Shadowing/Volunteer Hours, what counts?

[Little Elephant]

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So I realized that although I have extracurriculars coming out the wazoo, they might not be exactly what dental schools are looking for in terms of volunteering and shadowing. I was hoping I could get some advice!

As for shadowing, I have only spent maybe 6-8 days shadowing my general dentist (~50-60 hours). I've also shadowed a pediatric dentist for a day, and was a Spanish interpreter at a dentist appointment once (more on this later).

I do research at my school's dental school, and get to spend time in the pediatric clinic. I spent about 8 hours a week in the clinic last semester, and a few each week the semester before as well, so roughly ~150 ish I would guess. I have heard mixed things on whether this should count as shadowing. I don't actually watch procedures, I talk to the parents and the kids in the waiting room, and then after their appointment, we do an "experiment" in the back about proper dental hygiene, so I get to work the kids hands on (I absolutely love it!) in the clinic atmosphere, and I get to interact with the dental students, residents, and staff, etc, but like I said, I don't observe the procedures. Thoughts?

As for volunteering, I went on an alternative spring break trip for the past 2 years, and was the site leader for the 2nd trip. The amount of time we actually spend doing service was about 40 years during just that one week, but I also had to put in a lot of time beforehand, fundraising and planning, etc, especially when I was a site leader, it was a huge commitment. Does this count as volunteering? Or would just the ~80 hours total of service between the 2 weeks of those 2 years count?

I was also the fundraising chair (current co-president) of a global health club at my school that partners with a medical clinic in the Dominican Republic to raise money for them throughout the year and then sends a medical brigade down in the summers. I have dedicated a significant amount of time to this club, planning fundraisers, advocacy events, etc. I know that extracurriculars and volunteering are on the same section in the application, but would my time dedicated to this be enough to make my overall volunteering hours competitive?

Last thing (sorry this is so long, I apparently don't know how to shut up and stop freaking out). Last summer, I worked as a Spanish interpreter for a couple of doctor appointments and a dentist appointment. I only did it a few times, and got paid for it, but I was never trained for it and I'm not sure if this is completely ethical? I just helped out whenever they were desperate, because after ~7 years of learning Spanish, including a medical Spanish course I took in college, I thought it would be sufficient. While I handled the jobs fine, I did struggle with describing a few things (could not figure out how to explain whole wheat bread for the life of me), which I probably wouldn't have if I had proper training, but it just wasn't required for the job, so I never did it. Is this something I should include on my application?

Thanks so much for any feedback! And thanks to anyone who took the time to read that whole thing...

 

[Majisk]

I would say 'volunteering' is anything you spent time on for the benefit of someone else, regardless of action.

- Put both your general dentist shadowing and pediatric dentist shadowing as shadowing
- You said you didn't watch any procedures. If you didn't help out with the dental office's management (front desk) either, I would put that down as volunteering. If you feel like it helped you learn about the environment and you had interactions with the dentist/staff, then you could put it as shadowing. But use your best judgement. The ADEA site says:

Shadowing: going to a dentist’s or dental specialist’s office to observe procedures, learn terminology and techniques, observe different practice environments and ask the dental professional questions about his or her journey to practicing dentistry.

- Being a site leader sounds like a good experience. The 40 years part was confusing...? That alternative spring break trip would be volunteering. Planning, fundraising and whatnot for a selfless purpose would definitely be volunteering. Or even extracurricular -- same section.
- There are many dental assistants out there who don't have x-ray licensing, and practices which don't follow OSHA regulations. (not ethical/following regulation either, lol). You could put the Spanish interpreting under 'Work Experience' if you wanted to. Or volunteering/ Extracurricular. It's a good experience, you demonstrated a second-language proficiency and you practiced it in a health setting. Plus, it'll give you something unique to talk about if you get an interview! (Don't mention the wheat bread from the start!)

- I feel your translating experience is one of the highlights of your app, because you demonstrated it. Best of luck!

 

[Little Elephant]

Thanks so much for the input! 40 years was supposed to say 40 hours, oops! But thank you so much for your advice, I really appreciate it!

I think that I might still include my research as dental experience, because I watched a lot of dentist-patient interactions, in and out of the chair, and because it was a school clinic, the environment was very interesting. I got to watch a few dental students put on sealants for a few patients as I was waiting to bring them back for our activity, but never really much more than that, but I was able to talk to a lot of the residents and staff. It may not necessarily be shadowing, but I hope it would be fair to count it as dental experience, which is in the same section.

Thanks again!

 

[ajj70]

I would put it all as volunteering except for the actual shadowing part and then get another 50 or so hours of shadowing done before you apply. The rest, while in a dental clinic, isn't really "dental experience" because you were not really observing dental procedures. The interactions and all were great, but I would still say it's volunteer work vs experience. One isn't necessarily better than the other too, but you don't want to overinflate what you did. The dental experience is more for paid positions or chair-side positions/office positions.