Ongoing Dental Experience Hours Question

[Zaarge]

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Hi everyone! I hope things are going smoothly for all of you who are applying this cycle. I myself am applying and wanted to see if any of y'all could help me out with some advice.

Out of my whole application, my weakest point is definitely my relatively low dental experience/shadowing hours. I know that you are only allowed to report the hours in AADSAS that you have already completed and can't enter your predicted future hours. I am volunteering twice a week (as much as I can) in my school's college of dentistry clinics and will only have a little over 50 hours from this when I submit my application, but I should have close to 100 by the end of summer and even more if I continue volunteering through fall.

I'm just trying to get input on how best to enter my hours in the experience section. Do you think I should start off the description of the experience with this? Or make a note that sticks out at the end? How do you feel I should best make it known to them that I am actively volunteering as much as I can and will rack up a good amount of hours over the coming months? My biggest fear is being dismissed for low hours when I'm really trying my best with the time I have to get as much dental experience as I can.

Any help with this is appreciated, especially if you were in a similar situation and got accepted to dental school. Thanks!

 

[dent_wannabe]

Hi everyone! I hope things are going smoothly for all of you who are applying this cycle. I myself am applying and wanted to see if any of y'all could help me out with some advice.

Out of my whole application, my weakest point is definitely my relatively low dental experience/shadowing hours. I know that you are only allowed to report the hours in AADSAS that you have already completed and can't enter your predicted future hours. I am volunteering twice a week (as much as I can) in my school's college of dentistry clinics and will only have a little over 50 hours from this when I submit my application, but I should have close to 100 by the end of summer and even more if I continue volunteering through fall.

I'm just trying to get input on how best to enter my hours in the experience section. Do you think I should start off the description of the experience with this? Or make a note that sticks out at the end? How do you feel I should best make it known to them that I am actively volunteering as much as I can and will rack up a good amount of hours over the coming months? My biggest fear is being dismissed for low hours when I'm really trying my best with the time I have to get as much dental experience as I can.

Any help with this is appreciated, especially if you were in a similar situation and got accepted to dental school. Thanks!

If a school has a shadowing hour requirement, chances are that it must be fulfilled prior to the submission of your application anyway. Also, for volunteering, I was told that long term commitment was more important than quantity. For example, somebody who volunteers two hours a week for years might be better off than somebody who did 100 hours but it lasted only for a two week period.

 

[weaselodeath]

Hi everyone! I hope things are going smoothly for all of you who are applying this cycle. I myself am applying and wanted to see if any of y'all could help me out with some advice.

Out of my whole application, my weakest point is definitely my relatively low dental experience/shadowing hours. I know that you are only allowed to report the hours in AADSAS that you have already completed and can't enter your predicted future hours. I am volunteering twice a week (as much as I can) in my school's college of dentistry clinics and will only have a little over 50 hours from this when I submit my application, but I should have close to 100 by the end of summer and even more if I continue volunteering through fall.

I'm just trying to get input on how best to enter my hours in the experience section. Do you think I should start off the description of the experience with this? Or make a note that sticks out at the end? How do you feel I should best make it known to them that I am actively volunteering as much as I can and will rack up a good amount of hours over the coming months? My biggest fear is being dismissed for low hours when I'm really trying my best with the time I have to get as much dental experience as I can.

Any help with this is appreciated, especially if you were in a similar situation and got accepted to dental school. Thanks!

I had a similar situation, but not exactly the same. I had 50 hours of volunteering and 50 hours of shadowing at my time of application and that was not enough for some schools’ minimum requirements. In one case I felt I was a strong fit for the school anyway, called them on the phone like it was 1998, explained why I thought I was a good candidate and asked if they would waive the requirement for me. They liked my pitch and granted me an interview.