My school doesn't rank students. Chances for specialization?

[BobLoblawDDS]

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So my school doesn't rank its students. The information isn't available to us nor is it indicated on our transcripts. I go to a Canadian school, and the grading system is the same as the undergrad faculties, which I understand is a little funky compared to most American grading scales. It works like this:

A+ = 4.0 = 90-100
A = 4.0 = 85-89
A- = 3.7 = 80-84
B+ = 3.3 = 77-79
B = 3.0 = 73-76
B- = 2.7 = 70-72

So basically the upper ranges are a bit expanded. A's are 80-100, not 90-100 as in most American schools. I was always told in undergrad this was meant to reflect the increased difficulty of the curriculum in my particular BSc programme, but honestly, sounds like a load of crap to me.

My transcript reports letter grades only, and a GPA. My current GPA stands at 3.90. I have no idea how I would translate this to an equivalent American GPA where A's are 90-100 and B's are 80-89 and worth 3.0 rather than the 3.7, 3.3, 3.0 business we have.

With the boards being P/F now as well, will they see my lack of class rank and expect me to excel in every other area possible? ie. high NBME/GRE score, research, extracurriculars, etc.

I have a good amount of extracurriculars, though I hated research in undergrad and don't wish to do it again in dental school (have no plans to pursue it currently). I do plan on doing externships but am as of yet somewhat unsettled on which field I want to go into (debating ortho, perio & endo).

How is my lack of class rank/funky GPA going to affect me and what else should I be doing to make up for it?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thanks guys.

 

[Tooth]

I think your funky GPA will only work out to your advantage. Never bring up the funky math. It will only make you look bad. Allow them to think you're awesome. I suggest doing short externships at programs you like, say 1 or 2 days max. You might even want to call it a site visit instead. People won't want to give you an interview because they don't know where you stand with no rankings on anything. Give them a reason to give you an interview by showing up at their school preferably 2-3 months before you apply so they don't forget who you are. Just be down to earth and smile a lot. Ask some questions but don't be annoying. Praise their work.

 

[Contach]

I thought you wanted to do OMFS.... that was a quick switch to ortho, perio, endo.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

I thought you wanted to do OMFS.... that was a quick switch to ortho, perio, endo.

Haha OMFS isn't out of the running. I've amassed a lot of info on OMFS, but am curious about other options. Emailing you back soon! 🙂 Thanks Contach!

I think your funky GPA will only work out to your advantage. Never bring up the funky math. It will only make you look bad. Allow them to think you're awesome. I suggest doing short externships at programs you like, say 1 or 2 days max. You might even want to call it a site visit instead. People won't want to give you an interview because they don't know where you stand with no rankings on anything. Give them a reason to give you an interview by showing up at their school preferably 2-3 months before you apply so they don't forget who you are. Just be down to earth and smile a lot. Ask some questions but don't be annoying. Praise their work.

So my lack of class rank won't hurt me per se? I was afraid that given the choice between an applicant without a rank, and one with one (presumably a rank they're okay with), they'd go with the guy who has the rank, since they simply have more information and he's marginally likely to be a safer candidate.

I am fully planning on doing some externships, just investigating all the programs right now. I figured I'd rather extern at programmes that are known to be "good" rather than show up at programmes I hope to be competitive for. Does it really give you that much of a leg up?

 

[MaybeDent]

Some school have class ranking that isnt publicized to student but is in the Dean's letter, so maybe you do have a rank.

This is what I have heard:

Before part 1 become P/F. School with no ranking or GPA did extremely well in matching because they usually have dedicated time to study Part 1 (and not have to worry about class grade). Now that part 1 is P/F there is no way to judge those applicants. They could literally be the bottom 10% of the class and you cant tell. As result alot of school do not even interview people from P/F school (But I also heard those school are taking alot of their own applicants).

The following is purely my opinion, it is best to ask people in your school who got into residency!

As for your case if you really dont have class ranking, I think it would be similar to school with P/F. Your GPA is meaningless 85 % at my school would be a 3.0...1 point from being a 2.5. (BTW dental school GPA system is usually more harsh than undergrad or high school. Alot of school 93+=4.0, 90+=3.5 etc). Even with your more forgiving GPA criteria, 3.9 isnt good enough to be ranked top 5 (at my school at least). But maybe it is easier to get 93 at my school than 85 at your school? You just dont know.

Programs want the best applicant and they dont want to take too much chances. If you are program director would you rather have:

Applicant A: Top 5 out of 100 people
Applicant B: 3.9 GPA (if they know your grading scale they would think even worse of the GPA). But maybe the program regularly accept student from your school and have a good feel of what 3.9 GPA means in term of the quality of the resident they get.

 

[bsp1013]

If there's no class rank, you can't tell who stank.

Thats a Bob Loblaw law bomb!

 

[Silent Cool]

If there's no class rank, you can't tell who stank.

Thats a Bob Loblaw law bomb!

Yup.

I never understand why people ask if the absence of class rank will hurt their chances of specializing. Ever notice that it's the more prestigious/competitive schools that don't rank their students? UCLA, Harvard, UPENN (only top 10% ranked), etc... If you are at a school that doesn't rank students, then you have a better chance of specializing. Residency programs know that those schools are more competitive. It's an advantage, not a setback.