Volunteering vs. Applying Early

[Phish]

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Hello all,

A question: I am finishing up college in a week, and applying to dental school this summer. The issue (according to my pre-health adviser) is that I don't have any volunteering experience. On the other hand, I do have 50 hours of shadowing a general dentist.

My question is this: do you think it's worth it to delay applying until late June / early July, allowing myself time to volunteer and get a LOE from said volunteering experience? Or should I disregard that issue, hope for the best, and apply as early as possible. I heard that being in the first batch of applications can be a game-changer, which I hope can override the fact that I haven't volunteered. My DAT scores are below, I have a 3.7 GPA as a biochem major, and have had 3 semesters and 1 summer of research. So... what y'all think?

Thanks!

 

[7 Iron]

Well, late June/early July is still applying early, so I don't think it would hurt you by waiting until late June to submit. However, I'm not so sure that doing 1 month of volunteering is going to make much difference on your application. You have to state how much time you have done your volunteer activity, and I think it would stick out to the adcom that you were only active in volunteering just so you could put it on your application. I think if you have some other activity you can put on your app then you will be just fine. Your DAT scores are killer by the way!

 

[dentalWorks]

Hello all,

A question: I am finishing up college in a week, and applying to dental school this summer. The issue (according to my pre-health adviser) is that I don't have any volunteering experience. On the other hand, I do have 50 hours of shadowing a general dentist.

My question is this: do you think it's worth it to delay applying until late June / early July, allowing myself time to volunteer and get a LOE from said volunteering experience? Or should I disregard that issue, hope for the best, and apply as early as possible. I heard that being in the first batch of applications can be a game-changer, which I hope can override the fact that I haven't volunteered. My DAT scores are below, I have a 3.7 GPA as a biochem major, and have had 3 semesters and 1 summer of research. So... what y'all think?

Thanks!

With that DAT score and GPA... you can apply anytime this summer (seriously) and still get in... only problem is, it probably won't you your top choice (you'll just have to settle for whatever comes your way)

I would do the volunteering then apply late June/early July.

 

[DrTank]

Your going to get into dental school whether you apply early or not.

I think that 50 hours is sufficient and if your worried, just put down that you have done more 60,70,80 etc. I don't think that the adcoms will verify your shadowing hours. Ask the dentist you have already shadowed to write you an LOR.

So I say go ahead and apply early. Your GPA and DAT scores are great. Your going to get a number of interviews so start preparing.

 

[TheScienceGuy1]

Since you finish in a week, you'll have 2 weeks to volunteer before June 1st. You don't have to submit your application exactly on June 1st to be in the first applicant batch.So lets say you submit all your application on June 8th. I would suggest mass e-mailing all different volunteer centres like NOW then, you can get at least 50 hrs before yours application easily. You can even get 100 hrs, around 30 hours a week. Right now I am volunteering at 2 places where I can basically come in anytime (I just have to call a day ahead) and stay for up to 10 hours a day. So, if I really wanted to, I could have done 100 volunteer hours in 2 weeks.

Also, if you were a member of any charitable clubs (i.e cancer society or habitat for community) in college, I think you can put it this as volunteer on your application.

 

[Regmata]

I would just apply and take the summer off. You have had 22 or more years to volunteer to help people and have chosen not to. Do you really think that a last minute attempt to get something in that AADSAS slot is going to go unnoticed? Even if the ad-coms were oblivious to the transparency of the effort, it likely wouldn't make a difference between an acceptance or rejection.

If I were you, I would apply early (and take the summer off). Your GPA and DAT are good, you have research and you can make up some other BS about how you spent your off time doing some interesting hobby, traveling the world or helping grandma with the yard work.

 

[Phish]

You guys are awesome... thanks for all the help! (As an aside, this forum is like 100x more active than the DAT one, which is great, hehe). I'm leaning toward Regmata's advice (although I may be biased since I'd love to take the summer off), but maybe I'll spend some time shadowing a couple of specialists.