AccessOMFS Readers,
With great hesitation, I have implemented a rating system for program externships. At this time, I am running it as a beta test to check functionality and to see if everyone is well enough behaved to have a informative rating system without it devolving into a pissing match. The goal for the rating system is to help those interested in OMFS evaluate the ideal place for them to extern to help meet their goals. In other words, create a Yelp-like system for OMFS.
The reason externships were chosen to be ranked instead of whole programs is two-fold. First, the criteria of what makes an externship good versus bad is incredibly small and almost one-dimensional compared to what makes a program good. A good externship is one that typically allows a lot of hands on work, keeps you busy, and teaches you useful skills/information. A program that has a poorer externship is one that either doesn’t exist or doesn’t let you do anything (shadow only). Although there are obviously more criteria that can be ranked such as call-room accomodations, atmosphere, et.c, those are very minor in relation to work load and ability to participate. The second reason externships were chosen to be rated instead of programs is because the intention of this site is to help those applying to OMFS. A true rating of a program can only realistically be evaluated by a resident in the program or one that has enough experience in residency to know what components of a program make it good. Since the readers of this site are largely applicants, useful feedback from residents is limited. Additionally, the idea of what makes a program good is largely subjective. For example, someone who only wants to only do extractions and implants is likely to rate programs that only do dentoalveolar as “better” than one that has a large number of microvascular cases and vice versa.
If a large number of positive responses come from this beta test, the goal would be to expand the rating system to include a multi-axis rating system of entire programs. These criteria could include breakdown of case load (i.e ranking of trauma, dentoalveolar, microvascular, etc), work/life balance, atmosphere, or any other number of things. However, if there is a lack of interest, or if the ratings and comments are deemed unhelpful, I’ll scrap it altogether. The idea isn’t to say that one program is better than another, but to help candidates evaluate programs that may be a good fit for them. With that being said, I hope to hear from everyone how their externships experiences were and to accumulate some feedback to share with others in the future!
To rank an externship, find the program on the AccessOMFS Program Database or use the site searchbar. At the bottom of the program page, there will be a 5-star ranking system above the comment box. Please leave a star value and associated commentary. Also, be aware that any rating requires a comment and that inflammatory statements or ratings without commentary will be deleted.
I plan to leave this in beta test for a few months to guage interest and update program page information (let me know via contact page if information is out-of-date). Mid-late summer I will report back with the results, and plans for the system in the future.
Note: All reviews by default are anonymous.
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