Seven Essential Activities To Strength Your Direct Dental Application
High school students interested in a career in dentistry might be considering BS/DMD or BS/DDS programs to gain a head start into the profession. Because these combined programs offer conditional acceptance into a partnered dental school, they are highly competitive and require the students to possess a diverse set of experiences that showcase leadership, dedication and a genuine passion for dentistry. To be a successful direct dental application, here are seven essential activities from one of our recent Forbes articles that should find a place on your resume.
1. Dental Shadowing
Because students are committing early to a career in dentistry, the admission officers want to ensure that students fully understand the field and the day-to-day schedule of a dentist. Shadowing is essential to that understanding and demonstrates a commitment to dentistry. In application essays or interviews, students can highlight specific experiences and insights gained from shadowing, helping to strengthen their candidacy.
2. Clinical Volunteering
Volunteering in dental offices, clinics, hospitals or even nursing homes can help students develop empathy and communication skills while being exposed to provider-patient interactions. Similarly to dental shadowing, clinical volunteering provides invaluable insights into the day-to-day workflow of a healthcare professional, helping a student reaffirm this is the right career path for them. Additionally, volunteering develops the soft skills needed to be a competent and caring dentist.
3. Research
Engaging in research showcases a student’s scientific aptitude and allows them to gain hands-on experience. Students could participate in summer or winter research programs, find independent research with a professor at a local university, compete in science fairs or publish a literature review.
While ideally, the research is related to dentistry, this doesn’t always have to be the case. Any scientific research that can build relevant skills can be beneficial if a student is unable to find dental-specific opportunities.
4. School Clubs
Active participation in school clubs is another resume-building pursuit dental applicants should incorporate into their schedule. Each high school will offer different options, but some healthcare-related clubs students could consider joining or starting at their school include HOSA, Red Cross or Health Science Clubs. These clubs can expose students to the healthcare industry and open doors to new internship or volunteering opportunities.
5. Passion Projects
Given the competitive nature of BS/DMD programs, students often want to go the extra mile to exemplify their ability to take initiative or a deep interest in a particular subject. That’s why many will pursue a passion project, which can be anything a student chooses to start on their own—like a school club, nonprofit or business—that positively impacts their community. The project can be related to dentistry but doesn’t necessarily have to be. Some students might decide to start an organization to spread strong dental hygiene habits to young kids or partner with local dentists to host a free dental clinic targeting uninsured or underprivileged demographics.
6. Leadership Roles
A dentist is often a leader, managing multiple employees to smoothly run their clinic. Therefore, students should pursue leadership roles to build these critical skills. While they don’t need to be a leader in every activity they are a part of, they might want to look for leadership roles in their school clubs, nonprofit organizations, sports teams or other activities.
7. Non-Dental Related Activities
It may come as a surprise, but not every activity on a direct dental applicant’s resume needs to be centered around dentistry. For example, working with the unhoused can help students develop interpersonal skills as they interact with populations different from themselves. Volunteering as a tutor can highlight a student’s mastery of a particular subject and teaching abilities. Students should feel that they can pursue activities like chess club, tennis or Model UN because all of these activities can help develop skills that will be an asset to them as future college students and dentists.
Take Time To Build Your Direct Dental Resume
To be a competitive BS/DMD applicant, the student should take time to build their resume, which should reflect their hands-on experiences, leadership skills and genuine commitment to dentistry. Crafting a résumé that highlights these key extracurriculars can help strengthen an applicant’s résumé and give them the best shot at getting accepted to a competitive direct dental program.