switched from pre-med to pre-dent..

[zeldadds]

For the application under shadowing hours, should I include all the shadowing hours I've done when I was originally a pre-med? (ex. hospitals and doctors' offices)?

I'm guessing it won't benefit me too much but it couldn't hurt me as well, right? I'm asking this coz I have very little dental shadowing hours (b/c of the recent switch). Plus, I don't want to leave the impression that I hadn't tried out medicine enough b/c of no shadowing experiences, etc...

Thanks!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[preOMFS]

I'm confused. How are you making this sudden shift when you have no experience in dentistry and know nothing about the profession??

 

[zeldadds]

no no no...please don't jump to conclusions.
Yes, I know I've tried pre-med long enough to know a lot about it, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought of or considered dentistry as well.
It took me about a good half-a-year to make that switch and figured dentisry was a better "fit" for me.

I'm just worried about the little shadowing hours I've got, that's all, and hope it won't hinder my chances too in getting to dental schools. And just b/c I've only got so little shadowing experiences doesn't mean I don't have a clue at what I'm getting into..

I've done my research too

I'm confused. How are you making this sudden shift when you have know experience in dentistry and know nothing about the profession??

 

[preOMFS]

How many shadowing hours do you have?

 

[zeldadds]

15 hrs

How many shadowing hours do you have?

 

[preOMFS]

So you know that dentistry is the right career path from just 15 hours?

 

[DiscoBalls]

Hospital hours are probably good to put down, especially if it was on a volunteer basis.

 

[zeldadds]

there's definitely alternative ways too to understand and learn about any career/field through research, talking to professionals, counselors, etc.

shadowing is essential too, but not a defining factor at all in whether the career is "fit" for you.

let's not be too close-minded here.

personally, shadowing both medical doctors and dentists have been more of observing just the technical and procedural aspects of the field. Unless I actually was doing the physical work myself, there really isn't a huge impact from just standing behind someone watching them fix teeth all day. You can do that through youtube now..

 

[Zubnaya Feya]

For the application under shadowing hours, should I include all the shadowing hours I've done when I was originally a pre-med? (ex. hospitals and doctors' offices)?

I'm guessing it won't benefit me too much but it couldn't hurt me as well, right? I'm asking this coz I have very little dental shadowing hours (b/c of the recent switch). Plus, I don't want to leave the impression that I hadn't tried out medicine enough b/c of no shadowing experiences, etc...

Thanks!!

Include all of the hours, it wont hurt you. I am quite sure you've thought about it a lot, but be sure that you know how to explain such a switch on the interview.

 

[thethethe]

So you know that dentistry is the right career path from just 15 hours?

that doesn't matter. there are plenty of pre dents who want to be a dentist without even shadowing first. and then they get a couple of hours of shadowing just because everybody is doing it.

 

[whc235]

there's definitely alternative ways too to understand and learn about any career/field through research, talking to professionals, counselors, etc.

shadowing is essential too, but not a defining factor at all in whether the career is "fit" for you.

let's not be too close-minded here.

personally, shadowing both medical doctors and dentists have been more of observing just the technical and procedural aspects of the field. Unless I actually was doing the physical work myself, there really isn't a huge impact from just standing behind someone watching them fix teeth all day. You can do that through youtube now..

Exactly the same boat as u! I totally agree with what u're saying.. I have about 15 hrs of dental shadowing too.. but did tons of other volunteer works as premed the previous 2.5 years. I feel like sometimes people attack us for not being predental all these years.. "why the switch?" "how do u know u want this with so little hours of actual experience?" I agree that the decision doesn't just come from experience.. it requires a lot of research, talks with professionals, dental students, and counselor.

I once thought thinking about switching was a little too late especially since i was a second semester jr.. but to think about it.. how much experience do i think i've gained from shadowing various doctors in the hospitals.. how am i actually too far in in my decision already?? I haven't actually done THAT much in these 2.5 years to say i've locked myself in. I dunno how much experience some predental students have by the time they apply.. but personally the dentists i've talked to said they don't usually allow interns to do any specific work until a good 2-3 months in. At most they observe and wash the equipments..etc. 2-3 months in... how many hrs is that? I dont think we're that far behind in the experiences compared to other predental students.. I would totally put down the hours that ive done in other volunteer work, i think u should too!

 

[lhtran07]

I was pre-med and all my extracurricular activities and work experience pertained to medicine and I put it all down on my application. Being a hard worker and a leader in whatever activity is always a good thing to let the adcoms know.

Doing all the med shadowing really reinforced the fact that medicine was not for me...even after exploring all the specialties. Nothing interested me and the patient care was a lot different from what I had expected. Dentistry on the other hand...I only had to shadow for a day and already knew it was a better fit for me than a career in medicine. You don't need to shadow for hundreds of hours to know which field is a better fit for you. I only shadowed for 50 hours, but there's only so much you can learn from passively observing. I think it's better to shadow a few dentists and specialists...enough to see the doctor-patient interaction, procedures, and how each dentist efficiently runs his/her practice, but after that your time will be better spent either improving your application (ie, GPA/DAT scores) or doing research/volunteer work that you're interested in.

 

[tinman831]

Pre-med and pre-dental extracurricular activities tend to blend together sometimes. At our pre-health organization at my undergrad, we all worked the same volunteer sites, and events. The fact that you did any volunteering at all shows character.

 

[aphistis]

So you know that dentistry is the right career path from just 15 hours?

The same way you know OMFS is for you after extracting zero teeth?

Cut the OP a little slack.

 

[doc1986]

I am in the same situation as the OP. I decided to switch from pre-med to pre-dent the second semester of my senior year. I know this seems late. I always had dentistry in the back of my mind but put it off because I felt I was in too deep with all of my pre-med ECs since my freshman year. Then one day I decided that it was time to take the plunge because this is the future that I will have to live with and I found many more positives in dentistry compared to medicine. I actually weighed pros and cons and the only pro that medicine had over dentistry (don't hate me for this...just being honest) was the prestige factor. The public seems to hold physicians in higher regard than dentists. But I decided if that was all that was holding me back then I would have more problems to deal with down the road when I was unhappy.

So basically I started shadowing back home this spring break until now and have managed to rack up 100 hours and hope to have 150 by the time I apply (in a couple weeks). I am just worried about adcoms seeing that all my hours were in 3 months leading to applying and frown on my last minute switch. What do you guys think? Plus, I feel like I have a unique position in that I have a point of view from both fields as I have shadowed in both. I can touch on this in my PS and interview possibly?

Sorry for all of the rambling. This has just been stressing me out for a while and I have been scared that this last minute shadowing will be my achilles heel in the application process and they might not take me seriously (although I am very!).

 

[preOMFS]

The same way you know OMFS is for you after extracting zero teeth?

Cut the OP a little slack.

True. I've never taken out a tooth. But I do have a little more than 15 hours working for an OMS.

 

[somethinpositiv]

Hospital volunteering goes under Volunteering, Dental Shadowing goes under Dental Experience. Different sections. Hospital volunteering obviously cannot replace dental experience.

15 hours is not enough for most schools. Look at the school shadowing hour requirements. Some are 30, many are 40, and there's a few that want 100 hours (Pitt, UIC, NYU, UW, I forget which others, Doc Toothache has the chart).

Get yourself 40 hours at a minimum so you can apply to most of the schools you want to apply to. You can get 25 shadowing hours in 1 week over the summer, it's not hard...

 

[notin]

Sorry for all of the rambling. This has just been stressing me out for a while and I have been scared that this last minute shadowing will be my achilles heel in the application process and they might not take me seriously (although I am very!).

what matters is why you switched, why you want to be a dentist, and how well you can articulate that to them without mentioning lifestyle or money.

 

[dentstd]

True. I've never taken out a tooth. But I do have a little more than 15 hours working for an OMS.

The number of hours mean nothing. I saw what I needed to in the first 5 hours of shadowing.

 

[AirborneDentist]

True. I've never taken out a tooth. But I do have a little more than 15 hours working for an OMS.

ok...just a little tip for you...take it as you will...when you start your OMFS program...you are expected to be proficient in extractions...that is not something they teach you. You will get minimal training on performing extractions.

You should know and be an expert at the actual extraction process...think I am wrong? Better talk to another resident...before you are extremely shocked.

Had a buddy of mine over tonight who is a 2nd year OMFS telling me how he does appendectomies, and other extensive surgeries, as well as covering the ICU...they don't do many ext's...

 

[aphistis]

ok...just a little tip for you...take it as you will...when you start your OMFS program...you are expected to be proficient in extractions...that is not something they teach you. You will get minimal training on performing extractions.

You should know and be an expert at the actual extraction process...think I am wrong? Better talk to another resident...before you are extremely shocked.

Had a buddy of mine over tonight who is a 2nd year OMFS telling me how he does appendectomies, and other extensive surgeries, as well as covering the ICU...they don't do many ext's...

Airborne...preOMFS is still in college. He still has some time left to learn.

 

[preOMFS]

Actually I'm not in college (I wish I was so I could jack up my GPA a bit more ) As for the taking out teeth thing, considering I am not in dental school, this should have been obvious. I don't think the board would like oral surgery assistants taking out thirds. Compared to the average pre-dent I think I have a pretty good idea of what residency will be like. Granted, it does not compare to dental students or first year residents knowledge base, but I'd say I'm doing pretty on my research at this point.

Didn't think I was going to get this much hostility for suggesting to the OP to get a couple more shadowing hours. Thanks for the pointers though guys.

 

[aphistis]

Actually I'm not in college (I wish I was so I could jack up my GPA a bit more ) As for the taking out teeth thing, considering I am not in dental school, this should have been obvious. I don't think the board would like oral surgery assistants taking out thirds. Compared to the average pre-dent I think I have a pretty good idea of what residency will be like. Granted, it does not compare to dental students or first year residents knowledge base, but I'd say I'm doing pretty on my research at this point.

Didn't think I was going to get this much hostility for suggesting to the OP to get a couple more shadowing hours. Thanks for the pointers though guys.

No harm, no foul, at least as far as I'm concerned. Do you mind if I ask where you are in terms of prereqs vs. applying vs. accepted?

 

[preOMFS]

My prereqs are done and have been since I graduated in 2007. I applied in 2007 for the class of 2008 with no luck. I opted to not apply last cycle. Instead I got a job as a dental assistant and studied for/rocked the DAT. After about 2 months at the GP's office, I found a job as a surgical assistant which has been awesome. I plan on hitting the submit button around June 2nd or 3rd for this cycle.