Shadow hours

[Ashish]

Ok, I am at the final stages of applying, DAT scores in, few LORs in, Transcript in and all that kinda jazz. I understand that SDN is for overachievers and I might been freaking out for no reason but I wanted to get y'all insight on this matter. I read 100+ , 200+, 300+, hundreds and hundreds+ hours of Dental Shadow experience that folks have here. I understand the importance of shadowing and myself have shadow experience but by God not anywhere close to 200+ hours! I have volunteer experience, fair amount of EC and work experience but compared to what I have been reading here, very less Dental Shadow experience. I have shadowed an Orthodontist 8 different times for about 6 hours a piece and to be honest, it was drag. Moreover, my experience has been more like one time kinda of deal rather going every week because most dentist do not want that. We are on the way after all. I mean 200+ hours is like 200+ days at 8 hours a day (hopefully)..That like more than half a year of just shadowing! MORE THAN HALF A YEAR, each day of just shadowing!!!!! Any thoughts on this or am I just having bad luck with dentists who do not want to commit to shadowing for long term?

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[JLT223]

100 hours is the recommended amount of shadowing hours, and many schools also say this number is what most pre-dental students should strive for. While I agree that there are diminishing returns with shadowing, there are reasons for the somewhat high number. It's good to experience different practices serving varying patient populations, different specialties, etc. Try finding a GP to shadow now, not another specialist. If you're just standing in the corner you're not going to learn much. Ask questions and ask if you can do things around the office that are within a volunteer's capabilities.

 

[confidentandgood]

Shadowing also generally becomes less effective if you stay at one practice for too long (I saw one applicant who had 300+ hours with an orthodontist and figured he must have done some volunteering there as well).

User doc toothache posted this chart (from 2014) giving some insight into what schools require/recommend.

 

[doc toothache]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2015-job-shadowing-requirements-recommendation.1139813/

 

[fogorvostan]

I mean 200+ hours is like 200+ days at 8 hours a day.

Isn't 200 hours at 8 hours a day approximately 25 days?
200/8=25

 

[confidentandgood]

Isn't 200 hours at 8 hours a day approximately 25 days?
200/8=25

1600 shadowing hours = goals.