volunteering examples for dental school

[milletmontoya]

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I'm a college freshman majoring in biochemistry and I want to go to dental school. I was looking at community service/volunteering clubs on campus and I wanted to ask if it was worth it to join a youth mentoring program and if it would have any impact on dental applications, or if I should look for other causes to join? I love working with kids and I really wanted to do something with that, but my parents were skeptical if it would actually add to my application and that I should focus on dental/health-related volunteering?

Also what other types of volunteering should I participate in that would look good?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Activity Finder - Find Extracurriculars for Med School Application | Activity Finder

Activity Finder helps you find common premedical extracurricular activities: medical and clinical jobs, research opportunities, shadowing, and community service.

www.studentdoctor.net

Welcome to the forums.

My own answer is... that depends. I would like people to show their investment in communities that they may not be comfortable with. Most of your patients will not want to see you, so how you relate to people unlike yourself is a significant power skill. Plus, plenty of prehealth students do tutoring or mentoring; do it because you like to.

You're just a freshman. My easy answer is to focus on getting through your first year with as high a GPA as possible. Find opportunities where you understand the responsibility you have to your community as a learned member of the community, and find a way to stretch yourself out of your comfort zone.

And don't get into trouble.

Don’t Look for Trouble: How Freshman Year Mistakes Could Doom Your Path to Medical School | Student Doctor Network | SDN

Welcome to the new academic year and first-year orientation! As a new freshman resident of our Prehealth Living Learning Community Dormitory, I share your

www.studentdoctor.net

 

[Lemillion]

Honestly, my thought is any volunteering is good! Obv health related is good to have (mission trip, pre-dental society) but something like mentoring also shows empathy, good interpersonal skills, teaching, etc. All positive attributes dental schools would like to see as well. I did soup kitchen, pre-dental society events, free tutoring as some of my consistent volunteer events.