Hypothetical (asking for a friend who is too lazy to make her own damn account!):
What are the chances of a Harvard student with a 90 on part 1, several publications, and 2 externships matching into first choice for OMFS?
Gary "Probability is your friend" Ruska here,
Here are the factors that go into the OMFS match decision for your "friend":
School attended: mostly not a factor. Maybe a Harvard grad will have some additional appeal because they functionally go to medical school for the first two years of their dental education (i.e. are more likely to do a rectal exam than a periodontal exam). They probably will do better on USMLE Step 1
Board Score: 90 on Part 1 is probably acceptable for OMFS, with the following caveat. For people who are currently third or fourth year students (which GR assumes your friend is), and took their boards in the last two years, the scale for NBDE 1 that goes from passing scores is 75 - 99. It was only in one year (three years ago?) that everything got messed up, since the scale that year was from passing scores of 75 - 94. GR's department has just been adding 5 points to everyone's score from that one year and GR suspects other programs are similar since there are some ads that NBDE Part 1 > 86 is required (86 + 5 > 90). Bottom-line: If your friend is in the correctly scaled boards (75 - 99), then they are probably okay; if they are in the 1-year messed up group (75 - 94), then they are great.
Publications: This really used to be something spectacular, but it seems that nowadays, with the advent on multiple online journals, having 1-2 publications is really nothing truly exceptional. Fortunately, attendings are aware of this and have ways of separating the true stellar applicants from the rif-raff. The following critera are generally used: a) applicant can speak intelligently about the projects, their role, the findings and results as well as limitations, b) the papers are in reputable journals (i.e. peer-reviewed and such that the attendings reviewing your application have actually heard of the journal before) and c) the projects are not "mickey-mouse" projects (i.e. something that the reader will believe took no more than 1 month to do). Added bonus if it is in OMFS and has been presented at the AAOMS meeting.
Externships: Also great exposure and will likely help the applicant, provided that she: a) worked hard and wasn't lazy and b) showed a genuine interest in learning. OMFS is a very small community and a great applicant on paper can be blackballed quite quickly if they are perceived to be dishonest, careless or just plain lazy. Conversely, a less-than-stellar applicant can be elevated to near perfection by working hard, being a team player and always striving to do better. Residents remember both these types of people and will not hesitate to facilitate their rejection/acceptance, respectively.
GR