2014 Ortho Interview Dates

[toothboy]

Just got back from the Ortho interview at WVU.

The new place is very nice but I watched all the residents sit around all morning when they were supposed to be seeing patients. They had to stress mult. times that they have plenty of patients I am assuming this means they have a lack of patients?

The only school I have been to where the residents were honest was Pitt. They said there is a patient problem with 2 faculty members leaving and starting a school 30 miles away. They actually told me they do not start and finish the cases they did in the past and it is really hurting the program. Thank you for being honest.

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[gryffindor]

I really don't care for match. If they want a system to favor the applicant, why not just offer positions and let the applicant choose the program.

Because match basically accomplishes the same thing. If you get multiple acceptances, you would have to rank them at home and ultimately only choose 1 acceptance and turn the others down. The schools that you turn down then have to go to the next person on their list. The only difference is that match forces you to rank your interviews and attend as many interviews as possible to have the best odds of getting an acceptance. Match also feels a lot more nerve-wracking since you don't actually hold acceptances at those schools. You are ranking interviews so it's only a chance of an acceptance. For schools that invite 45 candidates for 3 spots, this is really unfair to the majority of those candidates because beyond the first 8 - 10 people on that school's rank list, the rest of the 35 candidates stand no realistic shot at getting in to that program.

Through match, the decision comes on one day at the same time for everyone, so you either get in and start making plans to attend your ortho school, or you don't get in and start working on your back up plan. Post-match is not going to be a reality for the majority of those who don't get in, so it doesn't really factor into people's back up plans. If there wasn't match, this process could drag out for a long time.

I was not a fan of match either and I have no idea if the other way used to work better or not in the days before the match. Maybe people didn't apply to so many schools back then either. I remember asking area orthodontists who finished in the mid 90s how many schools they applied to and they would answer like 2 - 8 programs. How many of you in 2013 applied to less than 10 programs? My point is match only works if everyone plays along, and that means schools and candidates.

 

[hopefullyortho]

Just got back from the Ortho interview at WVU.

The new place is very nice but I watched all the residents sit around all morning when they were supposed to be seeing patients. They had to stress mult. times that they have plenty of patients I am assuming this means they have a lack of patients?

The only school I have been to where the residents were honest was Pitt. They said there is a patient problem with 2 faculty members leaving and starting a school 30 miles away. They actually told me they do not start and finish the cases they did in the past and it is really hurting the program. Thank you for being honest.

I totally agree with u Toothboy. I got the same impression at WV. actually I asked two third year resident how many patients u started with, one replied saying 45 patients, another resident told me over 80 !!! But I only saw one patient during the morning session. Pitts residents were very honest and happy.

 

[playa2652]

Just got back from the Ortho interview at WVU.

The new place is very nice but I watched all the residents sit around all morning when they were supposed to be seeing patients. They had to stress mult. times that they have plenty of patients I am assuming this means they have a lack of patients?

The only school I have been to where the residents were honest was Pitt. They said there is a patient problem with 2 faculty members leaving and starting a school 30 miles away. They actually told me they do not start and finish the cases they did in the past and it is really hurting the program. Thank you for being honest.

It's really funny, one of the residents at Seton Hill who went to WVU stated that the chair at WVU stated Seton Hill was not going to have enough patients. The patient pool at Seton Hill has grown since it first started, now all residents will be starting 50 cases.

 

[Seekingortho]

A few things
1) Your stats seem good. What was your class rank?

2) Yes, you should've applied to more than 17 schools. Some schools never take anyone but students from their own dental school and maybe 1 token resident who didn't go to the dental school. Some never take grads with experience. If you had a bunch of these types of schools on your list, you never had a real chance at those places.

3) I bet a lot of practicing orthodontists and maybe even those orthos on the admissions committees don't really know what Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry is. As an ortho myself, all I know is that it involves taking a lot of CE and an exam and probably makes you a better GP. But how a bunch of CE in things like implants and endo is going to translate to making you a better ortho candidate....I don't know.

4) Though Craniofaical Pain and TMD are very important subjects that you would think would be helpful in an ortho applications... I can't remember TMD ever coming up during the ortho interviews with the faculty or even by the residents when they talk about their clinical experience. So again, your CE in this might not be getting noticed like you think it would.

5) Ortho seems to looove people who are something other than dentists. If all you wrote about was your passion for being a good dentist and skipped the fact that you do Tough Mudder events in between all those AGD Fellowship classes, your essay may have been overlooked.

Thanks for the advice, you make a good point about, will have to approach things in a different way.......

 

[charlestweed]

Just got back from the Ortho interview at WVU.

The new place is very nice but I watched all the residents sit around all morning when they were supposed to be seeing patients. They had to stress mult. times that they have plenty of patients I am assuming this means they have a lack of patients?

The only school I have been to where the residents were honest was Pitt. They said there is a patient problem with 2 faculty members leaving and starting a school 30 miles away. They actually told me they do not start and finish the cases they did in the past and it is really hurting the program. Thank you for being honest.

You should be fine with 45-55 starts. Less than that should be fine too. The reason the residents sit around all morning is most patients are teenagers and their parents don’t want them to miss school. At my ortho program, I usually spent my morning doing research, tracing cephs, reading books, making ortho appliances, and going over the tx plans with the clinical instructors etc. At my private practices, I do the same thing….I schedule all of my patients from 2pm-6pm.

I’ve also heard that Pittsburgh program has the problem with getting new patients. I know an orthodontist who graduated from Pittsburgh who also works at the same dental chain with me. My assistants, who also assist this orthodontist, says that she is a very good and fast. It’s not really important where you attend school.

 

[Silent Cool]

You should be fine with 45-55 starts. Less than that should be fine too. The reason the residents sit around all morning is most patients are teenagers and their parents don’t want them to miss school. At my ortho program, I usually spent my morning doing research, tracing cephs, reading books, making ortho appliances, and going over the tx plans with the clinical instructors etc. At my private practices, I do the same thing….I schedule all of my patients from 2pm-6pm.

I’ve also heard that Pittsburgh program has the problem with getting new patients. I know an orthodontist who graduated from Pittsburgh who also works at the same dental chain with me. My assistants, who also assist this orthodontist, says that she is a very good and fast. It’s not really important where you attend school.

+1.
Just go to the cheapest, shortest program possible!

 

[Silent Cool]

I definitely agree with you Gryffindor on your explanation about the MATCH/Non-Match process. It does suck having to decide where you want to go before checking out all your options. It isn't fair, but that is just how it is.

This year was my second year applying for ortho and after not matching last year (interviewed at 4 programs, 1 non-match), I will say that the biggest advice I can offer is take what you can get (my opinion). Last year, I thought I had a good shot at one of my interviews and when MATCH day arrived, I was shocked to find out I didn't get into an orthodontics program. Luckily this year, I interviewed at Seton Hill and loved the program, faculty, facilities, staff, and residents. It had everything I was looking for in a program. Usually there are 7 positions available but this year there were only 3 spots available since the 4 other spots were already occupied. When I got the phone call from Seton, I was super excited because I got into the ortho program I always wanted to be in. So to summarize, be humble and take what you can get.

If I had to reapply for ortho again, it would have cost me a ton of money. Btw, Seton Hill charges about $165,000 for a 2.5 year program.

Playa,
How many programs did you apply to the first year?
With the cost of Seton, what do you expect your total debt load to be?

thanx
-sc

 

[orthoapp123]

I have a question:
of the six schools I applied to this round, I received one interview. If I submit a ROLIC list to match and I were to match at that school, does that act as a binding contract, in other words, am I locked into attending that residency program?

 

[Tooth]

I have a question:
of the six schools I applied to this round, I received one interview. If I submit a ROLIC list to match and I were to match at that school, does that act as a binding contract, in other words, am I locked into attending that residency program?

I don't thinks so. I think the Match says the program has to send you an offer within 10 days and you have to respond within 30 days of the match. I may be wrong but I think that's how it works.

 

[chuckd303]

I have a question:
of the six schools I applied to this round, I received one interview. If I submit a ROLIC list to match and I were to match at that school, does that act as a binding contract, in other words, am I locked into attending that residency program?

I think it is a binding agreement. As per their website--As indicated in the Applicant Agreement which you must accept in order to register for the Match, the Match result constitutes a binding commitment from which neither the applicant nor the program can withdraw. A program must offer an appointment to each applicant with whom it is matched, and the applicant must accept the offer from the program. Alleged violations of the policies of the Match will be reported to the appropriate sponsoring organizations and sanctions will be imposed on applicants or programs that violate their Match agreements. I know someone who applied for a specialty, matched, and then had second thoughts so he backed out on the agreement. Because of that he was unable to participate in the match again. He ended up getting into another specialty but was unable to use the match process to do so. I'm curious. Do you not like the program where you got your interview?

 

[toothboy]

Anyone attend washington hospital center?

I was there and I could not believe what I saw...
3 chairs for 4 residents in a dark basement.
A resident room with 2 computers and room for two but they fit 6 people in there.
There lab could fit one person at a time.
Also one of the residents graduating in 8 months has only started 25 cases (which is a program low for me) and said he will not be starting anymore.

Dr. Hallman is an awesome lady thou but the program just really lacks in ortho experiences

I hope this helps future applicants.