Indicates sessions with Audience Response Systems (ARS) or Poll Everywhere available
Indicates sessions that require a ticket for attendance
Indicates Practice Management and Allied Staff Sessions Day Pass.
Indicates sessions with recordings available for purchase.Background: A 2010 survey conducted by the ADEA Future of Advanced Dental Education Admissions (ADEA/FADEA) Project ranked the parameters of an application that program directors most value as: letters of evaluation, class rank, NBDE I scores, and dental school GPA, respectively. In 2012, NDBE moved to pass/no-pass. Increasingly schools have adopted a pass/no-pass curriculum to promote learning environment. This paradigm shift has eliminated three of the top four criteria that the program directors use, thus creating debate on the candidate selection methodology. This unease is not limited to program directors. Candidates graduating from pass/no-pass curricula feel disadvantaged when compared with those graduating from traditionally graded curricula. In 2013, Oral Surgery programs implemented the use of CBSE to objectively assess their applicants.
Aims: The aim of this survey is to evaluate if students from pass/ no-pass curricula are disadvantaged when applying to OMS programs.
Methods: This survey based study was approved by Tufts University School of Dental Medicine IRB.
Face and Content validity of the 15 question survey was done at TUSDM by academic deans and program directors. Qualtrics®was used to facilitate the distribution and completion of surveys. Recruitment for the survey consisted of e-mailing all the OMFS program directors of postgraduate programs that participate in the ADEA Postdoctoral Application Support Service. The survey was sent out to 138 program directors.
Results: A total of 53(38.4%) program directors (M: 96% F: 4%) completed the survey. The three most important factors influencing the decision for selecting an applicant were Class Quartile/Ranking, Dental School Transcripts and NBME scores. The other factors listed in order of importance included applicant’s perceived interest in the program, feedback from current residents, recommendation letters, leadership skills and direct communication with the applicants. 96% of program directors do not think pass/no pass for NBDE was a change in the right direction. 81% of the respondents felt that school rank is a good gauge to measure the quality of applicants. Majority of respondents (92%) reported that the absence of a numerical score in the dental curriculum affects their ability to select candidates for their program.
Conclusion: There is very little research done on admission criteria for OMFS programs. A study conducted in 2000 reported that class rank was the important factor in resident selection. Results from this study show that the criteria has not changed in the past 15 years. With more schools moving in the direction of pass/fail, program directors acknowledge that there is over emphasis on CBSE scores. However, when class rank is unavailable CBSE scores are the most important factor in their decision.
References:
1. Valachovic R: Making the grade in a pass/fail environment: ghallenges for advanced dental education programs. Charting Progress, January 2015