what extracurricular activities?

[jjy2103]

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I am trying to figure out what other extracurricular things i need to make myself a better candidate.
here is what ive done so far.

ISL: worked abroad for 9 days with a dentist at a free clinic
worked with children with leukemia for 3 months as a volunteer.
worked at psychiatric hospital for 2months

(i want to be a pediatric dentist...or at least for now i do)

im thinking about doing the following....
tutor/mentor child with AIDS 2 hrs/week
work at oral/dental at hospital 6 hrs/week
community volunteer work

would the 9 days of working with a dentist be considered enough of shadowing a dentist? or do I need more hours?

any other ideas to make me more competitive will be very helpful.
thanks

 

[RaiderNation]

How many hours is 9 days? If it's 8 hours a day you would have 72 hours. I think that's more than enough.

 

[ISU_Steve]

Do whatever you feel like you would enjoy the most. Remember you're going to have to answer questions about this stuff (it's conversation fodder for the interview) so it helps if you can praddle on about it in some meaningful manner while NOT sounding like your BSing your way through it.

As for other things to make yourself more competitive, read all of SmoothOperator's threads for hints on less than stellar courses of action.

 

[maisuree]

when you shadow a dentist, do you have to get a recommendation letter from him/her? What if you didn't have it? Would it hold against you?

 

[DrTacoElf]

Do whatever you are passionate about.

Lets say you can either tutor kids with aids or you can coach a little league team. Well at interview time if you can talk more and elaborate upon coaching then it was the right choice.

Do it because you WANT TO not because you have to. This will come across very strongly in the interview - trust me.

 

[DrTacoElf]

when you shadow a dentist, do you have to get a recommendation letter from him/her? What if you didn't have it? Would it hold against you?

not at all - i shadowed 4 different ones and only got one letter. Honestly i would only want a letter from 2 of them the other 2 were not my practice style at all. And i talked about this in my interviews. You are out there to learn just as much as you are out there to get a LOR.

 

[Bonkers29]

"Extracurricular, Volunteer, Community Service, Leadership Activities, Dentistry Job Shadowing"

Hey, besides the obviously important Dentistry Job Shadowing, what else should I list? I'm not really sure what they want us to put down.. Community Service- should I list every charity event I've ever been to? Extracurricular- what about recreational sports? I dont think they're as important but is anyone else putting them down???