Dental Job Shadowing- FAQ from Pattie Katcher

Pattie Katcher: Head Honcho (Admissions Associate Director) and the rest of the Admissions gang bring you an extremely relevant list of FAQs about Job Shadowing and how important it is to your application.  Hint:  VERY! For the full story:

What is expected?

• It is expected that candidates will exhibit a confirmed interest and motivation in a dental career by participating in career-related activities such as job shadowing, dental community service and other dental volunteer opportunities.

How many hours of job shadowing/ dental volunteering experience required?

• At the time of application submission, applicants are required to demonstrate a minimum of 100 hours of dental shadowing and/or dental volunteering.    More information on this requirement can be found on the admissions website at: http://www.dent.umich.edu/admissions/home/dds/admissionsprocess.

What if I have less than 100 hours of dental shadowing and/ or dental volunteering when I submit my AADSAS application?

• Applicants without this minimum number of hours may not be reviewed or considered for interview.

I have various experience hours volunteering for the dental portion of a free health clinic and a county health department.  These volunteer experiences were on the office side of their respective dental operations, yet I still felt were very valuable to my understanding of dentistry.  Would experiences like these count for the 100 required hours?

• Yes, your dental related volunteering experiences do count towards the required 100 hour job shadowing requirement.

I’m applying to dental school for the 2013 entering class, and I see that 100 hours of shadowing experience is a new requirement. I just submitted my AADSAS application, and entered the shadowing experience I’ve completed thus far, which is 50 hours. I’m continuing to shadow a dentist, and I’m wondering if there’s some way I can report when I’ve reached 100 hours to you.

• All job shadowing experience is directly reported in your AADSAS application. You will not be able to submit additional documents to our office. We encourage all applicants to meet the 100 hour job shadowing requirement at the time a prospective student fills out their application. Based on this information, it is at the discretion of the Admissions Committee on whether or not to further review and/or invite an applicant to interview based on their minimum number of shadowing hours.

Can I report future job shadowing hours in my AADSAS application?

• It is technically possible to list a future shadowing experience on the application, however, because we strongly encourage the minimum hours to be completed AT THE TIME OF APPLICATION, the committee may not take future hours into consideration when reviewing an application.