GRE and Orthodontics

[smogdodger]

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I just finished the GRE. I have not seen a good thread on this subject and would like to get some input from other applicants and residents. What are these research Ortho programs expecting out of us on the GRE? How good do we need to perform to be competitive? Since I know the scores have changed in the past year, please give us an idea of what percentile we need to achieve to be in the ball park. Is this an item that is scrutinized like our NBDE scores or is it more of a formality. If you have some relevant knowledge on this subject, please share your insight. Thanks.

 

[The Anhedonia]

I just finished the GRE. I have not seen a good thread on this subject and would like to get some input from other applicants and residents. What are these research Ortho programs expecting out of us on the GRE? How good do we need to perform to be competitive? Since I know the scores have changed in the past year, please give us an idea of what percentile we need to achieve to be in the ball park. Is this an item that is scrutinized like our NBDE scores or is it more of a formality. If you have some relevant knowledge on this subject, please share your insight. Thanks.

well, if history serves us, i'd assume somewhere in the 90th percentile of GRE scores (no idea what that is).

the ortho director at my school said to us the other day "we used to use 3 things to determine interviews and acceptance: 1. class rank in top 10%, 2. board scores in the 90th percentile, and 3. research".

 

[OG1]

The general consensus when I was applying 3 years ago was that you needed at least a 1200, but that was when the scores were up to 1600. They've changed the scoring, I think you can find the translation on their website. For applicants at the time, the general consensus was that anything above 1200 didn't really matter, anything below *might* get noticed in a negative way. Since you likely have a board score, I wouldn't worry about it unless you absolutely tanked the GRE. I had a pretty good score, and no one seemed to care at all. What opened interview doors were class rank and board scores, hands down.

 

[justsusan]

well, if history serves us, i'd assume somewhere in the 90th percentile of GRE scores (no idea what that is).

the ortho director at my school said to us the other day "we used to use 3 things to determine interviews and acceptance: 1. class rank in top 10%, 2. board scores in the 90th percentile, and 3. research".

your ortho director doesn't seem to realize board scores are now pass/fail.

 

[flapaTron]

your ortho director doesn't seem to realize board scores are now pass/fail.

yes susan, he is fully aware. he was stating "we used to use" to frame how the selection criteria were established before boards were P/F. his point was that you should still have high class rank and research, but that you'd need to do >90th percentile on the GRE. 😉

 

[The Anhedonia]

^^^ what he said

 

[Twang77]

yes susan, he is fully aware. he was stating "we used to use" to frame how the selection criteria were established before boards were P/F. his point was that you should still have high class rank and research, but that you'd need to do >90th percentile on the GRE. 😉

Even with boards being P/F now, I just can't see the same emphasis that Part I had being translated over to the GRE. Not to say that the GRE will gain more importance because of this, but maybe not to the extent you are thinking, I mean some schools don't even require the test. Thoughts?

 

[justsusan]

my understanding is that ortho doesn't really put too much emphasis on the GRE score, it's just to appease the grad school.

it's a math and vocabulary test, for god's sake.