my chances?

[ternopil07]

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Hi guys. I recently switched from pre-med to pre-dental and took my DAT two days ago.
22 AA, 22 TS, 22 PAT. 3.98 GPA, 3.89 sGPA. I am planning to apply this cycle, but I do not have any shadowing experience. How might this affect my chances? How competitive is my DAT score?
Thank you.
Edit: I got my associate's from a community college. (61 credits)

 

[super frank]

You're going to need shadowing experience. At least some.

 

[BeaverLover]

DAT, great score. No shadowing will definitely raise some eyebrows, especially by taking DAT with no hours..

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Hi guys. I recently switched from pre-med to pre-dental and took my DAT two days ago.
22 AA, 22 TS, 22 PAT. 3.98 GPA, 3.89 sGPA. I am planning to apply this cycle, but I do not have any shadowing experience. How might this affect my chances? How competitive is my DAT score?
Thank you.
Edit: I got my associate's from a community college. (61 credits)

How did you switch from medicine to dentistry without shadowing..?

 

[meeshii00]

Your scores are great. But a lack of shadowing hours will not look good for a lot of dental schools.

 

[JLT223]

Doesn't matter how good your grades are without clinical exposure. That's a big issue.

 

[ternopil07]

Doesn't matter how good your grades are without clinical exposure. That's a big issue.

Thank you for the reply. As a general consensus, how many hours of clinical shadowing would you say is sufficient in order to apply to a dental school?
Thank you.

 

[fogorvostan]

Thank you for the reply. As a general consensus, how many hours of clinical shadowing would you say is sufficient in order to apply to a dental school?
Thank you.

50-100 should be sufficient.

 

[BeaverLover]

Do you have a letter of evaluation from a dentist?

 

[ternopil07]

How did you switch from medicine to dentistry without shadowing..?

Hi. Sorry, I missed your post. This is a reasonable question and I feel like it will come up quiet a few times. If you wish, I can inbox you my situation/story.

 

[Advance]

You're going to have a bachelors before you matriculate right?

 

[confidentandgood]

You need shadowing. How does your clinical/non-clinical volunteering look?

 

[badgerflossopher]

Lots of schools I talked to said they will reject like 4.0 GPAs and 24 DATs if the applicant doesn't show a strong history of dental experience. Try shadowing as well as maybe see if your area has a clinic that you could also start assisting at.

 

[ternopil07]

You're going to have a bachelors before you matriculate right?

Yes. I graduated last semester, with all the required pre-reqs.

 

[ternopil07]

You need shadowing. How does your clinical/non-clinical volunteering look?

Thank you guys for such strong advice. I am working on this area as we speak. I contacted the head of the department of Oral and Maxillofacial surgery and Dentistry at the medical university I work at. As far as my clinical/non-volunteering goes, I have 3.5 years of experience co-running a not for profit, fundraisers to help elderly and those in need as well as events collecting donations to people who require assistance buying medical supply. I have 1.5 years of experience as a research assistant (no publications) and around 650 hours of medical related shadowing (multiple fields) 250 of those as a hospital volunteer.

 

[ternopil07]

Do you have a letter of evaluation from a dentist?

No, unfortunately not.

 

[confidentandgood]

I have 3.5 years of experience co-running a not for profit, fundraisers to help elderly and those in need as well as events collecting donations to people who require assistance buying medical supply. I have 1.5 years of experience as a research assistant (no publications) and around 650 hours of medical related shadowing (multiple fields) 250 of those as a hospital volunteer.

EC's and research are obviously fine. I don't know if you should include the 250 hours of hospital volunteering in your shadowing, as this is direct involvement, not just watching procedures. And no dental shadowing, yes?

 

[ternopil07]

EC's and research are obviously fine. I don't know if you should include the 250 hours of hospital volunteering in your shadowing, as this is direct involvement, not just watching procedures. And no dental shadowing, yes?

As of today, no.

 

[JLT223]

Just curious, why did you wait until now to start shadowing? I know you switched your path, but you knew the shadowing was important. If you submit the app with like 10 hours of shadowing you can't edit it at all, even if you are going into an office in the future.

 

[confidentandgood]

As of today, no.

Just my input, but perhaps some dental shadowing hours would look favorable to committees, especially considering you switched over from pre-med.

 

[fogorvostan]

Just my input, but perhaps some dental shadowing hours would look favorable to committees, especially considering you switched over from pre-med.

Shadowing hours are pretty much necessary from my understanding (the actual amount needed is where you see some variance). Someone is more than welcome to correct me on this.

Plus I don't really see how you know if you want to be a dentist without actually seeing what a dentist does.

 

[kholley25]

Beating a dead horse at this point, but shadowing is crucial if you want to be taken seriously by d-schools. I would aim for 100 hours if you can. You may consider delaying your app submission until mid-July if needed to get the hours (you will still be considered early if you wait that long to submit).