Categories
Volunteer — community service
Soup kitchenFood bankHabitat for HumanityTutoring underserved students
One weekly commitment for a year beats five one-off events.
Volunteer — health/medical
Free dental clinicHospital volunteerHealth fairsMission trip (with caveats)
Direct patient or community-health exposure is what schools mean by 'service to the underserved.'
Leadership
Club president or officerTeam captainFounded a project or initiative
Lead 1–2 things well. Ten logos on a résumé with no real role reads as filler.
Research
Lab assistantIndependent projectPoster or conference presentationCo-author on a paper
Not required for most dental schools — but a real plus, especially for academic programs.
Employment
Dental assistantSterilization techTutorServer, retail, lifeguard
Paid work counts. It shows responsibility, time management, and grit.
Extracurriculars
Pre-dental societySportsMusicArt, sculpting, jewelry-making
Hand-arts and music train the dexterity dental schools quietly love.
Teaching
Peer tutorTeaching assistantCoachMentor for younger students
Dentistry is half-teaching — explaining hygiene, treatment plans, post-op care.
The rules
- Depth > variety. Schools want to see commitment, not a scavenger hunt.
- Track hours, supervisor, dates, and a one-line description as you go — not the night before AADSAS.
- Pick the 3 experiences you'd actually want to discuss in an interview. Build those, drop the rest.
- Don't ghost activities the day you submit your application. Schools watch.
- If you only volunteer in health settings, you look one-dimensional. Mix in community service.
What to log now
- Role title and organization
- Start date and (if ended) end date
- Total hours so far
- Supervisor name + email
- One sentence: what you actually did
- One sentence: what it taught you
Mistake to avoid
Don't list ten activities you barely showed up for. Pick two or three where you have real hours, real responsibility, and a story to tell.