I'm currently a sophomore going into my junior year, and initially I had planned to pursue a graduate degree. Because of this, I've done almost no volunteering. I plan to apply next year, so I was wondering whether dental schools will care that I'm cramming all of my volunteering/shadowing in the year before I apply.
I did this, and yes some schools saw it as a negative. If you get enough hours and can talk passionately about your experiences though it’s not even close to the worst fault you can have.
@KSprite I did the same thing--didn't start volunteer work until junior year and had a successful application cycle. A year is still plenty of time to do shadowing/volunteering, and I think what dental schools care about the most is that you used your time in undergrad wisely (i.e. you spent freshman/sophomore year doing extracurriculars, working, research, focusing on your grades, etc.)
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