Postgraduate Endo Programs

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jgucladds

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Hey folks! I'm a 4th year dental student at UCLA and in the process of applying for the Graduate Endo Programs across the nation. To this date, I have received 4 interview offers (Harvard, San Antonio, U. Washington, and UPenn) Is there any Endo residents out there who is willing to share their interview experiences from these schools? Any tips will be appreciated! Thanks.:clap:

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Isn't it really difficult to get into endo programs straight out of dental school? What kind of class rank/board scores do you need to get an interview? I've heard lots of endo programs have like 100 applicants for 3 spots.
 
nug - it's not impossible. We usually have 1 or 2 each year who graduate and go straight into Endo.

I wish I could give you some insight jgucladds, but I am still a junior desperately waiting for senior year so I can start applying to post-grad. I have a question for you. Three of the schools you mentioned, Harvard, U. Washington, & San Antonio, are big research schools - especially San Antonio, their students scoop up so many of the AADR awards. Do you have a lot of research experience going into this process? I've noticed the attitude of many endo/ortho applicants at my school (Univ of Buffalo) is often "you just have to do some research so you can put it down on your resume. Don't go crazy with it. I just stood in a lab for 4 weeks and that was my research experience." Great if it works for them, but I am wondering if research oriented schools, like the ones you will interview at, might have looked at the quality and quantity of research you did and not just the fact that you "did something to put on the resume."

Any opinions?
 
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You'll probably know how hard it is to get in straight from the dental school. Especially in Endo, we have to compete with GPR and other applicants with more experiences than us. I think one way to compete with them is having a good board score and a killer research experience. To answer your question, I'm in a combine MS/DDS program so I have no other option but to do research. Yes, you're right. Those schools put lots of weights on research.

If your heart is in some specialty program, especially Endo...then you should really get involve in research rather than superficially participating for the CV purpose. I'm sure the interviewers will know the difference between the two group of students.

good luck.
 
Does a MS in biology completed before entering dental schoolwork for adequate research, or does it specifically have to be dental related research completed while in dental school?

Also?
Is having a glamorous research background meaningless if your not top 10% of class?
 
jgucladds, thanks, I appreciate your reply. I have been involved in research since college and have spent the last two summers in dental school in the summer research program at my school. I think I have had a good commitment to research for the past few years and have some abstracts/paper to show for it. I hope you're right, that interviewers would know the difference between the two groups because I've seen plenty of our top students graduate and get into specialty programs with just "resume research." Some of our endo applicants this year are trying to get in with a few weeks of research experience. We'll see how successful they are...

I'm not sure if endo is my thing, I haven't done a root canal on a real patient yet. We've only been in clinic for a few weeks, so I am trying to decide what I want to do with myself after graduation.

Good luck on your interviews! Keep us updated on your interview experiences.
 
Hi, jgucladds. How is your application? I hope you can get in. I am a 3rd year student in Canada. I want to go to LA to do my GPR. Do you know which hospitals have good programs? I desperately need information, your help is appreciated.
 
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