BYU best dental school prep?

[groundhog]

My inside source tells me that the entering dental students who did their undergrad at BYU are, in general, better prepared for some of the initial rigors of dental school than the students from other colleges. In addition to the usual pre-reqs the pre-dental students at BYU are offered practical classes in such areas as waxing up teeth etc.

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[ItsGavinC]

I have also heard that BYU undergrads are at an advantage for the inital rigors of dental school, although my source (my BYU pre-dental advisor) might be a little tainted.

BYU does offer *a* special class for predental students, in which terminology, carving, etc. are learned.

On a whole, BYU predental students have a fantastic acceptance rate, which consistantly runs at 70-80%.
Of the 134 BYU students who applied to dental programs last year, 101 were accepted. In any given year, there are 6-10 dental schools in which BYU students make up 20-30% of the class.

Of course, I would like to think that this is related to the competiveness of the candidates, of which the depth and detail of pre-req coursework plays a large role. As a sidenote, the average BYU academic DAT score is a 25.

Hopefully all these odds will fall towards my favor as I prepare to apply next spring!

 

[groundhog]

ItsGavinC,

I'm also informed that at one particular school the entering dental students out of BYU tend to be married with children. Perhaps there is a maturity and/or urgent necessity factor which contributes to that BYU average academic DAT score.

 

[2caps]

Amen to everything that has been said except for the average DAT score. For last years 134 students that applied from BYU, the average academic score was only 19.4. Good? Yes, but not quite a 25. Of the 101 accepted BYU students, the average was 19.9.

 

[ItsGavinC]

2caps,

You are absoultely correct with the stats. My apologies for incorrect information

Groundhog,

It may be the case that the majority of BYU students who matriculate to a specific dental school are married with children -- but I don't think there lies therin much correlation with the exceptional DAT scores and pre-dental education that BYU undergrads receive, on the whole.

Of course, many schools offer exceptional pre-professional course study, and many don't. This topic has sparked my curiosities as to what the differences are between the pre-dental environments in these schools.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Well, our pre-professional office just released their latest stats (class entering 2001) and the acceptance rate has gone up quite a bit!

176 students applied and 167 were accepted (94%). Hopefully that trend will continue with me!

-G

 

[groundhog]

Amongst the 50 states, I bet Utah can claim bragging rights to the highest percentage of state residents enrolled in dental school per total state population.

 

[ehop242]

I find it incredible that there are 176 students in one school applying to dental school. Of all the statistics, i'd say that was the most impressive. At my school (Florida State), we might be pushing it to have 20 students per year applying to dental schools. And FSU has 35,000 students. They might as well call it Brigham Young Pre-dental University. With 160+ qualified applicants and the dearth of western dental schools, why don't they open one up in Utah, as opposed to UNLV and Arizona?

 

[ItsGavinC]

ehop,

I hear ya. I think it part, it is a vicious cycle :wink: . As students here who are considering dentistry see the benefits first-hand, and see the outrageous acceptance rate, more and more choose it as a career field (just a hunch).

We're close to FSU (we have 32,000 enrolled), and the number of applicants to dental school has risen by 20-30 applicants each year.

Utah is way too overpopulated with dentists, so chances of a school opening here is slim to none. UNLV has already drawn a lot of students from Utah for their opening class, and I'm sure that Arizona will do the same.

A couple of years ago, most of BYU's acceptances were clumped in only 6-7 schools. For example, the entering class of 1999 had 22 matriculants at Case Western, 17 at Ohio State and 17 at Marquette, 15 at UOP,13 at Louisvile, and 10 at Creighton. Those numbers have broadened greatly.

The 2001 entering class looked in part like this:
UOP - 14
Temple - 10
Washington - 9
Ohio State - 9
Maryland - 9
Oregon - 8
Case Western - 8
Louisville - 8
Virginia - 7
USC - 6
UTSA - 6
Creighton - 6
Colorado - 5
Kentucky - 5
Nova - 5
etc.

-G