Don't have that many dental-related experiences. Will I get into dental school?

[CherryBlossom1412]

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Hi guys!
I have a question. I'm a fourth year student now and I'm planning to apply to dental school this cycle. However, I don't have that many dental-related experiences. All I have is shadowing experience (200+ hrs) but everyone has this so nothing unique. And I'm also a dental assistant for the same dentist but I also feel like so many people have the same experience too so not super unique either. However, I do have a lot of community services but they're not dental related, more like pre-health because I just changed to pre-dent last year (I was premed). I don't have any volunteer experience for underserved communities like being part in dental free clinic and such. Do you guys think I'll still have a chance to get an interview?

 

[smile1moretime]

Yes, you are fine. Good luck this cycle! 🙂

 

[CherryBlossom1412]

Yes, you are fine. Good luck this cycle! 🙂

Thank so much!!!! 😀

 

[StudyDoctor]

Hi, don't worry too much about this. Believe it or not, most accepted applicants probably only have shadowing experience, with some dental assistant experience. A lot of students are also involved in their pre-dentistry club at their school, but nothing crazy unique. Adcoms like to see diversity, so if you're a well-rounded applicant and have various useful experiences, you'll be fine.

 

[CherryBlossom1412]

Hi, don't worry too much about this. Believe it or not, most accepted applicants probably only have shadowing experience, with some dental assistant experience. A lot of students are also involved in their pre-dentistry club at their school, but nothing crazy unique. Adcoms like to see diversity, so if you're a well-rounded applicant and have various useful experiences, you'll be fine.

Thank you!!! ^^

 

[Stanelz]

Whats your DAT/GPA. You can have all the experience in the world but wont get any interviews if those are not high.

 

[845302]

Whats your DAT/GPA. You can have all the experience in the world but wont get any interviews if those are not high.

Yes! GPA & DAT are by far the most influencial part of your application. If they aren't good, you can throw all those ECs away because they won't care.

-Fyz

 

[CherryBlossom1412]

Whats your DAT/GPA. You can have all the experience in the world but wont get any interviews if those are not high.

Hi! THat's one of my problems lol I'm planning to take DAT at the end of July so I'm already turning in application late 🙁 But I have been studying for it now and I hope to get a good score since I'm putting a lot of time on it.

And my GPA is 3.7

 

[Lane138]

Lucky for you, "dental experience" is not one of the more important aspects of your application. Basically as long as you have and it's not glaringly obvious that you're lacking in it, you're fine.

Also lucky for you, pre-dental and pre-med activities overlap a lot, so you'll be fine with your health related volunteering. Many people in college explore dentistry and medicine and pharm careers before deciding on one.

 

[CherryBlossom1412]

Lucky for you, "dental experience" is not one of the more important aspects of your application. Basically as long as you have and it's not glaringly obvious that you're lacking in it, you're fine.

Also lucky for you, pre-dental and pre-med activities overlap a lot, so you'll be fine with your health related volunteering. Many people in college explore dentistry and medicine and pharm careers before deciding on one.

Thank you so much! I was so worried haha I think it's because my friend who got into top school like UCLA, UOP, Columbia, etc had a lot of dental experiences so I thought we had to have those things in order to even get an interview. but I just realized she had been set on dentistry since her freshmen year in college. Thanks!!