EMT/FF volunteer vs. Paid Dental Assisting?

[dkdus]

would it be more beneficial for me to volunteer at a fire station as a firefighter/emt or get a paid job as a dental assistant? i’m going to be a rising junior and am wondering which role to take on for next semester after this summer (when i’m taking the dat). i would be working at the general office i shadowed 20 hours at and i really want a LOR from them. the issue is i’m not sure if i want to take a gap year but want at least a semester or two working at the office before i apply.

i also am unsure whether to put my 300 hour volunteer thing as leadership as i was technically a team lead as part of a club. now i’m at a dilemma on whether i should build on volunteer hours (as the biggest bulk of hours i have may not count as volunteering bc i don’t want to double dip) or get dental experience and build a more solid relationship with the dentist i want a letter from.

i currently have (projected hours at the end of junior year in parentheses):
shadowing:

• 82.5 hours at a general office
• 20 hours at another general office (where I hope to DA)
• 36 hours at an international omfs office
• 10 hours at an international peds office

research:

• 160 hours at child cognition lab
• 80 (-> 240) at a brain computation lab

ecs/leadership:

• 250 (-> 400) hours as vice president of a drumming club
• 50 (-> 100) hours as a healthcare consulting analyst (should i apply to be a project manager…?)

volunteer:

• 250 (-> 360) hours as lead of a club where we teach the local community about assistive tech for ppl w disabilities while also developing these assistive technologies (work w kids, parents of people with disabilities, other clubs at my college, etc.)
• 17 (-> 60) hours volunteering at a free clinic (medical, no dentist)
• planning to start a volunteer position where i directly am with kids with disabilities

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[Mr.Smile12]

Anything you do to get exposure to working in a dental office would help your profile more than EMT.

Which activity with 300 hours are you referring to?

 

[dkdus]

Anything you do to get exposure to working in a dental office would help your profile more than EMT.

Which activity with 300 hours are you referring to?

It's the first bullet point under my volunteer section! I'm just a bit conflicted because I spend a lot of hours as a lead working with the local community but also do administrative tasks as part of the club's eboard (also don't want to seem like I'm double dipping by putting them in both sections but I do think it being a volunteer position would be more beneficial).

 

[BigMaun]

Anything you do to get exposure to working in a dental office would help your profile more than EMT.

Which activity with 300 hours are you referring to?

I personally feel like the volunteering would benefit their app more. You don't NEED dental experience aside from shadowing, but having a ton of volunteer hours would look really good even if it is not dental related. If OP wants to start saving money though then they should do the paid work.

 

[bennewill]

At this point it looks like you have really good volunteer hours already. I was going to say if you haven't shadowed a dentist yet, dental assisting and dental hygienist careers do not count as shadowing. I know many that had to quit their jobs and volunteer as unpaid interns.

Of the dental assistants I have spoken to, they were greater prepared for dental school because of their previous career in dentistry. However, school admissions aren't going to look upon your application more favorably because you were an assistant.

It also depends on what state you are in. In my state (MA), dental assistants are required to be licensed, and the certification takes 9-12 months (usually at a community college), and the field can be competitive. EMT license only takes 6-12 weeks. I think it would be a lot easier for you to volunteer as an EMT, and the volunteer hours would actually look favorable on a dental application.

 

[dkdus]

At this point it looks like you have really good volunteer hours already. I was going to say if you haven't shadowed a dentist yet, dental assisting and dental hygienist careers do not count as shadowing. I know many that had to quit their jobs and volunteer as unpaid interns.

Of the dental assistants I have spoken to, they were greater prepared for dental school because of their previous career in dentistry. However, school admissions aren't going to look upon your application more favorably because you were an assistant.

It also depends on what state you are in. In my state (MA), dental assistants are required to be licensed, and the certification takes 9-12 months (usually at a community college), and the field can be competitive. EMT license only takes 6-12 weeks. I think it would be a lot easier for you to volunteer as an EMT, and the volunteer hours would actually look favorable on a dental application.

Hi, thank you for your advice! I already have 100 hours of shadowing (+ some international hours which probably don't add much value) so that's not something to worry about 🙂

So I've been thinking a lot about what direction I want to build my app and I felt like volunteering within my community would actually end up being more valuable (soup kitchen) as I care a lot about global health and helping undeserved communities. I believe I would be trained on the job for both jobs but I know joining the fire station as an EMT is a HUGE commitment (at least where I am) and I need to focus on getting my grades up so I may not pursue that anymore. As for the DA job I think it may be better for me to start senior year (1 year before submitting). Any opinions? Disagreements? I just want to be strategic with my application and thank you for taking the time to reply!

 

[dkdus]

Also @Mr.Smile12, I've been looking at ways to network with schools cause I've seen you mentioning that it slightlyyyy increases your chances with schools once a relationship is established with people at the school. I'm registered for the ADEA virtual fair and plan on reaching out to SNDA and ASDA social media accounts of schools I'm eyeing but not really sure what to ask. Do I ask for mentors? Advice? I've also checked out F1 Doctors (I'm a non-canadian international applicant) but the dentists on the site were all from Harvard DMD lol...

I also am really interested in the research at one of my top schools studying assistive toothbrush handles (aligns with my main EC/volunteer). Would reaching out to the professor conducting that study and asking about specifics be a meaningful way to network? I'm scared about reaching out and making a bad impression that could later affect my application.