Work experience?

[haagendazs]

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how many of you have no work experience at all? and how bad do you think it looks if you have none? 😕

 

[doc3232]

I think it looks bad if you have been doing nothing with your time. If I had more time then I would have found a job.

I can't say I haven't had quite a bit of downtime though...

 

[enfuego]

I've never had a job. Mostly because my parents don't want me wasting time earning some measly wage when they're paying full tuition to a private university for me to go to school. Paying that much, they want me to focus 100% on school. And I do a bunch of extracurriculars and take classes or something over the summer too, so I honestly don't know how I would possibly have time to work. A lot of my friends who have jobs get them through the work-study program at school, and those jobs are designed to have a lot of downtime so you can get studying done during work. They get paid pretty nicely too. I don't qualify for work-study due to my parents' income, so whatever.

 

[The Anhedonia]

it's probably fair to assume that you (and most other pre-dents) are full time students, so it would be unreasonable for an adcom to expect you to have work experience during that time. However, as doc3232 said, if in your down time from the semester you have chosen to 'relax' instead of, let say, work or attend summer school, then they may raise an eye to that.

work can be a useful indicator of one's development as far as maturity goes.

 

[Zubnaya Feya]

I don't think it looks that bad if you don't have any experience, but I am sure adcoms will give preference to applicants who had job experience (if they are equal in other aspects).

 

[thebozz1975]

how many of you have no work experience at all? and how bad do you think it looks if you have none? 😕

It varies a lot by school. There are schools like Columbia which tend to go straight by the numbers -- geeks for lack of a better word. There are schools like Pacific which tend to have more career changers and people with life experience.

 

[uclaDDS101]

I've had a random variety of jobs, including pharmaceutical research lab assistant, tax preparation clerk, and elementary school teaching assistant. And I'm pretty sure that none of these experiences have tremendously contributed to my understanding of the field of dentistry, nor has any of these significantly prepared me for such a career. I honestly do not think that my work experience matters at all for dental school admissions. I think that the only reason they ask is to get a sense for what the applicant has dedicated his/her time to, whether it be academics, sports, ECs, research, work, or any combo of these. It's your whole package that matters. Just excel in the activities you choose to dedicate yourself to. They don't expect you to be able to do everything.