Should I apply to certain schools if I want to specialize?

[Mhines24]

Should I apply to certain schools If I want to specialize?

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[Mhines24]

Depends on how sure you are about specializing, how confident you are in your academic abilities, how competitive the specialty you want is, and how much you're willing to pay. Most of the schools that make specializing easier are also pretty expensive (e.g. Harvard, Columbia) and the ones that aren't tend to be pretty hard to get into (e.g. UConn). You can specialize from any dental school if you do well enough, but I don't know how confident you are about ranking in the top X% of your class, or even if you'll need to - not all specialties are equally competitive.

I plan on hopefully getting into UNC since it's in state for me but I'm just wondering if I don't get in there and go to ECU as my backup if that would make it harder to specialize. I want to go into orthodontics.

 

[Jbrowndds]

Don't limit yourself to certain schools because you want to specialize. Unless you have clinical experience with a hand piece, you have no clue what you truly want. My advice is get in anywhere so you can be a dentist, then once you get experience in the clinic decide if and where you want to specialize.