Being Competitive for an OMFS Residency

[DrRickJames]

Hello all,

I'm curious if the minds of SDN could inform me of the best recipe for an incoming dental student to follow in order to be competitive when applying for the OMFS speciality or other specialties in general. The general consensus seems to be that you need good grades and be near the top of your class, but to me that seems like the bare minimum to being truly competitive. Good LORs seem like another important ingredient. But how about research or leadership roles or community outreach? What is important to involve ones self in throughout dental school in order to be competitive later? Maybe I won't have the highest scores, what else can I have? Is it really just grades and LORs?


I want to include that I am going to dental school first to be a general practitioner and have a very open mind about my future career. I am not that dental student who's made his mind up about specializing before he knows a first molar from a second. I just want to be informed.

Cheers

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ncide]

VCU had 220 applicants apply for 3 spots in their OMFS department.

1# way to get noticed is a strong CBSE score and a high class rank. With that many applicants, it is the only way to quickly filter them. Then after that they look at the candidates more closely.

Externships, research, community involvement, and LORs play a secondary role. The faculty at my school said that LORs generally aren't that important unless they say negative things about you. By far the most important is class rank and CBSE. If that is low, they won't even look at you. At VCU, they also like to extend interviews to those who have externed at the school.

 

[yappy]

VCU had 220 applicants apply for 3 spots in their OMFS department.

1# way to get noticed is a strong CBSE score and a high class rank. With that many applicants, it is the only way to quickly filter them. Then after that they look at the candidates more closely.

Externships, research, community involvement, and LORs play a secondary role. The faculty at my school said that LORs generally aren't that important unless they say negative things about you. By far the most important is class rank and CBSE. If that is low, they won't even look at you (at VCU). At VCU, they also like to extend interviews to those who have externed at the school.

Will you please describe what is considered a high CBSE at VCU?

 

[avangusva]

Score 70+ on NBME (80+ is outstanding), have a high GPA/class rank, establish a hardworking and enthusiastic attitude early on in the undergrad OMFS clinic to get good LOR, do four externships (if you can), and that'll get you going.

There is no secret. You'll need to have the numbers to get the interviews, and an interesting personality/story to catch attention. There are many that match with less than stellar numbers, and many duds who are amazing on paper but don't make great residents.

 

[Awarara]

Will you please describe what is considered a high CBSE at VCU?

If you don't extern at VCU, you will need a very good cbse to be considered for an interview. The people they interviewed this past year that didn't extern had stellar scores (high 70s and higher). I highly recommend you extern at places you are thinking about going to, especially for four year programs.

 

[Steins;Gate]

Let's say you extern at a school you want to go to (four year program). What stats would be needed for an interview (this is really hard to say but I'm trying to understand the likelihood of landing an interview if you extern at a program). And what is the ratio of interviewees to spots, usually?

 

[PhansterZ]

Let's say you extern at a school you want to go to (four year program). What stats would be needed for an interview (this is really hard to say but I'm trying to understand the likelihood of landing an interview if you extern at a program). And what is the ratio of interviewees to spots, usually?

Top 20% with a 65 is a good start to be considered competitive. And after that it depends on whether the residents and attending want to hang out with you for 4 years.

I would say 10:1 is the average interviewees to positions available.

 

[Kazanjian]

 

[Van Der Woude]

How to be a competitive omfs applicant?


1) Get good grades. You want to keep your rank as high as you can.

2) Learn from your disappointment/failures (grades that are not A's) and move on. You'll have to many exams to keep worrying about how you did on the previous one.

4)More importantly, learn from other people's failures. They could be yours one day, and its important to find a way to fix/prevent them.

5) Be polite to faculty. Burning bridges you have to cross the next day is the best way to commit career suicide.

6) When you extern and they say "you can go home/to the hotel", you say "Thanks, however, I would like to stay and learn from you and help you out if possible. I want to be prepared if I am lucky enough to one day call you a colleague."

7) Do well on the CBSE.

8) If you are having trouble finding time studying for the cbse like most dental students (due to patients, lab work, and obligation to hangout with your friends/fellow classmates), I'd recommend hanging out with your friends/classmates less. I'd also recommend eating out more b/c cooking time becomes limited.

9) Its easy for all of your previous success to go to your head. Don't let it. At this stage of the game, your transcipts/resume will speak for your intelligence. Stay humble. Most dental students don't know what this means, so i'll explain in detail:

----------If you have great grades, your transcript will say that. Therefore, the less words that come out of your mouth, the better. You'd be better served in externships NOT acting cocky and by not giving them a reason to rank you low.

----------If your grades aren't that high and your cbse isn't great, I recommend you read the book "How to make Friends and Influence People". Also remember to buy residents their coffee. Then I recommend you re-read the holy bible called First aid and take the cbse again.

10) Previous success is NOT as reliable an indicator for future success. If you don't continue diligently, there is a chance all your previous work will be for naught.

11) Just because you matched, doesn't mean you get to take it easy for the rest of your life. Now you have to finish residency. Just because you graduated from a residency, doesn't mean you can take it easy, it means you have to learn the business and work hard for 2-3 more years to partner. Just because your a partner doesn't mean you can take it easy, now you have make sure the business runs properly, keep your referral base happy, keep your partners happy, and most importantly, keep your wife and mother happy. They are going to be pissed with the stupid antics and **** you just put them through. To them, it will be like you went back in time and became a baby, b/c all you say to your mom and wife in residency/dental school will be "i'm tired, i'm going to sleep." or "I'm hungry, can you make me something" or "Can you do the laundry while I take a nap? I just studied all day.".

Think that covers it.

 

[avangusva]

6) When you extern and they say "you can go home/to the hotel", you say "Thanks, however, I would like to stay and learn from you and help you out if possible. I want to be prepared if I am lucky enough to one day call you a colleague."

Good recommendations, but you also want to have personality. Understand that sometimes a resident isn't sending you home because they are testing you, but because they truly don't think you'll benefit from staying around. Residents understand being an extern is difficult, the most important thing is to have a good attitude, work hard, and be personable. Also, it's important to be humble and stay grounded-- it's a fine line of showing off your accomplishments and strengths without being in-your-face about it.

 

[Awarara]

Good recommendations, but you also want to have personality. Understand that sometimes a resident isn't sending you home because they are testing you, but because they truly don't think you'll benefit from staying around. Residents understand being an extern is difficult, the most important thing is to have a good attitude, work hard, and be personable. Also, it's important to be humble and stay grounded-- it's a fine line of showing off your accomplishments and strengths without being in-your-face about it.

I agree. You want to work hard but not be annoying and get in their way. It's a fine line that you pick when you're externing. Sometimes they are just busy and don't want an extern hovering over them for the next couple hours while they are writing notes. Other times, they just realize it's not worth your time or their time waking you up at 3am just for a quick consult.

Uworld is definitely the holy bible for the CBSE.

 

[KillaCam]

How to be a competitive omfs applicant?


"Thanks, however, I would like to stay and learn from you and help you out if possible. I want to be prepared if I am lucky enough to one day call you a colleague."

If somebody said this to me I would tell them "You have the chance to leave one more time, or you're 100% not coming here. " At that point, that's a test.

 

[deleted660390]

.

 

[ramsdent]

In my experience, the most important things to get you an interview are obviously CBSE/class rank, but if you are lacking in one or both of those categories, it's about your work ethic. Don't give up, and always have a good attitude. Keep in touch with your home program's faculty and residents, engage in research, and hang around the clinics when you have free time. If you have a particular program you're interested in, don't hesitate to reach out to the PD and show interest early on.

 

[Van Der Woude]

If somebody said this to me I would tell them "You have the chance to leave one more time, or you're 100% not coming here. " At that point, that's a test.

The extern will be out of there so fast, he'd make Usain Bolt look like a tortoise.

Maybe the better reply would be " Would I miss anything important/cool if i left?"

 

[Likkriue]

The extern will be out of there so fast, he'd make Usain Bolt look like a tortoise.

Maybe the better reply would be " Would I miss anything important/cool if i left?"

Believe it or not, residents can smell an ass kissing a mile away.

 

[avangusva]

What about the scenario of having a high class rank and 75+ CBSE but no undergrad transcripts for 6 year programs (i.e studied abroad; or you are a foreign trained dentist completing an advanced standing program; or any other reason)? How would you compensate for that and show the med schools that you have what it takes?

lol we're just residents man we don't know how to answer these questions-- ask a program directly

 

[deleted660390]

What about the scenario of having a high class rank and 75+ CBSE but no undergrad transcripts for 6 year programs (i.e studied abroad; or you are a foreign trained dentist completing an advanced standing program; or any other reason)? How would you compensate for that and show the med schools that you have what it takes?

 

[Pennywisdom]

Unfortunately, without a US accredited undergrad transcript, it is near impossible to match to a 6-year program. Chances are better with 4-year programs.

Somehow there is a foreign trained dentist who did 2 years of advanced standing (with foreign undergrad transcript) who fell thru the cracks and matched to a renown 6-year program in the Northeast. That program has stopped taking international applicants since.

 

[deleted696582]

Do undergrad transcripts actually make a difference in the review process for 6-year programs? Or are they just a check mark?

If two applicants were equal on all other fronts (dental school grades, class rank, CBSE, etc.), would one with a 4.0 undergrad GPA be preferred over a 3.5?

 

[vellnueve]

med schools will look at your undergrad scores as well

 

[deleted660390]

Do undergrad transcripts actually make a difference in the review process for 6-year programs? Or are they just a check mark?

If two applicants were equal on all other fronts (dental school grades, class rank, CBSE, etc.), would one with a 4.0 undergrad GPA be preferred over a 3.5?

 

[Pennywisdom]

True, but there are a few public med schools that will push program directors to not rank certain applicants with low GPA. But having said that, regardless of what your undergrad GPA is, you should still go ahead and apply to those programs. Your CBSE score and dental school ranking (if ranked) are far more important than your performance in undergrad.

 

[JPSIntern1]

Really, I think it comes down to test scores, GPA, and experience with OMFS. That’s it – you have it or you don’t. You really want stellar stats.

 

[simplicity11]

Med schools will screen your undergrad transcript for any red flags but their input on your rank is limited. During the interview, personality will differentiate those two applicants, not undergrad gpa. Simply, who do they like more?

med schools will look at your undergrad scores as well

I don't mean to raise up an old thread but was curious to know what the common red flags would be?

Also, for OMFS, if undergrad transcripts are weighed as a factor, do applicants submit graduate transcripts too (such as masters program and/or doctoral)? how would this factor be weighed in the process if at all?

True, but there are a few public med schools that will push program directors to not rank certain applicants with low GPA. But having said that, regardless of what your undergrad GPA is, you should still go ahead and apply to those programs. Your CBSE score and dental school ranking (if ranked) are far more important than your performance in undergrad.

This is a really interesting insight. What programs are the public med schools you are referring to and are these only for the 6-year programs? Which are the 6-yr OMFS programs that make their own decisions independent of med schools versus programs that require final approval from med schools adcoms for applicants who may trip over the undergrad gpa cutoff, etc. as other posts mentioned?