Which schools good for specialties?

Harvard, Columbia, UPenn, UCLA

nichtmeinbier said:

How do you find out which schools prepare you the best/have the highest scores to get into specialties?

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all of them if you work hard.

It's all about how hard you work, what your GPA is like and your board scores...that gets you your specialty

SHC1984 said:

Harvard, Columbia, UPenn, UCLA

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One word. . . deceptive. Some SDNers from these schools have complained that students with slightly lower board scores yet have a higher class ranking have been able to match into really great specialties. . . much better than the SDNers themselves.

Conclusion: you can distinguish yourself in a less competitive school: more extracurriculars, higher class ranking, similar board scores. You also add to the diversity of the specialty program, which puts you into a competitive advantage with applicants from competitive schools.

Have a good point. If you are from a less competive school but you rank #1 in your class then you are better off then someone from Harvard that is rank #18 in their class for example. So if you rank high and have high scores you should be fine..
The big name helps however when you don't rank really high in your class, like if someone was ranked #25 in harvard they might still be able to get into a speciality program b/c of the name or so I have been told anyways...

DDSY said:

One word. . . deceptive. Some SDNers from these schools have complained that students with slightly lower board scores yet have a higher class ranking have been able to match into really great specialties. . . much better than the SDNers themselves.

Conclusion: you can distinguish yourself in a less competitive school: more extracurriculars, higher class ranking, similar board scores. You also add to the diversity of the specialty program, which puts you into a competitive advantage with applicants from competitive schools.

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all 35 harvard students can specialize, its a straight shot! even #35 at harvard has as good a chance as #1 at no name school. not only b/c of the school's name but b/c harvard's curriculum caters to those who want to specialize, research, teach, thus their students have a superior resume when they apply.

But ultimately ALL d-student who apply themselves can specialize from any program!

SHC1984 said:

Have a good point. If you are from a less competive school but you rank #1 in your class then you are better off then someone from Harvard that is rank #18 in their class for example. So if you rank high and have high scores you should be fine..
The big name helps however when you don't rank really high in your class, like if someone was ranked #25 in harvard they might still be able to get into a speciality program b/c of the name or so I have been told anyways...

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Pre-dents are the wrong people to ask about this, because any information you get is secondhand and anecdotal, the worst form of information in existence.

Not to mention it's likely impossible to seperate a causative effect out of any statistics you find. Do a higher percentage of students from Harvard get into specialties than a school like Iowa or LSU? Let's assume yes. Just because this is true, doesn't neccesarily imply a causative factor. Would someone accepted to both Iowa and LSU be able to specialize at one school, but somehow not be able to manage it at the other?

Actually, Harvard doesn't rank their students.

SHC1984 said:

Have a good point. If you are from a less competive school but you rank #1 in your class then you are better off then someone from Harvard that is rank #18 in their class for example. So if you rank high and have high scores you should be fine..
The big name helps however when you don't rank really high in your class, like if someone was ranked #25 in harvard they might still be able to get into a speciality program b/c of the name or so I have been told anyways...

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this year 39 students from PACIFIC are going into specialty programs, this does not include AEGD's and GPR's everyone that applied to endo programs from our school got in. Just thought I'd post this since PACIFIC is usually known as a place you avoid for specialty when in fact almost everyone who wanted to specialize from our school got in. The difference is over half of our students have no desire to specialize and come here for our superior clinical education.

I'd have to agree that if you work hard it can be done from anywhere.

Another thing you may want to consider is if the school you attend does not have that specialty you want to go into you will likely be able to gain much more hands on experience while in the pre doc program - there's no one else to do it but you!

juggamynugga said:

The difference is over half of our students have no desire to specialize and come here for our superior clinical education.

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Not to mention when you're done with specialty training, you'll know a heck of a lot of GP's to send you referrals

juggamynugga said:

this year 39 students from PACIFIC are going into specialty programs, this does not include AEGD's and GPR's everyone that applied to endo programs from our school got in. Just thought I'd post this since PACIFIC is usually known as a place you avoid for specialty when in fact almost everyone who wanted to specialize from our school got in. The difference is over half of our students have no desire to specialize and come here for our superior clinical education.

I'd have to agree that if you work hard it can be done from anywhere.

Another thing you may want to consider is if the school you attend does not have that specialty you want to go into you will likely be able to gain much more hands on experience while in the pre doc program - there's no one else to do it but you!

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Interesting

90+ board part I and top 10% in your class + extra curriculars. School name? Maybe. Who you know, helps. Personal Ambition, best bet.

Thanks for clearing that up abput Pacific. I know that was a thread on here a while ago, and I've been curious ever since.

this isn't dental really, but i read an autobiography of some big shot surgeon a little while back, and i remember him mentioning in the book that while grades and scores are important, you're letters of recommendation can be a deal maker. apparently med school professors cut straight through the BS when writing letters... i'd guess dental school professors are the same way.

so go to a school with a big shot in your specialty of interest, and prove yourself to him/her.

i'm predental, just so you know... and i also have no idea which schools are best, but i'd venture to say you should be at the top of your class and have stellar boards no matter where you go. and that there probably is at least a little to be said about name recognition... common sense tells me that if the school is tougher to get into, they're going to have better students and therefore going to be weighted for specialty admission... if not only slightly.

Do you think USC is good for specializing? Also, what about Arizona? I was thinking b/c USC has all the specialty programs that it can be an advantage....and AZ just got their new ortho program. What's your intake on this?

My favorite things about these arguments are that one group claims having no specialties at the school is an advantage, and the other side claims having all the specialties at the school is an advantage.

No idea which one is right, but you think they would be mutually exclusive.

according to my in depth studies of this issue...I have found schools with 5 specialties have the best chance of matching specialist-applicants. The 5 specialties that together make for the best best best best school to match from is derived from an equation so difficult, I cannot even type or think about it...or my head would explode.

bump.

armorshell said:

My favorite things about these arguments are that one group claims having no specialties at the school is an advantage, and the other side claims having all the specialties at the school is an advantage.

No idea which one is right, but you think they would be mutually exclusive.

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I agree with armorshell. It seems everyone has their own perspective, but we all agree that high boards / gpa is a critical component.

Just something to keep in mind -- at schools like Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, UCLA where there is high specialty placement there is more competition. Yes, in part the high specialty placement is helped by name recognition, but also because of the competition at these schools it forces you to study more, which I believe in the long run helps your board scores. If you follow this line of thought, the high board scores then translate into an easier time to place into a specialty of your choice...

just my 2 cents...