Trying to do OMFS but sim lab grades are low

[virajpatel]

Wow I have a similar inquiry but not to the point of dropping out. I am terrible with my hand skills, as well. I try to practice as much as I can but the didactics are also quite demanding so during exam weeks I end up slacking on the sim lab hours which definitely hurts any progress I make. The most difficult thing for me is to identify weaknesses and find a sure fire way to improve them, it seems like everytime I do something, I just 'wing' it. However, I have a keen interest in pursuing OMFS. While I'm doing really well in my didactics thus far having obtained no less than 100% on all my exams I do find that my grades in sim lacking are lacking. Will that hurt/completely kill my chances of pursuing OMFS or will the didactics somewhat overcome a mediocre sim lab performance?

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[redhotchiligochu]

No hand skills but wanna pursue OMFS?!? LMAO

 

[ncide]

OMFS is all about that class rank and the CBSE score. Spend more time in sim lab, you don't need 100s on your tests to get As.

 

[virajpatel]

OMFS is all about that class rank and the CBSE score. Spend more time in sim lab, you don't need 100s on your tests to get As.

I appreciate your feedback, thank you

 

[virajpatel]

No hand skills but wanna pursue OMFS?!? LMAO

LMAO so funny right, like what am i thinking..

 

[PhansterZ]

I'm assuming that you are a D1 right now. I had trouble with my hand skills starting out, and would spend countless hours at the SIM lab trying to improve on my waxing and operative skills. Besides the very few who got it right off the bat, the majority of us had to work really hard to obtain a decent grade in the clinical skills portion. The labs were open 24/7 at my dental school, and there were many days that some friends and I eat dinner together, stay until 10-11 pm at night working on our hand skills, and eating Taco Bell before going home. At times, it may seem impossible to do because most of us do not have previous exposure to this type of exercise or methods of evaluation, but with enough practice, you will be competent enough to obtain a decent grade. What was my weakness turned into my strength by the end of the year, and I even tutored D1s on the operative skills during my D2 year.

As for pursuing OMS residencies, programs look mostly at your class rank, and CBSE scores. Due to the competitive nature, this weeds out less competitive applicants, as programs are only able to invite 20-30 students from 200-300 applications. This means that to be considered competitive, a rank in the top 20% and a CBSE of 65+ would net you more interviews. There is not much time to dive into the specific grades during the initial screening, but it may come up during the interview if you get invited. Besides some very unusually circumstances, everyone will get the hand skills portion eventually. There were people from my class who got dismissed were due to academics or personal issues, but no one got dismissed due to hand skills.

 

[virajpatel]

I'm assuming that you are a D1 right now. I had trouble with my hand skills starting out, and would spend countless hours at the SIM lab trying to improve on my waxing and operative skills. Besides the very few who got it right off the bat, the majority of us had to work really hard to obtain a decent grade in the clinical skills portion. The labs were open 24/7 at my dental school, and there were many days that some friends and I eat dinner together, stay until 10-11 pm at night working on our hand skills, and eating Taco Bell before going home. At times, it may seem impossible to do because most of us do not have previous exposure to this type of exercise or methods of evaluation, but with enough practice, you will be competent enough to obtain a decent grade. What was my weakness turned into my strength by the end of the year, and I even tutored D1s on the operative skills during my D2 year.

As for pursuing OMS residencies, programs look mostly at your class rank, and CBSE scores. Due to the competitive nature, this weeds out less competitive applicants, as programs are only able to invite 20-30 students from 200-300 applications. This means that to be considered competitive, a rank in the top 20% and a CBSE of 65+ would net you more interviews. There is not much time to dive into the specific grades during the initial screening, but it may come up during the interview if you get invited. Besides some very unusually circumstances, everyone will get the hand skills portion eventually. There were people from my class who got dismissed were due to academics or personal issues, but no one got dismissed due to hand skills.

I can't thank you enough for your posting. I'm going to continue working towards this. Thank you!

 

[sgv]

Unless you're interested in microvascular reconstruction or nerve repair, almost all OMFS procedures will involve working at the millimeter scale. You don't work in tenths of a millimeter anymore like you did in general dentistry.

What would be concerning to program directors is unlikely your weakness in general dentistry rather it's the attitude of, "The most difficult thing for me is to identify weaknesses and find a sure fire way to improve them, it seems like everytime I do something, I just 'wing' it.". They want you to be able to self-critique as a growing surgeon. Finding weaknesses and honing in on its improvement should be a strength that you can tout during interviews.

 

[Bernie Sanders]

It wont completely stop you from doing OMFS.But you do need to pass. Ask for a tutor from your school or pay an upperclassman to tutor you. Dont just keep prepping. Prep, get someone to evaluate, fix, get someone to eval and then repeat.
Its what I had to do since my school faculty sucked so much.

 

[virajpatel]

@sgv thank you for the feedback. yeah, I definitely didn't mean to sound ignorant what I meant was that I lack consistency even in my mistakes such that I may do something right once and then screw it up the second time around while doing okay on something I previously screwed. So neither my qualities nor flaws are consistent, which is exactly what landed me into some trouble on my first dental school practical. We have another coming up and I really want to do well in this class not just to set myself up for OMFS but because it's important for me personally to excel at this.

 

[virajpatel]

It wont completely stop you from doing OMFS.But you do need to pass. Ask for a tutor from your school or pay an upperclassman to tutor you. Dont just keep prepping. Prep, get someone to evaluate, fix, get someone to eval and then repeat.
Its what I had to do since my school faculty sucked so much.

Yeah it's definitely something I've been trying to do. You hit the nail on the head. I was doing a lot of self-evaluation because they emphasize it so much at our school but I definitely need to use upperclassmen as a resource.