# Profile Building Guide

By Dr. Apurva Dabak, BDS, MPH, DDS · Published 2022-01-24
Stage: Build a competitive profile · Canonical: https://www.apurvadabak.com/blog/profile-building-guide/

> The resources from the Profile Building 101 session and more. Ten ways to build experience and exposure for a competitive dental school application.

## Key takeaways

- Network with current students, alumni and dentists at the schools you want; it pays off at interviews.
- Dental school websites list many opportunities that Advanced Standing applicants are eligible for.
- The best way to learn research is to do your own; start with free methodology and biostatistics courses.
- Dental assistant / RDA certificates get you into US dental offices and teach you how they run.
- Your hobbies and side projects are your X factor; put them on your CV.

Hey there, thanks for checking out my new blog. In case you missed the first session on profile building, here you can find the resources I mentioned in the session and more. I used these resources and found them quite helpful. Read through these and feel free to reach out with questions.

The COVID pandemic raised many challenges for the dental profession, and especially for DDS aspirants trying to find appropriate opportunities. With those challenges in mind, I put together a list of experiences and exposures that you can build up as part of a competitive dental school application.

## Network or no work

Reach out to as many current students, alumni and dentists as you can. Create an informal network of people from the dental schools you are interested in. Every dental school has its own uniqueness in the DDS/IDS curriculum, and that information will be valuable when you interview at those schools. When you come across unique projects or ideas, approach the people working on them and ask about open volunteering or work opportunities. Don’t be shy to reach out; most people are friendly and approachable. What’s the worst that could happen? They say no or don’t respond. No problem, don’t give up!

## Dental schools

Dental school websites list many opportunities for pre-dental students and international scholars. As Advanced Standing Program applicants, we are eligible for most of these. I highly recommend going through every dental school’s website thoroughly and approaching faculty, alumni and current students as needed.

## Online didactic courses or certifications

The Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC has a variety of online courses that I found helpful, along with online master’s and certificate programs. Not many other dental schools offer academic dentistry courses online, but I will update this list as I come across others.

## COVID services

COVID response teams all over the world opened many public health, leadership and volunteering opportunities. If you are planning to apply for any of these roles, I recommend completing [this free online contact-tracing course by Johns Hopkins](https://www.coursera.org/learn/covid-19-contact-tracing). Some of the roles:

- Case Investigator (CI)
- Contact Tracer (CT)
- CICT leadership roles
- Vaccination site volunteering or paid roles like greeter, coordinator, etc.
- Tech and back-end roles
- Vaccination site leadership roles
- Content creation and public education roles

## Research

Research with your school, researchers, students, faculty, or your own: research departments at dental schools are one of the best ways to start getting research exposure if you don’t have it already. A few master’s programs include introductory research methodology training in their curriculum. From my personal experience, those projects won’t give you the kind of exposure that is needed in research. The best way to learn how research is conducted is to perform your own! There are many introductory courses on research methodology and biostatistics/data analysis on Coursera.

## Dental auxiliary

Whether you plan on working as a DA or RDA while trying to get into dental school, getting these certificates or completing these courses will give you an edge in finding good jobs in dental offices. The methods you learn will get you used to dental back offices and give you an overall perspective on how a working office runs. Some institutes that offer dental auxiliary courses in Northern California:

- [Dental Advantage](http://www.dentaladvantage.com/)
- [dental-specialties.com](https://www.dental-specialties.com/)
- [Fortis](https://www.fortis.edu/)
- [EFDAA Services](https://efdaaservices.com/)

## Hands-on courses

I was constantly searching for good virtual hands-on courses in dentistry. I joined school before I could take any of them, but here are some available options:

- [Hands Online Live](https://www.handsonlinelive.com/)
- Stevenson Dental Solutions
- Dr. Duggan’s courses
- [Colgate Oral Health Network CE courses](https://www.colgateoralhealthnetwork.com/dental-ce-courses/)
- [RIPE Global](https://www.ripeglobal.com/)

## Your X factor!

Work on your hobbies, interests and extracurriculars, and look for opportunities that might fit on your resume. For example: starting a food blog, a start-up idea or business, an academic position at an art school, earning a certificate, or winning a photography, hiking or other sports competition. These mentions on your resume will be your X factor, setting you apart from the many ordinary experiences schools and dentists read on applicants’ resumes.

## Digital dentistry

I don’t have much experience with digital dentistry. But if you have opportunities to volunteer, work or learn at any cutting-edge digital dentistry venture, that would be the perfect cherry on the cake.

## Resume

Your CV or resume is going to be one of the most important parts of your application. Here is a resume format I started with while applying to dental schools: the [Boston University Resume Writing Guide](https://www.bu.edu/dental/students/careers/library/resume-writing-guide/).

## Wait and take a deep breath!

After all the effort you have put into getting your name to stand out, take a break. Remember, dentistry is not your entire LIFE! Disconnect from CAAPID for a while and try to connect with yourself. You have given your 100% and you have all it takes to be in the seat you have been wanting for the last many months or years. And one day it will be yours!

Good luck,

Apurva Dabak, BDS, MPH, DDS