Keeping the door open to specialize

[Trilby]

Hi residents and practicing dentists!

I just received my acceptance to dental school. I'm not sure if I want to specialize or not but I want to keep the opportunity to.

What should I do during dental school to ensure that I have the chance to specialize?

Obviously, I'll try my best to get good grades and have a good class rank.
Is research necessary or beneficial to specialize? If so, do I need to research within the target specialty?
What else is important for specializing?

Thank you for your time!

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[MissionPedo]

A track record of genuine interest. Good luck!

 

[Mackchops]

Getting into a specialty is a lot like getting into dental school... you need to demonstrate smarts, work ethic, and interest... all on paper! Get good grades, get involved with something and do it well, and shadow in your school's post-grad clinics to get a feel for the different specialties. Explore and learn and, when you're ready to make a decision, sit down with someone in the department you're thinking of specializing in, let them know your intentions, and ask what you can do to maximize your application.

 

[caffeinehigh]

A wise, and simple answer I once heard from a chair of a department at my dental school was look at an application to a program (doesn't matter what speciality or program) and make sure you would be able to write something in every single category.

 

[Trilby]

Thank you for the responses!

 

[Contach]

i think grades/board scores are the utmost importance to get you an interview...
after that it is personality, and tangential activities...

i don't think research is very important to most schools, but there are select (very few) programs that are research intensive and they would want to see that you've done some of that.

It makes life a lot easier if you know what you want to do early on (1st year)... but i decided half-way through my 3rd year of dental school, and I had to scramble to get a few things together... I was lucky I had good grades though... back to point #1.