Pre-med extra curriculars hurt my application?

[supergenius310]

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Hi all,

I am a bit nervous right now because I am doing a Pre-med program thing at a hospital where I will be shadowing different doctors doing different surgical procedures. I am just doing this to add some healthcare activities on my resume and to get some direct exposure into the healthcare field, since there really aren't many dental opportunities available except shadowing. I have a really high GPA and will be taking the DATs in the fall. My real question is whether or not dental schools would reject me just because I attended this program? I mean if I am interviewed I will say that I was just trying to get some exposure into the medical field, because it was the same hospital I used to volunteer at and there weren't many healthcare opportunities available.

Thanks!

 

[dentalWorks]

this has been asked and answer probably a thousand times now (and half responses came from me alone)

no... pre-med extracurricular (such as shadowing, working, and even volunteering) will not negatively impact you in anyway whatsoever

 

[supergenius310]

this has been asked and answer probably a thousand times now (and half responses came from me alone)

no... pre-med extracurricular (such as shadowing, working, and even volunteering) will not negatively impact you in anyway whatsoever

Thank you for the response. I just felt nervous because other people were saying that it may negatively impact me, so I just wanted more opinions.

 

[ATG20]

Thank you for the response. I just felt nervous because other people were saying that it may negatively impact me, so I just wanted more opinions.

If anything, I think it'd help you if you did it early on. I entered college on the fence between dent and med, and I simultaneously completed a 2 year hospital internship while shadowing a dentist. I made it into a talking point about how I explored different professions before making an educated decision towards dentistry.

There are really no right or wrong ECs, so long as you can justify them and have something of substance to say about them. Now, if you were doing med-related ECs for 3.5 years, and you suddenly started shadowing a dentist in your final quarter, it may look odd and be harder to explain the sudden change.

 

[supergenius310]

If anything, I think it'd help you if you did it early on. I entered college on the fence between dent and med, and I simultaneously completed a 2 year hospital internship while shadowing a dentist. I made it into a talking point about how I explored different professions before making an educated decision towards dentistry.

There are really no right or wrong ECs, so long as you can justify them and have something of substance to say about them. Now, if you were doing med-related ECs for 3.5 years, and you suddenly started shadowing a dentist in your final quarter, it may look odd and be harder to explain the sudden change.

Yea, basically it will be 1 year before I apply for dental school. At the same time I will also shadow my dentist more to rack up some more hours. I think doing both shadowing experiences at the same time will show that I am just getting exposure and will make the right decision....even though I already know dentistry is right for me.

 

[UCSFx2017]

Exposure is good. When they ask you "why not medicine?" at the interview, you could say that after seeing what physicians/medical surgeons do and where they do it that you didn't find what you were looking for but that you found it in dentistry. Whatever "it" is. It's best if dentistry doesn't appear as a contingency plan.

***Be sure that the number of hours shadowing dentists far outnumber the number of hours shadowing physicians.***

I know it would only take <20 minutes in a podiatrist/pharmacist/optometrist office before I quickly realize that it's not for me.

 

[ATG20]

You should be fine then. I ended up with far more hours in the hospital than shadowing a dent (300 vs 90) because it was a formal program that you graduate from, and once I began, I didn't want to quit even after realizing it wasn't for me. I genuinely enjoyed working there, but couldn't see myself in med.

Some people spend a billion hours in a single GP's office though. I barely had 90, but it was between 2 Gen. Dents, 1 clinic and an ortho office. I thought it was low, but it never came up. Point being spread hours over different practices and maybe a specialty, to give you experiences you can talk about. I was able to reflect on negatives and positives of each office in my interview, and how it made encouraged me to enter the field/be skeptical of the field. Best of luck!

 

[UCSFx2017]

I spent like 100 hrs. volunteering at a hospital and 150 hrs. shadowing/volunteering a dentist.

I think if it's volunteering, these hospital hours should be counted as community service and not strictly shadowing.

In other words, don't worry about it.