Specialty acceptance rates?!

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Bereno

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So, I was just perusing my "Getting Through Dental School" book provided by ASDA here at UConn. I was flipping through the pages and could not help but notice some pretty shocking numbers (below). What I am wondering is are these acceptance rates per applicant or per application? For example, is this to say that 3520 people applied to an endodontics program and only 205 (5.8%) were accepted OR, is this to say that 3520 applications were submitted and 205 applications were accepted? I am hoping it is the later since it seems that most people just spray and pray with 15+ applications. Any input on this? Thanks in advance! 👍

Endodontics
Applied: 3520
Accepted: 205

Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
Applied: 57
Accepted: 12

Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
Applied: 76
Accepted: 10

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Applied: 9351
Accepted: 239

Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
Applied: 11013
Accepted: 354

Pediatrics
Applied: 8031
Accepted: 366

Periodontics
Applied: 1849
Accepted: 170

Prosthodontics
Applied: 1538
Accepted: 164

Public Health
Applied: 71
Accepted: 16

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I don't mean to be harsh, but a little common sense plus investigation will go a long way in dental school as well as now. If it were your first way (5.8% acceptance rate), then you would also be saying that for all specialities, there were ~35,000 people that applied. With ~60 dental schools, averaging ~100 students in each senior class, that's ~6,000 students that could apply. So every senior dental student in the US, plus ~29,000 ( or ~15% of all dentists), would have applied for specialty programs last year....I'll go out on a limb and say I think its the latter....
 
So, I was just perusing my "Getting Through Dental School" book provided by ASDA here at UConn. I was flipping through the pages and could not help but notice some pretty shocking numbers (below). What I am wondering is are these acceptance rates per applicant or per application? For example, is this to say that 3520 people applied to an endodontics program and only 205 (5.8%) were accepted OR, is this to say that 3520 applications were submitted and 205 applications were accepted? I am hoping it is the later since it seems that most people just spray and pray with 15+ applications. Any input on this? Thanks in advance! 👍

Endodontics
Applied: 3520
Accepted: 205

Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology
Applied: 57
Accepted: 12

Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
Applied: 76
Accepted: 10

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Applied: 9351
Accepted: 239

Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
Applied: 11013
Accepted: 354

Pediatrics
Applied: 8031
Accepted: 366

Periodontics
Applied: 1849
Accepted: 170

Prosthodontics
Applied: 1538
Accepted: 164

Public Health
Applied: 71
Accepted: 16

The OMFS stats don't appear to make sense. I think there's about 100 programs. I'm pretty sure there are more than 2.39 residents accepted per program per year right? Anyway, nice to see some stats. Good post.
 
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I don't mean to be harsh, but a little common sense plus investigation will go a long way in dental school as well as now. If it were your first way (5.8% acceptance rate), then you would also be saying that for all specialities, there were ~35,000 people that applied. With ~60 dental schools, averaging ~100 students in each senior class, that's ~6,000 students that could apply. So every senior dental student in the US, plus ~29,000 ( or ~15% of all dentists), would have applied for specialty programs last year....I'll go out on a limb and say I think its the latter....

Lol, I get what you are saying. Its just that these numbers seem crazy even with the later option... Thanks for the reorientation 👍

The OMFS stats don't appear to make sense. I think there's about 100 programs. I'm pretty sure there are more than 2.39 residents accepted per program per year right? Anyway, nice to see some stats. Good post.

Hmmm, I am not sure what the average number of seats in an OMFS residency is. BTW, this data is from the 2009 graduating class
 
The OMFS stats don't appear to make sense. I think there's about 100 programs. I'm pretty sure there are more than 2.39 residents accepted per program per year right? Anyway, nice to see some stats. Good post.

Numbers are in the ballpark. A number of programs accept 1 resident per a year.

Yes, the high number of applicants is as you suggest, spray and pray.

http://www.natmatch.com/dentres/sumstats.htm

OMS
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Applicants Participating in the Match
365 367 387 383 396 (+13)
Positions Offered
196 206 216 210 217 (+7)
Matches / Positions Filled
193 200 206 199 209 (+10)
Unfilled Positions
3 6 10 11 8 (-3)
 
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Numbers are in the ballpark. A number of programs accept 1 resident per a year.

Yes, the high number of applicants is as you suggest, spray and pray.

http://www.natmatch.com/dentres/sumstats.htm

OMS
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Applicants Participating in the Match
365 367 387 383 396 (+13)
Positions Offered
196 206 216 210 217 (+7)
Matches / Positions Filled
193 200 206 199 209 (+10)
Unfilled Positions
3 6 10 11 8 (-3)

Awesome data! Thanks for that 😎
 
I think it means that if you apply to 20 ortho programs, for example, then that counts as 20 applications (or "applied") even though it is only one person. So if 400 ortho applicants apply to 20 programs each and 200 of the applicants get in, the stats would show "8000 applied, 200 accepted".
 
I think it means that if you apply to 20 ortho programs, for example, then that counts as 20 applications (or "applied") even though it is only one person. So if 400 ortho applicants apply to 20 programs each and 200 of the applicants get in, the stats would show "8000 applied, 200 accepted".

From the data, I am assuming that it would be 200 applications are accepted, not necessarily that 200 applicants get in. Do you think this is correct?
 
Don't forget that these numbers (applicants) include international students/dentists from ALL AROUND THE WORLD. I bet most of those do not even submit a ranking list since they don't get any interviews. The match stats include only people who submit a rank list which means they received at least 1 interview invitation.
 
Okay so the attachment is for match website. It basically shows that even the most competitive specialties do not have more than 2 times as many applicants who participated in match then available spots. Here is the link so you can see for yourself.

http://www.natmatch.com/dentres/stats/2012sumstats.html

Now you can get all worked about people who applied but never got an interview (thus did not participate in match), but honestly find whatever you are passionate about (pedo, general dentistry, OMFS, etc) and do your best. Happy gunning.
 

Attachments

Okay so the attachment is for match website. It basically shows that even the most competitive specialties do not have more than 2 times as many applicants who participated in match then available spots. Here is the link so you can see for yourself.

http://www.natmatch.com/dentres/stats/2012sumstats.html

Now you can get all worked about people who applied but never got an interview (thus did not participate in match), but honestly find whatever you are passionate about (pedo, general dentistry, OMFS, etc) and do your best. Happy gunning.

Thanks for that list 🙂 Does anyone know if there is a list that sorts out match percentage based off school?
Out of curiosity, why do unfulfilled positions exist? Wouldn't programs want to fill all their seats, and if applicants do decline a seat why wouldn't hospitals, etc give that seat to another applicant who interviewed?
 
Okay so the attachment is for match website. It basically shows that even the most competitive specialties do not have more than 2 times as many applicants who participated in match then available spots. Here is the link so you can see for yourself.

http://www.natmatch.com/dentres/stats/2012sumstats.html

Now you can get all worked about people who applied but never got an interview (thus did not participate in match), but honestly find whatever you are passionate about (pedo, general dentistry, OMFS, etc) and do your best. Happy gunning.

Thanks for the link, but it appears Kabek beat you to it 😀 I totally agree that you should find what you like. That's all that matters in the long run.

Thanks for that list 🙂 Does anyone know if there is a list that sorts out match percentage based off school?
Out of curiosity, why do unfulfilled positions exist? Wouldn't programs want to fill all their seats, and if applicants do decline a seat why wouldn't hospitals, etc give that seat to another applicant who interviewed?

I have always wondered the same thing... Anyone have info on this?
 
Unmatched positions are a result of the "match" process. The big computer program that everyone puts their rank lists into spits out the results and some programs have spots that do not get filled. This does not mean that they don't fill them eventually, it just means that they did not get filled by the match. There is something called "post match" where those programs with empty spots will scramble around to fill them with applicants that did not match any where else.
 
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