Should I continue to shadow? Advice needed!

[Mason91]

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[helpmedecide33]

I wouldn't, you already have 200 hours. The grades are more important than a few extra hours of shadowing.

 

[DC206R]

I would say diversify your shadowing hours. Check out specialties for 10-15 hours each . Even other GP's. You learn something knew at every office. That's my opinion on shadowing. If you can, get clinical experience. Much more valuable and schools like it better from what I hear.

 

[DMDDDSHopeful]

If you have built a good relationship with your dentist that you've been shadowing then you should shadow whenever you have free time. Keep tacking on more hours. It's certainly not going to hurt you unless it is something you can't manage due to it hurting your grades. Do you need to shadow? No. Will it improve your chances? It certainly won't hurt.

 

[Mason91]

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[makoons]

Definitely shadow more than one place, I shadowed at a number (8? maybe?) of places and learned so much from different dentists and office locations.

 

[super frank]

Seems like you answered your own question in your explanation. Your grades suffered when you worked, so you should probably just focus on your academics and shadow during any breaks.

Shadowing at a number of places is cool though. I shadowed at a FQHC clinic, a suburban office, and a posh-y urban office. It's cool to see the procedures/treatments that each different type of setting focuses on.

 

[drcrentistdds]

I only shadowed at one place at the time I applied and i got acceptances but I think it hurt me with some schools...at one of my first interviews an interviewer basically asked me straight up why haven't I shadowed with more dentists to get a better sense of the field and I did not have a good answer (I didn't get in to that school). You said you're not working right now, so why not do it before classes start, or just do a couple hours once a month or every couple months

 

[Toothout]

Do you mind elaborating for me on clinical experience part? What exactly do you mean by that?

Clinical experience is when you actually work with patients. Ex: dental assistant, volunteer at a hospital, volunteer for a Mission of Mercy, become an EMT...

 

[Mason91]

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[Toothout]

Ah, I see. None of those is a practical option that fits my time schedule well. I did volunteer at MoM twice and have about 20 hours total (and we weren't allowed to do anything that involves patients; I ended up volunteering at the sterilization station).
My mentor dentist also has let me work with his dental assistants a few times (suction, mostly) when he left them to finish up. But thanks for your reply.

That's fine! Not everyone can, it's just a plus. The only clinical experience I had was volunteering 72 hrs at MoM. I was a translator/interpreter.

Maybe try to volunteer for the upcoming one, so you can keep adding hrs.

 

[Faefly]

Focus on your GPA, 18 credits biology or any upper-level science classes are extremely hard,
you will destroy your gpa if you didn't just focus on studying alone.
Remember the goal is to improve your GPA, you won't improve it if you worked full time or shadowed multiple times a week.