question about becoming an orthodontist.

[t12kim]

Do schools look at college transcripts when i apply to ortho program??

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[USAF_Dentman]

Do schools look at college transcripts when i apply to ortho program??

no, they dont care about college, just d-school..

It would be like D-school looking at your high school transcripts.

 

[BUBBLICIOUS]

Unfortunately, some d schools look at your high school 2.0 gpa transcripts

no, they dont care about college, just d-school..

It would be like D-school looking at your high school transcripts.

 

[USAF_Dentman]

Unfortunately, some d schools look at your high school 2.0 gpa transcripts

I'd like to know which schools you are referring to...

 

[t12kim]

I'd like to know which schools you are referring to...

UCLA and Buffalo did for me
by the way, are you a dental student? i want to hear from a dental student who know everything about applying to an ortho program.

 

[delicious]

I sent my high school transcript through aadsas. All schools received it - and I think a bunch wanted it.

 

[aphistis]

Holy cow. Start dental school before you start obsessing over specialties.

 

[12YearOldKid]

UCLA and Buffalo did for me
by the way, are you a dental student? i want to hear from a dental student who know everything about applying to an ortho program.

I'm a dental student and I don't know a lot about applying to ortho.... but I do l know a lot about people who want to apply to ortho.

Basically there are two types:

1. Well rounded individuals who enter school with a genuine interest in the field of dentistry and later develop a special place in their heart for ortho.

2. Obnoxious, obsessive gunner types who from the moment they enter school care about nothing but grades, money, and getting into their precious ortho residency. Classmates, patients, and professors are nothing but objects to use and obstacles to overcome in that pursuit.

Of course there are people in between those two extremes, but most people tend towards one category more than the other.

And thankfully, most residency spots go to the first type. So, sit down, take a deep breath, and just worry about getting into dental school right now. You will have a much more enjoyable time in dental school if you can at least pretend to be Type 1.

 

[edkNARF]

I'd like to know which schools you are referring to...

UPenn asked for my SAT scores.

 

[LSR1979]

Holy cow. Start dental school before you start obsessing over specialties.

I've heard you make this comment towards numerous people and I have to disagree with you. While it is unwise to enter dental school with no intention of becoming a practicing general dentist, you shouldn't give people crap for it. Some people really may like ortho or other specialties, but really hate pros, endo, prophy, and many other parts of general dentistry. But the only way that they can become an orthodontist is to make it through dental school and to do very well during those four years. I don't think there is anything wrong with eyeing a specialty before entering dental school, assuming the person has spent enough time shadowing/working in an ortho office AND a GP's office to really know what each entails.

 

[Jediwendell]

I think mostly the graduate school wants your undergrad grades. Some may place a little emphasis on it, but not much.

 

[dc-10]

I've heard you make this comment towards numerous people and I have to disagree with you. While it is unwise to enter dental school with no intention of becoming a practicing general dentist, you shouldn't give people crap for it. Some people really may like ortho or other specialties, but really hate pros, endo, prophy, and many other parts of general dentistry. But the only way that they can become an orthodontist is to make it through dental school and to do very well during those four years. I don't think there is anything wrong with eyeing a specialty before entering dental school, assuming the person has spent enough time shadowing/working in an ortho office AND a GP's office to really know what each entails.

I agree. In the end, you can always decide to become a general dentist. Having a goal (eg ortho) gives you motivation to study.

 

[aphistis]

I've heard you make this comment towards numerous people and I have to disagree with you. While it is unwise to enter dental school with no intention of becoming a practicing general dentist, you shouldn't give people crap for it. Some people really may like ortho or other specialties, but really hate pros, endo, prophy, and many other parts of general dentistry. But the only way that they can become an orthodontist is to make it through dental school and to do very well during those four years. I don't think there is anything wrong with eyeing a specialty before entering dental school, assuming the person has spent enough time shadowing/working in an ortho office AND a GP's office to really know what each entails.

Your comment is well taken, but I think you're reading a little *too* far into what I'm saying. I absolutely agree that there's nothing wrong with eyeing a specialty before starting dental school. What I do think is foolish--and you appear to agree with me in content, if not in style--is fixating, and that's why I made sure to discriminate between casual interest and obsession in my original. Asking about whether your college GPA will hurt you *when* you apply to ortho (not "if"), six months before you've sat for your first lecture in dental school, suggests two things to me:

First, the fixation on ortho tells me the OP has already made up his/her mind without bothering to learn anything about any other aspects of dentistry first (I agree that you can like one aspect of dentistry well enough to want to do it exclusively--that *should* be the basis for a decision to specialize, but are we in agreement that it's kinda hard to make that conclusion without first being exposed to them all?)

Second, the apparent worry over college grades suggests that this isn't an individual who has spent his/her childhood in an intimate relationship with an orthodontist, and decided s/he wants to follow in those same footsteps. It sounds to me like this is someone who made a relatively late decision for dentistry (which is perfectly OK) and now is simply fishing for the easiest job with the highest payout without any regard for other considerations.

Now, is it possible I'm totally wrong in all the inductive conclusions I'm drawing here? Of course--individual cases will vary significantly, and if I'm mistaken in this case I apologize. All I'm saying is that if I could find someone to take an even, 1:1 payout bet with me on all the pre-dents & first-semester D1's, around the country, who're all convinced they're going to be orthodontists, I'd have been able to leave dental school a long time ago. Exceptions exist, but so does the rule.

 

[aphistis]

I'm a dental student and I don't know a lot about applying to ortho.... but I do l know a lot about people who want to apply to ortho.

Basically there are two types:

1. Well rounded individuals who enter school with a genuine interest in the field of dentistry and later develop a special place in their heart for ortho.

2. Obnoxious, obsessive gunner types who from the moment they enter school care about nothing but grades, money, and getting into their precious ortho residency. Classmates, patients, and professors are nothing but objects to use and obstacles to overcome in that pursuit.

Of course there are people in between those two extremes, but most people tend towards one category more than the other.

And thankfully, most residency spots go to the first type. So, sit down, take a deep breath, and just worry about getting into dental school right now. You will have a much more enjoyable time in dental school if you can at least pretend to be Type 1.

As a follow-up to my previous post, I agree here 110%.

 

[lnn2]

Some of the dental school that I had applied wanted my Junior high transcript. Some post-grad dental schools wanted a letter of recommendation from my high school teachers. Make sure you have all the trancripts from junior high and high school, also a letter of recommendation from them wouldn't hurt either for Ortho program.

 

[USAF_Dentman]

I forgot, my bad. I think if you are getting a Master's degree in Ortho, then yes they would look at your undergrad record. I dont know about the certificate programs though...

 

[texas_dds]

all 13 ortho programs i applied to (certificate and masters) required an undergrad transcript. BUT i dont think they look it over too carefully - i got a really bad grade in a couple classes when i was like 18 years old and have never ever been asked about it. not in dental admissions and certainly not in ortho. i think a low overall undergrad GPA could hurt, but not one or two smallish mistakes.