Questions concerning awards/honors, shadowing, experience?

[scissorrunner22]

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Hello everyone!

I just wanted everyone's input on certain things.

1) I have read on this site that when it comes to shadowing, a lot of schools want at least 100 hours. I only have 75. I have shadowed a general dentist and an oral surgeon in a hospital setting, and an oral surgeon that I used to work for (I had to stay in surgeries when we had Russian speaking patients to translate, so I saw a bunch of procedures). Would that be enough hours?

2) I heard that when listing work experience and honors/awards, they should be listed in order of importance to you (from highest to lowest). Is this true?

3) I graduated with summa cum laude honors and was on the Dean's List every semester. How should I list those honors on my application? What should I list for "sponsoring organization" if I got those honors from going to college?

4) I used to work for an oral surgery practice. I was an administrative assistant there (billing/auditing among other things), but I also got to assist with consultations and translate when surgeries had Russian speaking patients. Since I wasn't an assistant, would I list this job under work experience or dental/shadowing experience?

5) Can anyone offer any good resources for writing an awesome personal statement?

Thanks! Looking forward to your answers. 🙂

 

[aznriptide859]

1. Go look on doc toothache's list, it's been updated for 2015. Some schools now require a certain number of hours, and if I recall correctly some of those exceed 100 hours. Honestly, get as many hours as you can. There's no such thing as too much exposure to dentistry.
2. It's probably a good idea to.
3. If they were given by the school then just put your university down. There should be an "Academic Honors/Recognition" somewhere on the app, you can enter it there.
4. TMDSAS has always said both, but list it as dental experience on AADSAS, unless you have space for it under work experience.
5. Your school should have a writing workshop/advising group you can refer to. Most pre-health advisors will also have resources or will help you revise statements themselves.

 

[scissorrunner22]

Thank you so much for replying! It definitely helped me out, so thanks again 🙂