D2 here, how important are ECs in building a residency application? Also how do you guys find time to be involved in ECs, since dental school obviously more time consuming / rigorous than undergrad.
-I am Interested in pediatrics, right now class rank 13/107 (gpa little below 3.9) - trying to break top 10.
-Is there an entrance exam for specialities? I am hearing about something called the ADAT? Is it true residencies care more about just class rank/scores, rather than how dental admissions was more rounded and did not care much about highest gpa or scores?
The only "ECs" I have so far is being a peer tutor, basic science research + abstract / poster. I do not think the pediatric club is active at my school anymore - I heard from my peers that the club got sort of disbanded when the officers decided to pursue other specialities.
- Future plans: definitely want to do a service trip with my school somewhere once I gain clinic skills, hope to do an externship in pediatrics sometime in future, and shadow more in private practice.
- Worries: Rec letters??! Struggled with this a lot in undergrad! Here at school I feel like we know a lot of the professors since they all work in clinic labs (kind of like how you see your high school teacher every day), but hard to tell if they actually like you/would write a good letter - different than how in college hard to meet profs, but easy to tell if they like you.
Thanks all!
- from a student who has no idea of how specializing works
-I am Interested in pediatrics, right now class rank 13/107 (gpa little below 3.9) - trying to break top 10.
-Is there an entrance exam for specialities? I am hearing about something called the ADAT? Is it true residencies care more about just class rank/scores, rather than how dental admissions was more rounded and did not care much about highest gpa or scores?
The only "ECs" I have so far is being a peer tutor, basic science research + abstract / poster. I do not think the pediatric club is active at my school anymore - I heard from my peers that the club got sort of disbanded when the officers decided to pursue other specialities.
- Future plans: definitely want to do a service trip with my school somewhere once I gain clinic skills, hope to do an externship in pediatrics sometime in future, and shadow more in private practice.
- Worries: Rec letters??! Struggled with this a lot in undergrad! Here at school I feel like we know a lot of the professors since they all work in clinic labs (kind of like how you see your high school teacher every day), but hard to tell if they actually like you/would write a good letter - different than how in college hard to meet profs, but easy to tell if they like you.
Thanks all!
- from a student who has no idea of how specializing works
