can someone help me decide...

[amanda5]

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i need some advice.... i am currently a junior in college and planning on going to dental school... but my grade aren't too good, so i am planning on either to take more upper science classes and go to a smp or just forget about going to dental school and move on...

here is my grades
Bio I- C-
Bio II C
Organic I - C+
Organic II B-
Gen chem I C+
Gen chem II C+
Physic I C+
Physic II A
Biochem B-
Genentic A
Microbio A

 

[dent2009]

what's "smp"?

 

[amanda5]

"Special Masters Program"

 

[DR Dentist 09]

I am not sure what smp is. If you increase your science GPA by taking more science courses and doing well in them as well as doing well on your DAT and strengthening your portfolio you may have a chance if this is what you really want. The way you ended your comment makes me think you are not truly passionate about dentistry. I hope that I am wrong for interpreting it this way. If I am wrong, do things that can help you have a stronger application . . . shadow a dentist, volunteer, do community service, get to know your professors well so you can get good letters of recommendation, show them that you can get back on your feet and end your undergraduate degree strongly. These will make a stronger application and increase your chances.

I don't know how your school views C- but if I were you I would consider re-taking Bio I. Just putting it out there.

 

[drpsuedonym]

Well, you're showing an upward trend, which is good and helps mitigate the effect of low GPA, but yeah, keep taking upper div science classes and doing well, prove that you can handle the work and the earlier bad grades were just due to youthful indiscretion. 😉

And I think if you retake Bio (I don't know if a C- counts towards completing the prereqs) and do really well in it, it'll just go to show that you're on top of your game now.

 

[DROCKINDAHOUSE]

Try to kick a** on the DAT then decide

 

[whoispittsnogle]

i need some advice.... i am currently a junior in college and planning on going to dental school... but my grade aren't too good, so i am planning on either to take more upper science classes and go to a smp or just forget about going to dental school and move on...

here is my grades
Bio I- C-
Bio II C
Organic I - C+
Organic II B-
Gen chem I C+
Gen chem II C+
Physic I C+
Physic II A
Biochem B-
Genentic A
Microbio A

those grades are horrific. 😱 anyone who went to a good undergrad knows upper level science classes are easier to get As in than the weed out intro classes. you should definitely do a master's to raise that gpa. i don't think you can offset your current gpa with even a 99 percentile dat. do the master's and study for the dat and you will become a good candidate. 😍

 

[hersheyslove]

those grades are horrific. 😱 anyone who went to a good undergrad knows upper level science classes are easier to get As in than the weed out intro classes. you should definitely do a master's to raise that gpa. i don't think you can offset your current gpa with even a 99 percentile dat. do the master's and study for the dat and you will become a good candidate. 😍

you do not need to use harsh words!

 

[Jem27]

those look just like my grades ... not that i'm proud of my C's and 2 D's and 1 W. And it sure did make it hard on me for a long time but I got in and if you put in the time to study and do very very exceptionally well on the DAT, I don't see why you can't accomplish the same.

edit: I did take a ton more upper div. bio courses (e.g. biochem I and II, biochem lab, cell bio, immunology, mammalian physiology, microbiology ...)

the path i took was
1) did well on the DAT
2) applied
3) didn't get in first round
4) applied to a masters as backup while reapplying to dental school
5) got into dental school
6) dropped out of masters
7) started dental school
8) felt satisfied

good luck!

 

[whoispittsnogle]

is C- that much worse than C+?

i mean if the op's sole purpose is to get into a dental school, i guess she could just beast the dat and gain an acceptance. my previous suggestion was if she wanted to go to a top dental school, a master's would be very helpful for making up for the bad grades in those pre-requisites.

 

[Jem27]

is C- that much worse than C+?

i mean if the op's sole purpose is to get into a dental school, i guess she could just beast the dat and gain an acceptance. my previous suggestion was if she wanted to go to a top dental school, a master's would be very helpful for making up for the bad grades in those pre-requisites.

just curious ... what's a top dental school?

in my mind, it's either expensive dental school or less expensive dental school

and definately, a master's would be helpful. nothing money, time and A's can't fix for sure. I was coming at it from the angle that maybe a killer DAT score would save her some of all of the above.

 

[whoispittsnogle]

just curious ... what's a top dental school?

in my mind, it's either expensive dental school or less expensive dental school

and definately, a master's would be helpful. nothing money, time and A's can't fix for sure. I was coming at it from the angle that maybe a killer DAT score would save her some of all of the above.

i consider the top dental schools to be those with the highest admissions standards. use the search feature to see the list of average stats for matriculating students in various schools.

i think dental schools, actually just school in general for that matter, are like cars. some people will say that a saturn and a mercedes are the same cuz they serve the same purpose of getting you from point a to point b. others will say that that is the ONLY similarity that the two share.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

i consider the top dental schools to be those with the highest admissions standards. use the search feature to see the list of average stats for matriculating students in various schools.

i think dental schools, actually just school in general for that matter, are like cars. some people will say that a saturn and a mercedes are the same cuz they serve the same purpose of getting you from point a to point b. others will say that that is the ONLY similarity that the two share.

I dunno, whoispittsnogle, i'm gonna have to disagree with you. I'd personally consider the top dental schools to be the ones with the most rigorous Clinical Requirements and those with the most clinical exposure. I'd rather have a dentist that can do a root canal with their eyes closed, vs. a dentist that can complete any organic chemistry reaction in 2 seconds flat.

 

[Lurchdubious]

OP, you agree that those grades are rough, and I would echo what the others have told you about possibly re-taking a few of those classes & replacing C's with A's. That being said, most adcoms are looking for well-rounded individuals with experience in several areas. Do great on the DAT & beef up your extra-curriculars & you'll have a good shot. It may take you longer to get into dental school, but if it's truly what you want then an extra year or two won't matter at all in the long run. Good luck!


To this guy~

those grades are horrific. 😱 anyone who went to a good undergrad knows upper level science classes are easier to get As in than the weed out intro classes. you should definitely do a master's to raise that gpa. i don't think you can offset your current gpa with even a 99 percentile dat. do the master's and study for the dat and you will become a good candidate. 😍

Maybe you should brush up on your people skills? You come across as very juvenile.

 

[whoispittsnogle]

I dunno, whoispittsnogle, i'm gonna have to disagree with you. I'd personally consider the top dental schools to be the ones with the most rigorous Clinical Requirements and those with the most clinical exposure. I'd rather have a dentist that can do a root canal with their eyes closed, vs. a dentist that can complete any organic chemistry reaction in 2 seconds flat.

well the dental schools with the highest admissions standards have the highest averages for a reason - they offer the best in all categories of what you would want in a dental education. of course other miscellaneous factors play a role but at the end of the day, the best schools have the most competitive standards. maybe you know of some school that is a hot deal - a car priced cheaper but offers similar horsepower/torque, sleek chassis, and interior amenities. some people might love that, others will dismiss it and say it's still a Honda. 🙄

Maybe you should brush up on your people skills? You come across as very juvenile.

shut up.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

well the dental schools with the highest admissions standards have the highest averages for a reason - they offer the best in all categories of what you would want in a dental education. of course other miscellaneous factors play a role but at the end of the day, the best schools have the most competitive standards. maybe you know of some school that is a hot deal - a car priced cheaper but offers similar horsepower/torque, sleek chassis, and interior amenities. some people might love that, others will dismiss it and say it's still a Honda. 🙄


shut up.

lol, those with the highest averages are usually ones that are more researched focused as they want students that are smart enough to publish papers - that says nothing about their clinical skills. And let's face it, do we really care if our dentists have superior knowledge about rare cases that they'll likely never encounter? I'm sure I speak for alot of people when I say that i'd rather have a dentist that can just get rid of my toothache.

In your terms, a dodge viper can have all its flashy credentials, slick paint job and can go 0-60 in less than 4 seconds, but really, if it simply cant get me from my house to the grocery store, then its just plain crap.

 

[AndyK]

I like these car analogies... and cars too for that matter

I don't think there is a dental schools equivalent to a Saturn. Most dental schools are roughly equal, each having strengths and weaknesses. There are some that are like the Toyota Prius: affordable, great mileage, gets you from A to B, but aren't gonna turn a lot of heads. Some are like Porsche Cayenne: Good name recogniton, good performance but expensive and the same exact thing as a VW Toureg. Most are well rounded, and combine performance and utter refinement: Your BMW M3's and Evo X's. And then these "top schools" Mr. Pittsnoggle speaks of are like Porsche 911 GT3's: Technically great machines, lacking in some areas (on purpose), and most couldn't tell it apart from an effin Boxster if their life depended on it.

That was fun

 

[Imbetterthanyou]

I dunno, whoispittsnogle, i'm gonna have to disagree with you. I'd personally consider the top dental schools to be the ones with the most rigorous Clinical Requirements and those with the most clinical exposure. I'd rather have a dentist that can do a root canal with their eyes closed, vs. a dentist that can complete any organic chemistry reaction in 2 seconds flat.

What does having high requirements have to do with anything? It's the student body quality that matters. Any school can set the standards high for their students, but only some schools can pull the most able students in the country. A high-requirement school with poor students is like pchem. The course is hard as hell, but the students don't know what they're doing.

 

[Imbetterthanyou]

lol, those with the highest averages are usually ones that are more researched focused as they want students that are smart enough to publish papers - that says nothing about their clinical skills.

Don't these research schools also have students with very high PAT's? To my understanding, the PAT is the only predictor of clinical ability dental schools have. If that's the case, then these students are better researchers AND have better spatial reasoning abilities. Hence, they have research, AND we would expect them to have better clinical abilities.

It's very hard to comment on school quality, since nobody knows any school other than their own. We DO know which schools have more able students, as represented by their academic ability (academic average) and clinical skills (PAT).

 

[AndyK]

Don't these research schools also have students with very high PAT's? To my understanding, the PAT is the only predictor of clinical ability dental schools have. If that's the case, then these students are better researchers AND have better spatial reasoning abilities. Hence, they have research, AND we would expect them to have better clinical abilities.

You are correct when you say that the PAT is the only predictor, but that does not make it a good predictor. It has been argued by many that excellence on the PAT does not always lead to great clinical performance. Most schools consider the PAT borderline irrelevant: if you got above an 17, that's all they need (these are the same schools that are clinically-focused)

 

[Imbetterthanyou]

You are correct when you say that the PAT is the only predictor, but that does not make it a good predictor. It has been argued by many that excellence on the PAT does not always lead to great clinical performance. Most schools consider the PAT borderline irrelevant: if you got above an 17, that's all they need (these are the same schools that are clinically-focused)

It's a predictor. No predictor's perfect, but this one's accurate for the vast majority of the time. Those that do poorly on an exam'll usually attack the exam for its bias, accuracy, etc. The biggest question is... if a person can't perform the abilities asked of from one perceptual exam, what makes him think he can do so on another exam? The scoring on the PAT's already generous. If you guess blindly on half the section while doing well on the other half, it's already a fairly good score.

It doesn't always lead to clinical excellence. That's obvious, because it doesn't take into account hand skills. You need both spatial reasoning and hand skills. Since there's no carving section on the DAT, the top schools take the high PAT and take a risk on the hand skills. The others take the lower PAT and take a risk on the hand skills. But what's having hand skills when you can't put the pieces of the puzzle together in your head?

 

[dentstd]

You are correct when you say that the PAT is the only predictor, but that does not make it a good predictor. It has been argued by many that excellence on the PAT does not always lead to great clinical performance. Most schools consider the PAT borderline irrelevant: if you got above an 17, that's all they need (these are the same schools that are clinically-focused)

Have you ever read a dental text? The material's a joke, but it's VERY heavy in spatial reasoning. It's hard to even learn the material when you can't see it.

 

[AndyK]

Don't take it from me.

"Within the context of the present curriculum at the University of Western Ontario, PA and CD scores are not useful as predictors of individual psychomotor performance in first-year operative dentistry. Neither are they selective enough to discriminate between those who have the potential to succeed in the first year and those who do not."

I do concede that I haven't read a dental text (that should be apparent by my predent status) and having failed in finding any relevant literature, I will go quietly into the night 😀​

 

[dentstd]

Don't take it from me.

"Within the context of the present curriculum at the University of Western Ontario, PA and CD scores are not useful as predictors of individual psychomotor performance in first-year operative dentistry. Neither are they selective enough to discriminate between those who have the potential to succeed in the first year and those who do not."

I do concede that I haven't read a dental text (that should be apparent by my predent status) and having failed in finding any relevant literature, I will go quietly into the night 😀​

You really have to be more selective when you read. This study tries to correlate PA/CD to 1ST YEAR PERFORMANCE. 1st year is a time when NOBODY knows what tha hell they're doing! They're focused on not effing up terribly. They're not ready to discriminate between the fine details. PAT (and presumably CD) focuses on minute details in figures. This'll come into play later in a dental student/dentist's career, when they have more control over what they're doing and can apply the abilities to discriminate between minute details.

This study's pure stupidity.

 

[DR Dentist 09]

Don't these research schools also have students with very high PAT's? To my understanding, the PAT is the only predictor of clinical ability dental schools have. If that's the case, then these students are better researchers AND have better spatial reasoning abilities. Hence, they have research, AND we would expect them to have better clinical abilities.

It's very hard to comment on school quality, since nobody knows any school other than their own. We DO know which schools have more able students, as represented by their academic ability (academic average) and clinical skills (PAT).

I have seen students that can do all these spatial skills in their heads but can't translate it to their hands. If you are a dentist and you don't have the hands it doesn't matter what you have up there. There needs to be a balance between both and unfortunately that cannnot be predicted until you are in your operative lab course with a high speed handpiece and your fake teeth.

 

[DR Dentist 09]

Hi, I think that the way you ended your comment makes me think you are not truly passionate about dentistry. I hope that I am wrong for interpreting it this way. If I am wrong, do things that can help you have a stronger application . . . shadow a dentist, volunteer, do community service, get to know your professors well so you can get good letters of recommendation, show them that you can get back on your feet and end your undergraduate degree strongly.
🙂🙂

Hey, that's what I wrote!! . . . but thanks for bring us back to the topic by the way.

 

[Lurchdubious]

shut up.

Hah. May I direct you back to my previous statement? 😉

No hard feelings, you made me laugh. Cookie's in the mail.

 

[whoispittsnogle]

wouldn't howard or vcu be like saturn? i've seen their dental school photos...students be looking like they are in some night class at a local janitor school😱 taking environmental studies and shhh

GT3😱 some of ya'll wanna roll in the prius go ahead, i ain't mad at ya just get out of my way.

get outta here with this bs about top schools being research focused and wanting students who will do research and publish. yeah ok. i wholeheartedly agree with mr. Imbetterthanyou. you sir are truly wise. 👍

i think it would be more liberating for everyone to stop this political correctness of everything being equal and just face the truth - some cars and some schools are just flat out better. if you drive a prius and you pull up to a fly ass gt3, you shouldn't be revving your engine like so what you got a porsche, we both have cars that take us from point a to point b!

i may talk a lotta mess here and act like i'm the second coming of jesus, but if i end up at a sub par dental school, i'm not gonna make a million excuses and front like ya'll. i'll step up, face it like a man, and say to the harvard dental kid, hey man you did better than me. i would pay my respect and perhaps ask him if i could better accommodate his superior presence by bringing him some water or something.

i mean don't they deserve it? they obviously did more than you that's why they ended up with the porsche or harvard. why not give credit where it's due?

 

[amalgamgrillz]

i may talk a lotta mess here and act like i'm the second coming of jesus, but if i end up at a sub par dental school, i'm not gonna make a million excuses and front like ya'll. i'll step up, face it like a man, and say to the harvard dental kid, hey man you did better than me. i would pay my respect and perhaps ask him if i could better accommodate his superior presence by bringing him some water or something.

i mean don't they deserve it? they obviously did more than you that's why they ended up with the porsche or harvard. why not give credit where it's due?

lol just because you drive a porsche, doesn't mean that daddy didn't buy it for you. just because you went to harvard, doesn't mean you can fill a cavity better than someone from Howard, it could mean you jskipped out on more parties, had less friends and just spent more lifetimes in the library ...or slept with the right professors.

Let's just agree to disagree. You go right ahead to become a dentist at Harvard and only do 2 years of clinical work. I'll go to the insignificant UoP and have 4 years of clinical work. When our patients need a filling done, i'll be able to fill it properly, then i'll send the paper work to you so you can publish it, deal? deal.

 

[Pat Kelly]

Let's just agree to disagree. You go right ahead to become a dentist at Harvard and only do 2 years of clinical work. I'll go to the insignificant UoP and have 4 years of clinical work. When our patients need a filling done, i'll be able to fill it properly, then i'll send the paper work to you so you can publish it, deal? deal.

So are you saying that harvard graduates or any schools with "only" two years of clinical training won't be able to do their clinical duties properly? 🙄

 

[Lurchdubious]

wouldn't howard or vcu be like saturn? i've seen their dental school photos...students be looking like they are in some night class at a local janitor school😱 taking environmental studies and shhh

GT3😱 some of ya'll wanna roll in the prius go ahead, i ain't mad at ya just get out of my way.

get outta here with this bs about top schools being research focused and wanting students who will do research and publish. yeah ok. i wholeheartedly agree with mr. Imbetterthanyou. you sir are truly wise. 👍

i think it would be more liberating for everyone to stop this political correctness of everything being equal and just face the truth - some cars and some schools are just flat out better. if you drive a prius and you pull up to a fly ass gt3, you shouldn't be revving your engine like so what you got a porsche, we both have cars that take us from point a to point b!

i may talk a lotta mess here and act like i'm the second coming of jesus, but if i end up at a sub par dental school, i'm not gonna make a million excuses and front like ya'll. i'll step up, face it like a man, and say to the harvard dental kid, hey man you did better than me. i would pay my respect and perhaps ask him if i could better accommodate his superior presence by bringing him some water or something.

i mean don't they deserve it? they obviously did more than you that's why they ended up with the porsche or harvard. why not give credit where it's due?

This line of thought is asinine. Have a nice life.

 

[mddang]

Hmmm.. I guess I must be an idiot for going to a Honda undergrad institute when I could have easily been in a Ferrari.


If you ask me, this Honda has been damn good to me.


Harvard dental school??? Hmmm.. I think I have a pretty good chance of getting in there if I actually wanted to go there.. But you know, I don't care much for the name, and I definitely don't care much for the fat tuition that comes with it.


No matter where I go, I'm going to do big things.


Wherever you go, it's all about what you make of it..

 

[dentstd]

When our patients need a filling done, i'll be able to fill it properly, then i'll send the paper work to you so you can publish it, deal? deal.

Yes, you're right. When a patient needs a filling done, I'll refer him to a UoP dentist. When that patient needs braces, a root canal, or a wisdom tooth extraction, I'll send him to a Harvard specialist.

 

[dentstd]

Hmmm.. I guess I must be an idiot for going to a Honda undergrad institute when I could have easily been in a Ferrari.


If you ask me, this Honda has been damn good to me.


Harvard dental school??? Hmmm.. I think I have a pretty good chance of getting in there if I actually wanted to go there.. But you know, I don't care much for the name, and I definitely don't care much for the fat tuition that comes with it.


No matter where I go, I'm going to do big things.


Wherever you go, it's all about what you make of it..

Harvard's much cheaper than these Honda dental schools.

 

[amalgamgrillz]

So are you saying that harvard graduates or any schools with "only" two years of clinical training won't be able to do their clinical duties properly? 🙄

Nope, i was implying that Harvard and all of the schools that whoispittsnogle thinks are "good" are no better than the rest, particularly the ones that emphasize clinical training. Of course a Harvard grad can fill a cavity..that was sarcasm, but whether the majority of harvard grads have superior clinical skills to those from a DS with 4 years of clinical..my guess would be No.

 

[dentstd]

I think the PATs are crap. I have seen students that can do all these spatial skills in their heads but can't translate it to their hands. If you are a dentist and you don't have the hands it doesn't matter what you have up there. There needs to be a balance between both and unfortunately that cannnot be predicted until you are in your operative lab course with a high speed handpiece and your fake teeth.

Read teh quote below. Your point's already addressed. A dentist's handskills alone or spatial reasoning alone is insufficient. From an admissions standpoint, it's hard to select students known to have good handskills. We don't have a measure. At these Honda dental schools, you'll have students known to have weaker spatial reasoning skills. What's the point of having good handskills when you don't have spatial reasoning skills? Your mind will create a strongly imperfect idea of what to do. Since you have good handskills, you perfectly replicate that imperfect idea in your head.

You need both spatial reasoning and hand skills. Since there's no carving section on the DAT, the top schools take the high PAT and take a risk on the hand skills. The others take the lower PAT and take a risk on the hand skills. But what's having hand skills when you can't put the pieces of the puzzle together in your head?

 

[dentstd]

Nope, i was implying that Harvard and all of the schools that whoispittsnogle thinks are "good" are no better than the rest, particularly the ones that emphasize clinical training. Of course a Harvard grad can fill a cavity..that was sarcasm, but whether the majority of harvard grads have superior clinical skills to those from a DS with 4 years of clinical..my guess would be No.

Harvard has a 21.6 average PAT. That's a very high average. They are short clinical training during dental school, but once they get sufficient practice in practice or GPR their abilities can then mature, to a potentially greater extent than those at other schools.

Be careful criticizing those deemed to be the most capable in the field. It's like idiots criticizing the most brilliant. It just doesn't sound....sound.

 

[armorshell]

I'd bet most Harvard graduates could outpace a good number of dental school graduates given enough time, CE and good ol' fashioned gumption, simply because they would have to be brilliant and motivated people to get into Harvard in the first place (for the most part).

 

[whoispittsnogle]

Hmmm.. I guess I must be an idiot for going to a Honda undergrad institute when I could have easily been in a Ferrari.


If you ask me, this Honda has been damn good to me.


Harvard dental school??? Hmmm.. I think I have a pretty good chance of getting in there if I actually wanted to go there.. But you know, I don't care much for the name, and I definitely don't care much for the fat tuition that comes with it.


No matter where I go, I'm going to do big things.


Wherever you go, it's all about what you make of it..

dogg, you have NASTY stats. i mean i could hate on you for going to univ of pepperoni but you got the dat to back you. why won't you expand your horizons a little, get out of texas and explore your options. 😕 i don't know how much cheaper texas dental schools are but brosef it's only money.

 

[mddang]

dogg, you have NASTY stats. i mean i could hate on you for going to univ of pepperoni but you got the dat to back you. why won't you expand your horizons a little, get out of texas and explore your options. 😕 i don't know how much cheaper texas dental schools are but brosef it's only money.

Well, I've got a lot of personal reasons for why I want to stay in TX. (probably sounds a little selfish... haha, but yeah.. I can't imagine being anywhere but TX)

 

[AndyK]

Hmmm.. I guess I must be an idiot for going to a Honda undergrad institute when I could have easily been in a Ferrari.


If you ask me, this Honda has been damn good to me.


Harvard dental school??? Hmmm.. I think I have a pretty good chance of getting in there if I actually wanted to go there.. But you know, I don't care much for the name, and I definitely don't care much for the fat tuition that comes with it.


No matter where I go, I'm going to do big things.


Wherever you go, it's all about what you make of it..

Dude, if Texas schools are Hondas they're Honda NSX's

 

[mddang]

Dude, if Texas schools are Hondas they're Honda NSX's

Well, according to THEIR analogyyyy.. Well.. they're probably more like uhh.. Lexus IS350.

In my opinion, TX is the shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii*....



WOOOOOO


GO MICHAEL PHELPS!

How about that 4x100 men's free relay last night??? daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamnnn...

 

[lemoncurry]

pittsnogle seems to think that schools are better if they a) are more expensive or b) have a prestigious name. It's like saying the Lexus ES is better than a Toyota Camry because it costs more and has a luxury brand name. The two are basically the same car, but one has more bells and whistles, and therefore it costs more. At the conclusion of dental school, we are all going to be DDS/DMD and will be called Doctor, but you gotta pass the boards before you can practice. If you can't pass the boards, your Harvard education doesn't mean much.

Anyway, if and when you open your practice, pittsnogle, I hope you only use gold for fillings/crowns/etc, because isn't that the best material? I'm sure it costs the most, so it must be the best.

 

[dentstd]

pittsnogle seems to think that schools are better if they a) are more expensive or b) have a prestigious name. It's like saying the Lexus ES is better than a Toyota Camry because it costs more and has a luxury brand name. The two are basically the same car, but one has more bells and whistles, and therefore it costs more. At the conclusion of dental school, we are all going to be DDS/DMD and will be called Doctor, but you gotta pass the boards before you can practice. If you can't pass the boards, your Harvard education doesn't mean much.

Anyway, if and when you open your practice, pittsnogle, I hope you only use gold for fillings/crowns/etc, because isn't that the best material? I'm sure it costs the most, so it must be the best.

He said nothing of the expensive nature of schools. He implied name thou. But how about, instead of the prestigious name of the school, we focus more on the abilities of the students comprising those schools. But high abilities of the students and name of the school are somewhat related.

The 3 schools in the country that accept the absolute best in the country in terms of both academics and clinical potential are Harvard, UW, and UCLA. These schools have very high AA and PAT. Up next are LL, UoP, UCSF, and possibly Columbia and BU. Not all dentists are created equal, eventhou some of us would like to think that. Some of us have more potential than others.

Yet, this matters little, because individual abilities matter more. A person with a 22/22/22 is expected to kick ass academically and clinically, assuming his hand isn't a pirate's hook. He can go to UCLA or Meharry and it may not matter much. A 20/20/20'll do very well too. It's more questionable for those with 17/17/17, 24/24/12, or 18/18/29

The time school name'll matter is when choosing a dentist, at best. While admissions committee'll see your past test scores, there's no real way to determine who in the industry's any good. All dentists'll claim that they're a miracle worker. Hell, those dental students with a 18/18/18 from Honda dental school already think they're hot **** and are trash talking Porsche dental school. A Honda student think he'll be just as good as a Porsche, even thou those at Porsche outscored Honda in every nationally recognized performance indicators. Patients can choose a Harvard, UW, or UCLA dentist expect to get the most able dentist available (and hope he's not a legacy acceptance). But of course, patients rarely choose a dentist based on the school he attended.

 

[DR Dentist 09]

...

 

[armorshell]

He said nothing of the expensive nature of schools. He implied name thou. But how about, instead of the prestigious name of the school, we focus more on the abilities of the students comprising those schools. But high abilities of the students and name of the school are somewhat related.

The 3 schools in the country that accept the absolute best in the country in terms of both academics and clinical potential are Harvard, UW, and UCLA. These schools have very high AA and PAT. Up next are LL, UoP, UCSF, and possibly Columbia and BU. Not all dentists are created equal, eventhou some of us would like to think that. Some of us have more potential than others.

Don't they always say it's more about the driver than the car?

 

[dentstd]

Don't they always say it's more about the driver than the car?

You quoted me a bit late. But I'd like to see Dale Earnhardt Jr drive a Prius on the track.

 

[dentstd]

I am simply saying that the PAT is not the best measure.

No, you said the Pat was crap.

There will always be a certain percentage of students with high PAT and bad hands. But yea, a chimpanzee with steady hands isn't any more useful than an einstein paraplegic.

 

[whoispittsnogle]

i love how my car analogy is catching on

He said nothing of the expensive nature of schools. He implied name thou.

Not all dentists are created equal, eventhou some of us would like to think that. Some of us have more potential than others.

All dentists'll claim that they're a miracle worker. Hell, those dental students with a 18/18/18 from Honda dental school already think they're hot **** and are trash talking Porsche dental school. A Honda student think he'll be just as good as a Porsche, even thou those at Porsche outscored Honda in every nationally recognized performance indicators.

truth.
this irks me. not all dentists are equal and this applies to not just dentists but schools, cars, students, and pretty much anything in life. a havard bio major and university of north dakota bio major will both graduate and obtain the same bs in biology, but are they the same? no the harvard kid will be better. you can make a million scenarios on how harvard kid was a legacy, affirmative action or the university of north dakota kid had an iq of 200, didn't focus in high school and wanted to save money going in state. if you had to bet your own money on who is smarter, you would pick the harvard kid 100 out of 100 times.

for those dental students who went to honda dental schools and claim they are equals...don't they have any shame? shouldn't they feel grateful that they are receiving the same dds that other students at porsche schools get? considering there is a significant discrepancy in the admissions requirements for honda dental schools vs. porsche dental schools?

i mean i'm not saying i'll go to a porsche school, i might end up at a honda school😱 but IF I DO, i would definitely play my role and give props to the BETTER APPLICANTS who got into porsche schools. i wouldn't front like oh whatever i'm still just as smart as ya'll the admissions committee was hating on me. if i do end up at a porsche school, i'm not gonna rub it the honda school student's face like oh yeah you go to vcu what is that? i would treat them as equals but of course deep inside i'll be thinking, i'm just flat out better than you homeyyyyy. and why shouldn't i think like that? i was smarter than them, i worked harder than them, and i would deserve it.

 

[mddang]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEABld72UCM

It ain't all about the size of the boat!

It's the motion in the ocean..