how important are volunteer hours?

Started by Strikeout13GB
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Strikeout13GB

Strikeout13GB

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I have about 25 hours right now and might get up to 35-40 by the time i apply (June). have other people have low hours and didn't have a problem? I have alot of clubs and awards and honor societies i know thats not volunteer hours. Also I've been a chemistry tutor every year in undergrad
 
Strikeout13GB said:
I have about 25 hours right now and might get up to 35-40 by the time i apply (June). have other people have low hours and didn't have a problem? I have alot of clubs and awards and honor societies i know thats not volunteer hours. Also I've been a chemistry tutor every year in undergrad
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I would say shadowing hours (in a dentist office of sorts) >>>>>> Volunteer hours. Well, as far as dental schools are concerned, not necessarily for the betterment of society.
 
DOC SMILE: I disagree (just because I feel like it😀)


But seriously unless you are applying to A.T. Still or another handful of schools they just want to see that you have hours and you are donating your time. Continue to volunteer after you turn in your application and update schools with new hours later in the cycle.👍

Edit:
I had over 1,000 volunteer hours and A.T. Still said that I need to keep getting more. Maybe they were just yanking my chain?
 
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Philippines03j said:
DOC SMILE: I disagree (just because I feel like it😀)


But seriously unless you are applying to A.T. Still or another handful of schools they just want to see that you have hours and you are donating your time. Continue to volunteer after you turn in your application and update schools with new hours later in the cycle.👍
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C'mon, pay attention. This stuff is important. Caries Risk Assessments are going to be a MAJOR part of our private practice chair time! Oh he just said "exam" i better listen. . .
 
i'll have 100 hours of shadowing and my goal is to try and get 50 volunteer hours by the time I turn in my app. Obviously they will see I did half the last few weeks but I figure the rest of my app will cover up my low hours. I'm also going into the app with a 3.9 gpa
 
That is about all you can do at this point...Would more be better? Of course but at this point unless you have nothing to do it probably isn't possible to get 200 or 300 hours.

50 hours is a little low but what can you do.
 
I have about 25 hours right now and might get up to 35-40 by the time i apply (June).
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So you have less then a part-time work week's amount and might get a full work week's amount.



Yea. I would say you need more.


However,
I've been a chemistry tutor every year in undergrad
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This should count as volunteer time.





What does volunteer time show? It shows the addComm that you are capable of putting others before yourself; that you want to be part of something bigger than yourself.

If you have something else in your past that shows this, you might want to show it off.
 
Usually if you tutor you get paid and thus it is no longer volunteer.

I tutored and put that under previous employment because I was paid for it.

Because you won't be getting hundreds of hours for volunteering it is important that you make them quality hours.
 
ahh, my bad.

My 70 hours of tutoring were non-paid, thus volunteer. I didnt even think about paid tutoring.
 
Strikeout13GB said:
I have about 25 hours right now and might get up to 35-40 by the time i apply (June). have other people have low hours and didn't have a problem? I have alot of clubs and awards and honor societies i know thats not volunteer hours. Also I've been a chemistry tutor every year in undergrad
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Are you trying to get us to tell you "its okay... You don't need volunteering" lol, thats never gonna happen.

But in all honesty, no body knows exactly how important volunteering hours are. Most dental school sites you'll visit will always say something alone the lines of ".....demonstrates a passion for helping others by volunteering and community involvements...."

I will say one thing, 25 hrs vs 40 isn't gonna make a lick of a difference.
 
Just to share my experience last cycle, I applied last July with 80 volunteer hours at UCLA School of Dentistry and no shadowing hours. I also took all of the pre-dental technique courses at UCLA. I received 0 interview invites out of 17 schools and got rejected by all of them (except NYU, but I'm sure I'll be notified eventually). Sure, there were probably other factors that caused me to be rejected, but I think my lack of shadowing hours was detrimental to my application. I will have about 100 shadowing hours by this June when I reapply. In my opinion, shadowing a dentist is much more important than volunteering. There's just no other comparable experience that will truly allow you to determine whether or not dentistry is for you, and schools know that.
 
i'm not trying to get anyone to say that I dont need to volunteer or that its ok, i was just looking for people in similar situations (that had low volunteer hours)and if they got in or not
 
I know some schools place a lot more emphasis on volunteer hours than others (I believe A.T. Still being one that weighs volunteer hours heavily). As far as I know, it is another piece of the puzzle of a good candidate demonstrating depth and commitment to dentistry. And as one person mentioned above, adcoms just want to see you are involved with something meaningful with your time. My brother was accepted to dental school with 0 hours volunteer service. He had a number of other great stats to compensate for it (work experience, involvement with clubs/organizations, etc.).
 
I got in with less than 75hrs in shadowing and volunteer time. Does having a million hours of either really make you a better candidate..? no it doesn't. Focus on GPA and DAT and do what you can. As long as you can give some examples of procedures you have observed and show that you know what your getting yourself into you will be fine. Besides there are other factors such as jobs, research, family situations..etc. that could play a roll in have a low number of hours

Dont sweat it, do what you can and be confident
 
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I think the best way to get volunteer hours is to group your activities together. Find clubs, hobbies, and activities that would give you opportunities to volunteer and give back to the community.

Depending on its activities how it's run, joining a predent club can almost guarantee you a few hours here and there. Our club put together presentations at local schools and helped out at free dental days throughout the area.

I got hours shadowing a dentist who spent a few hours every month doing pro bono work at a clinic. I asked him if I could tag along, and this gave me some more volunteer hours.

I joined a social fraternity that also did philanthropy work. We set up charity golf tournaments, helped fix up a little league baseball field for the community, helped with sorority fundraisers etc. This gives you the opportunity to be social and party (obviously), hold leadership offices, AND receive volunteer hours.

Even your manual dexterity activities can be tied to volunteer work. Many places that offer pottery, sculpture, jewelry making classes, etc. also offer summer kids camps, where you can volunteer your time.

I like killing 2 birds with 1 stone.
 
I have a huge concern. I always assumed that if I spent time, as a volunteer dental assisting, those hrs would count toward "shadowing hours" in the sense that both experiences allowed you to be exposed to dentistry and decided if it was a field you wanted to pursue.

After reading some recent threads I'm gathering that shadowing is in its own catagory and that schools may not value dental assisting volunteer hours? Does anyone have any experience with this? If a school lists a required amount of shadowing hrs and doesnt take my volunteer hrs i'm $*#@ed for this cycle.
 
yappy said:
I have a huge concern. I always assumed that if I spent time, as a volunteer dental assisting, those hrs would count toward "shadowing hours" in the sense that both experiences allowed you to be exposed to dentistry and decided if it was a field you wanted to pursue.

After reading some recent threads I'm gathering that shadowing is in its own catagory and that schools may not value dental assisting volunteer hours? Does anyone have any experience with this? If a school lists a required amount of shadowing hrs and doesnt take my volunteer hrs i'm $*#@ed for this cycle.
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I doubt this.... even in AADSAS application... shadowing is referred to as "Job Shadowing"... even tho you aren't getting paid and you aren't doing anything productive for the business, its still a job.

The whole point of shadowing is so you expose yourself to the field... what difference does it make if you did it while providing some volunteering service or if you just stood there.
 
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