![Picture](/uploads/1/1/0/1/110160619/published/food-ice-cream_1.jpg?1502842121)
Why Do I Need to Shadow if I Want to Become a Dentist?
Shadowing is like going to an ice-cream shop and tasting the flavors without having to make the purchase until you’re committed to the scoop.
According to the ADEA (American Dental Education Association), shadowing involves “going to a dentist’s or dental specialist’s office to observe procedures, learn terminology and techniques, observe different practice environments and ask the dental professional questions about his or her journey to practicing dentistry.”
In this post, you’ll learn that shadowing is more than just stalking a stranger while he or she works, and you’ll see how it helps you in the future (that’s right, on the applications and in interviews!)
Shadowing is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL for any pre-dental student. The shadowing experiences are important for a few reasons:
So, what exactly is shadowing?
In short, it’s a way to determine if this profession you’re interested in is something you can really see yourself doing for the rest of your life. In the words of my father, it’s your way of knowing if this is a job that’s worth the debt you’ll accrue from professional school.
More eloquently than that, shadowing is putting yourself in the profession’s natural environment to learn about the job without having to worry about any of the stresses associated with actually performing the job. It’s a regular practice that’s done by pre-healthcare students across the entire medical spectrum (pre-dental, pre-medical, pre-nursing, pre-physical therapy, pre-physician assistant).
Really, it makes perfect sense to experience the daily ins and outs of the profession you’re thinking about pursuing.
The Importance of Shadowing: Completing the Primaries and Secondaries
Ah, the dreaded applications. In different posts (like the post here) we discussed how to emphasize what you learned in your shadowing experiences in the applications. Here we’re just going to talk about why shadowing is important to be a good applicant.
The applications for dental school (fondly referred to as the “primaries” and “secondaries”) will ask if you’ve had any shadowing experiences, who you shadowed, how many hours you spent shadowing at each office, and to briefly describe what you learned from the experience.
KEEP A RUNNING DIARY SO THAT WHEN IT COMES TIME TO COMPLETE THE APPLICATIONS, YOU’LL NEED ONLY TO FLIP OPEN AND FILL IN!
The ADEA AADSAS (the system that interlinks all dental schools) ask this information on behalf of dental schools for two important reasons:
Primary Applications
Being the competitive applicant you are, you’re going to want to fill up the space they give you for this section. Shadowing is supposed to be the stress-free, enjoyable part of the journey (it’s less fun than watching Netflix, but hey, better than studying perceptual ability testing). So, why not get as much exposure as possible?
You can shadow more than one dentist and more than one speciality. There’s no magic formula (at least not one that I know yet) that predicts the number of hours you spend shadowing to how likely you’ll get accepted. That said, I would suggest spending as much times as you can shadowing fields you think you might be interested in.
*Side note: Each school has different requirements for the number of shadowing hours required. Be sure to call the admissions offices of the schools you want to apply to for the most accurate information.
My shadowing experience in the primary application consisted of this information:
-Who I shadowed
-How many hours I shadowed in each office
-One or two sentences about the experience (basically, what you did and learned)
Secondary Applications
These are the applications that are school specific. As mentioned HERE (link), this is the document that allows schools to ask their own essay questions. The schools I applied to asked about my shadowing experience in a subtle way:
What have you done to explore dentistry as a career?
This question is BEGGING you to talk about shadowing experiences (amongst other things). This is the perfect time to tell the Academic Committee about your shadowing.
Before the interview, remember the answers you put in both applications because the interviewer might know someone you shadowed and/ or ask about the experience. As you go through your shadowing days, jot down specific experiences you encountered. Things like this these are important:
-A really cool procedure you saw (mine was a dental bone graft procedure)
-A patient that left an impression on you
-Insight the dentist gave you about his work.
Be sure to reflect on these, work them into your applications, and review them before Interview Day--I promise they’ll make you come across as a more genuine and better applicant.
The Importance of Shadowing: Preparing for the Interview
It’s interview day--AKA, time to impress the Admissions Committee and convince to them that you want this more than anyone else in the room.
Remember all those hours you spent shadowing? Good, because now it’s time to tell your interviewers what you learned.
Since shadowing is considered an “experience,” it fits appropriately when the interviewer asks what experiences led you towards dentistry. Please, talk about what it meant to you when the dentist you shadowed cared for an elderly patient who was scared of a procedure, or that really awesome thing you saw while you were shadowing.
They WANT to hear about this.
Helpful hints when talking about your shadowing experience:Always be positive about the dentist you shadowed
-This is an obvious one, but still important to note.
-Know the specifics about your time shadowing with each dentist.
--What speciality did they practice? Where is their practice? How many hours did you spend there?
It’s not enough to say that you liked A, B, and C of the experience--you must also say what it mean to you.
You were impressed how the dentist stayed late to help the anxious patient through the procedure? I was too! Talk about how you also possess those same compassionate characteristics. Admired how the dentist took control of the surgery and thought on his/ her feet? Talk about how you do the same.
Bottom line: If you were impressed by a particular thing on your shadow day, think critically why you admired that specific thing. When the time comes for the interview, tell the Committee what the experience meant to you.
Shadowing is like going to an ice-cream shop and tasting the flavors without having to make the purchase until you’re committed to the scoop.
According to the ADEA (American Dental Education Association), shadowing involves “going to a dentist’s or dental specialist’s office to observe procedures, learn terminology and techniques, observe different practice environments and ask the dental professional questions about his or her journey to practicing dentistry.”
In this post, you’ll learn that shadowing is more than just stalking a stranger while he or she works, and you’ll see how it helps you in the future (that’s right, on the applications and in interviews!)
Shadowing is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL for any pre-dental student. The shadowing experiences are important for a few reasons:
- Are REQUIRED by most (if not all) dental schools
- Allow you to determine if dentistry is really a field you want to enter for the rest of your life
- Give you networking opportunities!
- Will come up in the interview process
- Motivate you through the applications/ prerequisites/ interview prep
So, what exactly is shadowing?
In short, it’s a way to determine if this profession you’re interested in is something you can really see yourself doing for the rest of your life. In the words of my father, it’s your way of knowing if this is a job that’s worth the debt you’ll accrue from professional school.
More eloquently than that, shadowing is putting yourself in the profession’s natural environment to learn about the job without having to worry about any of the stresses associated with actually performing the job. It’s a regular practice that’s done by pre-healthcare students across the entire medical spectrum (pre-dental, pre-medical, pre-nursing, pre-physical therapy, pre-physician assistant).
Really, it makes perfect sense to experience the daily ins and outs of the profession you’re thinking about pursuing.
The Importance of Shadowing: Completing the Primaries and Secondaries
Ah, the dreaded applications. In different posts (like the post here) we discussed how to emphasize what you learned in your shadowing experiences in the applications. Here we’re just going to talk about why shadowing is important to be a good applicant.
The applications for dental school (fondly referred to as the “primaries” and “secondaries”) will ask if you’ve had any shadowing experiences, who you shadowed, how many hours you spent shadowing at each office, and to briefly describe what you learned from the experience.
KEEP A RUNNING DIARY SO THAT WHEN IT COMES TIME TO COMPLETE THE APPLICATIONS, YOU’LL NEED ONLY TO FLIP OPEN AND FILL IN!
The ADEA AADSAS (the system that interlinks all dental schools) ask this information on behalf of dental schools for two important reasons:
- To relay to dental schools HOW BADLY you want to be a dentist.
- To convey to the schools HOW WELL you understand what it means to be a dentist.
Primary Applications
Being the competitive applicant you are, you’re going to want to fill up the space they give you for this section. Shadowing is supposed to be the stress-free, enjoyable part of the journey (it’s less fun than watching Netflix, but hey, better than studying perceptual ability testing). So, why not get as much exposure as possible?
You can shadow more than one dentist and more than one speciality. There’s no magic formula (at least not one that I know yet) that predicts the number of hours you spend shadowing to how likely you’ll get accepted. That said, I would suggest spending as much times as you can shadowing fields you think you might be interested in.
*Side note: Each school has different requirements for the number of shadowing hours required. Be sure to call the admissions offices of the schools you want to apply to for the most accurate information.
My shadowing experience in the primary application consisted of this information:
-Who I shadowed
-How many hours I shadowed in each office
-One or two sentences about the experience (basically, what you did and learned)
Secondary Applications
These are the applications that are school specific. As mentioned HERE (link), this is the document that allows schools to ask their own essay questions. The schools I applied to asked about my shadowing experience in a subtle way:
What have you done to explore dentistry as a career?
This question is BEGGING you to talk about shadowing experiences (amongst other things). This is the perfect time to tell the Academic Committee about your shadowing.
Before the interview, remember the answers you put in both applications because the interviewer might know someone you shadowed and/ or ask about the experience. As you go through your shadowing days, jot down specific experiences you encountered. Things like this these are important:
-A really cool procedure you saw (mine was a dental bone graft procedure)
-A patient that left an impression on you
-Insight the dentist gave you about his work.
Be sure to reflect on these, work them into your applications, and review them before Interview Day--I promise they’ll make you come across as a more genuine and better applicant.
The Importance of Shadowing: Preparing for the Interview
It’s interview day--AKA, time to impress the Admissions Committee and convince to them that you want this more than anyone else in the room.
Remember all those hours you spent shadowing? Good, because now it’s time to tell your interviewers what you learned.
Since shadowing is considered an “experience,” it fits appropriately when the interviewer asks what experiences led you towards dentistry. Please, talk about what it meant to you when the dentist you shadowed cared for an elderly patient who was scared of a procedure, or that really awesome thing you saw while you were shadowing.
They WANT to hear about this.
Helpful hints when talking about your shadowing experience:Always be positive about the dentist you shadowed
-This is an obvious one, but still important to note.
-Know the specifics about your time shadowing with each dentist.
--What speciality did they practice? Where is their practice? How many hours did you spend there?
- Be prepared to answer why you chose to shadow that dentist (LINK TO CAREFUL CHOOSING)
- Make it personable.
It’s not enough to say that you liked A, B, and C of the experience--you must also say what it mean to you.
You were impressed how the dentist stayed late to help the anxious patient through the procedure? I was too! Talk about how you also possess those same compassionate characteristics. Admired how the dentist took control of the surgery and thought on his/ her feet? Talk about how you do the same.
Bottom line: If you were impressed by a particular thing on your shadow day, think critically why you admired that specific thing. When the time comes for the interview, tell the Committee what the experience meant to you.