No problem. Yeah so that’s tough and it’s hard to gauge that this year. COVID has really thrown things off. All the classes are online except for when we are in the sim lab for 4 hours on Wednesday and another 4 on Thursday. (I know this sucks with covid and maybe it might be frustrating but you should know that no other school has done better in this situation than UOP. We all got portable hand pieces and sim lab kits to work at home. It’s not perfect but it’s way better than I’ve heard from other students at other schools.) I hope things calm down soon and hopefully way before you guys start. Typically, with a good amount of work, you can place in the top half. On past tests during the first quarter, in past years the class average ranged from 70-85% so if you just get higher than average, you should be fine. But since classes have been online this entire time and you now have more time to study, the averages from our class has been around 88-90%. So wayyyy higher. I want to do OMFS so I am also trying to stay on top. I have scored higher than average on every test but again there isn’t much room to excel cause every one is so close. People are struggling more on the practicals in the sim lab more than past years. We just had a practical and like half the class failed it. (It’s pretty easy to fail and everyone fails at least one practical at some point.) so it hard to answer this. I still think if you want to specialize then you definitely can but you need to put the work in.
Now, let me make you guys feel better. So we got last years stats. 3 students applied and matched for OMFS. I’ve talk to the dean of success and he said that UOP has a 90-95% acceptance rate into OMFS which is really good. Now something even better. Orthodontics. Usually for this specialty you have to be in the top 10% to make it in. Last year we had 11 students apply and get accepted into Orthodontic residency! That is like unheard of! So if you want to specialize. Work hard and you should be fine. UOP is a good school and does carry some weight when applying for specialties. Hopefully that answers your questions. With UOP being an accelerated program, you need to put in more work than at other programs. But honestly it’s not that bad. You do have to work and study, but it’s still bearable.