WHY THIS Dental PROGRAM/SPECIALTY?

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  A NATURAL FIT INTO THE SPECIALTY

The most relevant answer to the residency interview question “Why this specialty?” is to, obviously, showcase your natural fit into the stream. In simpler terms, you should talk about how you are naturally endowed with the precise skills the specialty calls for. Not just tell, but show. 

While all specialties call for excellent hand skills, patient interaction, and team-playing abilities, each one also calls for certain specific traits. A winning interview with a memorable recall value is one where you can clearly establish your flair for those exact qualities. 

For instance,

• Prosthodontics involves extensive fabrication and craftsmanship abilities. If you can tie it up with, say, an award-winning model you had ideated and crafted or your outstanding lego-building skills, you have established a correlation that proves your natural fit into Prosthodontics.
• Pediatrics calls for extreme patience levels attuned to handling children. Here you can talk about volunteering at children’s homes early on or having doubled up as the babysitter for your cousins. These can be vividly portrayed as valuable add-ons that have shaped you for a residency in Pediatrics. 
• Dental Public Health encompasses policy making at a macro level and extensive research skills along with a strong social conscience. Anyone with a strong community-oriented purpose, good planning, and organizing skills, alongside a strong flair for research and analysis, can make an effective case for this residency. 
• Endodontics warrants intricate hand skills and an eye for detail. So, suppose you are a henna or mandala art enthusiast with exquisite dexterity and a penchant for perfection. In that case, you can capitalize on that talent of yours and talk about it in the interview to showcase the specialty as your automatic choice!

Interestingly, in the past, we have encountered applicants who displayed their art work in the background (in case of an online interview) and others who have exhibited print-outs of their work during the in-person interview! Such out-of-the-box techniques may decidedly catch your interviewer’s eye and attention. 

Outlandish as it may sound, these traits of yours need not always be centered around dentistry! As mentioned above, even your obsession with Lego blocks could indicate your inherent talent to craft, create, and fabricate! All you need to do is establish a direct connection between the prerequisites of the specialty and your natural abilities. In a nutshell, your narrative should sound like the below equation:

 Requirements of the specialty = Precise skills you possess

So, how can you position yourself as the ideal candidate for that discipline during residency? The below infographic outlines the steps to help you do just that.

• Identify the traits the specialty calls for
• Recollect instances from your experiences//hobbies/talents that showcase such traits in you
• Prepare a brief yet convincing answer connecting these two.

And lo, you have the perfect response to your interviewer’s “why do you want to pursue this specialty?”

• AN ACQUIRED INTEREST IN THE SPECIALTY

But then, not everyone is blessed with a clear vision of who they are or what they want at the outset. For most of us, the genuine answer to that question is, at best, ambiguous. It often happened to be what you were exposed to or serendipitously chose and later excelled at. Thus, the specialty is an acquired/developed interest. 

Now, is that something you can divulge to your interviewer? Yes, but in not as many terms. So, instead, you need to center the conversation around 

• How did you develop/acquire an interest 

There are multiple ways in which you can frame an answer as to how you acquired an interest in a particular specialty. While the truth is the most recommended reason, here are some more possible ones that can help you clarify your choice to the interviewer. 

1. 1. Clinical rotation – You could always talk about how your clinical rotation introduced you to the various specialties and one became particularly attractive to you. For instance, Prostho could have become fascinating given the amount of time you spent at the lab, mastering the art of crafting those perfect dentures or relining them. Or spending a lot of time treating a specific patient pool (seniors, children, etc) could have influenced your decision.
   2. Personal experience – Having gone through a particular procedure yourself could have lent a charm to that specialty, say, all those sessions for braces as a child, led you to favor Orthodontics.  
   3. Research – This is truer for applicants who were equanimous toward multiple specialties. Talking about how you meticulously researched the specialty in question, the technology it entails, its current trends and future prospects, and how they align well with your background and aspirations is always a memorable answer. 
   4. Association/Practice/Externship – It is quite likely that you practiced (after your undergradation)/undertook an externship at a specialty setting and were thus more exposed to that discipline. Or you enrolled in an association pertinent to that specialty. Naturally, that sense of familiarity prompted your choice of specialty. 
   5. External Influences – Becoming inspired by mentors and role models who are practitioners of a distinct specialty, or by motivational books/talk shows/conferences make a fairly good case for your choice of specialty. We vividly remember a female candidate bowled over by a study titled “Women in Prosthodontics” by the American College of Prosthodontists and decided to apply to multiple Prosthodontics Residency programs. What is interesting is that she got interviewed at a premier school by one of the co-authors of the book herself!
   6. Previous Residency – Often, applicants with a Masters/Residency from their home country seek to pursue the same as part of the PASS Programl. While we strongly recommend aligning your answer to one of the above-mentioned options, you can mention your previous degree as a rationale as well behind your current choice. As an Oral Surgeon, it is only natural that you are attuned to the demands of your discipline and want to continue being one in the US too. 

• Other Reasons – You could quote your favorite aspects of being that specialist or, depending on the environment, the pecuniary aspects of the particular specialty (without making it the focal point of your response).