Application Question - Is it good/bad to indicate that you would like to specialize?

[Hinata]

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Hi everyone,

I will be applying in the upcoming cycle, and am very interested in specializing in orthodontics. Some people have told me not to write about this in my personal statement and application, yet some tell me otherwise. Any feedbacks would be appreciated - whether is it just your opinion, or from personal experience. Thanks a lot! 🙂

 

[ddfafari]

Did you know that the #1 most popular speciality among incoming D1 students is Ortho? Majority of the people applying say thats what they want to do, so even though you may actually be the one to go all the way, I would recomend keeping it out of your personal statement. I actually posted a similar question regarding Pedodontics in the forum with current dental students and they recomended not mentioning it unless I had a lot of experience in the field. (And Pedo is not nearly as popular as Ortho)

 

[cotinara]

From workshops I have gone to they have said not to do so because of some mumbo jumbo about narrowing yourself to a specific while you should be applying yourself to how great the whole field of dentistry is as a whole. I personally wouldn't put it in just so that i can talk more about why dentistry is a field for me with many multiple career paths. By just saying specialty for ortho they may see it as not appreciating the entire field. if you have a real passion for it or had an interesting experience with it then put it down. good luck 🙂

 

[PDizzle]

I wouldn't mention it unless you have a lot of experience in it (like a prev poster said).

First off, you have never done anything close to specialty proceedure so how can you make that decision at this point in your dental career? Secondly, what if you don't get good NBDE1 scores and don't go ortho, would you still be happy with the field of general dentistry? By the way, the answer to that question needs to be, "yes"!

When I was in the Navy I applied to an officer program. At my interview I stated I wanted to be a pilot. They asked me what if that didn't happen, and would I still want to be an officer? Well, I didn't have a good response and needless to say, I'm not an officer in the Navy......thank God!!!!

 

[ElDienteLoco]

I wouldn't mention it unless you have a lot of experience in it (like a prev poster said).

First off, you have never done anything close to specialty proceedure so how can you make that decision at this point in your dental career? Secondly, what if you don't get good NBDE1 scores and don't go ortho, would you still be happy with the field of general dentistry? By the way, the answer to that question needs to be, "yes"!

When I was in the Navy I applied to an officer program. At my interview I stated I wanted to be a pilot. They asked me what if that didn't happen, and would I still want to be an officer? Well, I didn't have a good response and needless to say, I'm not an officer in the Navy......thank God!!!!

I think that is a really good point. It's flippin' hard to get into ortho school and the ADCOM has to believe that you really are interested in dentistry.

From my experience, a lot of dental faculty members (who many times are on the ADCOM) will frown on the blatant "gunner" who has ortho as his only goal. I would leave the ortho aspirations out of your d-school applications.

Besides...you can't really even start to nail down your professional aspirations until you've bent a few wires (or k-files in my case) in pre-clinical and clinical work.

 

[RozhonDDS]

I"m going to slightly disagree with the statements that everyone is posting. I dont think its a bad idea to maybe "mention" the fact that you are interested in a certain area of dentistry, but just make sure that you include in the statement that you shadowed a general dentist and you also realized what their job entails along with what the job entails of someone who specialized. for instance, i work for a pediatric ortho. In my statement i included some of the general procedures that intirgued pursuit towards dentistry (i.e. extractions, root canals, composities, etc), but on the other hand i also said how i would like to work with children and also try to incorporate my interest for ortho into my schooling. Its kind of hard in this case to just narrow my personal statement to general dentistry, but i think its good if you have an overall array of speciality areas that you experienced and can talk about. So, basically make sure you first include that you know what the job of a GD consists of and than include some speicality areas that you are interested in. Believe me I'm sure many ADCOMS get statements telling how someone wants to be in a certain area, but it really depends on the grades they get in D school, don't think they are going to reject you solely based on the fact that you are interested in a specific area.


*didn't check for grammical errors

 

[HermeytheElf]

Hi everyone,

I will be applying in the upcoming cycle, and am very interested in specializing in orthodontics. Some people have told me not to write about this in my personal statement and application, yet some tell me otherwise. Any feedbacks would be appreciated - whether is it just your opinion, or from personal experience. Thanks a lot! 🙂

I don't think its a good idea. For one, deciding on a specialty before you get any clinical experience seems a bit hasty. The only thing you know about ortho right now is they make alot of money and that you kinda liked what you saw when you shadowed an orthodontist. Tell the ADCOMs that you want to get some clinical experience before deciding about specializing...it will make you sound more thoughtful and mature.

 

[SuperC]

I don't think its a good idea. For one, deciding on a specialty before you get any clinical experience seems a bit hasty. The only thing you know about ortho right now is they make alot of money and that you kinda liked what you saw when you shadowed an orthodontist. Tell the ADCOMs that you want to get some clinical experience before deciding about specializing...it will make you sound more thoughtful and mature.

Perfect.
-C

 

[dentalstudent1]

I"m going to slightly disagree with the statements that everyone is posting. I dont think its a bad idea to maybe "mention" the fact that you are interested in a certain area of dentistry, but just make sure that you include in the statement that you shadowed a general dentist and you also realized what their job entails along with what the job entails of someone who specialized. for instance, i work for a pediatric ortho. In my statement i included some of the general procedures that intirgued pursuit towards dentistry (i.e. extractions, root canals, composities, etc), but on the other hand i also said how i would like to work with children and also try to incorporate my interest for ortho into my schooling. Its kind of hard in this case to just narrow my personal statement to general dentistry, but i think its good if you have an overall array of speciality areas that you experienced and can talk about. So, basically make sure you first include that you know what the job of a GD consists of and than include some speicality areas that you are interested in. Believe me I'm sure many ADCOMS get statements telling how someone wants to be in a certain area, but it really depends on the grades they get in D school, don't think they are going to reject you solely based on the fact that you are interested in a specific area.


*didn't check for grammical errors

I love how you disagree but then would still put your head between your legs and still tell the ad coms that you still love general dentistry.

GREAT!

I didnt tell them that I want to specialize. I am a dental student now.

SO?

 

[RozhonDDS]

so you mean to tell me that you find something interesting in the field of dentistry is going to hurt you? your a ***** in my opinion and also have no idea about how the adcoms view the PS, its pretty hard to believe they will throw out your application because you find OMFS more interesting than orthodontics

 

[RozhonDDS]

so you mean to tell me that if you find something interesting in the field of dentistry it is going to hurt you? your a ***** in my opinion and also have no idea how the adcoms view the PS, its pretty hard to believe they will throw out your application because you find OMFS more interesting than orthodontics. but remember they won't let you graduate from dental school if in your 3rd year you decide to take more electives in the pursuit to OMFS, because GD is the only field of dentistry

 

[L8DYV]

Honestly, dont listen to many of the above threads. If that's what you really want to do, you can integrate your interests in the personal statement and justify your reasons why--that's all you have to do. Of course your interest to specialize is how you feel at the moment (as a predent) and admission committees also know that once you wet your feet as a dental student you will be more sure of your career choice whatever that may be.

 

[RozhonDDS]

Honestly, dont listen to the above threads. If that's what you really want to do, you can integrate your interests in the personal statement and justify your reasons why--that's all you have to do. Of course your interest to specialize is how you feel at the moment (as a predent) and admission committees also know that once you wet your feet as a dental student you will be more sure of your career choice whatever that may be.

EXACTLY, writing about a field of dentistry that you find interesting will NOT hurt you.

 

[Mackchops]

EXACTLY, writing about a field of dentistry that you find interesting will NOT hurt you.

Right. And there's a thin line between describing your experience with ortho as a positive and reaffirming example of your desire to enter dentistry and saying, "I want to specialize in ortho when I graduate from dental school". What everyone here is talking about is the second example -- something you should avoid at this stage in the game.

Mack