I'm currently a pre-dental student at Hunter College, and it seems that no one in my area wants to have me shadow them. I've called several dental offices and they keep telling that they'll call me back, I've even visited the offices in person and the front desk just asked for my info and never got back to me. Seems hopeless. I live in Queens,NY if anyone can tell me where they shadowed in the Queens area and how they asked, it would be a great help. Thanks!
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I would advise you to either wait till they get back to you, EG one to two weeks, or keep on calling. You can PM me and I could try and get you connected to the dentist I'm currently shadowing. his office should be real close to Hunter.
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Yep, they never call you back. I never had a single office call me back when I was looking for someone to shadow.
So here's the thing. Most dental receptionists have no idea what "shadowing" is. When none of the offices called me back, or flat out rejected me saying "Sorry, we don't offer shadowing," it meant they had no idea what I was talking about. I then became more proactive. I dressed in business casual clothes (scrubs would work too, they might work better in fact), printed out a stack of resumes with the objective plainly stated, and went to all the dental clinics in the vicinity of my house.
I'd walk in, and ask the receptionist that I was looking into a dental career, and needed some advice from the dentist. Was it possible if I could speak to him or her for only 5 minutes? If they said he/she was busy, I'd politely tell them I'd be willing to wait. When I spoke to the dentist, I'd hand them my resume and ask them if I could shadow them. This worked for me every time except once, and that was only because the dentist already had a student shadowing him.
Good luck!
So here's the thing. Most dental receptionists have no idea what "shadowing" is. When none of the offices called me back, or flat out rejected me saying "Sorry, we don't offer shadowing," it meant they had no idea what I was talking about. I then became more proactive. I dressed in business casual clothes (scrubs would work too, they might work better in fact), printed out a stack of resumes with the objective plainly stated, and went to all the dental clinics in the vicinity of my house.
I'd walk in, and ask the receptionist that I was looking into a dental career, and needed some advice from the dentist. Was it possible if I could speak to him or her for only 5 minutes? If they said he/she was busy, I'd politely tell them I'd be willing to wait. When I spoke to the dentist, I'd hand them my resume and ask them if I could shadow them. This worked for me every time except once, and that was only because the dentist already had a student shadowing him.
Good luck!
The shadowing field is SATURATED!
S
schmoob
So, try getting creative. Maybe PMing a dentists personal FB. Or try to find a way IN. Ask your own dentist if you can shadow, ask if they know other dentists THEY can talk to on your behalf.
I shadowed my dentist, my wife's dentist, AND my wife's oral surgeon (which was awesome).
I shadowed my dentist, my wife's dentist, AND my wife's oral surgeon (which was awesome).
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really?
check the hospital.
ask your dentist
check the hospital.
ask your dentist
I had the same issue. I found one person in Queens to shadow. My advice would be to try Nassau county/Suffolk county. Not a HUUUGE hike and worth it if you need it.
People tell me that you can volunteer at Nassau Univ. Med. Center and shadow the dentists there that way. I never did it and they claim that you can't shadow at their hospital, but people (my pre-health committee and others) insist on it. PM me and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.
People tell me that you can volunteer at Nassau Univ. Med. Center and shadow the dentists there that way. I never did it and they claim that you can't shadow at their hospital, but people (my pre-health committee and others) insist on it. PM me and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.
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Talk to your schools preprofessional advisor , at my school, our advisor has connections with docs for all the professions in the event that you can't arrange them for yourself , I was lucky enough to get in with a perio for about 120 hours , but I recognize my luck, some are not as lucky , fortunately that's what's preprofessional advisors are for lol
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