personal statement topic question

[Mikdarb]

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Hi all,

I am applying to dental school this year. I just have a quick question about my topic.
Current, I wrote my personal statement about how I want to go to dental school in order to become oral maxillofacial surgeon. I think I have pretty solid reason why I want to become OMF surgeon. But I am having a second thought about the topic as my friend suggested I should focus more on why I want to become a dentist instead of OMF surgeon.

What do you guys think?

 

[LifeLineBlue]

Heres what your personal statement should revolve around: "why you wish to pursue a dental education"

If OMF surgery is one of your goals when pursuing a dental education, I don't see why you couldn't put that. There are many interpretations and routes that one can go down when outlining their PS and your topic seems to cover that prompt. On the other hand, most applicants would probably be writing about why they want to go into general dentistry, their experiences with dentistry, etc.. adcoms would probably be expecting that "story". How they would view your PS, which focuses on getting into a specific specialty program before being accepted into D school, I'm not entirely certain!

 

[doc toothache]

Your friend appears to be a little wiser.

 

[yeslek88]

Only if you have spent a significant amount of your shadowing time with an OS. Either way, I probably wouldn't make the entire PS about it, maybe just one paragraph. If you're applying this cycle I suggest finishing up and submitting ASAP.

 

[iheartteeth7]

Personally, I would definitely be careful with talking about specializing before you're even given an acceptance to dental school to become a dentist first and foremost. I know you probably realize that it is highly competitive to get into an oral surgery residency, and we have 4 years to figure out if specializing is for us or not. Adcoms want to be sure that they are accepting someone that will be happy as a dentist, since you never know what exactly you'll end up enjoying and having an aptitude for. As another person strongly considering OMFS, I never wrote anything in my PS/other essays, I'm careful in interview questions, etc that explicitly say I want to be a surgeon. I talk about "a career in dentistry," becoming a "dental professional", etc. to make sure they know I'm interested in the whole field in general and am open to seeing where I'll find my niche. I do wish schools didn't seem to discourage early specialty exploration (I have the most hours interning with an OMFS so I'm most familiar and interested in that), but I understand why they want students that are not only pursuing dental school as a stepping stone to something else, since the majority of students won't end up specializing. Just some things to think about. Good luck!

 

[Mikdarb]

Thank you all for the response.
I changed my topic that focus on dentistry than OMF. Hopefully I can finish as soon as possible and apply soon.