Pursing OMFS through non-cat

[happyosborne]

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Hi everyone

What do you think about the concept of focusing on doing a non-cat year and scoring well on the CBSE rather than trying to cut corners through this last year trying to match out straight out of dental school? For context, I am halfway through my D3 year

I want to be realistic and honest with myself of my capabilities of trying to match out of school. My rank is fairly high, and I’ve done only 1 externship.

I know OMFS is quite competitive and feel that my efforts into expecting to do a non-cat right out of school, scoring well on the CBSE, and making a great impression on the non-cat program will make a world of a difference rather than trying to match straight out of school.

 

[Colastick]

I dont understand why you think matching straight out of school is cutting corners.
Best thing is to match straight out of school but if you cant, then do what you are talking about.

 

[FosterWallace]

You have like 7 months until the July exam I would just study and apply.

It’s not easy as a D3 but it’s obviously going to be a lot harder studying as a noncat

 

[Wisetoothshucker]

Like others said, I'd recommend study hard for July CBSE and hopefully you'll have a good score to match straight in. It is not cutting corners to apply straight into residency. 2 equal applicants, one with non-cat and one straight from dental school, maybe some programs would favor the non-cat but for the most part they are just equal applicants.

Just go straight to Uworld, you'll struggle a bit, but stay consistent after your clinic days, start with 40 Qs a day and work your way to 100 Qs a day and I think you'll be set to do great in July

 

[nade0016]

Agreed with all above. There is no reason you will not match. The competitiveness has dropped significantly over the last few years so now its about the CBSE score. If you dont match, then do a non-cat and go from there.

 

[Pleurodynia]

The competitiveness has dropped significantly over the last few years so now it’s about the CBSE score.

Competitiveness has dropped in what way? Less applicants? Lower cbse scores and rank across the board?

 

[amali]

Agreed with all above. There is no reason you will not match. The competitiveness has dropped significantly over the last few years so now its about the CBSE score. If you dont match, then do a non-cat and go from there.

Confused on this statement. Each year in my residency the applications got more and more competitive. I realized by my chief year I would have no way matched in comparison to today's applicants.

 

[HockeyDocOMFS]

Agreed with all above. There is no reason you will not match. The competitiveness has dropped significantly over the last few years so now its about the CBSE score. If you dont match, then do a non-cat and go from there.

This is so incredibly wrong and misleading. Applicant numbers have maybe dropped, sure. But just because internal medicine has 10x the applicants as orthopedic surgery does not make it more competitive. OMFS is a very self-selecting path where most may not be interested (due to many years and the hurdle of CBSE), but that does not make the competitiveness drop significantly, if at all. The stress and brutality of studying for CBSE while taking dental courses and not failing your practicals is something you did not have to endure since boards were graded back when you applied.

 

[nade0016]

Competitiveness has dropped in what way? Less applicants? Lower cbse scores and rank across the board?

Less applicant for more spots. The statistical chance of matching is now 1 match for every 1.5 applicants. There will be outliers of poor applications but the actual chance to match is about 1:1.5. Additionally, there were 25 open spots last year. The most in recorded history of the OMS Match. Not sure how to define this, could be a one off or could be a trend, lets hope not.

I absolutely agree that the OMS match was increasing in competitiveness prior to, during and shortly after COVID. I do think that trend is changing currently and will probably settle come to a norm in the next few years. But for the next few years I believe it will be less competitive.

2024: 384 applicants - 259 spots. Less applicants, lowest number since 2017/2018 but 25 additional available positions since 2014.

https://www.joms.org/article/S0278-2391(24)00128-9/pdf

Has the CBSE average score gone up. Yes it has and that could be due to a lot of things, more time to study during COVID, P/F SoD's s students don't have to apply themselves as much during dental school. Only time will tell.

 

[Wisetoothshucker]

If the scores are going up and the applicants are going down, I think it’s becoming a more self selected process. I don’t think that’s a problem. Not sure why so many programs went unmatched. Maybe with more social media for programs, certain programs catch more attention by applicants, so although applicants apply broadly, they’re really interested in a smaller set of programs.

 

[sg24mc]

Less applicant for more spots. The statistical chance of matching is now 1 match for every 1.5 applicants. There will be outliers of poor applications but the actual chance to match is about 1:1.5. Additionally, there were 25 open spots last year. The most in recorded history of the OMS Match. Not sure how to define this, could be a one off or could be a trend, lets hope not.

I absolutely agree that the OMS match was increasing in competitiveness prior to, during and shortly after COVID. I do think that trend is changing currently and will probably settle come to a norm in the next few years. But for the next few years I believe it will be less competitive.

2024: 384 applicants - 259 spots. Less applicants, lowest number since 2017/2018 but 25 additional available positions since 2014.

https://www.joms.org/article/S0278-2391(24)00128-9/pdf

Has the CBSE average score gone up. Yes it has and that could be due to a lot of things, more time to study during COVID, P/F SoD's s students don't have to apply themselves as much during dental school. Only time will tell.

Absolutely agree, in fact, during a conference I attended, many PDs were talking about how they used to get the most competitive applicants for OMFS residency and now there is a lot less interest from those folks. Not saying that's not the case anymore, but it's definitely on a downtrend.