OMFS Residency....need guidance

Yes. You do have a chance. There are many residents out there with numbers similar to yours, but.....you are behind the ball and need to add to your CV/application in every other area you can. ie., externships, extracurrucular, research, blah, blah. Whatever you can do to set yourself apart from other "not as competitive" applicants. Bottom line is that you do have a chance, albeit, a slight one. You may end up doing an intern year before getting accepted, depends on the year and on your interview numbers. Good luck.

 

Are you a US graduate? If you were educated outside the United States, that will make a difficult road even more challenging.

 

Good advice from the posters above. If you are a foreign-trained dentist and you have a DMD from here then you may have a chance but the schools are very particular and I feel very much turned against such grads--you must standout. I've had some classmates who interviewed and had stellar NDBE scores, experience, grades, refs, etc but they got less interviews and even less matched to positions vs folks who had lesser board scores and grades. It really sucks but what can you do with this system? Also green card or citizenship are very important. best of luck and I wish everyone all the best!

 

I am pretty curious about you feeling very much turned against such grads !! I would like to answer your question regarding what we can do with this sucky system. It is all about persistence. I spent big money and time and applied to a large number of schools with my 87/ 85 score , a foreign degree and a US degree . Did not get one single interview. No wonder, it seems many others who are looking at our applications feel very much turned against to ''' such grads''' as well. But I will keep trying.


To answer incision's question:

The summer of your first year is the earliest time for anyone who gets placed into an Advanced standing. Because these externships are offered to 3rd and 4th year dental students overhere. You should look at the booklet where all the residency opportunities are listed and narrow down your list to the programs where you would like to apply for the residency. They will ask you what date you prefer to extern at their site-generally from one week up to a month--and you will gather the paper work and do the submission.Strict admissions criteria does not apply for this volunteer externships. Externs lift up the burden of the residents and pay all of their expenses--travel, hotel, food,transportation--

malpractice insurance is 30 dollars a year , you can not purchase it on a monthly basis as far as I know.
There is no ' best' externships. Each of them is pretty unique based on being dental school or hospital based. They are also unique based on the degree of diversity of their residents. This kind of determines how much you will be accepted with your foreign name and last name among them . I am in the same boat and did 6 externships in 4 different regions of the country, so I can speak.

Good luck with AS.

 

I hope you realize anyone with an old part 1 score of 87 will be have a hard time getting an interview. If you had a 93 you would have seen some interviews. Im sure of it, unless you did some atrocious things on your externships.

 

I agree with Turnpike, the part 1 score has been the main reason of not getting any interviews.My externships actually worked for me( not worked against me), as a matter of fact, one of my recommenders was the surgeon whom I scrubbed in with for 2 weeks during that externship. Couple of others told me they would look into my application very seriously and some others encouraged me to let them know if I dont match , to be considered for the one year position.


To answer incision,
The schools is going to first ask you which school you go to, bec you need to get the papers signed by your school's academic dean etc.

If I were you,I would rechallenge part1 before the pass/fail takes effect. But you are right, you should make sure you wont get any thing less than what you have. I am going to take it again , I dont have any choice and I dont see any point in applying again with the same score. But you have to plan in advance, when you start advanced standing, you will get immersed in ridicilous amount of lab work, general dentistry etc. Since you were doing OMFS previously, you must have lost the touch with the holly ! tooth preps and cavity preps and complete dentures. It will be more difficult for you than most of your class mates who were doing general dentistry in their home countries.Time to study for part 1.... consider again.

Your questions regarding what placves do what type of work and where you can extern on the east coast. This is your homework to do. I am sure no one is able to list all the opportunities that are out there. Go to asda.net or org, and purchase the guide for postdoctoral programs. It has 4 volumes and one of them is for OMFS. You can call them and verify and purchase on the phone I assume. That booklet is a good start to see all the residencies. Then YOU HAVE TO make some phone calls and inquire whether or not they offer externship. Not every school or hospital offers externships.It took me more than a month to call and prepare the paperwork. You have to devote the time. Sorry.

I can only tell the very limited facts that I have found out. Michigan is number one for malignant pathology and they do a lot of recon. UNC does mainly non malignant path, loma linda-CA does a lot of trauma, boston university, well there is a little bit from everything.

There is a thread on this forum named overview of omfs residencies. You will find many statistics about the programs overthere. worth reading.
Hope that helps.

 

great advice above and I agree with considering retaking part 1. At least with 90 and above you are pushing yourself up to be considering by more programs. Bleach, regarding the FTD and "turned against" I made that statement b/c I know folks who have 94 and 91 part 1's and they haven't gotten as many interviews as ppl with lower scores who went to school here. Of course there are a multiplicity of factors but just based on raw test scores, seems like FTDs really need to stand out. I do think persistence pays off so I wish you all the best. Totally achieveable and I am sure you'll be successful.

 

There is no magic board score number, but in your case I would not mess around and shoot for as high as possible. As far as externships, I've heard great things about these programs:
Alabama
Washington Hosp in DC
UNC
VCU
LSU New orleans
LSU Shreveport
Parkland
Jacksonville

 

I second LSU NO and Jax.

Jax you'll hold sticks and do workups in the tooth clinic and during call you'll get your hands dirty. Everyone is very nice.

However, from my short 2 weeks at LSU, it was made pretty clear to me that it doesn't matter who you are, you have to have a 90+ per the med school. They did have a resident not do so well on the USMLE a few years back and I really felt like the fellow residents were very embarrassed by this. They pride themselves' on the service' excellence and that didn't go over so well. So maybe it might not be the best place for you if you'll never actually match. It is a fun place though!

 

DITTO...

 

OMFS at Einstein/Jacobi requires 90+ on part one. Nothing less makes it past the admissions committee. Even with great boards, applicants are denied for "undetermined" reasons. That's just how it is.

 

Most only look at Part I scores because most US dental school applicants have interviewed by the time Part II needs to be taken. Part II does not matter as much, but given everything else equal, wouldn't you take the overall well rounded candidate? A 97 part I and a 75 Part II says something. Plan on doing well on EVERYTHING and you will be safe. common sense.