Canadian Schools

[ushaseos]

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Hi Everyone,

I have some more newb-ish questions about Canadian Dental Schools:

1) I know its competitve if you're not in the province, but since the ADEA doesn't publish admissions stats, is it pretty much impossible to get in? I'd like to Apply to McGill and University of Toronto (along with a whole host of American Dental schools). EDIT: I have attached a link to my stats here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=887490

2) Is there any special requirements for Canadian schools? Obviously I took the American DAT no soap carving and such.

3) Would going to school in Canada have any unforeseen issues?

Thanks in advance!

 

[qkchen]

Hi Everyone,

I have some more newb-ish questions about Canadian Dental Schools:

1) I know its competitve if you're not in the province, but since the ADEA doesn't publish admissions stats, is it pretty much impossible to get in? I'd like to Apply to McGill and University of Toronto (along with a whole host of American Dental schools). EDIT: I have attached a link to my stats here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=887490

2) Is there any special requirements for Canadian schools? Obviously I took the American DAT no soap carving and such.

3) Would going to school in Canada have any unforeseen issues?

Thanks in advance!

I'm pretty sure it's very competitive, even for in-province Canadian students, let alone international students; keep in mind Canadian dental schools are public so they are limited in the number of international and/or out-of-province students they can take.

I think this may be a rumor, but I heard that some schools do not really accept American DAT unless you are a Canadian citizen who happens to be studying in U.S. and can only take the American DAT. Not sure how applicable this is for your schools, so might be a good idea to follow up.

I cannot foresee any unforeseen issues by attending any accredited dental school in North America.

 

[hifive]

You need a higher gpa, and need to write the Canadian dat.

 

[ushaseos]

I'm pretty sure it's very competitive, even for in-province Canadian students, let alone international students; keep in mind Canadian dental schools are public so they are limited in the number of international and/or out-of-province students they can take.

I think this may be a rumor, but I heard that some schools do not really accept American DAT unless you are a Canadian citizen who happens to be studying in U.S. and can only take the American DAT. Not sure how applicable this is for your schools, so might be a good idea to follow up.

I cannot foresee any unforeseen issues by attending any accredited dental school in North America.

Thanks for a very detailed answer. I think I'll abandon my Canadian interest. I just thought it would be interesting and those two schools have a great rep too. I'll contact those two schools and see what they think, but good to have a realistic idea of what to expect.

You need a higher gpa, and need to write the Canadian dat.

I can understand the Canadian DAT part, but isn't a 3.7+ passable? Berkeley has no grade inflation so even a 3.7 was a real challenge. (and I graduated in 3.5 academic years). Of course this is an admissions committe so I can see them being showered by 4.0s and my 3.7 is not worth their time.

 

[dskies]

I didn't apply to mgill so i dunno, but u of t interview avg this year was 3.85. And usually thats the average of people who get accepted..they look at your top three years by the way so if you have one crappier year maybe your gpa will go up. also, an A isn't a 4.0.. it's a 3.9. an A- is a 3.7...only an A+ is a 4.0. This is generally speaking, not sure how they would look at grades from berkley. I would contact them and ask. Side note - you only submit your grades and dat scores, so they won't even know about your ECs, and they don't accept reference letters...it's a very numbers based process up here lol

 

[ushaseos]

I didn't apply to mgill so i dunno, but u of t interview avg this year was 3.85. And usually thats the average of people who get accepted..they look at your top three years by the way so if you have one crappier year maybe your gpa will go up. also, an A isn't a 4.0.. it's a 3.9. an A- is a 3.7...only an A+ is a 4.0. This is generally speaking, not sure how they would look at grades from berkley. I would contact them and ask. Side note - you only submit your grades and dat scores, so they won't even know about your ECs, and they don't accept reference letters...it's a very numbers based process up here lol

Ah well I chose the wrong undergrad in that regard my major's avg GPA was a 2.6 so I was just happy with my 3.7! My DAT is fine, but its American so it doesn't cut it. Oh well, seems like my CV isn't made for Canadian Dental Schools. Good to know before going too much further. Thanks for the excellent answers you guys. Guess I am gonna be all American...at this point it seems more likely that I'll get into Harvard than any Canadian School.

 

[qkchen]

Ah well I chose the wrong undergrad in that regard my major's avg GPA was a 2.6 so I was just happy with my 3.7! My DAT is fine, but its American so it doesn't cut it. Oh well, seems like my CV isn't made for Canadian Dental Schools. Good to know before going too much further. Thanks for the excellent answers you guys. Guess I am gonna be all American...at this point it seems more likely that I'll get into Harvard than any Canadian School.

I didn't mean to suggest earlier that it's impossible to get into Canadian schools, but it's definitely an up-hill climb even with great stats such as yours. If you really like Canadian dental schools, then you should at least apply; nothing to lose except some time and application fees, etc. I think I read a thread about an American student who was accepted at one of the Canadian schools, so there is a precedent for this. There are some great schools up north, so if you're up for a little travel, definitely don't miss out on applying.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

You'll want to recalculate your GPA. I don't know if you gave your AADSAS GPA or your Berkeley GPA. They're all different. U of Toronto, at least, does not standardize your grades via letter grades. They do it via the OMSAS scale (same scale that Ontario medical schools use) which goes by percentages, like this:

90-100 = 4.0
85-89 = 3.9
80-84 = 3.7
75-79 = 3.3
70-74 = 3.0

And so on.

That 3.85 statistic thrown around is the average for interviewees (they interview about 180 people). The average matriculant is around 3.9. Also keep in mind that they drop your lowest year as long as it is not the most recently completed year of study.

For reference, I had a 3.87 and interviewed this year, but last year I had a 3.78 and didn't.

However, they have a separate quota for international students, and I do believe the standards for international students are in fact a tad lower. The application for UToronto literally takes like 30 minutes, so you might as well try, as long as they're willing to accept your American DAT (which they very well might, since UToronto does not bother even looking at carving; they only look at AA and PAT).

As for McGill, you can pretty much forget about it. It's a tiny class, and Quebec has strong protectionist policies. Out-of-province Canadian applicants have a hard enough time.

If you decide to apply next year and manage to land an interview, send me an email and I can give you some resources & pointers on how to prepare for it.

 

[ushaseos]

I didn't mean to suggest earlier that it's impossible to get into Canadian schools, but it's definitely an up-hill climb even with great stats such as yours. If you really like Canadian dental schools, then you should at least apply; nothing to lose except some time and application fees, etc. I think I read a thread about an American student who was accepted at one of the Canadian schools, so there is a precedent for this. There are some great schools up north, so if you're up for a little travel, definitely don't miss out on applying.

You were very helpful and not really discouraging. In fact I appreciate your honest response to my questions. Like cleanup said, application itself is hardly any time so I'll definitely apply and see if it works. I feel like moving up to Canada would be a nice change, but don't want to build castles in the air 😳

You'll want to recalculate your GPA. I don't know if you gave your AADSAS GPA or your Berkeley GPA. They're all different. U of Toronto, at least, does not standardize your grades via letter grades. They do it via the OMSAS scale (same scale that Ontario medical schools use) which goes by percentages, like this:

90-100 = 4.0
85-89 = 3.9
80-84 = 3.7
75-79 = 3.3
70-74 = 3.0

And so on.

That 3.85 statistic thrown around is the average for interviewees (they interview about 180 people). The average matriculant is around 3.9. Also keep in mind that they drop your lowest year as long as it is not the most recently completed year of study.

For reference, I had a 3.87 and interviewed this year, but last year I had a 3.78 and didn't.

However, they have a separate quota for international students, and I do believe the standards for international students are in fact a tad lower. The application for UToronto literally takes like 30 minutes, so you might as well try, as long as they're willing to accept your American DAT (which they very well might, since UToronto does not bother even looking at carving; they only look at AA and PAT).

As for McGill, you can pretty much forget about it. It's a tiny class, and Quebec has strong protectionist policies. Out-of-province Canadian applicants have a hard enough time.

If you decide to apply next year and manage to land an interview, send me an email and I can give you some resources & pointers on how to prepare for it.

Wow that is such a great reply. I'll definitely contact you in case that works. Actually if my lowest year is dropped, My GPA should get a boost up to 3.8. Still though I don't think I can use the scale you mentioned since all my classes were curved and my transcript only lists grades, no percentages...

Oh well, I'll definitely apply to Toronto at least. I'll contact the admissions committee and hopefully they can answer these questions. Hope revived!

 

[dskies]

http://www.ouac.on.ca/docs/omsas/c_omsas_b.pdf

All the scales for the schools in Canada are here... U of T uses #7 for alpha grades. I would recalculate your GPA with your top three years.