50% acceptance rate...

[hawaiiguy24]

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I've been thinking about admission statistics and I'd like to know if my math is right.

Here's my train of thought:

Most dental schools show that they accept an average of about 5% of all applicants. Let's say each school recieves an average of 2000 applications. If we multiply that by the 50 schools that participate in AADSAS, that is 100,000 applications.

Now lets say each applicant submits 10 applications; that means there are an average of 10,000 applicants (100,000/10).

Then if we assume that each school has an average of 100 seats, there are about 5000 seats in total (50 schools X 100 seats).

So, 5,000 seats for 10,000 applicants works out to 50% of the applicants getting at least one seat somewhere...

That sounds alot better than the acceptance rates by individual school... Obviously my numbers are very rounded for the sake of keeping things simple. Are my assumptions wrong? Am I just unduly reassuring myself? Is there some place that tells us an overall stat like this?

 

[tooth decay]

I've been thinking about admission statistics and I'd like to know if my math is right.

Here's my train of thought:

Most dental schools show that they accept an average of about 5% of all applicants. Let's say each school recieves an average of 2000 applications. If we multiply that by the 50 schools that participate in AADSAS, that is 100,000 applications.

Now lets say each applicant submits 10 applications; that means there are an average of 10,000 applicants (100,000/10).

Then if we assume that each school has an average of 100 seats, there are about 5000 seats in total (50 schools X 100 seats).

So, 5,000 seats for 10,000 applicants works out to 50% of the applicants getting at least one seat somewhere...

That sounds alot better than the acceptance rates by individual school... Obviously my numbers are very rounded for the sake of keeping things simple. Are my assumptions wrong? Am I just unduly reassuring myself? Is there some place that tells us an overall stat like this?

I agree with you that the rate of acceptance is significantly higher than 5%. It is probably closer to 30-40%. Your reasoning is probably very accurate, with the following caveats: there are more dental schools that have fewer than one hundred seats versus those that have more than 100 seats; and that maybe due to costs, many students do not apply to ten schools. The other fact is that the quality of applicant is improving making the gap between good applicants and average applicants even larger. As a result, the good applicants will take a higher proportion of the acceptances, lowering the acceptance rates for the average applicant. However, like I said, I think what you are saying is accurate.

 

[jeninny44]

I've been thinking about admission statistics and I'd like to know if my math is right.

Here's my train of thought:

Most dental schools show that they accept an average of about 5% of all applicants. Let's say each school recieves an average of 2000 applications. If we multiply that by the 50 schools that participate in AADSAS, that is 100,000 applications.

Now lets say each applicant submits 10 applications; that means there are an average of 10,000 applicants (100,000/10).

Then if we assume that each school has an average of 100 seats, there are about 5000 seats in total (50 schools X 100 seats).

So, 5,000 seats for 10,000 applicants works out to 50% of the applicants getting at least one seat somewhere...

That sounds alot better than the acceptance rates by individual school... Obviously my numbers are very rounded for the sake of keeping things simple. Are my assumptions wrong? Am I just unduly reassuring myself? Is there some place that tells us an overall stat like this?

Another way to think of it:

Take the total number of dental seats and the total number of applicants (both available in the ADEA book). Because some students will receive multiple acceptances, factor in a percentage to the total # of dental seats - perhaps an extra 25% ? Boom.. you have your answer

 

[z3u2]

I've been thinking about admission statistics and I'd like to know if my math is right.

Here's my train of thought:

Most dental schools show that they accept an average of about 5% of all applicants. Let's say each school recieves an average of 2000 applications. If we multiply that by the 50 schools that participate in AADSAS, that is 100,000 applications.

Now lets say each applicant submits 10 applications; that means there are an average of 10,000 applicants (100,000/10).

Then if we assume that each school has an average of 100 seats, there are about 5000 seats in total (50 schools X 100 seats).

So, 5,000 seats for 10,000 applicants works out to 50% of the applicants getting at least one seat somewhere...

That sounds alot better than the acceptance rates by individual school... Obviously my numbers are very rounded for the sake of keeping things simple. Are my assumptions wrong? Am I just unduly reassuring myself? Is there some place that tells us an overall stat like this?

u have a lot of pre-assumptions in ur calcuations:
1. each school gets avg 2000 applications
2. each applicant applies to 10 schools
3. each school avg 100 seats

i agree with jeninny44, just looks at the "actual data", number of applicants vs number of seats, the margin of error is much less than pre-assuming those numbers

there's aprox 4000 seats available, if i remember correctly

 

[DMDreaming]

I commend your effort for trying to figure this out. However, the combined stats for acceptance don't really mean anything unless you apply to every school. If you don't, your actual odds of acceptance may not be nearly as good. I agree with those who have said it's better to look at the actual numbers of the individual schools. It's much more realistic.

 

[issa]

~15,000 predents apply for 4000 seats. the % accepted is still lower than 40%.

 

[osuwannabe]

The numbers shown are way too generalized. I agree with previous poster and the assumption remarks.

But it shouldn't be that hard to get into dental school. Get better than a 18 on the DAT and have a gpa 3.3+ and your chances for admission are almost guaranteed somewhere. Hell, you don't even need a damn degree.

 

[hawaiiguy24]

Yeah, those are all good points... I guess every seat is not equal. And of course, on an individual level each applicant's chances depend on GPA, DAT, etc and the schools they choose.

osuwannabe, I don't know if guaranteed is the right word for it, but I see what your saying... I hope you're right!!

 

[jeninny44]

~15,000 predents apply for 4000 seats. the % accepted is still lower than 40%.

But how many of them are actually qualified or applicants who should be seriously considered? Or the applicants who did not complete their course work? Or the applicants applying to medicine who then drop their dental applications?

I think the big thing to take away from this discussion is that this is an incredibly complicated question with a large amount of intangibles, so to accurately calculate a precise number would be extremely difficult.

 

[jeninny44]

But it shouldn't be that hard to get into dental school. Get better than a 18 on the DAT and have a gpa 3.3+ and your chances for admission are almost guaranteed somewhere. Hell, you don't even need a damn degree.

Agreed. I met and saw a lot of tools at my interviews. Even at the Ivy interviews I attended there were a lot of tools. Didn't know how to act, didn't know how to dress, didn't know how to play the game.

 

[SugarNaCl]

Accept. rate this year total applicants against total number of seats = 37-38% Applicants were over 11,300 for this cycle.

 

[osuwannabe]

Agreed. I met and saw a lot of tools at my interviews. Even at the Ivy interviews I attended there were a lot of tools. Didn't know how to act, didn't know how to dress, didn't know how to play the game.

Yeah, that is why I threw the almost in there. I remember hearing stories of kids with mohawks and nasty piercings coupled with distasteful/inappropriate attire at interviews, not to mention all the geeks at my school that can't even hold a normal conversation yet have a 22+ DAT and a 4.0.

So yeah, I think we are on the same page.