When to think about specializing?

[smiletiger98]

Hi everyone,

I'm a D1 and finished my first semester strong and I am proud of my performance. There is a lot of talk with my classmates and friends who are pursuing specialties already, and by pursuing I guess I mean dreaming since we only just finished the first semester. I know that it's important to start strong if I want to specialize because those programs can be very competitive, but I just don't know when I should start considering whether I want to specialize, or if I set myself up to even have a shot. I finished with a 3.765 (all A's and two B's in a lecture/lab), which again I am incredibly proud of. I shadowed a lot of endodontists during undergrad, so naturally I am interested in that specialty, but I feel like it may be too early for me to say that I want to pursue it because we haven't really learned anything about endo except for what was covered in our dental anatomy course. I guess my question comes in two forms: Can I afford to make anymore B's and still be competitive if I decide to pursue a specialty like endo? Is it too early for me to even consider whether or not I am interested in pursuing a specialty? I simply ask because I have seen many classmates put a great amount of pressure on themselves to earn the highest grades in the class for the sake of having a shot of specializing, and I am not sure if want to go down that same path seeing how it has affected them throughout the first 5 months of dental school.

Thanks!

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[Mr.Smile12]

There are many layers in this question on specializing.

Have you attended any seminars where faculty and residents in each specialty talk about what they do? Sometimes these talks occur really early in the year, especially in the form of journal clubs. Often faculty declare an open door policy for students to ask questions and arrange for shadowing or assisting.

 

[princeafrica]

You can't afford to take more B's. At least if you were in my class&school. Which means this is very class dependent. Reality is your 3.75 could be in top 10 of your class or 20-30. In my class a 3.75 is like #35/80... So I recommend asking about your rank as you will need to keep both your GPA and rank as high as you can.

It is not too early to start thinking. I would keep exploring and shadow different specialist. If your school has speciality residency programs I'd ask to shadow or maybe get some hands on work in there as well. The earlier you are able to figure out what you want to specialize the more prepared you will be when it comes time to apply.

 

[ncide]

Even if you still are unsure of specializing towards the end of your dental school education, you can always go to a GPR/AEGD to get a hands on feel of other speciality procedures. You can go to a program that have attendings in those specialties, and work on those cases directly with them. Some programs are heavy in trauma and exts, others implants and perio, others endo, or some have heavy clinical exposures in several fields combined. Endo programs tend to like experience and having gone through a GPR/AEGD can look favorable for residency. Just a thing to keep in mind.

 

[ilikeur3rds]

I don’t think it’s ever “too early” to consider anything about your career. After all, that is what dental school is for. If you have a specialty in mind definitely try to see how you can get involved in that department and do your best to stay on top of grades. They are important but not everything, often times people forget that your ability to network and having a decent personality can be way more important than fighting over a few grade points here or there (As long as your are doing well overall). In fact I was talking to a OMS program director that I know decently well and they do not even consider GPA or class rank when evaluating candidates (crazy to hear I know). Do your best, but don’t work yourself to death.

Also, if you decide after another year or two that the specialty isn’t for you that is ok too all you’ve done is help your future career/ education in that field.

 

[juniordentist]

I'm an orthodontist. When I was going through dental school I looked around at everyone else and thought "how am I going to get better grades than all of these people, who are already the cream of the crop, and beat them to get into a specialty". I put my thoughts on specializing away and just focused on passing and getting through dental school.
Ultimately, passing dental school is all you need to do, don't put excess pressure on yourself. Don't spend the next 3 years stressing about having to be the best. Life is too short, dental school is hard and stressful enough without the added pressure. I am so happy I didn't spend all my years at dental school stressing to be the top.
If you want to specialise, there are always paths to do it, even if your grades aren't great. You may even find that you don't want to specialise.
Don't waste years of your life in dental school stressing about being the top. Get through dental school, try enjoy your years as best you can, and when you finish and get your final grades, then figure out how to specialise from there. It's possible no matter what grades you get, it might just take more attempts/ be more expensive/ require extra steps.
I couldn't think of anything worse than going back to first year and having the added stress of having to beat all my peers because I wanted to specialise

 

[charlestweed]

Imo, it's best to work hard now to keep your class rank as high as possible. The spots for the 3 "good and desirable" specialties (endo, ortho OS) are usually taken by the applicants with good grades or unique resume. With high rank, you get to pick the cheap (stipend) program to attend and will be faced with less debt burden in the future. A lot of people with low to average stats had to apply to ultra expensive programs with the hope that they could get in. You are in dental school; you have no life anyway. So why not spend all your energy to maintain high class rank? To get into an endo program straight out of school, you will need good stats since most endo programs prefer applicants with private practice experience. If you don't mind spending a couple of years working and then applying for endo (and further delayed gratification), then I guess you can take it easy now. One of the rules of life is the harder you work now, the greater the rewards (less debt, less work, more saving, early retirement etc) you will earn later on. And it's much easier to put in more effort when you are still young and healthy. Life is too short. Can't work forever.

 

[dentalinthemental]

You are in dental school; you have no life anyway. So why not spend all your energy to maintain high class rank?

While I don’t think it’s bad to try your best in school, this advice is a one way ticket to burning out. It is very possible to have a fulfilling/fun life, hobbies, and also be very successful in dental school. Most of the kids at my school who matched to Ortho/OMS not only studied hard but also played hard and had a lot of fun while in school… got married, had kids, traveled the world, you name it.

Try your best in school and explore different specialties. Don’t agonize over B’s if you know you did your best. I know kids who matched into Ortho/OMS (great programs too!) and were middle of their class but had a serious passion. Grades aren’t everything. Definitely have a life in school. It’s just a job.

 

[charlestweed]

While I don’t think it’s bad to try your best in school, this advice is a one way ticket to burning out. It is very possible to have a fulfilling/fun life, hobbies, and also be very successful in dental school. Most of the kids at my school who matched to Ortho/OMS not only studied hard but also played hard and had a lot of fun while in school… got married, had kids, traveled the world, you name it.

Try your best in school and explore different specialties. Don’t agonize over B’s if you know you did your best. I know kids who matched into Ortho/OMS (great programs too!) and were middle of their class but had a serious passion. Grades aren’t everything. Definitely have a life in school. It’s just a job.

From my own life's experience, I think it's easier to handle the higher workload, longer work hours, and higher stress level when you are young, healthy, and have no kids. Hard work in dental school right now is nothing in comparison to what you will have to face after graduation. I think you will know what I am talking about when you have a family of your own and have to assume more responsibilities in addition to the work related responsibilities.

Sure, you can match to a specialty program without high class rank and still have fun while in dental school but probably not to a cheap program.... and you will end up with a huge debt like the infamous orthodontist with $1 million debt. With such massive debt, you will get burnout from your job more quickly. I am glad I no longer have to worry about work and paying bills anymore. I don't like to work hard either......but I am glad I did when I was younger. I feel bad for those who are at my age and are unhappy with their jobs.

It's actually not that bad when you put all your effort in all your classes and then you will be rewarded with As at the end of the semester. You will feel very proud of your accomplishment. It's like running my own practice. When I first started my own practice, I was actually very happy and excited to start a new case even if I had to stay late. I am very proud of my practice. It's totally opposite from working for someone else. When I work for the corp, I hate it when I have to start a new case late in the day.

 

[D1Bound]

I would start considering it right now. I have had a few GPs heavily encourage me to become a specialist. I put a lot of weight on advice from older more experienced docs.

 

[Cold Front]

Hi everyone,

I'm a D1 and finished my first semester strong and I am proud of my performance. There is a lot of talk with my classmates and friends who are pursuing specialties already, and by pursuing I guess I mean dreaming since we only just finished the first semester. I know that it's important to start strong if I want to specialize because those programs can be very competitive, but I just don't know when I should start considering whether I want to specialize, or if I set myself up to even have a shot. I finished with a 3.765 (all A's and two B's in a lecture/lab), which again I am incredibly proud of. I shadowed a lot of endodontists during undergrad, so naturally I am interested in that specialty, but I feel like it may be too early for me to say that I want to pursue it because we haven't really learned anything about endo except for what was covered in our dental anatomy course. I guess my question comes in two forms: Can I afford to make anymore B's and still be competitive if I decide to pursue a specialty like endo? Is it too early for me to even consider whether or not I am interested in pursuing a specialty? I simply ask because I have seen many classmates put a great amount of pressure on themselves to earn the highest grades in the class for the sake of having a shot of specializing, and I am not sure if want to go down that same path seeing how it has affected them throughout the first 5 months of dental school.

Thanks!

Congrats. Doing so well in D1 is like doing well in the first 10-20 meters in a 100m race. Hopefully you can finish the race strong with that advantage. Your interest in specializing could definitely change in D3 once you enter the clinic and see patients. I did ton of endo as a general dentist, probably more than some endodontists. But I would never do additional training to limit myself from general dentistry. Keep your options open until you get a feel for everything dentistry has to offer.

 

[Allthebags]

You’ll find that out of every 10 people that say they want to specialize by the end of D1, only 1-2 actually end up specializing. Don’t compare yourself to others; just put your head down, put in the work, shadow different specialists, and by D3 you should have a better idea of things.