Contemporary appraisal of factors influencing pediatric dental program directors' selection of residents

• Published in: Journal of dental education Vol. 84; no. 7; pp. 742 - 748
• Main Authors: Justema, Rosalee Beredo, Majewski, Robert F., Salzmann, Larry, Murdoch‐Kinch, Carol Anne, Boynton, James R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-07-2020
• Subjects: dental residency; Dentistry; graduate dental education; pediatric dentistry; graduate dental education; dental residency; pediatric dentistry
• DOI: 10.1002/jdd.12169
• EISSN: 1930-7837
• ISSN: 0022-0337

Purpose
With the increasing number of applicants and changes to information available in applications, pediatric dentistry program directors must adapt the resident selection process. The evaluation approach was significantly impacted when the National Board Dental Examination (NBDE) changed to a pass/fail grading system. The purposes of this are study to examine what criteria pediatric dentistry program directors now use to select residents, and to evaluate current criteria against those used in the past.
Methods
A 30‐item survey was structured similar to a previous questionnaire used in 2005. An invitation to participate was sent via email to all pediatric dentistry program directors for the 82 Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA)‐accredited programs located in the United States and Canada. Anonymous responses were analyzed.
Results
There were 58 responses (70.7% response rate). The overall most important factors were clinical grades, dental school class rank, dental school grade point average (GPA), and applicant's essay. The least important factors were the applicant being a graduate of the program's dental school, Advanced Dental Admission Test (ADAT) score, and applicant's fluency in a second language. The factor that had the most significant increase in importance from 2005 is the applicant's essay, followed by dental school reputation and the dental school's pediatric program reputation.
Conclusions
The most important factors to program directors are clinical grades, dental school class rank, dental school GPA, and applicant's essay. The applicant's essay has increased in importance since 2005.