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Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
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I shadowed like 4. About 20-40 hours each. Its fun. I didnt get recs yet but I lef tin good stanidng with them so I am sure I wont have a problem in getting a couple.
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homercles said:
just wondering, homer, what did you say when this was brought up? also, what were your stats, and where were you accepted (if you don't mind saying).
DDS2BE said:
I was a 2004 applicant. I'm about to become a D2 at UoP. I only applied to 4 schools, didn't get into UCSF (waitlisted), got into rest (Creighton, UCLA, Columbia). My GPA was 2.9, my DAT was 27/24/25.
When asked about the lack of shadowing I just said that it's simply not necessary to spend a lot of time following someone around in order to get a feel for what the profession entails. Obviously I elaborated more and cited a few specific examples, but that was the main theme.
4
45540
I shadowed one Dr for 180-200 hours and another one for maybe 2 hours. But i only got one rec letter.
My mentor is a dentist and I have shadowed him for around 100+ documented hours. I also plan to volunteer this summer at Broward General Hospital, and have volunteered about 50 hours at Buffalo General Hospital back in New York. I have LOR's from him and the office owner, who is also a dentist, as well as non-science (read: Journalism) professors at school. I see you are in Miramar - are you going to FIU for undergrad?
I shadowed two dentists for about 40 hours in Gainesville, if you really want experience here, you should also shadow and volunteer at UF's dental school and clinics. There are like a bunch of clinics to get specialty and general dentistry experience...I volunteered in the operative and oral surgery ones. I also shadowed an orthodontist.
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A
asalazar
were the adcoms impressed with this or do u think they want/expect this from every applicant? was this brought up in ur interviews? do u think this helped and u were better off than other applicants?DDS2BE said:
A
asalazar
I go to UF. I'm in Miramar until july.lovewestny said:
asalazar said:
I dont think the ADOMs got too impressed with my enormous hours of shadowing at all. Although, this was brought up at almost all of the schools I went to. For example, my first interview was at Case Western Reserve University and I was directly asked how I felt about my shadowing experience. I said that shadowing experience gave me an opportunity to loot at that dentist from a different perspective and I felt that I was actually doing the dental procedures myself while observing the dentist working on his patients. I knew right there that dentistry is what I really want to do and actually see myself on his [dentist] place. After a pause the ADOM told me that my answer was exactly what he wanted to hear 🙂
I personally think that everyone, who wants to be a dentist, must have some experience in the dental field and the only one way to gain experience is through shadowing/observation. Otherwise, how can one really know that dentistry is for him/her?
To answer your last question, I tend to think shadowing does make you stand out among the competitors of yours that didnt have any shadowing. Some schools actually have a minimum of 20 hours of shadowing in order to be even considered for their program. I know Ohio State does and many other schools as well.
Remember, you are doing shadowing/observation primarily for yourself because you dont wanna find out that dentistry is not for you during your clinical years.
