Volunteer work, what is okay?

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I'm currently in CC, I will be doing one more semester here and then transferring to a 4 year university in the spring semester of my junior year. Before I transfer I felt I might as well get some volunteer work out of the way, but for dental school, does anything apply?
I just applied to volunteer at a hospital. I plan to do that as much as I can over summer and during the school year. At my next dental appointment I was gonna ask my dentist about possibly shadowing her or if she knows of a dentist I can shadow. Other than these two ideas, the only thing I can think of is community service and in my area that is mostly forest preserve work. Is that okay?

btw, is asking your dentist for a shadowing opportunity wise?
Thanks guys!

 

[dentalWorks]

I'm currently in CC, I will be doing one more semester here and then transferring to a 4 year university in the spring semester of my junior year. Before I transfer I felt I might as well get some volunteer work out of the way, but for dental school, does anything apply?
I just applied to volunteer at a hospital. I plan to do that as much as I can over summer and during the school year. At my next dental appointment I was gonna ask my dentist about possibly shadowing her or if she knows of a dentist I can shadow. Other than these two ideas, the only thing I can think of is community service and in my area that is mostly forest preserve work. Is that okay?

btw, is asking your dentist for a shadowing opportunity wise?
Thanks guys!

As far as volunteering goes, you can do anything, it doesn't even have to be healthcare related. The point is you wanna show you care about your community. By the way, I also volunteered at a hospital, for around 1.5 years, it was not dentistry related. If you enjoy working with your hands, you can also try Habitat for Humanity. I dunno anything about forest preserve, but I'd stick to things that directly impacts people. Like, volunteering at dog shelters and such, might not be what adcoms have in mind..... But then again, there isn't a blue-print of volunteering activities.

In regards to shadowing, thats pretty much it. You can call around / stop by any general dentists office and see if they'll let you shadow... in your case, the dentist actually knows you, so thats a little bit of an advantage when it comes to the letter of recommendation.

 

[wizi]

I'm currently in CC, I will be doing one more semester here and then transferring to a 4 year university in the spring semester of my junior year. Before I transfer I felt I might as well get some volunteer work out of the way, but for dental school, does anything apply?
I just applied to volunteer at a hospital. I plan to do that as much as I can over summer and during the school year. At my next dental appointment I was gonna ask my dentist about possibly shadowing her or if she knows of a dentist I can shadow. Other than these two ideas, the only thing I can think of is community service and in my area that is mostly forest preserve work. Is that okay?

btw, is asking your dentist for a shadowing opportunity wise?
Thanks guys!

1st of all, do something you love.
2nd, be able to talk about it because they might ask you in the interviews.

Yes, shadowing your dentist is totally fine.

 

[DentToBeCont]

I helped with food drives twice a year in college, and volunteered at "Kid Camp". It never came up in an interview, but schools do like to see you have a life outside of acedemics and dentistry. Its all part of becoming a well rounded applicant. On that note, I did not do this to make myself look better to a Dental School, I jsuted wanted to help out in the community.

As wizi said, "1st of all, do something you love", cause it you don't do this and it comes up in your interview odds are you wont be able to do #2 of what wizi said, "be able to talk about it because they might ask you in the interviews." You don't want to give the one line "blah blah this is what I did" because interviews can go in any direction depending on who is interviewing you. You could end up talking about it for 5 minutes. I had an interview where we talked about hunting for 8 minutes becasue my interviewer recognized my home town as a good hunting area.

 

[MrBeans]

I'm currently in CC, I will be doing one more semester here and then transferring to a 4 year university in the spring semester of my junior year. Before I transfer I felt I might as well get some volunteer work out of the way, but for dental school, does anything apply?
I just applied to volunteer at a hospital. I plan to do that as much as I can over summer and during the school year. At my next dental appointment I was gonna ask my dentist about possibly shadowing her or if she knows of a dentist I can shadow. Other than these two ideas, the only thing I can think of is community service and in my area that is mostly forest preserve work. Is that okay?

btw, is asking your dentist for a shadowing opportunity wise?
Thanks guys!

I agree with the others. Volunteer in activities that you enjoy!

There is a high probability that your iterviewers would ask you about your volunteer experiences; enjoying what you were involved in (or having an active interest) will certainly strengthen your response.

Ask your dentist for shadowing opportunities! It's a great place to start; it's easier than cold-calling clinics. 🙄