Should you extern at home program? or away

[Van Der Woude]

Hi guys,

So I am curious, is it worth it to extern at your home program? Do other residency programs prefer to see externships that are not your home program? I would honestly prefer externing elsewhere because I will be observing my home program's operations when I do rotations starting 3rd year. However, I also feel like I do not know enough about oral surgery to do an externship at an away program. I consider externships a learning experience so I am hoping some of these programs do too and are ok with me messing up now and then due to a lack of experience (but man does messing up suck. )

So what do you guys think? Extern at home program first or start with away?

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[Typical Average Student]

I too, would like to know!

 

[alDente]

If you start with away externships, make sure you know your home program very well (scope, faculty, residents) because other programs will ask. Externships at most programs are hands-off except a few in the south, so it's hard to mess up.

 

[japanmarine14]

the more you do the better

 

[sbdento]

They understand that you're a 3rd or 4th year dental student and won't know much about OMFS. They'll ask questions that you won't know but that's ok. Treat it like a working interview. Work hard and stay long hours. Extern at your home program and at away ones. Get a good feel for the broad range of programs throughout the country.