Some questions...

[hs2013]

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Well I'll finally be starting my freshman year in college and I really need to start buckling myself down and focusing on doing what I need to, to get into dental school. I'll probably make a 4 year plan soon to make sure I get all my dental school requirements and gen ed requirements taken care of. But what other steps should I take to increase my chances to get in? When should I start shadowing a dentist, should I ask my own dentist( I do have an app. with him in 2 weeks)? As far as LOR's go, should I attempt to start forming a relationship with my profs. as soon as I start classes? Is it necessary to join clubs or whatever? Do I really need volunteer hours? I know GPA and DAT scores are the most important on an application, but are all extracurricular's like shadowing, clubs, volunteering necessary?

 

[stomatology]

Well I'll finally be starting my freshman year in college and I really need to start buckling myself down and focusing on doing what I need to, to get into dental school. I'll probably make a 4 year plan soon to make sure I get all my dental school requirements and gen ed requirements taken care of. But what other steps should I take to increase my chances to get in? When should I start shadowing a dentist, should I ask my own dentist( I do have an app. with him in 2 weeks)? As far as LOR's go, should I attempt to start forming a relationship with my profs. as soon as I start classes? Is it necessary to join clubs or whatever? Do I really need volunteer hours? I know GPA and DAT scores are the most important on an application, but are all extracurricular's like shadowing, clubs, volunteering necessary?

1) If I were you, I would start shadowing a dentist as soon as possible in order to determine whether this is a career that you could actually see yourself doing long-term.

• If you end up loving dentistry, that's great. Continue down that career path.
• If you end up changing your mind, that's great too. You'll be able to choose a different career that is more suited to you.

2) Make sure to explore careers/interests/options.

• Please don't take this the wrong way, dentistry might just be the perfect fit for you. However, as someone who went into college thinking I wanted to do a certain thing and changing my mind years later, I think it's important to do interest/career exploration in general to see what's out there. Yes, it's good to be focused on your goals, but there is a balance you should strike between exploring and being focused, so make sure that you do look at other opportunities you may be interested in.
• Definitely take the opportunity to take classes in subjects you've never studied before and do things you won't have the opportunity to do again (eg. study abroad--with careful planning, it can successfully be done with a pre-med/pre-dental or even engineering course load).

3) Make an effort to get to know your professors, then form relationships with the ones you connect with.

• I wouldn't put too much of an emphasis on finding people to write your LOR's your first year, but you should get into a habit of talking to the professor, going to office hours, and generally forming a relationship with them. Forming a relationship goes beyond just asking for help on classwork/assignments.
• Take multiple courses with the same professor or do research with a professor if you find a subject you're particularly interested in.
• I firmly believe that forming a relationship is so important, because that's how you get professors who will advocate for you. However, just like in life, not everyone is going to connect with everyone else, so you really need to put in effort to find professors who you actually connect with. You eventually want to get LOR's from these people so keep the relationship going once you do find someone like this.

4) Join clubs, volunteer, and get active on campus. You want to find something to get involved with that you really believe in and want to be doing. What it is doesn't matter as much as that it's there.

• If you do decide to go for dental school, there are some specific things schools want to see, such as shadowing.
• I don't think anyone should do any activity to "check boxes" because that person would be doing themselves a disservice and I think adcoms can tell this from the way you talk about your activities. If you don't like research, don't do research. If you want to do art, do art. Etc. There are a million ways to get into dental school, so definitely don't think that you have to do a certain set of things to get in. Stay true to yourself/your interests and your passion will shine through--that is what makes an impact.

5) Work hard, play hard. Make sure that you are studying hard and getting the grades that you want, but that you also have fun. 👍

 

[hs2013]

^^^thank you, very informative!

Any other opinions?