How Easy Is Getting into Optometry and Dental School compared to Medical School?

[omegaz50]

I'm a premed but just wondering...
Also, let's throw in pharmacy school just for the lulz.

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[Rootz90]

I'm a premed but just wondering...
Also, let's throw in pharmacy school just for the lulz.

In my opinion

MD
DO/DMD
OPTO
Pharm

 

[Hemorrage]

In my opinion

MD
DO/DMD
OPTO
Pharm

Pharm should be up with DO/DMD.. its fairly competitive to get in

 

[Cuongoff]

We should toss Caribbean MD schools somewhere in the list

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I'm a premed but just wondering...
Also, let's throw in pharmacy school just for the lulz.

Optometry and dental are not at all on the same level with regards to admissions.

 

[cheechootrain]

Pharm should be up with DO/DMD.. its fairly competitive to get in

Depends where you live. Almost everyone I knew got into pharmacy school and some, I was surprised they even got an interview invite. Then again, California doesn't require the PCAT...

 

[lobo.solo]

It's easier, I think

 

[La Presse]

Depends where you live. Almost everyone I knew got into pharmacy school and some, I was surprised they even got an interview invite. Then again, California doesn't require the PCAT...

Yeah...I think MA does not require it either. I was actually tempted to apply ucsf pharm .


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[PreMedOrDead]

 

[Brachyury]

Vet school is more difficult to get into than med school because there are so few spots

 

[Sephiroth]

Vet school is more difficult to get into than med school because there are so few spots

It depends on what definitions you're using for words like "difficult" or "competitive". There are fewer spots for vet school, absolutely. However, they tend to have somewhat lower admissions standards as well. Of the 28 vet schools in the US, 17 have mean undergrad GPA's below 3.6. Standardized tests are harder to compare, and though this just may be my math-elitism in play here, but hardly any math gre means at or above 700 seems low to me. (data may be a couple years old)

 

[notbobtrustme]

MD = DDS/DMD. The average matriculant for both degrees have roughly the same uGPA (3.6ish). I'm not sure how the DAT breaks down in terms of percentiles but I'd wager it's roughly the same as the MCAT, meaning you need to score in the 80%+ percentile.

DO comes next, in terms of competitiveness. If you want it, you can get into DO school. Even if you completely failed out of college with a 1.0 GPA, with enough retakes, you can get in.

PharmD probably comes next. but at this point, it gets a bit hazy. The average GPA at most Pharm schools is like 3.3-3.5, you don't need to do stellar on the PCAT and ECs aren't that important compared to MD/DO/DDS.

No idea about optometry school.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

MD = DDS/DMD. The average matriculant for both degrees have roughly the same uGPA (3.6ish). I'm not sure how the DAT breaks down in terms of percentiles but I'd wager it's roughly the same as the MCAT, meaning you need to score in the 80%+ percentile.

DO comes next, in terms of competitiveness. If you want it, you can get into DO school. Even if you completely failed out of college with a 1.0 GPA, with enough retakes, you can get in.

PharmD probably comes next. but at this point, it gets a bit hazy. The average GPA at most Pharm schools is like 3.3-3.5, you don't need to do stellar on the PCAT and ECs aren't that important compared to MD/DO/DDS.

No idea about optometry school.

The only reason I'd put DMD/DDS lower competition-wise is because they typically don't require you to do all kinds of crazy ECs to show you're "dedicated to dentistry". Not saying they're lower quality students at all, they just typically don't have to go off to summer research programs and volunteer at a dentist's office for 500 hours to show why they love dentistry so much. At least that's what I've gotten the impression of from people that I know that went to dental school.

 

[TipToad]

Optometry school GPAs range from 3.1-3.7ish, with an average around 3.3-3.4. Top opto schools average around 3.6-3.7

There are fewer opto schools than pharm schools, but I can't imagine it being that difficult to get in.

 

[Sephiroth]

MD = DDS/DMD. The average matriculant for both degrees have roughly the same uGPA (3.6ish). I'm not sure how the DAT breaks down in terms of percentiles but I'd wager it's roughly the same as the MCAT, meaning you need to score in the 80%+ percentile.

DO comes next, in terms of competitiveness. If you want it, you can get into DO school. Even if you completely failed out of college with a 1.0 GPA, with enough retakes, you can get in.

PharmD probably comes next. but at this point, it gets a bit hazy. The average GPA at most Pharm schools is like 3.3-3.5, you don't need to do stellar on the PCAT and ECs aren't that important compared to MD/DO/DDS.

No idea about optometry school.

according to amcas, the overall average is 3.67. I can't find aggregate data for dental schools, but less than a third have an avg gpa over 3.6. I think the most striking difference comes at the top, as in even if on aggregate medical school isn't vastly more competitive, the top schools are much different for the 2 looking at gpas.

 

[MedPR]

MD>DO>Opto=Pharm=DMD=DDS=public high school.
























not srs.

 

[Fivo]

Vet school is more difficult to get into than med school because there are so few spots

I never like this line of reasoning. I think when people ask these questions, they have in mind a top applicant. The stats of those who apply to vet schools are generally a lot lower than the type that apply to MD schools. If you take someone who has a 3.8 and a 35mcat, it will be a hell of a lot easier for them to get into vet school than med school (assuming they do the expected ECs), regardless of the number of spots.

It reminds me of when PA students come here and say that it's harder to get into PA school and med school, as if they have it harder.

Or if someone says it's harder to get into Drexel than it is to get into Harvard because Drexel receives 10,000 applicants compared to Harvard's 5000 applicants, for 100 spots.

Let the rustling of the jimmies begin!

 

[MedPR]

Vet school is more difficult to get into than med school because there are so few spots

How many people apply to vet school?

 

[NDPitch]

I come from the pre-dent land, but started out as pre-med and switched.

I think the degree of difficulty for getting into each program is a function of many things. It's not so clear cut. First you have the entrance exams. The DAT doesn't have Physics, which was awesome for me. But, it has the perceptual ability section which was brutal and difficult to get a good hold of. The MCAT doesn't have perceptual ability, but does have Physics, and a more tone/inference based RC section. All questions are passage based, but the MCAT doesn't have math. Which test is harder? Your guess is as good as mine, both are quite challenging to get high scores/percentiles on. You could make similar comparisons to other entrance exams as well.

Entrance exams aside, the range of GPAs and ECs also vary from program to program. For example, some dental schools are probably just as competitive as some of the prestigious med school programs. Harvard, Columbia, UPenn - these d schools are notoriously quite difficult to get into. No matter what though, things are getting more and more competitive each year. I don't know much about pharm/opto/vet, but I imagine this holds true for those programs as well.

 

[Irish Football]

I never like this line of reasoning. I think when people ask these questions, they have in mind a top applicant. The stats of those who apply to vet schools are generally a lot lower than the type that apply to MD schools. If you take someone who has a 3.8 and a 35mcat, it will be a hell of a lot easier for them to get into vet school than med school (assuming they do the expected ECs), regardless of the number of spots.

It reminds me of when PA students come here and say that it's harder to get into PA school and med school, as if they have it harder.

Or if someone says it's harder to get into Drexel than it is to get into Harvard because Drexel receives 10,000 applicants compared to Harvard's 5000 applicants, for 100 spots.

Let the rustling of the jimmies begin!

This is 100% true. I hate whenever anyone says _____ school is harder to get into than med school.

 

[argama]

all I know is that my friend who is applying to dental school w/a 3.6 and 22 DAT is getting interviews from UCSF, Penn, USC, and UOP. And a few other schools that he doesn't care about. He might get one from UCLA too if the trend continues....

As a premed, not sure if he would get the same interviews from those schools. So yeah make what you will of that.