What's the point of the ADEA guidebook?

[Incis0r]

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[Sailor DDS]

Not every school shows their Average GPA or DAT scores lol

 

[embrojam]

Ya, its just to get you more info. I think they sell it bec some ppl would buy it, but I don't imagine they sell it because its a great product. You can find old versions online

 

[Incis0r]

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[hellofuturedentists]

Online edition is $15. It's convenient and easy to look through a bunch of schools. Also easy to send a link to my parents. Everything is assembled already for you and there's a lot of info in the front about other dental related stuff. Why would you buy a cookbook instead of finding all the recipes yourself online or by calling chefs? Convenience.

 

[nonociceptors]

50 bucks? Lol what the hell. My friends and I bought the online one for $15 and we just split it. For $5 it's definitely worth the convenience of having all the info in one place plus additional stuff you won't be able to find online as easily

 

[Incis0r]

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[doc toothache]

Wait! You did not buy the ADEA Guide, but you believe you are qualified to make a pronouncement on the wisdom of making a $45 investment. So many six packs of beer is that?

 

[Incis0r]

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[Ollivander]

I've bought the guide for the past two years. It was one of the best investments I've made thus far in preparations for applying to dental school.

 

[Incis0r]

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[hellofuturedentists]

@hellofuturedentists , I find each dental school's website interface to be much more interesting and fun to read than the ADEA guidebook pages (my school orders a copy for our pre-dental students each year and we can look at it/borrow it free of charge). So going back to the cookbook analogy, I get great joy from finding individual "recipes." Sure you have the "essentials" for each dental school in the country located on adjacent pages, but I have enough time to enjoy my search for dental schools online.

I really like this link on the ADEA website....it's a map of every single dental school location in the country (http://www.adea.org/dental_education_pathways/aadsas/Pages/PDS.aspx), and just worked my way around depending on where I'd consider living, etc.

Plus with all the helpful information available on SDN (current students posting, etc), I really don't see the need for the ADEA book. I suppose everyone has their own system. I just wanted to understand why people buy it. @nonociceptors , Can you give two or three examples of "additional stuff you won't be able to find online as easily?"

Either way, if you find value in the book, that's great. However, I personally won't be purchasing an ADEA Guide to Dental Schools book. I already know where I'm applying next year based off of SDN discussions and my exploration of the aforementioned website.

That's fine that you don't want to buy it. You asked what the point of the book was. The point was the convenience of having everything all together in a nice little book. Not everyone uses SDN and many people may not even know where to start when applying to dental schools. I had no idea which dental schools even existed when I began applying. It's great that you enjoy looking through schools' websites. Some people may not want to do that initially.

 

[fogorvostan]

I bought to book because I hate searching on websites to find the exact information I need. $15 later and it was all right in front of me. I only make about $25/hr right now, but the 36 minutes I had to work to pay off the cost of it was worth it in my opinion.

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

I think people just buy it out of convenience, really. It takes too much time, effort, and searching to get all the correct information compiled into a list. I made my own spreadsheet on Excel of 35+ schools that I thought were around my ballpark/schools that accepted SDN students in the past with my particular stats/piqued my interest. I included average GPA for incoming students, average DAT, yearly tuition, certain special requirements, prerequisites, etc. I was only able to do this because I have the time to since I won't be applying until next year, but let me tell you ... It was a pain to compile! I even have a few blank cells here and there on the spreadsheet because some schools don't report average GPA/DATs or number of seats. At least the ADEA guide book guarantees to give you all the accurate information. I'm frugal as hell, so I'd rather take the time to make my own list and customize it to my own liking (and go crazy staring at the computer screen searching for the criteria ) than fork over $15/$50 and give ADEA any more reason to take more money from me lol.

 

[Iwanttopulloutteeth]

Gathering all the information listed in that $15 book would realistically take you a week. During the time that you spent searching, you could have been working at McDonald's and easily earned $200.

Money you can gain back, but time you cannot.

 

[Incis0r]

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[Ollivander]

Thank you for responding- What has made it so helpful?

The best thing about it is that I can use the search feature within the online version to search for specific words (schools usually). I can flip back and forth very quickly between the page UAB's information is on and the page Louisville's information is on. I can screenshot the portions that matter to me (tuition comparison). I can then take that information and make an ordered list in a Microsoft Word document of my #1 choice down to my #20 choice. It gives me every single piece of information I need to know when applying to a school. This is so that when/if I don't get into my state school, I can differentiate which school is a smarter choice based on financial information provided within the guide. The OOS rates it gives you for percentage of OOS applicants interviewed versus the number that applied, and the percentage of OOS applicants accepted versus the number that applied alone is worth $15. Granted some information is a bit off (For example: Temple, Creighton, and Pitt don't seem to stick to their CC prereq stipulations that are listed in the guide based on first hand information on SDN), but I'd say 90-95% of the guide is on point. Honestly unless you're extremely confident your in-state school is going to accept you, I'd advise buying both the 2014 and 2015 version of the guide so you can get a larger sample size of OOS information. I'd go as far to say you're playing at a disadvantage when applying to dental school versus all those who purchase the guide.

 

[Incis0r]

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[Ollivander]

Very insightful response. Thank you.

Is the online version user-friendly or is it "clunky?"

It's a little slow and the page-turn option is not the best, but it's fine once you get used to it. I use the search feature more often than turning pages or going straight to a certain page. I can type in "VCU" and easily cycle through the pages with those words until I get to VCU's school page. It's better to use the search feature to be honest. Once you're on the school's page (or whatever topic page you're looking for), you can utilize the page flip feature then. I wouldn't just be flipping through pages though to find what you want because it's annoying and slow. But that's expected when they don't allow a downloadable PDF due to fear of copyright.

 

[doc toothache]

A few things:

1. Do not misrepresent what I have written. I opened the discussion asking people to explain why they purchased the book- I never made a "pronouncement on the wisdom of making a $45 investment." Read my posts carefully please- I said that I personally don't see the value in it because I have other resources. That is a very different statement from "This is a useless publication and noone should ever buy it" (which I did not say).

2. Do you believe that one MUST buy a book in order to be "qualified to make a pronouncement?" If you read my posts, you'd see that I wrote that I HAVE looked at copies of the book from previous years (that my school bought and let its pre-dental students borrow) as well as online copies. Despite having seen this, do you feel like I am not qualified simply because I did not pay money for it? Must I own something in order to have a voice? If that's the case, then people who solely use libraries shouldn't write book reviews, etc.

3. To me, an investment is something that saves or earns you money, or reduces your expenditures. I do not regard this item as an investment as I believe that I can find all the information that it shares online, through SDN, or via other sources for free and without it consuming excess time. To confirm that I am not missing out on something, I made this thread. Do you see any value in the ADEA Guidebook beyond the already stated "convenience" of having easily discoverable information within one book?

4. P.S.- When I saw that you responded in my notifications center (without reading your message), I actually wanted to compliment you on your meticulous work with Guide to Dental School Admission and the Ranking of Dental Schools based on DAT/GPA/Etc. I have both saved on my computer. Thank you for them!

"The point of the ADEA Guidebook" is in the title: ADEA Guide to DS.

 

[BeaverLover]

Very insightful response. Thank you.

Is the online version user-friendly or is it "clunky?"

Bought last years, felt like there was always a slight delay to it

 

[pgex2t]

Very insightful response. Thank you.

Is the online version user-friendly or is it "clunky?"

It's pretty clunky and there are some unnecessary features (such as sound effects-why???)