Average to Specialty success stories?

[dentalchamp98]

Anyone have any success stories of them starting out dental school with average/low grades and eventually getting into speciality residency right after dental school? I'm a D1 and I didn’t start on the high note that I wanted to and already got C's and keep constantly getting B's on my exams, is this the end of the road for me? Do I only need to get A's to be qualified for specialty like endo or pros?

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[Molar Whisperer]

You might consider specializing in the military. You only compete with military (same branch) dentists for the spots. You still need to improve your standing and grades.

 

[SirBrotherJam]

I know someone that got into a specialty being in the bottom quarter of their class. It was incredibly situational for them and the program they reside at now, but they also had ALOT of other things that rounded them out into a competitive candidate during the application process. Just keep doing your best. You're a D1, why not actually start practicing on patients before making that leap to singling out one particular discipline. Keep trying your hardest to improve your grades and make good connections for letters. Honestly, I know a bunch of people here on this forum and elsewhere that LOVE general dentistry for the simple fact that you can do a little of everything or focus your practice to your liking. Really the sky is the limit with the abundance of CE out there now.

 

[gunner4ever]

You might consider specializing in the military. You only compete with military (same branch) dentists for the spots. You still need to improve your standing and grades.

Don't you need to be accepted for HPSP scholarship? Or can anyone do that?

 

[Saddleshoes]

An "average" specialty candidate can upgrade to an "excellent" specialty candidate with a year in a hospital based GPR program.

 

[Molar Whisperer]

I got into USAF in 1998 after dental school because they were in need of dentists. I understand now they may have a lot of applicants due to the rising tuition costs. If you can get in, great. I don't know how competitive the military is now. Try to network outside the military as well. There may be some programs that are not as well known with very few applicants.

 

[schmoob]

Anyone have any success stories of them starting out dental school with average/low grades and eventually getting into speciality residency right after dental school? I'm a D1 and I didn’t start on the high note that I wanted to and already got C's and keep constantly getting B's on my exams, is this the end of the road for me? Do I only need to get A's to be qualified for specialty like endo or pros?

As a D1 that just started, you don’t know anything about either endo or prosth. And specializing is not a marker of success, just as not specializing is not a marker of failure. There are lots of benefits to being a GP. For example when it comes to endo, as a GP you are doing the RCT, post/core, and crown. Also, Endodontists generally don’t see the easy single canal teeth. They are doing the calcified, dilacerated 2nd molars woth converging/diverging canals. No thank you.