Really???That many hours?

[asdfg]

---

Members do not see this ad.

On predents there seems to be quite a few people who have 500-1000 hrs of observing and then 500 hours of community service and blah blah blah. I calculated how many hours a day this would add up to be over a four year period and on some it was something unbelievable like 4-5 hrs. everyday for four years straight. I dont know about each of you but, if I ever got the chance to interview someone with an application like that I would definately call them out on it. Then again I might just throw their application into the garbage and move on.

 

[youngmc27]

I have to say that I completely agree with you on this one. Unless you were sentenced to 500 hours of community service its a lie. the only way to get 500 hours of shadowing is if you worked for a dentist or you started shadowing dad when you were 5.

 

[bodiddely]

An admissions officer from UMKC gave a presentation to the predental society at my school the other day. He said the average number of hours spent shadowing by accepted applicants was 300ish and the average number of practices shadowed at was 5-6. He even went on to emphasize that shadowing at 5-6 different practices is expected, which was more of a shocker to me than the number of hours spent shadowing.

I'd like to think that lying on applications isn't very widespread, although of course it does happen.

 

[dackmonkey]

i shadowed/volunteered at a dental office for ~150 hours and that was over a two year period. i honestly couldn't see myself having put in more time and having really gotten something more meaningful out of it. i also agree with you guys that 500+ hours seems a bit ridiculous. i'm not saying that EVERYONE is exaggerating, but i'm sure there are people out there who are inflating their numbers.

 

[asdfg]

Remember that I am also adding service and other activities. It all is a bit too much for me and I would really like to call out some people. But hey maybe I am wrong, maybe someone can spend that much time on those types of things. All I know is that I was honest with my application and it seemed to work out just fine.

 

[dentaldental100]

It really isn't that hard to have 500 hours of shadowing. All it takes is to shadow 3 hours per week for 4 years, then your already over 500 hours. I know some people that volunteered twice a week for 3 - 4 hours, which would be easily over 1000 hours.

(3 Hours Per Week) times (52 Weeks in 1 Year) = 156 hours

(156 Hours ) times (4 years) = 624 Hours

 

[Streetwolf]

On predents there seems to be quite a few people who have 500-1000 hrs of observing and then 500 hours of community service and blah blah blah. I calculated how many hours a day this would add up to be over a four year period and on some it was something unbelievable like 4-5 hrs. everyday for four years straight. I dont know about each of you but, if I ever got the chance to interview someone with an application like that I would definately call them out on it. Then again I might just throw their application into the garbage and move on.

You realize with 365 days a year over 4 years you have 1,460 hours if you shadowed 1 hour per day. I for one would try to get 4-6 hours per week (let's say 5 though) so that's 5/7 the amount of hours which is still over 1,000. So over the course of 2 years you could get 500.

They might also put job experience into that number and if you are working 16-24 hours per week it adds up really quickly. So I wouldn't put it past a bunch of people to actually have that many hours.

 

[bodiddely]

Well if someone has 1000 hours shadowing and 1000 hours volunteering, that is about 10 hours per week for every year of undergrad (assuming they started the first week of their freshman year). I would certainly be skeptical.

Also, just to clarify, working for free at a private practice does not constitute "volunteering" in the eyes of adcoms.

 

[eldirty]

I personally stated working for my dad who is a dentist during the summer when I was in the 9th grade. I worked basically full time every summer all through high school and some of the summers while i was in college. While ive been in college ive also shadowed several different dentist in the town where I go to school. Ive easily gotten over 1000 hours while shadowing/assisting 7 dentists.

 

[asdfg]

You realize with 365 days a year over 4 years you have 1,460 hours if you shadowed 1 hour per day. I for one would try to get 4-6 hours per week (let's say 5 though) so that's 5/7 the amount of hours which is still over 1,000. So over the course of 2 years you could get 500.

They might also put job experience into that number and if you are working 16-24 hours per week it adds up really quickly. So I wouldn't put it past a bunch of people to actually have that many hours.

There it is Mr Stony Brook knows how to do it. All you need to do is shadow five hours a week for two years. Why didn't I just do that? Watching cavity after cavity after cavity. And then go back for more, every week for two years. Duh. Where did I go wrong?

 

[Blarelli]

I really think it just depends on what kind of service you are into. Each year at Scout Camp I could count 14 hours a day for 5 days. If I counted weekly meetings, projects, and say 5 other 2-3 day camps each year, it would probably put me over 250 hours in one year just in scouting. Throw in another 5-7 hours a week as a public safety officer, and that is over 500 hours in one year. Some service activities are just easier to get hours in.

 

[Montserrat]

Did you completely neglect to count up summer hours when deciphering the volunteering hours/wk ?

(Rhetorical question)

Then again, talk is cheap. This is where recommendation letters come in, and a thousand words of praise backing up several thousand hours of volunteer work comes to a complete circle.

 

[asdfg]

I really think it just depends on what kind of service you are into. Each year at Scout Camp I could count 14 hours a day for 5 days. If I counted weekly meetings, projects, and say 5 other 2-3 day camps each year, it would probably put me over 250 hours in one year just in scouting. Throw in another 5-7 hours a week as a public safety officer, and that is over 500 hours in one year. Some service activities are just easier to get hours in.

I agree with you here. Scouting is a good way to get a lot of service. And it seems to add up fast. There are some ways as far as service that you could get up there. Assisting doesnt count as observing by the way.

 

[jp2008]

People really do this amount of volunteering and shadowing. I think you should re-check your math calculations. Let's say one did 500 hours of volunteering and 500 hours of shadowing, for a combine hours of 1000.

1000 hours total / 52 weeks = 19.23 Hours / Week

19.23 Hours / 4 years(since it takes 4 years to grad) = 4.8 hours a week.

4.8 Hours a week / 7 days = .687 hours a day.

Overall, .687 hours a day of shadowing and volunteering is quite believable. Also, during the summer ( 3 months ), I'm pretty sure people have more time since they don't have school. With more time comes more volunteering and shadowing. So on some days where .687 cannot be done, it's can be easily compensated in the summer. Don't be so quick to judge, and check your calculations before calling out people.

 

[bodiddely]

Assisting doesnt count as observing by the way.

I would tend to disagree with this. During the course of most dental procedures an assistant is present. While you are shadowing, you are watching the dentist perform procedures (while being assisted by a dental assistant).

The reason why adcoms like/require shadowing is so that they know you are aware of the day to day realities of what being a dentist entails (i.e. to avoid situations like this: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=500410).

I'm pretty sure someone who is a dental assistant or hygienist for that matter has a good idea of what they are getting themselves into when applying for dental school.

 

[asdfg]

People really do this amount of volunteering and shadowing. I think you should re-check your math calculations. Let's say one did 500 hours of volunteering and 500 hours of shadowing, for a combine hours of 1000.

1000 hours total / 52 weeks = 19.23 Hours / Week

19.23 Hours / 4 years(since it takes 4 years to grad) = 4.8 hours a week.

4.8 Hours a week / 7 days = .687 hours a day.

Overall, .687 hours a day of shadowing and volunteering is quite believable. Also, during the summer ( 3 months ), I'm pretty sure people have more time since they don't have school. With more time comes more volunteering and shadowing. So on some days where .687 cannot be done, it's can be easily compensated in the summer. Don't be so quick to judge, and check your calculations before calling out people.

You cant possibly think that this is not hard to do. So just about an hour everyday for four years straight. Okay...you miss one day, you have two the next. Need to study for a test whatever, can't do it and once again you are behind. It is not realistic to get that many hours unless you A) have no life or B) can watch someone else drill and fill 300+ cavities without getting the point.

 

[jp2008]

Whether you believe it or not, it's up to you. I don't see how this matters to you. People cheat in life, that is just life. People cheat in school, work, on their spouses, etc. People run red lights, drive over 65, download illegal movies/songs, etc...this is all part of life. Stop crying like a little girl.

 

[bodiddely]

You cant possibly think that this is not hard to do. So just about an hour everyday for four years straight. Okay...you miss one day, you have two the next. Need to study for a test whatever, can't do it and once again you are behind. It is not realistic to get that many hours unless you A) have no life or B) can watch someone else drill and fill 300+ cavities without getting the point.

Agree 100%. As a predental student, I really have no idea wtf they are doing with the handpiece besides getting rid of decayed tooth. I know that there are a ton of different burrs for the handpieces that they can use (and the assistants tell me which dentists prefer which burr #'s) but I'm only learning the "what" not the "why" by learning this information.

On the other hand, as a result of my large number of hours at my clinic, I was able to observe a mucocele removal the other day, which was really cool (I had no idea what a mucocele was until I googled it after watching the procedure 😉 ).

 

[lollipop999]

On predents there seems to be quite a few people who have 500-1000 hrs of observing and then 500 hours of community service and blah blah blah. I calculated how many hours a day this would add up to be over a four year period and on some it was something unbelievable like 4-5 hrs. everyday for four years straight. I dont know about each of you but, if I ever got the chance to interview someone with an application like that I would definately call them out on it. Then again I might just throw their application into the garbage and move on.

4 years str8?

I worked at a office 50 hours a week for an entire summer after my 2nd year of college. I got 500 hours just from one summer... then i had some previous experience after high school for about 100 hours.... i do not see the big deal.... if my dad was a dentist I would probably have even more.....
500 hours X 20 bucks an hour = not so bad summer job

 

[blankguy]

I stopped counting the hours. I just enjoyed the shadowing, observing and the volunteering.

 

[Skibum19]

what do you guys think about whether assisting counts as shadowing. Last summer i was an assistant for 3 dentists working 40 hours weeks for 14 weeks. I am not sure how to feel about this. technically, shadowing is getting your head in there to see how the different procedures go and see what you think of it, and as an assistant, there is no better way to see what's going on and know what is happening. but on the other hand it was my job and commitment for the summer so i'm not sure what to think. what do you guys think??

 

[tinman831]

what do you guys think about whether assisting counts as shadowing. Last summer i was an assistant for 3 dentists working 40 hours weeks for 14 weeks. I am not sure how to feel about this. technically, shadowing is getting your head in there to see how the different procedures go and see what you think of it, and as an assistant, there is no better way to see what's going on and know what is happening. but on the other hand it was my job and commitment for the summer so i'm not sure what to think. what do you guys think??

Assisting >> shadowing 🙂

 

[TheWiredNerv]

Don't get caught up in the numbers. They get the picture when you explain the "why dentistry?" question regardless of your hours.

 

[lollipop999]

Assisting >> shadowing 🙂

Yea I "shadowed" for 3 hours and was like.... wow this is boring.... you have to get in the mouth...i am not even going to list how assisting is 10 times better than shadowing in every way.

 

[Lopyswine]

How I spent 2 summers:

MWF - wake up at 6am I was at the dental office at 7am. From 7am till 2pm I observed/shadowed/assisted. From 2pm to around 5pm I went to the gym, relaxed etc.. Evening I would go out with my friends. During DAT time I would study in the evenings.

TH - I volunteered at a nursing home from 8am to 4pm. Studied/hung out in the evening.

I did this for 2 consecutive summers. Also during the normal school year, I was volunteering 1 day a week, for 4 hours and observing for another 1 or 2 days.

so by my math:

Summer Dental -
(24 weeks summer weeks) x (average 5.5 hours a day at office) x (3 days a week) = 396 hours

School year Dental -
(22 weeks) x (4 hours a week) x (1.5 days a week) = 132 hours


Summer volunteer -
(24 weeks) x (7 hours a day) x (2 days a week) = 336 hours

School year volunteer-
(22 weeks) x (4 hours) x (1 day a week) = 88 hours

Total dental office time = about 525 hours
total volunteer time = about 400 hours

For my application I put down 500 and 300 hours respectively. Why? because I understand that my math may be a little off. It also helps to have letters and documentation and support the numbers you write down!! Have the dentists and people you volunteer for record your hours, or at least sign off on the hours you keep for yourself.

 

[CMistry]

I was very honest on my application, and I put down 300 hours of shadowing/assisting. Since then I have over 1000, too bad dental schools will not know. :-/

-Cyrus

btw, I'm a full-time assistant... hence 40 hours/week

 

[eldirty]

I dont like this thread at all. Just Because some of you havent put in the time that some others have dont come on here and say that people are lying and that 1000+ hours is impossible based on 0.687 hour/day. I personally think it would be much harder to have a 4.0 GPA and 20+ DAT, but im not going to come on here and call people lairs or try to break it down to by the hour study habits. Im going to congratulate those people on their accomplishments and be impressed by their dedication and hard work. If you need to improve your application, go out and shadow a few dentists.

 

[asdfg]

I dont like this thread at all. Just Because some of you havent put in the time that some others have dont come on here and say that people are lying and that 1000+ hours is impossible based on 0.687 hour/day. I personally think it would be much harder to have a 4.0 GPA and 20+ DAT, but im not going to come on here and call people lairs or try to break it down to by the hour study habits. Im going to congratulate those people on their accomplishments and be impressed by their dedication and hard work. If you need to improve your application, go out and shadow a few dentists.

This guy wouldnt like this thread much bc he looks to be one that exagerrated a little. 1000 hrs plus and an athlete in college on top of school. Maybe he was a community college athlete but those who do sports at my school spend a lot of time keeping up with the pack. But then again I am at a more competitive school sportswise.

 

[eldirty]

You must be one who make a lot of assumption and someone who doesnt even read the replies to your own thread. As I wrote above, my father is a dentist. I did play D1 college soccer for 4 years while I was getting my first degree and yes it did take up a lot of time. However, my final season was in the fall of 02 ... so you might be able to do some math and figure out that ive had some time to dedicate to other activities. good luck getting your 0.687 hours in today.

 

[Danny0230]

Rather than work out the numbers of whether its possible or finding out hours per week.... I think the most important question is WHY?

If shadowing/volunteering for 50-150 is all you need, why spend 400+ more hours of your life not getting pay. Yeah I understand some people think its interesting (I got really bored standing there and doing nothing), but 400+ hours shadowing is 400+ hours you could be working and getting paid.

Honestly, 1000 hours shadowing? You just don't need it, and you could be using your time more wisely, I think

 

[eldirty]

I totally agree that shadowing for anymore than the required amount of hours would be a huge waste of time. However, if you are a paid assistant, or are volunteering at a dental clinic, you can kill multiple birds with one stone. Like you said, utilize your time. Get volunteer time that doubles as shadowing time, or have a job that pays you to spend time assisting a dentist.

 

[USU24]

I don't know. I used to work as a dental assistant for a couple of years and I counted that under "dental experience", although not technically shadowing. That put me over 1000. You got to give some credit to eldirty for putting shadowing/assisting.

 

[Streetwolf]

There it is Mr Stony Brook knows how to do it. All you need to do is shadow five hours a week for two years. Why didn't I just do that? Watching cavity after cavity after cavity. And then go back for more, every week for two years. Duh. Where did I go wrong?

Someone needs a nap.

You realize that there's a hell of a lot more to dentistry than just filling cavities. In fact I would ask my dentist when the more complicated cases were each day just so I could time my visits appropriately. I would come in for some 1 hour or some 90 minute procedures so that I'd see two or three per day and leave with 3, 4 hours done. You realize that it's not incredibly hard to observe a couple procedures just two days a week and get 5 hours right?

And when I said 5 hours a week I wasn't literally saying you should get 5 hours every single week. I'm quite aware that during the school year there are times when you can't do anything other than study. But you seem to forget about the 1 month of winter break where I would certainly attempt to get 5 hours a week. And also summer break for 3, 3.5 months where I would actually try to get 10 hours a week. I can definitely afford to go into a dental office during the summer maybe 3 times a week for half a day or even just 2 times a week for the full day.

I personally capped it to maybe 60 hours because (1) I know I didn't need more, (2) the office I shadowed was 4 hours away from where I went to school, and (3) I was accepted around that time. Also with the Gateway to Dentistry program I got another 70 hours of experience. But people who put down 500 or even 1000 hours could *certainly* have that many if they've been doing it for a few years. Hell, I guess they actually *enjoy* this field.

 

[Lurchdubious]

it's totally possible to get 500+ hrs, although like many of you, i don't see the point. i shadowed 42 hours between 4 different dentists, and i've been accepted to 3 schools. i DO want to shadow a bit more before matriculating this fall, but that's mainly just because i wanna see how some specialists 'Do Work'.

 

[Danny0230]

I totally agree that shadowing for anymore than the required amount of hours would be a huge waste of time. However, if you are a paid assistant, or are volunteering at a dental clinic, you can kill multiple birds with one stone. Like you said, utilize your time. Get volunteer time that doubles as shadowing time, or have a job that pays you to spend time assisting a dentist.

I definitely agree with that. Getting paid for 1000 hours of something you enjoy and can boost your resume is much different than doing it for free.

 

[Lopyswine]

i was working as a dental assistant for the majority of my hours.

so out of 500 hours, probably 400 were paid.

 

[crazy4clana]

They are either liars or gunners.

 

[1992Corolla]

They are either liars or gunners.

I worked full time for a dentist for a couple of summers and easily got this amount of hours in. 40 hours a week x 4 weeks = 160 hours x 5 months x 2-3 years, plus other offices...it is possible. Just make sure that when they ask you what the color of Zinc Phosphate cement is or what gutta percha is you know the answer.

 

[Skibum19]

Assisting >> shadowing 🙂

This is the same line I was thinking along that assisting would be above the list than shadowing, but moreso i was wondering if assisting is able to be put down on applications/resumes like shadowing... such as let's say i worked 40 hours one week for an assistant would this classify as 40 hours of shadowing??

 

[crazy4clana]

I worked full time for a dentist for a couple of summers and easily got this amount of hours in. 40 hours a week x 4 weeks = 160 hours x 5 months x 2-3 years, plus other offices...it is possible. Just make sure that when they ask you what the color of Zinc Phosphate cement is or what gutta percha is you know the answer.

Like I said, gunner. 😛

And I was referring to traditional students. I assume you took time off after school?

 

[bluejellybelly]

I dont know about each of you but, if I ever got the chance to interview someone with an application like that I would definately call them out on it. Then again I might just throw their application into the garbage and move on.

One summer, I had a really awesome administration/ corporate development/ community outreach externship at a hospital which totaled to over 500 hours. For 12 weeks, working over 40 hours a week, it was definitely possible. The next summer I researched at a lab for over 300 hours. And I did about 106 hours of shadowing at the dentist (GP). That's under 1000, but this didn't even count the number of hours I spent on other extracurriculars and community service during the college semesters. I decided not to add any other hours to my application because it seemed like enough already. But it is definitely possible to get those numbers.

Just make sure that when they ask you what the color of Zinc Phosphate cement is or what gutta percha is you know the answer.

If there was one thing my dentist beat into my head, it's the history of gutta percha.. he loved talking about it.😀

 

[rollypolly]

People are talking about two completely different things on this thread. Spending 500 hours getting paid to assist is completely different than spending 500 hours strictly observing. Both scenarios are definitely doable, as another poster pointed out, but most of the people that are quoting their ginormous amount of hours have assisted. Yeah, it makes sense that if you have a job as an assistant that you could easily get >500 hours, but I don't think that was what the OP was referring to.

 

[SHC1984]

I agree, its easy to get over 500 hours when it involves getting PAID like dental assiting or dental tech, but having over 500 hours of volunteer work (NO money) is highly skeptical... I don't even think I have 50 hours of volunteer work...

 

[bluejellybelly]

I definitely agree with that. Getting paid for 1000 hours of something you enjoy and can boost your resume is much different than doing it for free.

Yup.

It's too bad. I worked several hundred hours as a dental lab tech and I NEVER even mentioned this on my application. However, if they ever chose to ask, I would tell them.

 

[Aceofspades]

Yes, the hours listed here on SDN tend to be on the ridiculously high 500+ side. Ive seen people list 3,000+ hours.

Also, I was under the impression people normally waive their right to view their recommendation. However, somehow everybody on SDN KNOWS that they got an absolutely stellar recommendation.

 

[eldirty]

I think many of the people posting on this thread are under the assumption that we are all in our Junior/Senior year and are all 21-22 years old. Im 26 almost 27 ... give yourselves 5 extra years and then reconsider what you think is possible.

 

[jigabodo]

Yes, the hours listed here on SDN tend to be on the ridiculously high 500+ side. Ive seen people list 3,000+ hours.

Also, I was under the impression people normally waive their right to view their recommendation. However, somehow everybody on SDN KNOWS that they got an absolutely stellar recommendation.

Some professors will show you the letter under the table...

Also, some interviewers will straight up tell you what your professors wrote in your LORs.

 

[futuredds08]

I agree that it might be a waste to spend thousands of hours shadowing, but I do not agree that the same holds true for volunteering. Surely everyone could think of a cause that would mean more than a few extra hours studying for ochem or a couple of bucks working at your paid job? Toward the end of my life I would much rather remember that I changed a child's life through tutoring/mentoring, helped someone during a crisis at a call center, built houses on a mission trip, than to remember endless hours of studying simply to maintain a 4.0 GPA.

 

[eldirty]

very true ... well said

 

[flyingkao]

You all shouldn't get so obsessive over the number of hours spent shadowing/assisting dentists. Honestly, all schools care about (for the most part) is that you have a healthy amount of shadowing which will convince them you have a decent exposure to dentistry.

Personally, I think that a few hours spent watching a dentist work will trigger a response in your brain that decides either, "I want to do that someday!" or "This is the most boring thing ever." I think adcoms realize that this is the case for many people. Although I commend all those who have hundreds of hours spent shadowing/assisting (I would never have had the time or sanity to do the same), it's by no means a necessity to have all those hours and it is definitely not the norm. I only had 24 hours of shadowing (split between 2 GPs) and I still got in somewhere. So it's not really about how many hours you spent following a dentist, but whether you have the exposure that allows you to convey your passion for dentistry through your application and interview.