Everyone knows you have to have the grades to get there, but what else? Say you're top 10% of your class. Is that enough? What other things are programs looking for?
What does it take to specialize?
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--Get the highest class rank possible.
--Perform research and publish if possible.
--Get the best letters possible.
--Apply to as many programs as possible--this is actually one of the most important points. Many people fail to match because they apply to too few programs. Instead of applying to 7 programs, apply to 40. Be willing to train anywhere.
good luck.
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Lol - almost as bad as the shave your ankles joke
im a D1- thinking about prost, ortho, OS. grades arent as high as i would like im a B student overall. class isnt ranked.
what should i do this summer? not a fan of research but will do what needs to be done to help my chances. anything besides research that i can do/ you recommend?
what should i do this summer? not a fan of research but will do what needs to be done to help my chances. anything besides research that i can do/ you recommend?
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Research and get a good letter out of it. Try to ensure that your efforts will get published and you will be an author. Ask to present at a conference.
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would dual degree programs during your DDS/DMD help your resume/app for specializing?
specifically schools that offer MBAs and MPH's
specifically schools that offer MBAs and MPH's
what about shadowing? working in a clinic? (with as little as i can do)
YES im curious about this as well. was just talking to someone about MBA today.
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I would not waste your time (and especially you money) on getting another degree. That will do little good for specializing. Specializing is mostly about grades and scores and research.
clinic after D1?
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MBAs and MPHs will not help you specialize -- they are simply not relevant to the clinical dental specialties. They will not make up for poor grades. On the upside, specializing really isn't as hard as people make it seem. You'll understand this when you're a senior and your colleagues go through the MATCH.
not hard? then why cant everyone get into the specialty they want?
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Yup.
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DAT,
The main reason is that most people don't apply to enough programs, and the value of class rank is overstated in the MATCH process.
Peruse the Ortho match thread(s), and you will quickly realize that a great many people applied only to a handful of programs. Many high quality candidates did not match because they applied to perhaps 6 or 7 schools. That's not enough. All orthodontic applicants (I'm picking on ortho here), should be applying to as many programs as they can reasonably afford. Get a second credit card if you need to. No one program is practically better than the other. Go to the shortest program at the lowest cost possible.
The number-one ranked student at the University of Washington a few years back did not match Ortho. Why? She applied to only ~5 programs, and they were all "top-ranked" programs (whatever that means).
Lesson: it's a numbers game. Apply to as many programs as possible.
Next, many top-performing dental students (top 20%, let's say), choose never to apply to specialties. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that the earning potential of a smart, business-minded GP is probably higher than that of any specialist. Granted, this would require extensive CE and ownership of >1 practice, but the potential is there.
You need to do well in order to specialize, but you don't need to perform that well.
Your efforts to specialize would be best served by getting the highest grades possible, and then focusing on research and publishing.
Last but not least: never underestimate the power of kissing major A$$--that will yield much greater returns than any MPH or MBA will for your dental career.
good luck.
thank you for breaking it down. really appreciate it. As you can see im not really sure what direction to head in but you did clear things up
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How much does it cost to apply per program? Is it centralized like aadsas?
I don't feel research is important at all.
I think grades/class rank/board score (ie. academics) are king, sadly. After that, you have to know some people (externships, LORs, through your school) and make good impressions at interviews (maybe lie a bit as well) - for different specialties/programs that means different things. A pedo interview is much different than an endo/omfs interview.
The fact that ~55% of pedo/omfs/ortho applicants end up matching, tell me that it is quite difficult to match, but that is how I'm defining difficulty.... 1 in 2 is not good odds. That's 1 in 2 people who received atleast one interview, and would like to do these specialties don't get accepted. [And if you make the argument that those who don't match the first year will match the second year they apply; then I'll make the argument that in the next year, first time applicants will have an even lower successful matching rate ( < 55%).]
If you really want it: applying again, in subsequent rounds, will help (after doing GPRs, fellowships, internships, etc). I guess some people apply once then give up - it makes me wonder if they really wanted it in the first place...
I think grades/class rank/board score (ie. academics) are king, sadly. After that, you have to know some people (externships, LORs, through your school) and make good impressions at interviews (maybe lie a bit as well) - for different specialties/programs that means different things. A pedo interview is much different than an endo/omfs interview.
The fact that ~55% of pedo/omfs/ortho applicants end up matching, tell me that it is quite difficult to match, but that is how I'm defining difficulty.... 1 in 2 is not good odds. That's 1 in 2 people who received atleast one interview, and would like to do these specialties don't get accepted. [And if you make the argument that those who don't match the first year will match the second year they apply; then I'll make the argument that in the next year, first time applicants will have an even lower successful matching rate ( < 55%).]
If you really want it: applying again, in subsequent rounds, will help (after doing GPRs, fellowships, internships, etc). I guess some people apply once then give up - it makes me wonder if they really wanted it in the first place...
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I'm such a nice guy. I went back to my 10/2012 bank statement to find out how much my application to ~ 24 schools costed: $1800. Yes it is centralized: ADEA PASS/MATCH. Some schools have supplemental fees: on this same month's bill I see one school's supp fee as $105, but can't find any others... You have to mail a bunch of stuff to them (some of which you have to buy - official transcripts, official board scores), sometimes express mail, or atleast priority mail to have some record of it being received,.... Then factor in flights/car rentals/bus tickets/hotels. I think I estimated once that this whole ordeal cost me about $6000 (I went to about 12 interviews). When I think about it now... $6k seems too much... maybe closer to $4k or 5k.
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I have to mention a few of Contach's points:
1) Board scores are no longer relevant. A couple of years ago, the dental boards became pass fail. I think the exception is the CBSE for oral surgery.
2) Regarding the acceptance rate, you have to take that with a grain of salt. As I mentioned previously, many if not most applicants are not smart about how they apply. Yes, specialties are competitive and yes, you need decent scores to get into programs. But if you are willing to attend any program then you will probably get in as long as your scores are in the upper half of the class. If you are a truly bottom-tier applicant, then it is unlikely you will get into ortho, etc.. But my feeling is that most bottom-tier dental students don't care about specializing--they are content with passing. Note also that the absence of rankings at schools like PENN, Harvard and USC is one benefit of paying their absurdly inflated costs. A couple of years ago, something like 16 people matched Ortho from PENN. I think that 16 or 17 applied--that successful match rate is in no small part due to the absence of rankings (outside of the top 10%) at PENN.
To make a long story short, be a smart applicant--apply to as many programs as you possibly can, be willing to go anywhere and, as Contach mentioned, be willing to perform internships, etc.., to get where you want to go and you most likely will end up there.
good luck.
Fair point. Here are some more:
- Consider those students who want to specialize but don't apply because they don't think they have the grades/application to get in... This population is not represented in the 45% of people who don't match. If these people applied, they'd increase the % of people who don't match every year. There is an inherent selection bias in those who apply (they are on average, better applicants than those who decide not to apply), and once you add this to the fact that only 55% of these self-selected people match... it makes me think, that if everyone who wanted to specialize applied (whether they think they would get in or not), the match rate may be much, much lower.
- Consider the students who applied but didn't get any interviews, and thus were not able to submit a rank list. They are not included in the natmatch.com's statistics. If you included these individuals: the match rate would go lower.
