Please help, specializing question for everyone.

[thisisfundds]

My question is, are there any specialty programs in the world that dont look at dental school GPA that seriously, instead focus most on your board examination?

At my school, which I wont mention..It's almost sick when you find out some students have inflated GPAs using the wrong methods..For example, It seems that a lot of students get valuable hand me downs from upperclassmen they are related too, or have known before dental school..This automatically gives them an advantage and messes up the rank of students taking school seriously.

So, I haven't decided what specialty I want to go into, but before I started looking into some...I wanted to know if you guys could help and tell me if you got accepted into a program where the "BORAD/GRADUATE EXAM" had A lot of weight in comparison to rank and GPA.

This will help keep me motivated in pursuing my dream. Thank you for hearing me out..

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Wax n Relax]

How does someone "KNOW" they want to specialize, but not know what they want to specialize in. Also, national boards are pass/fail so you better make friends with an upper classmen for hand me downs to boost your GPA. "Rank of students taking school seriously"....that's funny.

 

[thisisfundds]

I want do something challenging, and want to see what options there are. Before, I started considering my options I wanted to see if there even are programs that look at boards more than GPA.

Thanks for your response.

 

[Wax n Relax]

What year are you in school?

 

[gryffindor]

You have two options.

1) Study harder and memorize better.

2) Become friends with these supposedly connected people.

 

[Golfguy]

Instructors should change the tests enough so that stuff doesn't matter much. At my school we have a drive with old exams, notes, etc.... They help a little, but mostly the top students just work really hard.

Boards are pass/fail now. So your question is completely irrelevant.

 

[thisisfundds]

First year Dental student..its not irrelevant bc a lot of programs are making you take the GRE. Thanks for the helpful responses.

 

[CMistry]

From my understanding the programs requiring the GRE don't use it as a selection criteria so much as a requirement for the M.S. degrees they offer. Maybe things have changed now that the NBDE is pass/fail, but I would assume your class rank is more important. The bottom line is... if you want to specialize, work harder. I guarantee you there are top students in your class not using the handed-down resources.

 

[ubdental]

From my understanding the programs requiring the GRE don't use it as a selection criteria so much as a requirement for the M.S. degrees they offer. Maybe things have changed now that the NBDE is pass/fail, but I would assume your class rank is more important. The bottom line is... if you want to specialize, work harder. I guarantee you there are top students in your class not using the handed-down resources.

Agree!!! If you're in a school that still has grades, then study really hard
for your exams. Those old exams aren't that helpful. You may find 1-2 repeated
questions for spending hours skimming through them. Use your time wisely and STUDY!!
Another thing that is helpful is faculty recommendations. Get to know your
teachers really well so you can get good letters later on.

Board is pass/fail now so it's no longer a major factor. This is not fair for
past graduates because we used to study our a** off for them, especially
the ortho people. Those poor souls!!

 

[Mackchops]

Re-read your question one more time, thisisfun. You're basically looking for information on what specialties are easier to get into and then saying you're looking for a challenge? Piece of advice for you -- general dentistry is the most challenging dental discipline out there. You are expected to know everything about everything -- jack of all trades sort of thing. Also, you don't pick a specialty based on which one you can get into - that's just backwards.

Did you apply to dental school because it was easier to get into than med school? Same thing here -- would you apply to pros just because you want to be a "specialist" and couldn't hack it in dental school to get OS or ortho stats?