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Updated the document to account for this last CBSE. Hope it helps 🙂
It's unfortunate that not all dental schools have an integrated medical curriculum. It really puts students at schools without medical education at a disadvantage in terms of taking the CBSE. People say that OMFS programs know which schools teach to the NBME and which ones don't, but overall that is not the case. I had a high NBME score, largely due to the medical curriculum integrated into my dental school. Of the ~20 interviews I went on, I think maybe 3 of the programs knew that my school provided us with 2 years of medical school (I mentioned the medical school training in my answers to interviewers asking how I did so well, and they were shocked to hear that I took med school classes). Being in an OMFS program currently, I can tell you with certainty that our program director/chair does not know which dental schools integrate medical school classes. They see the CBSE number and that is it. They don't care how you got it.
Dental schools such as Harvard, Columbia, UConn, Stony Brook, etc. will always have a leg up on this exam and OMFS admissions. It's not a coincidence that these schools match a very high % of their applicants.
It's unfortunate that not all dental schools have an integrated medical curriculum. It really puts students at schools without medical education at a disadvantage in terms of taking the CBSE. People say that OMFS programs know which schools teach to the NBME and which ones don't, but overall that is not the case. I had a high NBME score, largely due to the medical curriculum integrated into my dental school. Of the ~20 interviews I went on, I think maybe 3 of the programs knew that my school provided us with 2 years of medical school (I mentioned the medical school training in my answers to interviewers asking how I did so well, and they were shocked to hear that I took med school classes). Being in an OMFS program currently, I can tell you with certainty that our program director/chair does not know which dental schools integrate medical school classes. They see the CBSE number and that is it. They don't care how you got it.
Dental schools such as Harvard, Columbia, UConn, Stony Brook, etc. will always have a leg up on this exam and OMFS admissions. It's not a coincidence that these schools match a very high % of their applicants.
I don't know which schools do that, but it's not our school. They don't give us time to study for CBSE. THey give us time for NBDE part 1, but not the CBSE. A lot of kids in the upper level classes had to skip many classes to study for this exam. The good thing is that our classes are P/F/H. So you can afford to neglect some classes. But most students have to sacrifice something. I don't know any student who studied and prepped well for the CBSE and kept honoring classes. At the end of the day, our dean told us that our grades don't really matter. Just our scores on CBSE.I would also add that many of said schools with medical school curriculums also give time off to take board exams. This is not the case at many schools. Taking into consideration pass/fail grades + med. school curriculum + time off to take the exam. Simple to see that it's clearly not an even playing field. The prospect that directors don't know this is strange to me, as it is pivotal to fair evaluation of an applicant in my opinion. Bottom line is that you have to find a way to pass the exam to be competitive.
At the end of the day, our dean told us that our grades don't really matter. Just our scores on CBSE.
2 questions.
1. What was your score?
2. Why did you go on ~20 interviews with this beastly score?
That's true. She had a sitdown session with each of us and asked us what specialty we were interested in and she pretty much told us that unless we want to do Ortho, our grades don't matter. Very surprised by that. I won't complain, but it was interesting to hear.Consider yourself very fortunate. Our dean has the exact opposite opinion. Haha.
I got a 78. And I went on 20 interviews for a few reasons. Firstly, my program doesn't rank, so I wasn't sure how that would play into my chances. Second, the way I thought about it was why risk it? You never know who might like you and who might not. What's an extra 1000 dollars in applications and travel if it guarantees your career? Most of the programs I applied to were driving distance from my home so travel wasn't too much of an issue. Finally, and maybe most importantly, I'd rather be on OMFS interviews than taking final impressions for RPDs. We had I think 12 days off dedicated to interviews and its a use it or lose it situation
Updated the document to account for this last CBSE. Hope it helps 🙂
Thanks bud.
Quick question though. How does one interpret the "rank" number. So for instance someone like me who messed up and got a 62, what does a '31' mean? I apologize if this seems like a very simple question. Thanks.
Thanks bud.
Quick question though. How does one interpret the "rank" number. So for instance someone like me who messed up and got a 62, what does a '31' mean? I apologize if this seems like a very simple question. Thanks.
Thanks for the reply. I got a similar score but I heard that the odds of matching if you rank 8 places are over 90%. From last year's rank results, 50% of the applicants matched into their #1 choice, while 80% matched into one of their top 3 choices. My school does rank, but we don't take the classes with the med students.
You're right with the apply broadly and you'll never know what happens, but there is a point of diminishing returns, and I believe that it's around 10 interviews. I don't have much funds nor vacation time to go to 20 interviews so that's out of the question. Plus, I need every single one of those clinic days to complete my requirements on time. Assuming a score of 75+, which puts you in the 95th+ percentile of test takers, you'd be an all star applicant and you'd most likely match into your top 3.
Either way, if you have the time and money, might as well increase those odds to close to 100% as possible. But many of us had to take a more calculated approach since we had neither of those. Did you match into one of your top 3 choices?
Well, I went to a very clinically oriented, accelerated (3 yr curriculum school- UoP) and I definitely agree finding time is a huge issue. Nevertheless, here I am after graduation having taken the test several times and I can get into the mid 70s (btw I have a terrible class rank). However, I don't think a sub 65 score + high class rank will cause problems at most 4 year programs -- I saw it happen with multiple people at UoP. You will run into problems with 6 yr programs that have less time to devote to the med school 2nd yr portion (e.g. I have heard this of Case Western, Louisville and LSU). Logically they would favor someone who has proof they can 'pass' Step 1 by a comfortable margin (70+).That's slightly terrifying for those of us that have 'sub-par' CBSE scores (60-64ish) scores with a stellar GPA/class rank. I understand that since the CBSE is standardized it's the best measure to compare across schools, but with the 'med school curriculum vs non-med school curriculum' along with actually being able to find the time to properly prepare, it's got to be hard to truly 'compare' an applicants ability to pass the Step 1. I'm not trying to make excuses, but many of us that got 60-64 are confident we can pass the step 1 given the time, but when we have to cram studying in between everything else its a challenge to say the least. When I hear things like "CBSE means everything and GPA plays less of a role for OMFS", I start to question if I should have started sacrificing dental school didactics to prep for the CBSE, but just seems like a backwards situation to me. Granted, I've only taken the CBSE once, but finding time is going to be a challenge nonetheless.
I'm rambling.
Well if they don't have the physical/mental stamina to make it through a self taught basic science exam, learn from their mistakes and do better, then what makes you think that they will do any differently in residency where much of the learning is NOT handed to you on a silver platter like dental school. Maybe they just have good hand skills and excellent short term memory.On the same token, someone can score high on the CBSE and not be all that interested in OMFS or even may not have the physical/mental stamina to make it through an OMFS residency. However, they can apply and possibly match just because of their score. So, I guess all we can hope for is that we the applicants get evaluated "holistically" as opposed to just off of one single test score. Sure the score is important but so should the rest of the application.
Well if they don't have the physical/mental stamina to make it through a self taught basic science exam, learn from their mistakes and do better, then what makes you think that they will do any differently in residency where much of the learning is NOT handed to you on a silver platter like dental school. Maybe they just have good hand skills and excellent short term memory.
Regardless of which school you came from, the CBSE requires enormous amounts of time dedication and effort that many dental students shy away from. That in itself shows genuine passion for OMFS. We should be grateful that CBSE was instituted because it is basically a filter for the self-selecting group of people that are willing to sacrifice many sleepless nights to study for this one test, and that same attitude will likely translate into a better resident anyway.
And yes, a surgeon that knows more basic sciences IS, in fact, the better surgeon. The breadth of knowledge required to perform well on the CBSE (and USMLE) is directly applicable to surgical care for patients. Some of the bread and butter OMFS procedures are highly invasive and require absolute command of medical knowledge for optimal preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative care. It was amazing how much of First Aid and UWorld I actually saw in practice during my externships.
Any update with Feb 2016 CBSE?
I took the Feb 2016 exam. Havent gotten any stats about it. Its been two weeks since I took it. I read from another thread that there was some issues with some of the prometric test centers and some ppl couldnt take it and got rescheduled?! But I dont know if it is true or not.....
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