Pre-Med to Pre-Dent Question

[ZRCMed]

Hi everyone,

After giving this lots of thought, I've decided that being a dentist is more suited to my professional and non-professional goals. Since I'm so late in the game, though - I've accrued a fair amount of hours shadowing MD's (cardiologist, pulm, ER, surg), but not any dentists. Even if I am able to get some dental shadowing experience, should I include the medical shadowing on my apps to or would this end up hurting me more than benefiting?

Thanks for any/all help.


Also: I'm dual enrolled in a masters program right now but will still graduate with my undergrad degree this may. Originally the masters was to help me get admission into a decent med school, but I'm wondering if dental schools will care. Would it be beneficial to finish that in my gap year or drop it and pursue a job? - From an admissions standpoint only -

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[Atticus]

I was in a really similar situation when I applied, and I didn't include any of my medical shadowing on my app... I only ended up having about 40 hours of DDS/DMD shadowing and that was enough... The good thing about your position (hopefully) is that you've probably accumulated volunteering hours and several other EC activities to help pad your dental app. If you have hospital volunteering, definitely include it.

Some people will tell you to include your med shadowing, so you can say that you shadowed and decided dentistry better fit you, but to me that is just kinda awkward.

 

[Double Bonded]

Somewhat similar situation. I didn't include my medical shadowing because I didn't want my switch from pre-med to draw too much attention on my application.

 

[hail2pitt]

I didn't have medical shadowing, but was very active in a pre-med club, and I included that in both my activities and personal statement (even though SDN people said I was "taking a risk")... it didn't prove to be a problem, but I believe I did a good job explaining how being part of the group helped me choose dentistry and what my role in the group was.

Ultimately it's up to you, and if you think you'll be able to successfully explain your transition.

 

[ginaych]

Hi everyone,

After giving this lots of thought, I've decided that being a dentist is more suited to my professional and non-professional goals. Since I'm so late in the game, though - I've accrued a fair amount of hours shadowing MD's (cardiologist, pulm, ER, surg), but not any dentists. Even if I am able to get some dental shadowing experience, should I include the medical shadowing on my apps to or would this end up hurting me more than benefiting?

Thanks for any/all help.


Also: I'm dual enrolled in a masters program right now but will still graduate with my undergrad degree this may. Originally the masters was to help me get admission into a decent med school, but I'm wondering if dental schools will care. Would it be beneficial to finish that in my gap year or drop it and pursue a job? - From an admissions standpoint only -

it depends on what schools you're applying to I suppose. Some schools combine medical and dental curriculums together for the first two years (harvard, columbia, etc) and I would guess that having interest in both medicine and dentistry would only strengthen you as a candidate.

I am in a very similar situation I did a very late switch this summer so all my activities are premed. I included my hospital volunteer as well as my family background in medicine. Some schools apparently don't like it because I didn't get invited for interview from about half of the schools I applied, but I got accepted into all schools that I interviewed at and one on wait list. I would say what's important is try to get really high stats to get pulled out for interview, then you can explain your lack of shadowing experience in a convincing way so they can overlook it. Shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish.

 

[ZRCMed]

So it would be the harvard/penn/columbia trio that values both experiences? How did you integrate that?

 

[dentalWorks]

Hi everyone,

After giving this lots of thought, I've decided that being a dentist is more suited to my professional and non-professional goals. Since I'm so late in the game, though - I've accrued a fair amount of hours shadowing MD's (cardiologist, pulm, ER, surg), but not any dentists. Even if I am able to get some dental shadowing experience, should I include the medical shadowing on my apps to or would this end up hurting me more than benefiting?

Thanks for any/all help.


Also: I'm dual enrolled in a masters program right now but will still graduate with my undergrad degree this may. Originally the masters was to help me get admission into a decent med school, but I'm wondering if dental schools will care. Would it be beneficial to finish that in my gap year or drop it and pursue a job? - From an admissions standpoint only -

Why would you not include the medical shadowing? If anything, it shows you've done your homework on a career path and you picked dentistry.... Showing you've done Medical shadowing is a good thing (this is not just an opinion, its a fact)

Just to give you prospective, I did about 1.5 years of volunteering at a hospital (not dentistry related) because I was pre-med at one time. I did put down the hours shadowing an Internist (MD)..... I don't believe any of that was looked at negatively (how could it?)

 

[Predentaljr]

Why would you not include the medical shadowing? If anything, it shows you've done your homework on a career path and you picked dentistry.... Showing you've done Medical shadowing is a good thing (this is not just an opinion, its a fact)

Just to give you prospective, I did about 1.5 years of volunteering at a hospital (not dentistry related) because I was pre-med at one time. I did put down the hours shadowing an Internist (MD)..... I don't believe any of that was looked at negatively (how could it?)

I totally agree, it shows that you know what you want. I was in nursing school and decided to take up dentistry. I got in this year, I even wrote about my expierence as a student nurse and how it guided me towards dentistry.

 

[doc toothache]

Hi everyone,After giving this lots of thought, I've decided that being a dentist is more suited to my professional and non-professional goals. Since I'm so late in the game, though - I've accrued a fair amount of hours shadowing MD's (cardiologist, pulm, ER, surg), but not any dentists. Even if I am able to get some dental shadowing experience, should I include the medical shadowing on my apps to or would this end up hurting me more than benefiting? Thanks for any/all help. -

Before you worry about including or not including med shadowing, shouldn't you be more concerned about shadowing your new chosen career path ? You might even decide to switch to something else.

 

[ZRCMed]

Before you worry about including or not including med shadowing, shouldn't you be more concerned about shadowing your new chosen career path ? You might even decide to switch to something else.

Good point, and since that post I have already managed to get some hours shadowing a dentist. You're right, but I was working off my general knowledge of dentistry and how it relates to medicine. I have had dental work/surg performed on me before so I did have at least a faint idea of what the career entails.

Thanks for your/everyone else's input on this.

 

[ZRCMed]

I know they are looking for 150+ hours of dentistry shadowing experience. I'm just not sure if I can get up to that by this summer. Is it possible for me to do some general CEUs in Dentistry/Dental Hygeine and list that under "Dentistry Experience"?

 

[wired202808]

Hi everyone,

After giving this lots of thought, I've decided that being a dentist is more suited to my professional and non-professional goals. Since I'm so late in the game, though - I've accrued a fair amount of hours shadowing MD's (cardiologist, pulm, ER, surg), but not any dentists. Even if I am able to get some dental shadowing experience, should I include the medical shadowing on my apps to or would this end up hurting me more than benefiting?

Thanks for any/all help.


Also: I'm dual enrolled in a masters program right now but will still graduate with my undergrad degree this may. Originally the masters was to help me get admission into a decent med school, but I'm wondering if dental schools will care. Would it be beneficial to finish that in my gap year or drop it and pursue a job? - From an admissions standpoint only -

I personally wouldnt include the medical shadowing, while most adcoms might appreciate it, i see the majority of them thinking that you switched because you couldnt make it in a pre-med program or you're indecisive.

 

[ZRCMed]

I personally wouldnt include the medical shadowing, while most adcoms might appreciate it, i see the majority of them thinking that you switched because you couldnt make it in a pre-med program or you're indecisive.

Hmm, even if I'm able to build up enough dentistry shadowing to surpass the amount of medical shadowing by double? I would hate for that all to go to waste. I learned a lot from that, even just in terms of how to interact professionally with patients / how to interact with diverse patient populations, etc. I mean, dentistry really is gearing more towards integrative approaches anyway from what I am seeing.

 

[bing12]

Hmm, even if I'm able to build up enough dentistry shadowing to surpass the amount of medical shadowing by double? I would hate for that all to go to waste. I learned a lot from that, even just in terms of how to interact professionally with patients / how to interact with diverse patient populations, etc. I mean, dentistry really is gearing more towards integrative approaches anyway from what I am seeing.

you should add it, maybe not all, but atleast some of it.

 

[dentalWorks]

Hmm, even if I'm able to build up enough dentistry shadowing to surpass the amount of medical shadowing by double? I would hate for that all to go to waste. I learned a lot from that, even just in terms of how to interact professionally with patients / how to interact with diverse patient populations, etc. I mean, dentistry really is gearing more towards integrative approaches anyway from what I am seeing.

there is nothing wrong with being an ex-pre-med.... this topic was brought up in several of my interviews, I told them point blank I had no interest in dentistry when I first thought about healthcare (I think my exact wordings were "dentistry didn't initially cross my mind").... It didn't effect my chances whatsoever.

I would not hold off anything about the pre-med thing, it makes you look alot more attracted to dentistry

 

[MuskieMan33]

I would be honest. If they asked about my medical shadowing and dental shadowing, I would tell them that the MD shadowing didn't interest you as much as the dental shadowing. Or whatever reason you decided to change your mind. But be honest about not being sure what you wanted to do, but knowing you wanted to do one or the other, so you decided to shadow both to see which you liked better. That is the point of shadowing, to make sure its really something you want to do. I don't see adcoms looking down on that.

As for shadowing, I thought it would take so long to get my hours up there. But after finding what area really interested me and finding an office that I absolutely love to shadow at, getting hours is no problem at all. Like since I'm home for break from school I go in when I'm off of work or will go in for half a day before I have to go into work (I work part time when I'm home from school). If your summer is open, shadow full time. If your preparing for the DAT, you could do half days of shadowing or something. Study in the morning, shadow afternoons for a break from studying, then put in a few more hours of studying afterwords.

 

[txlotusboys37]

Why would you not include the medical shadowing? If anything, it shows you've done your homework on a career path and you picked dentistry.... Showing you've done Medical shadowing is a good thing (this is not just an opinion, its a fact)

Agreed, I was going to apply to med school before I decided to do dentistry, and I added my medical shadowing/experiences. In fact, I still work at a pediatric clinic that I've been working at since 2008, and I'll be here until I start dental school this coming summer.

 

[bigstix808]

leave your medical stuff for explination in your personal statement if you feel you'd like to include that. get as much dental exp you can (shadowing, work in lab, etc). you dont need 1000's of hours like some people on here claim to have. i had to explain why i turned down a medical school acceptance to the very school im now enrolled in for dental school. dont sweat it. finish your degree (i did my masters in 1.5 yrs after withdrawing from med acceptance). schools will value your completion of degree regardless of what its in. good luck!

 

[yappy]

OP: Do you mind sharing why you would like to be a dentist rather than a medical doctor?