Applying to medical schools after finishing the dental school and PhD combined program

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DentistScientist

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I am currently in the DMD/PhD combined program. I wish to go into a MD combined Oral Maxillofacial surgery residency program after completing my dentist scientist training program. After the residency training, I aim to be an academician in oral surgery, be a faculty member in both dental and medical schools and also in a teaching hospital. My another career interest would be having a basic/translational science laboratory while working as an oral surgeon once a week or twice a week.

However, Oral surgery residency can be extremely competitive. This is obvious because the scope of practice overlaps with the otorhinolaryngology and plastic surgery. This overlap is good for me if I get to become an academic oral surgeon and establish my niche in these medical fields as well. However, the residency can be very competitive so anything can happen.

I am working hard to keep my dental school class ranking as high as possible and I will be taking the NBME CBSE, the OMFS entrance exam that is similar to USMLE Step 1 exam but has less questions and shorter time. As of now, I am allowed to take this exam multiple times and only the highest score is considered. (Real USMLEs are taken during med school years in the 6 year OMFS residency)

I aim to have my dental school's seed grant while working on smaller research projects during dental school years. During my PhD years, I will do the TL1 grant for my translational research training, and also apply for the F30 grant for my combined program.

However, anything can happen, and I still may not be able to get into an academic OMFS program. If this happens, I will be doing an internship. If internship is not enough, I would like to apply to medical schools. My ugrad gpa was 3.75 and my old MCAT score was 31. These were probably okay for allopathic schools but certainly not high enough for major research heavy medical schools and of course far from getting into MD PhD programs.

So how will medical school adcoms look at me? I think my academic caliber and reading skills will certainly improve after completing my dental and PhD trainings. Will I be able to get into a major academic medical school given that I am able to score higher on MCAT? I think I will be pretty well-prepared for at least the first and second years of medical school because of basic science courses I need to take in both dental school and phd program and also the NBME CBSE studying.

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