UPDATED: How many Dental School Shadowing / Volunteer Hours should you aim for?

[AlecGaro]

Hello everyone I tried doing a bit of research on past posts for this but many seem to be a bit outdated and from present times it looks like there have been many changes to the information that was presented. My question is how many hours of shadowing/volunteering should you do for dental school applications. Before I heard anything about this I assumed 25-50 hours would look great on an application. Even on here some of the people and excel sheets say things like 100-200 hours for most of the top schools. Shortly after I received a lecture from one of the Dental School application interview directors at Western University (in Pomona, California) at my schools Student Health Professions club, and she said that they basically don't even consider applicants with less than 100 hours., and for you to show them that you actually take the application seriously they recommend 500-1000 hours of shadowing or volunteer work..

Now, I personally am not aiming for Western University, I am aiming for the top dental schools like UCLA so I am assuming they require even more hours than this since Western University, as I am aware of, is not one of the best dental schools out there. Does anyone know if this statement of 500-1000 hours is true for most dental schools nowadays, AND around how many hours top dental schools like UCLA would like to see?

Thank you in advance

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dbd]

Personally I think there's a point of diminishing returns after you reach like 5o hours of shadowing in terms of what you, as the shadower, actually learn from the experience. Obviously, however, if you have a higher number of hours (100-200+) that obviously shows commitment and dedication. Now if you're aiming for "top dental schools", GPA and DAT really need to be there before you spend the bulk of your time shadowing or volunteering. There's no point in having all of those hours (except for the actual volunteer work which hopefully has made a difference in some way), if your app gets screened because you didn't meet the minimum threshold in terms of stats.

tldr: The more hours, the better, but high GPA/DAT is more important.

 

[FancyFloss]

Many schools have a 40 - 100 hour requirement so it varies. As for the 1000 hours of shadowing that is meant for graduate students in grad school or for those not coming directly from undergraduate schools. Many people choose to become a dental assistant so they can get the hours that way while getting paid for the experience.

 

[8th]

Top schools look at a lot of things not just shadowing. They want to know you are committed to the profession so the majority of SDNers will say that 100 hours of shadowing is the golden rule. They want to see that you spent your time doing things you like not just doing well in school. Because a lot of students can get really great grades if they didn't work/do extracurricular activities. So find things you love to do and do it!

 

[doc toothache]

Hello everyone I tried doing a bit of research on past posts for this but many seem to be a bit outdated and from present times it looks like there have been many changes to the information that was presented. My question is how many hours of shadowing/volunteering should you do for dental school applications. Before I heard anything about this I assumed 25-50 hours would look great on an application. Even on here some of the people and excel sheets say things like 100-200 hours for most of the top schools. Shortly after I received a lecture from one of the Dental School application interview directors at Western University (in Pomona, California) at my schools Student Health Professions club, and she said that they basically don't even consider applicants with less than 100 hours., and for you to show them that you actually take the application seriously they recommend 500-1000 hours of shadowing or volunteer work..
Now, I personally am not aiming for Western University, I am aiming for the top dental schools like UCLA so I am assuming they require even more hours than this since Western University, as I am aware of, is not one of the best dental schools out there. Does anyone know if this statement of 500-1000 hours is true for most dental schools nowadays, AND around how many hours top dental schools like UCLA would like to see?

Outdated, huh? Do you have something of more recent vintage? It appears you failed to make the distinction between shadowing and volunteer work.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2014-shadowing-requirements-recommendations.1069934/

 

[AlecGaro]

im so sorry i actually never saw that post, but thank you so much for the help.. i didnt mean to insult you or anything. But what is the difference? Because when I was talking to that person who gave the lecture they made it seem like the same thing. I do my hours at an ortho clinic and I help by sanitizing for free and sometimes watching the orthodontist.. which of the two options would that count as?

 

[AlecGaro]

Outdated, huh? Do you have something of more recent vintage? It appears you failed to make the distinction between shadowing and volunteer work.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/2014-shadowing-requirements-recommendations.1069934/

im so sorry i actually never saw that post, but thank you so much for the help.. i didnt mean to insult you or anything. But what is the difference? Because when I was talking to that person who gave the lecture they made it seem like the same thing. I do my hours at an ortho clinic and I help by sanitizing for free and sometimes watching the orthodontist.. which of the two options would that count as?

(sorry for the double post)

 

[AlecGaro]

Many schools have a 40 - 100 hour requirement so it varies. As for the 1000 hours of shadowing that is meant for graduate students in grad school or for those not coming directly from undergraduate schools. Many people choose to become a dental assistant so they can get the hours that way while getting paid for the experience.

Top schools look at a lot of things not just shadowing. They want to know you are committed to the profession so the majority of SDNers will say that 100 hours of shadowing is the golden rule. They want to see that you spent your time doing things you like not just doing well in school. Because a lot of students can get really great grades if they didn't work/do extracurricular activities. So find things you love to do and do it!

thank you so much, and by the way what are "SDNers"

 

[FancyFloss]

SDNers = the population of medical experts on this website.

 

[AlecGaro]

SDNers = the population of medical experts on this website.

ahh yes I see it now but can you help me with the other question I asked as well? ..

What is the difference between shadowing and volunteering? Because when I was talking to that person who gave the lecture they made it seem like the same thing because they bunched it up into "hours". I do my hours at an ortho clinic by working (help by sanitizing for free and doing other jobs around the office) and sometimes watching the orthodontist as well but that isnt very often.. which of the two options would that count as?

Also thank you again Doc Toothache for the Shadowing guide, does anyone know if he has an updated volunteer hour guide?

 

[dbd]

Shadowing- shadowing a dentist or specialist. Volunteering- doesn't have to be, but can be, dentally related. Volunteering at a soup kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, tutoring, etc.

 

[AlecGaro]

Shadowing- shadowing a dentist or specialist. Volunteering- doesn't have to be, but can be, dentally related. Volunteering at a soup kitchen, Habitat for Humanity, tutoring, etc.

I see, I remember specifically the lady also told me that at least at her school (Western U) they want to see volunteer hours specifically tailored to the field you are applying to, so I'm assuming its smart to chunk up my volunteer hours as time I help at the office?

 

[FancyFloss]

I would say shadowing at the dental office includes sterilizing and everything else. I assisted a few times, took X-rays, sterilized, etc and that all counts as shadowing. Make sure to mention that you did that in your shadowing section of the application. Volunteering is working for free, not occasionally working and then shadowing.

Shadowing = Gaining dental experience from what a dentist does by observation and hands on learning.
Volunteering = Doing normally paid work for free.