Worried about my CV/resume?

[Queen Fufu]

I'm worried about my dental school resume. I just made the formal decision to pursue dental school about 2 months ago, after going back and forth between dental school and med school. While I was deciding, I shadowed a dentist for over 100 hours (this led me to my final decision). However, I haven't been able to do any dental-oriented volunteering yet, and I'm worried. What should I do?

Btw, I've done a whole bunch of med-related volunteering.

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[Moose A Moose]

Uh... get on it?

You can fill in your med school stuff in the dental CV too. Better have a damn good reason for the switch over.

 

[Lane138]

A lot of pre-dents started out as pre-med, no need to be ashamed of that! I'd been pre-med since 9th grade (president of pre-med club and everything) and then had a sudden epiphany and change of heart, and 9 months later applied to d-school, and part of my application essay dissects my motivations for this change.

A lot of the activities you did probably overlapped too, in terms of volunteering in a hospital or clinic, community service projects, etc. Just make sure you have a few meaningful moments that explain why you're choosing dentistry instead of medicine.

Are you planning on applying this cycle?

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

A lot of pre-dents started out as pre-med, no need to be ashamed of that! I'd been pre-med since 9th grade (president of pre-med club and everything) and then had a sudden epiphany and change of heart, and 9 months later applied to d-school, and part of my application essay dissects my motivations for this change.

I was even accepted to medical school, but turned it down. I realized I wanted a life outside of my job.

Big Hoss

 

[Queen Fufu]

A lot of pre-dents started out as pre-med, no need to be ashamed of that! I'd been pre-med since 9th grade (president of pre-med club and everything) and then had a sudden epiphany and change of heart, and 9 months later applied to d-school, and part of my application essay dissects my motivations for this change.

A lot of the activities you did probably overlapped too, in terms of volunteering in a hospital or clinic, community service projects, etc. Just make sure you have a few meaningful moments that explain why you're choosing dentistry instead of medicine.

Are you planning on applying this cycle?

Yes, I'm planning on applying this cycle. I plan to do dental volunteering after I finish the DAT.

 

[Lane138]

You're definitely not out of the running just because you switched so recently.

 

[joker937]

Hopefully you have some other kind of volunteering (like were you involved with any organizations, clubs, etc.?). Personally, I had about 140 hours of shadowing. In addition to that, I include volunteering at the vet's office, volunteering for my clubs (some dental related, some global related), and even a month-long medical rotation.

I was never asked "why the vet shadowing/volunteering" or "why did you go on a MEDICAL rotation in India"? And, if they had, I'd probably be genuine in my answer and just say "well, I love animals and giving back to the animal community" or "I wanted to help people and learn about medicine which is interwoven with dentistry in so many ways."

simple. 🙂 no stress, and you're being honest.

they're not expecting to see like hundreds of DENTAL-specific volunteering hours. However, you DO need to show them that you care about your community - there absolutely should be some kind of volunteering on your resume, no matter what it is.

 

[Queen Fufu]

Hopefully you have some other kind of volunteering (like were you involved with any organizations, clubs, etc.?). Personally, I had about 140 hours of shadowing. In addition to that, I include volunteering at the vet's office, volunteering for my clubs (some dental related, some global related), and even a month-long medical rotation.

I was never asked "why the vet shadowing/volunteering" or "why did you go on a MEDICAL rotation in India"? And, if they had, I'd probably be genuine in my answer and just say "well, I love animals and giving back to the animal community" or "I wanted to help people and learn about medicine which is interwoven with dentistry in so many ways."

simple. 🙂 no stress, and you're being honest.

they're not expecting to see like hundreds of DENTAL-specific volunteering hours. However, you DO need to show them that you care about your community - there absolutely should be some kind of volunteering on your resume, no matter what it is.

Thanks for answering. I definitely have other experiences, such as teaching English to community members and volunteering with community nonprofits. I have a lot of community volunteering, just not dental-related. Thanks for your help!