I'm ranking somewhere in the bottom 5% of my dental class. I have an avg of 80 on my Part I and my class gpa should be around a 2.3. I don't have any connections and was unable to make a good impression towards faculty members, meaning I'll probably get lukewarm recommendations. I go to one of the lowest ranking dental schools across the country, by the way.
I'm deciding on applying to general practice residency programs. I'm inclined to applying for the least popular programs. Does anyone have a list of the programs that are likely to accept people with stats like mine?
Now, suppose I get accepted to a lowly gpr program. Will I be missing out on anything in particular for not being in a good program? Will I have problems getting a job?
Also, the other thing that perplexes me is that some big-name hospitals have unfilled spots after the match process. How hard is it to get one of these post-match spots at seemingly-competitive hospitals?
Now, suppose I get accepted to a lowly gpr program. Will I be missing out on anything in particular for not being in a good program?
YES! 😱
try working at a medicaid clinic/ rural residency program for 12 months doing amalgams and simple extractions while the attending does the same amount work for a salary of 85K and you are learning nothing. not a good idea. accreditation does not mean much.
try to go to a good program or just work. you will be fine. you will learn more at CE courses then spending a year at a bad residency.
Don't sell yourself short. Find some programs that appeal to you and apply. As others said, a bad residency is worse than no residency. Do you REALLY want to do a fifth year of dental school.
Can anyone here be a little more specific in answering my original questions?
Also, I understand the importance of going to a good gpr program but wouldn't they obviously want applicants with better grades and recs? How am I going to apply if I don't have a realistic chance?
As for 'bad' gpr programs, can someone here share with us where these are at? With the exception of big-name hospitals, I don't know which are good programs and which are bad.
