Should I apply this cycle?

[577455]

I plan on taking the DAT around July 10. I just started shadowing at a general practice, but I have around 40 hours of volunteering at a dental clinic. So I need 60 more hours of dental experience to meet the requirements of most schools.
I'm concerned because, I know I need to ask for a letter of recommendation from a dentist. I think the one I just started shadowing seems really cool, and would probably be willing to write a letter of recommendation in the future. But when he writes the letter, I'm assuming it will say that I just started shadowing him May 2015. If I ask him for a letter around June, that will only be a month of meeting. I feel like I'm cutting it very close to being able to apply this cycle. With that said, if I don't apply, I'll be sitting around for 2 years before I get into dental school. I really don't want to do that. What do you guys think?

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[andreadds]

I would say make sure you have a GOOD letter. I dont know if he can give you a good letter if he hardly knows you.. depends on the person

 

[I want to go to there]

I plan on taking the DAT around July 10. I just started shadowing at a general practice, but I have around 40 hours of volunteering at a dental clinic. So I need 60 more hours of dental experience to meet the requirements of most schools.
I'm concerned because, I know I need to ask for a letter of recommendation from a dentist. I think the one I just started shadowing seems really cool, and would probably be willing to write a letter of recommendation in the future. But when he writes the letter, I'm assuming it will say that I just started shadowing him May 2015. If I ask him for a letter around June, that will only be a month of meeting. I feel like I'm cutting it very close to being able to apply this cycle. With that said, if I don't apply, I'll be sitting around for 2 years before I get into dental school. I really don't want to do that. What do you guys think?

I got 4 dentist letters, 1 fantastic one, 2 good ones, 1 mediocre one. I got used 2 in my app, sent 1 at a later date via email, and didn't send the medicore one(he was just lazy about it and took him like a month and half to complete 2 short paragraphs). I've asked for all of them after only a day or 2 of shadowing. It's not about how long, but the quality of the time the dentist had with you and their impression of you. Spending 8+ hours with you should be more than enough time for them to get to know you well enough to write a letter about you if you have the right personality, social skills, interest in dentistry.

Also, volunteering =/= shadowing. You want 100+ hours of shadowing, not 100+ hours of volunteering + shadowing.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I'd say you're better off waiting until you're well prepared for next cycle. As it currently stands you don't have enough shadowing experience hours to meet the bare minimum of most schools, you don't have a DAT score, and you don't have an LOR from your dentist (who you just started shadowing). By the time you get these things completed, submitted, and verified you'll probably be applying late in the cycle and I'm not sure how it's going to look if most of your exposure to the field was quickly wrapped up in the month or two before applying - that almost appears as if you're just doing what you need to do to meet the bare minimum for application rather than having developed experience and interest in the field over time.