Advice for dental students that want to do residency

[dds_2024]

For those who specialized, what advice can you give someone who is entering dental school and would like to have the option of specializing after dental school?

• What is something you wish you knew before you even thought about specializing?
• What hindrances in your application/mistakes caused you not to match with the residency you wanted?

For example, I wish someone told me not to do community college first because it will hinder my chances and limit my dental school options (because some do not accept community college credits).

Any advice/insight would be appreciated. 🙂

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[bracketbuster68]

Does any specialty interest you right now?

 

[dds_2024]

Does any specialty interest you right now?

I’m open to anything but for now I hope to be a Pedodontist or Orthodontist (but I heard you have to be top of your class to get accepted for ortho)

 

[schmoob]

Don’t worry about specializing. You don’t know what interests you until you really learn about it. MANY people come storming into D1 trying to be the best so they can specialize, but by the end you just want to finish. Worry about dental school for now, it is hard. If you’re still interested in specializing, chances are you won’t really know until D3.
Also, don’t try to specialize for the sake of specializingor because you think you’ll make more money.

 

[bracketbuster68]

I’m open to anything but for now I hope to be a Pedodontist or Orthodontist (but I heard you have to be top of your class to get accepted for ortho)

OK great. When I was in your shoes, I found it helpful to know what specialty I wanted to do. I then figured out what it took to get into that specialty by going to the Resident forums and visiting the Match threads for said specialty. You will see that people post quick application profiles when they match. It usually contains helpful information like their GPA/class rank, research experience, externships, extracurriculars/leadership. So if you want to do Pedo or ortho, go to those match threads and try to start building a CV that looks similar. You can even DM the posters because they are usually very helpful.

 

[dds_2024]

Don’t worry about specializing. You don’t know what interests you until you really learn about it. MANY people come storming into D1 trying to be the best so they can specialize, but by the end you just want to finish. Worry about dental school for now, it is hard. If you’re still interested in specializing, chances are you won’t really know until D3.
Also, don’t try to specialize for the sake of specializingor because you think you’ll make more money.

Basically I just want to know what mistakes I should avoid to better my chances of specializing...

the reason I feel this way is because I made a lot of unnecessary mistakes/calls during my time as a pre-dent that was completely avoidable and I don’t want that to happen again..

While ortho makes more than most general dentists, my dream is really to become a pedodontist. I love working with children more than adults. I’ve shadowed, volunteered, and worked as a dental assistant at children’s dental offices so I do have a passion for it. My parents are general dentists and have told me to stick to general dentistry because children can add more stress but to me, I feel like they give me less stress.

 

[bracketbuster68]

Basically I just want to know what mistakes I should avoid to better my chances of specializing...

While ortho makes more than most general dentists, my dream is really to become a pedodontist. I love working with children more than adults. I’ve shadowed, volunteered, and worked as a dental assistant at children’s dental offices so I do have a passion for it. My parents are general dentists and have told me to stick to general dentistry because children can add more stress but to me, I feel like they give me less stress.

One last thing. If you want to specialize in a competitive program, get the best grades you possibly can. It gets really easy to get complacent with grades.

 

[dds_2024]

OK great. When I was in your shoes, I found it helpful to know what specialty I wanted to do. I then figured out what it took to get into that specialty by going to the Resident forums and visiting the Match threads for said specialty. You will see that people post quick application profiles when they match. It usually contains helpful information like their GPA/class rank, research experience, externships, extracurriculars/leadership. So if you want to do Pedo or ortho, go to those match threads and try to start building a CV that looks similar. You can even email the posters because they are usually very helpful.

Thank you so much!!! Oh that’s so smart haha! That will give me a perspective on what expectations I should have for myself based on other people’s stats (to an extent)..

 

[dds_2024]

One last thing. If you want to specialize in a competitive program, get the best grades you possibly can. It gets really easy to get complacent with grades.

The reason I want to set myself up for success is because I’m not a gunner and I’m not the top 3% of the class. But I do realize that the people with the best gpa get the best chances of getting in to their desired speciality..

Also I’m not even 100% sure if I’m going to specialize but I do want to do everything I can in case I do decide to in my third year. I’d rather not regret not doing it because i didn’t get matched due to average grades, etc...

Anyways thank you so much! 🙂

 

[Humbl3Pye]

The reason I want to set myself up for success is because I’m not a gunner and I’m not the top 3% of the class. But I do realize that the people with the best gpa get the best chances of getting in to their desired speciality..

Also I’m not even 100% sure if I’m going to specialize but I do want to do everything I can in case I do decide to in my third year. I’d rather not regret not doing it because i didn’t get matched due to average grades, etc...

Anyways thank you so much! 🙂

I would echo that working hard and getting good grades is important for specializing, but it’s not everything. Find ways to get involved in the specific field you like early. If it’s Peds, set yourself apart by becoming president of your schools Peds study club or do research in something Peds related. The more you can add to your application over time the better.

Get to know the faculty too and make a good impression. Don’t annoy them. Everyone comes in and tells faculty they want to specialize early and a lot of people fizzle out. So I would say be constructive with your conversations. Instead of, “My name is X and I really like this specialty” try to have conversations like “Are you working on any research projects I could assist with?” Or “Would you mind if I shadowed as time allowed?” Keep in mind you may not be able to get involved in some of these things until D2 or D3 year, but try to find ways to build your application over time.

 

[autoclavemonkey]

For those who specialized, what advice can you give someone who is entering dental school and would like to have the option of specializing after dental school?

• What is something you wish you knew before you even thought about specializing?
• What hindrances in your application/mistakes caused you not to match with the residency you wanted?

For example, I wish someone told me not to do community college first because it will hinder my chances and limit my dental school options (because some do not accept community college credits).

Any advice/insight would be appreciated. 🙂

I’m with schood. I would first forcus on your dental school. You don’t know what you don’t know and can’t really make a decision on what specialty without seeing more. I would utilize your own schools specialty program and get some idea what it’s like to be in those residencies. That’s something I wish I did more of personally. When the time comes to apply, I absolutely recommend you to visit the programs you are planning on applying to.

 

[bracketbuster68]

Don’t worry about specializing. You don’t know what interests you until you really learn about it. MANY people come storming into D1 trying to be the best so they can specialize, but by the end you just want to finish. Worry about dental school for now, it is hard. If you’re still interested in specializing, chances are you won’t really know until D3.
Also, don’t try to specialize for the sake of specializingor because you think you’ll make more money.

Interestingly, a LOT of specialist faculty at my school have told me they pursued theirs for the lifestyle. That being said, just because some Endodontists can do molar rct in 35 min doesn't mean being an endodontist will personally make you happy. Couldn't pay me enough to make negotiating curved calcified canals fun.

 

[C.elegans]

First of all, I understand that most people coming in to dental school are unsure of what they want to do with their careers. The majority of students end up exploring during dental school and discovering their true passion later on. And that is totally fine. However, I want to make clear that students who know exactly what they want from the very beginning are at a clear advantage when it comes to specializing in a competitive field.

I believe that there is a prime time to do certain things, and building up your CV and network for specialization is best done as a dental student. Doing those things as a dentist who is five years out from school is certainly doable, but much more difficult. Plus, you save a ton of time by taking the shortest and most direct route possible. Most if not all of my friends at different schools who matched at the best programs this cycle knew what they wanted day 1, and worked their butts off to get there. Discovering your passion at the end of D3 is okay, but that doesn't mean you are not behind compared to your classmates who started earning those grades, externships, faculty mentors and publications as a D1. This is just reality.

So my point is, if you are pretty sure you want to do Peds, go for it and put in the work starting now. Get the highest grades possible, aim for OKU, get involved with the Peds department until all the residents and faculty know your face and name, get those publications, and whatever else you feel makes you a better applicant. If you find out that you don't really like peds and want to go GP, thats fine. You'll just be a GP who graduates with killer grades and a great network amongst pediatric dentists. If you decide you want to be an orthodontist, again, thats fine because you will already have the grades and you can always just put a spin on your peds heavy CV to make it more convincing to Ortho residency PDs.

Its better to overachieve and realize you didn't have to work so hard at the end of the day. I would hate to be that person who was fine with being mediocre during school and regret it later on because you realize your passion is to become an orthodontist but realize no program will ever consider you because of your crappy grades from dental school.

 

[beannaithe]

I'm a gp, but I would say keep an open mind and try everything. You never know what will spike your interest. And there is no shame in going back to school a few years out. A lot of specialties actually do favor candidates that have practiced for a few years.