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one thing people should look at is the rank of their undergrad. Undergrads have a score of difficulty. This means that a 3rd or 4th tiered university's 4.0 may be like a 1st tiered university's 3.0. This is why pre-dents shouldn't focus solely on their gpa's.
It doesn't matter what undergrad you went to. There are plenty of people who didn't go to a great undergrad, and we're still dental students.Good point. I have always been a proponent of the tier system. There is a difference in the difficulty of the curriculum/peers and that should be reflected. Taking a number at gross face value can be very misleading.
It doesn't matter what undergrad you went to. There are plenty of people who didn't go to a great undergrad, and we're still dental students.
The quality of your undergrad institution has a direct impact on the calibre of your education. And it's also worthy to point out that, if you can survive a high-pressued undergraduate curriculum, you'd be more apt to do so as well for D-School. This isn't about chest-pumping or bragging rights, but as someone who is older here than a lot of people (I am 30, been though undergrad, grad, and worked in the real world, where I have dealt with colleagues from various backgrounds and schools), I can tell you that I can discern people apart based on where they went to school. Even though you are right in that you are all dental students, the quality is not uniform which is why some excel and some struggle.
the quality of your education is not a function of the school itself but of the student attending the school
a student with a great desire to learn and achieve will do so wherever they are
schools with high_pressured curricula are filled with high achieving students<<these students are motivated high achievers that would have done well in any school
your ability to discern where people went to school is actually based on their personality and intelligence and not necessarily a function of where they went to school
obviously this is my humble opinion
ps my caps lock is stuck so i cannot capitalize or use proper punctuation
You can't tell anyone with a 4.0 from a state school that they are not as "smart/motivated/prepared for dental school" as someone with a 3.5 from an ivy league school. Who says that the person from the state school wouldn't get a 4.0 if they went to an ivy? You never know.
That's exactly what I think. I would seriously doubt the validity of 4.0 GPA if the person can't score more than 19.Thats why DAT is the great equalizer.
If the 4.0 from state school scored higher on DAT than one with 3.5 from ivy, adcoms will surely view the one from state as more competitive.
If the 4.0 from state school scored an AA of 16, yet the ivy kid scored a 21, then the credibility of that 4.0 will be in question.
Of course you can argue that the 4.0 kid may not be a good tester. But in order for him to get a 4.0 in undergrad, he must have done well in most, if not all his midterms and finals.
Sorry, with all due respect, your argument doesn't hold any water for me. Apparently this issue is a sensitive spot for alot of folks on here who attend community colleges, so I will just make one last statement here before some kind of flame war starts.
At a top-rated school, you have programs that have more educational resources at their disposal, and their students, by virtue of the stringency selection of a top-rated program, are naturally either very talented or overachievers. Either way, you get tough competition from your peers, and there is also opportunity to learn a lot, provided that you have the desire (which overachievers and talented folks tend to do anyways). This is not to say that there aren't smart students in lower-rated programs, it's just that either the curriculum is not as enriched, or the majority of the competition is not as fierce. For me, certainly, a 3.67 (A-) GPA at a top 20 school trumps a 4.0 at a state school, anyday.
Sorry, with all due respect, your argument doesn't hold any water for me. Apparently this issue is a sensitive spot for alot of folks on here who attend community colleges, so I will just make one last statement here before some kind of flame war starts.
At a top-rated school, you have programs that have more educational resources at their disposal, and their students, by virtue of the stringency selection of a top-rated program, are naturally either very talented or overachievers. Either way, you get tough competition from your peers, and there is also opportunity to learn a lot, provided that you have the desire (which overachievers and talented folks tend to do anyways). This is not to say that there aren't smart students in lower-rated programs, it's just that either the curriculum is not as enriched, or the majority of the competition is not as fierce. For me, certainly, a 3.67 (A-) GPA at a top 20 school trumps a 4.0 at a state school, anyday.
The quality of your undergrad institution has a direct impact on the calibre of your education. And it's also worthy to point out that, if you can survive a high-pressued undergraduate curriculum, you'd be more apt to do so as well for D-School. This isn't about chest-pumping or bragging rights, but as someone who is older here than a lot of people (I am 30, been though undergrad, grad, and worked in the real world, where I have dealt with colleagues from various backgrounds and schools), I can tell you that I can discern people apart based on where they went to school. Even though you are right in that you are all dental students, the quality is not uniform which is why some excel and some struggle.
Wow, talk about unabashed arrogance...haha. Why don't you stop being a chicken and just spit out everything you want to say. LOL.
Lol...that's like me saying...b/c you're oriental, you are anatomically inferior, have no success whatsoever with women, are anti-social, deceptive, and probably a pervert. I mean come on...talk about judging a book by it's cover.
See, the funny thing is...you probably wouldn't be saying what you're saying if you worked at a fast food chain while in high school, slaved your way through college working full time, had no financial support from your family, etc etc...
Take a seat everyone! This is going to be a great show!
...one thing people should look at is the rank of their undergrad. Undergrads have a score of difficulty. This means that a 3rd or 4th tiered university's 4.0 may be like a 1st tiered university's 3.0. This is why pre-dents shouldn't focus solely on their gpa's.
You have no clue what you are talking about. There are a lot of people who go to small 4-yr state schools for various reasons. I went to a hole in the wall school in Idaho because I couldn't afford to go anywhere else. I couldn't use my parents as a resource either. Some people go to small schools because of family issues. Etc., Etc., Etc.
I will give to you the fact that in larger schools there are more resources, but that doesn't mean people take advantage of them. Our chemistry equipment dated back to the 1950 which was donated things from a papermill. The equipment still ran as good as it did 40 yrs prior. One thing at a small 4 yr school is that we get more individualized attention and have the ability to learn things in more detail. To say that that large schools teach critical thinking and small schools only teach memorization is a load of BS. I will take my classmates from undergrad against you and your classmates in a critical thinking exercise (competition) in a heartbeat. Size of the school has no bearing on education. It is an individuals desire or lack of desire to learn and the professors desire to teach that makes an education of good or bad quality.
Just because you are a brain - 3.9 GPA, high DAT scores, etc. doesn't mean Rice is any better than St. Thomas University in Houston or UH - Clearlake. Get off your high horse otherwise you will be the one who gets alienated in d-school.
Another thing, just because a person has a quality education in undergrad doesn't mean they will excel in d-school. I have classmates who can memorize notes in the blink of an eye, but I wouldn't trust them working on my mouth because they have no hand skills. Drop the who's education is better tan another's because it is not possible to acurately determine. there is a reason d-schools stopped having their schools ranked because to say one school is better than another is a very subjective thing.
Most dental schools do not factor in that difficulty. A GPA is a GPA.
I go to a private school that isnt that high ranked and would agree with what most people are saying here that school does not matter. If shunwei was such a smart person than why is he 30 and on a pre-dental forum? I guess us that went to lower tiered schools figure out what we want earlier. Also, how can you say that people from rice, or higher ranked universities, can juggle things better. Large state schools have a lot of stuff going on and their students usually have to juggle just as much as anyone else. Stop thinking of yourself as better just because you went to a high ranked school. Im not saying it doesnt make ANY difference, but it definitely does not mean that a student at a state school with a 4.0 is different than a ive-league student with a 3.5. I have talked to the dean at the state school of my residence and he told me that. Students make the most/least of their opportunities.
Take a seat everyone! This is going to be a great show!
Apparently a lot more people have this sore spot on the issue of schools than I thought. People can't seem to hold a rational discussion without taking low punches 🙄
Oh, and there are plenty of folks who change careers at an older age for a variety of reasons. And are you so sure that Dentistry is really for you given what you know at your age? Tell me that in ten years time. And because I am older than you, don't forget to respect your elders 😛
I am off to the airport for my interview. This thread pretty much went the way I thought it would go, although I originally thought that folks would be a little bit more civilized in holding a discussion.


i have also been told that caliber of undergrad matters some when considering your gpa. i imagine it would matter most b/c depending on how your classes are graded-- i.e. if top 25% get As-- you are directly competing with higher caliber students and it becomes harder to get into the top 25%. plus some schools may have tougher style exams. i've heard of some schools having multiple choice exams for orgo. i struggled on the DAT with that b/c it was such an unusual format for me.
i also think the DAT is an equalizer but hopefully numbers aren't the only things dictating whether we get or not.
When I was at Rice, literally half of my classmates were National Merit Scholars and in my class alone we had three Rhodes Scholars, four Fulbright Scholars (myself included, although I eventually for various reasons passed up on the offer), and dozens of other national awards, all in a whopping class of 400.
Claiming to be a Fulbright Scholars after turning it down is like claiming to have been a student at MIT although you never attended for various reasons.
"Mission Unaccomplished!"
Claiming to be a Fulbright Scholars after turning it down is like claiming to have been a student at MIT although you never attended for various reasons.
"Mission Unaccomplished!"
It does take a lot away from the accomplishment, but maybe Shunwei was just trying to show that he's capable.
By the way, how do you have 400+ posts and still be a new member????? 😕
Hey shunwei, how much can you bench press?
probably at least like 3 plates...ahahahah
I was thinking at least 5 plates...
well shunwie is the perfect example of what is "supposed to happen" when you go to Rice... If rice is sooo great, then show everyone that by the DAT... which he clearly did....
"Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder...."