applicant has completed 30 hours of dental experience. Is it Tufts? or BU? I forgot.

I know that Tufts wants some form of documentation, as for BU???. Any schmo can say they did 30 hrs of observing, but only those who actually did it can get documentation.

I remember I was telling the admissions secretary, "yeah, I've completed 50 hrs of observation" (when I really didnt). Her response was "great, just send in a letter written by your dentist saying that you did". The next day I called my dentist, and crammed in the hours (5 hours/day for 10 days). It was good for the first couple of days, but seemed redundant once I saw the same stuff over and over. By redundant, I dont mean my dentist's work, but me watching him do it.

All in all, 50 hours is a little extreme, thats why tufts reduced it to 30 hours. But even 30 seems like a lot. Just another hoop to jump through...

 

[MarkFitzsimmons]

I had 54.5 hours of observation with dentists when I interviewed. I presented the interviewers with a signed letter from each dentist documenting that time. I suggest that if you are spending your time shadowing for dental school, document it.