Other than volunteering at a dental practice what else is the next best place to volunteer? Since there isnt much volunteering to do at the dentists office, would the next best thing be volunteering at the hopsital? I have know intentions of becoming a MD or DO but putting that under volunteer experience has got to be just a respectable. Id like to hear some opinions.
Volunteer for Pre-Dents
- Thread starter johnnyt09
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volunteer is an activity which shows how much you care about your community. Whether you do it at a local dental office (bad idea if you ask me) or do it at a hospital or any other location, whats the difference.
The important thing is you volunteer in something you actually enjoy so you can do it for a while and not get bored out of your mind (your already not gettin paid, and your spending time away from World of Warcraft, you might as well enjoy it)
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Volunteer doing things you like. I know people who hit the soup kitchen every Saturday morning and then complain about it. They're missing the point. I know for the most part we are all in it for the application, but that's just silly.
I think if all you ever did was your 100 hours of shadowing and then had no medical volunteering but had some things you're actually passionate about in your volunteering, you'd be just fine.
If you really want to try some additional medical exposure, most people I know hit the hospitals. Look for public dental clinics if you can. Offer to do anything they might need help with. Some clinics and hospitals have a lot of red tape involved and if you've got a healthy pre-dent population around, they cock-block a lot. It's a little ridiculous.
I think if all you ever did was your 100 hours of shadowing and then had no medical volunteering but had some things you're actually passionate about in your volunteering, you'd be just fine.
If you really want to try some additional medical exposure, most people I know hit the hospitals. Look for public dental clinics if you can. Offer to do anything they might need help with. Some clinics and hospitals have a lot of red tape involved and if you've got a healthy pre-dent population around, they cock-block a lot. It's a little ridiculous.
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Some places are okay with on-the-job training for some of their assistants. Don't take that to mean any dentist you shadow or ask is going to let you touch a thing.
What I was allowed to do varied by the place. While one place has me doing all sorts of stuff because they really are busy and need the extra help, another wouldn't allow student volunteers to even touch an instrument (even sterilization). I dumped that gig because they sort of lost the concept of volunteering somewhere and I could spend my time being more helpful elsewhere. Both of these examples are public government clinics.
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Penn has a year-long volunteer program with their hospital (open to students from the area too), which I did and found especially helpful in getting to comfortable working in hospital/medical environments. It also left me with some amazing stories since I spent the 2nd semester in the ER and we were allowed to observe in the trauma bay. If you have that kind of opportunity and time, I'd seriously consider it.
did u do this at HUP or CHOP?
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This is at HUP. I've watched procedures at CHOP but it was unrelated.
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I talked to a admissions board member for a dental school and he mentioned that they do not count volunteer hours for a dental office or hospital but rather look at a volunteering at a NON-PROFIT dental clinic
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JOIN CAMPUS CLUBS!!!!!
Majority of the clubs at my university do a few service projects each quarter! And it is FUN stuff! You get to meet students, interact, and help out around the community.
I just started reading my school e-mails that all the clubs and stuff send out, and if it sounded like a cool organization, I'd go to the meeting and get involved. To me this is one of the easiest ways to get some volunteer work.
Majority of the clubs at my university do a few service projects each quarter! And it is FUN stuff! You get to meet students, interact, and help out around the community.
I just started reading my school e-mails that all the clubs and stuff send out, and if it sounded like a cool organization, I'd go to the meeting and get involved. To me this is one of the easiest ways to get some volunteer work.
I would highly recommend volunteering with children, it is quite entertaining. I volunteered at 9 weeks of clay camps (wheel throwing and hand building) with kids from the age f 6 to 14. It was super fun, and it also shows manual dexterity! There are also after school programs mentoring students that have fallen behind, or need help with social skills and what not. I think volunteering at a hospital would not look as good as volunteering with a portion of struggling population (whether it be poor people, or kids that need direction). Just my thoughts...
