OMFS

[ufcfanatic1997]

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When it comes to specializing, does going to a specific dental school over another matter? For instance, I have shadowed an OMFS for the last 5 months and I am very interested in that field. He is an older doctor and tells me that going to more prestigious dental schools (such as Harvard, UMich, Penn) helps with placing into an OMFS residency (especially the 6 year residencies that award you a MD at the end). Is this accurate? If not, what are aspects that go into landing in OMFS?

 

[Gustavo dos Santos]

When it comes to specializing, does going to a specific dental school over another matter? For instance, I have shadowed an OMFS for the last 5 months and I am very interested in that field. He is an older doctor and tells me that going to more prestigious dental schools (such as Harvard, UMich, Penn) helps with placing into an OMFS residency (especially the 6 year residencies that award you a MD at the end). Is this accurate? If not, what are aspects that go into landing in OMFS?

So, there are tons of threads on this if you want to search through SDN. You'll hear from people that attended the "prestigious" school, those that didnt. Those with massive student loan debt, those without. You'll have people tell you to go to the cheapest school, those who say if you are smart enough to get in to a "prestigious" program that you are smart enough to specialize from any school. Its up to you to decide what is worth it.

Ultimately you have to basically take Step 1 of medical boards (CBSE exam) and most dental schools dont go into the same depth that med schools do, so some say a dental school with med school integrated curriculum is helpful (Harvard, Columbia, UConn, Stony Brook... think thats it) others say it doesnt help all that much and you self study a ton either way and you should save the money and go to your state school. Going to a pass/fail school may alleviate some stress and make it easier to study for the CBSE, etc. etc.

The major things considered for OMFS residencies are GPA (class rank too) and CBSE scores from what I've heard.

 

[luisfigo]

Do you have to work as hard from Harvard to get into OMFS compared to state schools? no. Will a state school save you $200k+ in tuition that you have to pay off? yes. If you want to work hard at a state school and put your nose to the grindstone you can go OMFS from anywhere, just depends on how bad you want it. You should also ask yourself the reason why you want to do Oral surgery. If you want to do implants, third molars, sedation it's not necessary to go into OMFS, in fact that's way overkill. You can just do Oral Surgery internships or post grad programs that are surgery heavy. I know of general dentists who strictly do oral surgery who didn't go to OMFS residency, you can easily do so.

 

[the5]

Yes, while interviewing at Columbia I heard that one of the students didn't match, someone from the school made a call and they were matched the next day. Connections absolutely matter, Thats not to say you CANT specialize if you dont go to one of those schools, its just easier if you do.

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

someone from the school made a call and they were matched the next day.

I don’t think you understand how the Match works.

Big Hoss

 

[axiumgod]

I don’t think you understand how the Match works.

Big Hoss

I hear post match is like a free-for-all trying to hustle into an unmatched program so I feel like its plausible

 

[Likkriue]

I guess I can blame my rejections from all 3 Ivy League OMFS programs on me not being from an Ivy League school.

 

[Gustavo dos Santos]

I guess I can blame my rejections from all 3 Ivy League OMFS programs on me not being from an Ivy League school.

What, you’re graduating from Stony Brook?? Pathetic.

 

[Likkriue]

What, you’re graduating from Stony Brook?? Pathetic.

I know, I need to do better than that.

 

[deleted923283]

I’ve been honored to receive a generous number of interviews to OMS programs. I go to a state dental school. Did I have to work harder than my Ivy counterparts to make the cut? Maybe a little more, sure, but they worked their tails off too. Did I save $200k-300k? ABSOLUTELY!

We ended up at the same place. But what if life took me down the path of general dentistry like most people initially interested in surgery? I hope you can see I would be in a WAY better place coming out with the smaller debt of a state school.