What does a dentist look for?

Will a dental office be turned away from a part time dental assistant who is also going to school? What kind of hours could an assistant expect to work as part time... not # of hours but time frames like 8am - 12pm, etc. Would you recommend someone to go through a dental assisting program while getting their bachelors to get into dental school. Do you think it would have an effect on the educational performance to be working as an assistant while being a full time student?

What does a dentist look for?
There area I live (California) many assistants work part time. Usually DDS offices are only open 4 days a week. Or they have sooo many associates and are open 6 days a week that they will need lots of help. Interesting enough a few of my dental assist friends who did a vocational program, did it just as a bridge to hygiene school. It would not be a bad idea to do a assistant program, I think it will give you a GREAT view to see if you actually want to be a DDS. If you do it this way, your not paying thousands of dollars just to decide that maybe its not for you.