The relative dearth of recent information on this website is frustrating….even word of mouth is hard simply because I’m only really hearing things from D4s and D3s above me who obviously have their own priorities and things they’re looking for in programs.
Let’s see if I can help out a bit. Do yourself a favor…disregard people on here throwing out lists of good or bad. Over and over someone will make a list for another person to only add or remove names in a follow up thread but they never provide any specific information why…none! Honestly, even as a resident, for the most part we mostly can only speak about our own experience at our residency. We might hear something here and there from a friend from dental school at another program but other than that rarely anything concrete. Call it lucky or whatever but I landed in the exact program that I wanted and I’m very satisfied! This is what I did.
Here are some real avenues you can take:
1. Speak to current residents (but be careful what you ask about and how that might come across)
2. Speak to OMFS folks at your dental school (they can provide some insight)
3. Externships
4. In person interviews (can give you a “gut feeling” about a program…listen to it).
5. Location matters…high population…no other OMFS programs that are serving that same population…I think that’s important. You do want a program that is very busy.
6. Trauma 1
7. How is the work being divided between OMFS/ENT/plastics
8. Scope of work…places that have fellows or OMFS attending who had a fellowship just make sure you want to do that scope of work because you will do a lot of it.
9. Does the program service a VA hospital (this can indicate heavy implant cases) although many that are not associated with the VA have more than enough cases.
10. How long has the PD/chair/attendings been at the program and what training and reputation they have in the field (reputation can be somewhat difficult to determine for most programs).
11. Is it a resident run program.
12. Do you see yourself being ok living in the area.
13. For 6 year programs, do they pay for tuition or pay for most of the tuition…do they offer a full stipend while in medical school or partial stipend. This is not only important for cost saving but I think it says something about the program itself.
14. I guess looking at programs that lose residents can mean something…but we are talking about a handful of programs we hear about out of 100.
Final thought…not trying to sound too optimistic…LOL, but seriously, I think by doing your due diligence you will get into a program that suits what your career goals are in OMFS. The bottom line is that OMFS, by far, is one of the best medical fields to be in. At the end of the day, I guess there can a be an exception to this, you will get out of the program what you put into it!
Good Luck!!! It will turn out ok!
