What made you stand out when applying to residencies?

[flamingo93]

Hello everyone, I am a D1 with a GPA of 3.6-3.7 and strong leadership roles right out of the gate. I also have a leadership role outside of school. I am interested in peds and perio. What did you do to standout when applying for residencies outside of performing well?

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[Lemillion]

-Externships to residency programs
-Seeing patients/shadowing current peds/perio residents at your dental school
-Research or assisting residents with their research in those specialities
-Attending the annual specialty conferences (good way to network)
-Interest clubs
-Setting up meetings with faculty members to learn about their journey and gather advice from them in what they look for in an applicant

 

[Slueman33]

Hello everyone, I am a D1 with a GPA of 3.6-3.7 and strong leadership roles right out of the gate. I also have a leadership role outside of school. I am interested in peds and perio. What did you do to standout when applying for residencies outside of performing well?

How do you define strong leadership roles in your d1 year? What roles exactly are you referring to because it’s hard to imagine a d1 finding any leadership role worthwhile.

 

[Ortho-ftd]

LORs and research

 

[experiment626]

Get letters of rec from your professors. Connections are everything!

 

[BooksBeforeLooks]

-Externships to residency programs
-Seeing patients/shadowing current peds/perio residents at your dental school
-Research or assisting residents with their research in those specialities
-Attending the annual specialty conferences (good way to network)
-Interest clubs
-Setting up meetings with faculty members to learn about their journey and gather advice from them in what they look for in an applicant

I agree with everything here^^

Additionally I found it helpful to take a few days off and set up meetings with program directors and tour programs before formal interviews. It was really useful to be able to compare and contrast programs when asked "why do you want to come here." It also let's you get a feel for different programs before you apply.

In terms of standing out, make your personality shine in your PS. When program directors are building a residency class, they are looking for people that will work well together. Figure out what really sets you apart from everyone else and what makes you interesting.

 

[stealyoface]

Build a good relationship with your home program. It’ll help not only your chances at matching there, but also improve your chances at others. It will allow you to get solid letters of rec as well as show that you’re serious and give you things to talk about in interviews