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There have been several posts regarding the best major for ds admission. Some believe that biology is the way to go. The statistical information available from the 2007 and 2008 ADEA Official Guide to Dental Schools does not support the bio notion. The misconception may due to the fact ~50% of the applicants are bio majors. This belief may be compounded by encouragement from admission deans for upper division bio courses. The advice may be misinterpreted. How adcoms make decisions is anyone's guess, however, it does appear that a particular applicant pool of major (say bus) is being compared only to that subgroup rather than across the board. Thus, a business major with upper division bio may be a more competitive candidate than a business major without those courses. While engineering majors represent a small portion of both the applicant and enrollment pool, they appear to have an edge. Chemistry/physics and math/cs also have a slight edge over bio. "Pre-dent", other and no major appear to be at a more significant disadvantage than any other group. Notwithstanding this information, it is risky to choose a major only as a means to improve one's chance of acceptance since the choice may end up being the terminal degree.
It is noteworthy that % of enrollees represented in each subgroup parallels that of the applicant pool.
It is noteworthy that % of enrollees represented in each subgroup parallels that of the applicant pool.
Code:
[FONT="Courier New"]Undergrad Majors of DS Applicants/Enrollees
% Applicants % Enrollees % Rate of Enrollm
2004/05 2005/06 2004/05 2005/06 2004/05 2005/06
Bio 50.4 52.6 54.1 53.3 49.9 43.2
Chem/P 14.0 12.2 14.1 13.2 49.4 46.3
Eng 1.7 2.4 2.3 3.0 66.3 54.2
Math/CS 0.8 1.2 0.8 1.3 52.5 48.1
Soc Sci 0.7 1.3 0.8 1.0 54.1 32.2
Bus 3.7 3.7 4.2 3.7 55.6 43.3
Ed 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.6 51.4 42.9
Lang/Hu 2.7 2.7 3.0 2.9 54.1 42.5
Pre-D 14.8 12.3 13.2 11.4 43.7 39.4
Other 6.5 8.3 6.3 7.8 47.6 39.7
No Maj 4.1 2.7 3.3 1.7 39.4 26.9
Applic 10731 12010
Enroll 4558 4599
% Accep 42.5 38.3
Ratio 2.4 2.6
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