Program Matched: Case Western Reserve University
Dental School: Rutgers
NBME CBSE: 240-245
Class rank/size: Top 5
GPA: 3.98
Externships: Rutgers (2 weeks), Fresno (1 week), Montefiore (1 week), VCU (1 week)
Research: Poster presentation, undergrad senior thesis, COVID review paper for school (nothing serious)
Extracurriculars: Heavy student government involvement, Journal Club, Cover band.
Applications/Invites/Interviews/Ranked/Position Matched: 41/27/21/20/#1
LORs: 1 from home OMFS director, 2 from OMFS faculty, 1 from non-OMFS admin.
Thank you to everyone who gave advice and company along the way, including
@Likkriue,
@Big Time Hoosier,
@Charcot-Marie-Tooth ,
@Bereno ,
@Captain Underplants ,
@White_Sponge_Nevus , and many many others.
Dental School
Go to the cheapest school! Save the $200k+. Why anyone would pay an extra $0.01 for these 4 years of nonsense, I will never understand. Dental school isn't going to help you match much. The applicants I saw interview after interview were mostly students or non-cats from public schools working hard to make it happen. There were great students from private schools too who put in a TON of work like everyone else, but I'm sure they would've matched from any school, so you might as well save the money! There’s no secret to matching, and extra debt can only (and often does) hurt. Rutgers matched 4/4 to OMFS this year PLUS 2 former grads matched. 3 of our classmates are going into non-cats next year because they got a late start studying for the CBSE.
CBSE
Reviewed here:
August 17th CBSE
Programs
1) Don’t rely on what I say! Programs change over time and I only had a virtual glimpse of many programs, which is never the full story.
2) I will not be saying anything negative about any program. If you want my full opinion, you can message me privately.
3) Realize every program is perfect for someone; Your goal is to find which programs are perfect for you! These are the programs which aligned with what I was looking for, but you may be searching for something else!
My favorite 4-year programs: Rutgers, Augusta Georgia, Christiana Care, Loyola.
My favorite 6-year programs: Case Western, Louisville, Rutgers, San Antonio, Texas A&M Baylor.
Fantastic programs which just weren’t my thing, but they may definitely be for you!: Kentucky, UAB, UNC, UT Memphis
Programs I heard excellent things about (but I didn’t interview there): VCU, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Pittsburgh, MUSC, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Iowa.
Interviews
I applied to both types of programs. MD programs were much more generous offering me invites as a dental student. My classmates said the same thing. My final rank list mixed 4- and 6-year programs throughout.
You should be interviewing the programs just as much as they are interviewing you. Don’t suck up to a program hoping they will like you - they can definitely tell who is playing that game. By being honest, you set up the best possible match. Don’t be afraid to ask them lots of questions. Actually, you should have many many questions planned ahead of time. Don't ask questions you could look up - ask about the culture, ask if they go to dinner together, ask about their favorite and least favorites parts of the program. Find out if you're going to fit in.
Interview season is exhausting and expensive! Be prepared to drop several thousand dollars over the couple months and miss way too many days of clinic. If you want to maximize your interviews, refresh your email (including the junk folder! They always go to the junk folder) and SDN every 10 minutes - once a program invites you with options for a date, you need to schedule one that doesn’t conflict with other programs. If you aren’t interested in a program, politely cancel well in advance to give fellow applicants a chance. I hope interviews are back to normal next year.
Besides the standard interview questions, be ready to talk about your daily life and hobbies. Residents and faculty want someone cool they can operate with.
...Gonna go study for Step 1 now...
