GPA 3.94 DAT 22 - No Shadowing Hours :(

[iamtryingmybest]

Overall GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.75
DAT:
- PA 22
- QR 27
- RC 22
- BIO 19
- GC 21
- OC 22
TS: 20
AA: 22

Major: Biology
Minority: No
Re-applicant: Yes


I'd be interested in applying to all the schools in California and out of state
If you have any recommendations for some out-of-state schools that would be worth a shot feel free to post below!
Sadly I don't have any shadowing hours and it's almost impossible to start getting them now

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[ToothJockey]

You're a re-applicant with no shadowing hours?
So you didn't have any shadowing hours the first time you applied and you didn't think to get some before applying this cycle?

I'm gonna be honest with you I don't think you can get into dental school with literally 0 shadowing hours. And frankly without shadowing a dentist how do you even know you want to do dentistry?

 

[iamtryingmybest]

You're a re-applicant with no shadowing hours?
So you didn't have any shadowing hours the first time you applied and you didn't think to get some before applying this cycle?

I'm gonna be honest with you I don't think you can get into dental school with literally 0 shadowing hours. And frankly without shadowing a dentist how do you even know you want to do dentistry?

You're right. I applied very very late in the cycle and was planning on doing shadowing, but things came up so I wasn't able to do any shadowing and then corona happened.

 

[artist2022]

Overall GPA: 3.94
Science GPA: 3.75
DAT:
- PA 22
- QR 27
- RC 22
- BIO 19
- GC 21
- OC 22
TS: 20
AA: 22

Major: Biology
Minority: No
Re-applicant: Yes


I'd be interested in applying to all the schools in California and out of state
If you have any recommendations for some out-of-state schools that would be worth a shot feel free to post below!
Sadly I don't have any shadowing hours and it's almost impossible to start getting them now

You left a lot of other information out of your post but based on the lack of shadowing hours, I'm gunna say I think it would be absolutely futile for you to apply this cycle. Even having a low amount of hours can be "okay" but I think having none would be lethal. I'd really suggest skipping this cycle and applying next cycle. It sucks but the lack of hours will seriously hurt you and schools will question your commitment to dentistry due to the fact that 1) you are a reapplicant and 2) you still have no shadowing hours.

tl;dr: Apply next cycle. It's not worth it this cycle with 0 hours. It will likely leave you either 600k in debt at NYU or USC (big maybe), or a reapplicant again next cycle.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I've seen applicants submit with zero shadowing hours before provided they had a ton of hours working in dentist offices or in domestic community service opportunities where dentistry plays a part. There's no guarantee that will substitute, but you have to know what dentists do. Many schools will require at least 20 hours, and the rest will certainly have their share of applications with at least that many hours or more. Having zero puts you in a challenging spot where you have to have a compelling reason why we think you have a strong sense of dentistry as a profession and a community without shadowing or networking.