Don’t kid yourself. Let’s not act like being top 10-20% in your class is a cakewalk and something anyone can do. It’s not. Are you going to be that 10-20%? Hopefully, but odds are against you, like 80% against you.
What makes it so reality never hits students at the Ivy League dental schools?
So what about the dentistry taught at Harvard, Columbia, and UPenn makes it easier to specialize down the road? Are you learning some secrets the masses aren’t privy to? Are program directors simply so enamored by your academic “pedigree” they look past any flaws? What is it? The ability to hide behind P/F grades?
It’s all about increasing your chances to match. Program directors are more familiar with the quality of student that comes out of schools like Harvard, UCLA, Penn, Columbia etc. How do you think these schools are able to get away with P/F rankings?
Here is where you’re wrong. You have the definition of gunner wrong, at least in my eyes. To me, a gunner is someone that will do whatever it takes to succeed even if it’s at the expense of those around them. That atmosphere is cultivated in schools with ranking systems. At Penn, Harvard, and Columbia, I guarantee you’d be amazed how collaborative and chill everyone is. People are super helpful and open to sharing anything. Literally classes pass down study guides, notes, etc to each other. That does not happen at schools with rankings, at least not on an entire class basis. You might share a few things with some friends, but that’s about it.
There’s nothing wrong with it. Most medical schools are P/F. Having a ranking system does ZERO good for students. In fact, it makes things way more stressful. The only good it does is for program directors.
I agree
“The difference between Ivy league schools and other schools is NOT 200k. For some schools it is but for a majority the difference isn’t that high.”
I have some friends that got into endo straight out of school and it’s doubtful they were even in the top 3rd of the class. They knew they didn’t have awesome grades so they tried to make up for it elsewhere in their application. Another guy in my class was solidly in the bottom half of the class and he Matched at a decent peds program. Unlike what someone said above, you absolutely don’t need to be in the top 10% of your class to specialize. Will it help? Sure. Necessary? Heck no. From everything I’ve seen and experienced, if you’re in the top quarter of the class you’re solidly in the running.
The 2nd part is so true. If you can buddy up with your faculty, man does it make life easier. Some might even help you with connections at other schools
Yes, more ortho obsession I see. Are all these Ivy League ortho gunners trying to give Mike Meru a run for his money? They’re wasting their time, because he doesn’t have any money. I kid...but, seriously.
Hahaha love this. But really though. Everyone is obsessed with specializing on these forums.
But you can do all on fours as a GP with the right training and confidence.
Seriously. This sounds really whiny but the day before my DAT I was panicking about possibly getting a 22.
Oh, I know, but it's still so funny to me that that is the main thing so many pre-dents latch onto.
Exactly. That’s my point. If a school produces more specialists, program directors will be more familiar with the type of student coming out of that school. If they’ve had good experience, they’re more likely to accept future students from that school. It’s not a coincidence you’ll see a lot of residents coming from the same school.
Depends on what the CE course is in. I went to a 2 hour presentation from an oral surgeon about nerve damage from all the botched implants that he had to fix due to general dentists doing stuff way over their heads.
I don’t think you can do complex cases, but I think simpler cases (whatever that means) he could handle and made good money doing it. But you can certainly do “some” ortho.
