Hopeful future dental student questions

[Mattmanwoah]

Hey guys! I'm very new to this site so sorry In advance if this has already been addressed.

I'm currently 17 almost 18, with my freshman year of undergrad under my belt. I currently take all of my classes at FGCU on campus through a program so that when I graduate with my senior class I'll have my sophomore year of college done as well.

Back to my question(s).

Is there anything I can be doing right now (sophomore year of undergrad) that you would have done if you had the chance to make your transcript look better to potential dental schools?

I'm doing community service but are there certain types of it that would look better on a application?

I've heard of shadowing or being a dental assistant but know nothing more than just the name. Any advice on how to get into it would be amazingly helpful.

I know it's early and most of you will just shrug it off but I really have my heart set on this and was wondering if there is anything I can do now, or soon, to start making my application to dental school looking better.

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[PreDentTechySon]

Best advice: Keep your GPA high. There are some extra-curriculars you can do in your off time that will help strengthen your application, but the biggest thing that they will be looking at is your grades & DAT scores. So much easier to keep your grades high than trying to make up for them with re-taken courses or going through a master's program.

That being said, helping out at dental clinics or dental events is really important too. I wouldn't recommend becoming a dental assistant. It is typically an involved process that requires you to have some certification from a 6-9 month course, so it may not be in your best interest. I'd search for any pre-dental club through your school or ask/look around for opportunities. If there isn't a pre-dental club, see if there are any dental clinics that you can volunteer at. Any general volunteering is definitely good for your application, you'll want to be a well rounded applicant, but dental related experience really shows ADCOMS you've taken the time to investigate the profession and you know what you're getting into.