Class Rankings

[eschou01]

Hello everyone,

Some of my friends and I who are applying to dental school this year were debating Ivy League schools and class rankings, and I was wondering if anyone else had any input on this subject:

Although I have no idea of what I want to do after graduation from dental school, I still want to keep my options open. As such, I am curious about specializations. Some of my friends have said that post-graduate programs place a lot of emphasis on where you did your DMD/DDS, while others have said that class rankings are more important. I realize that there are several factors to consider when choosing a dental school (i.e location, price, facilities, etc.), but, all things being equal, is it better to graduate at the top of your class at a "less-competitive" dental school or above average at a "more-competitive"/Ivy League school?

As you can probably tell, I am pretty confused, as this could be a big career decision. If class rankings are the main determinant for specialization programs, then should I just go to a "mediocre" school where I can be sure to graduate highly in the class? Or should I look for a more challenging program and not worry about the class rankings?

Like I said, I am simply looking to keep my options open. I also have interests in research and academia. I would really appreciate any info. from anyone has any thoughts on this matter. Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,
Eric

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[vixen]

I couldn't tell you anything because I'm a predent, but if I had to guess, I would guess to do well at a mediocre school.

 

[preludexl]

Well, my grampa told me to go to my local dental school which is scheduled to open or to go to UOP and finish in 3 years. His main reasoning? The cost, USC's is 44,000/year I am told. Although that is his school he strongly recommended in choosing an economical school. I never asked him why or whether the training might be inferior (really wasnt interested in dentistry until recently). But then again, he has become quite respected in his own right and I take everythng he says as fact. When he started in dentistry they still used those leg cranked drills. For our generation we would not know what it looks like. He's got one in his living room still. It's sort of like an old foot powered sewing machine. You step on the pedal which turns a big pulley on top, which in turn, drives the driller....the driller is pretty big, onto itself, it's an unweildy tube, that is roughly not too unlike that of a gardening hose. Hehe, it's kind of funny imagining a dentist working on someone's teeth back then. He's also got a collection of old scrapers, etc. Oh yes, a big pair of tongs, I'll let you guess what that was for. So, no, I guess you don't have to go Ivy League... when a patient comes in, they just want to be at ease. No one is going to ask you what school you went to...if they do, they are prob a dental student.
Hope that helped.

 

[Ineedanassociate]

Eric and all concerned. Harvard is the only Ivy League University with a dental school,unless University of Pennsylvania is considered an Ivy League School. My understanding is that all the schools are compettive to get in. University of Detroit Mercy states on there web site that 1700 people applied for 75 spots. When I was in dental school 84-89 class rank GPA letters of recommendation, extra mural practice experience were what was important for advanced training. Before going to dental school I wanted to be an orthodontist. For various reasons I've been very happy as a general dentist for the last 12 years. R.Scott DeBruin,D.D.S.

 

[Hope7]

Ineedanassociate,

Did you not pursue orthodontics b/c you did not have the high class rankings, board scores and GPA or did you decide just not to apply to an orthodontic program?
I've heard a lot of dental students envision specializing in the future but in reality it is so competitive that only very few actually get in. That is partly why 80% are general dentist and only 20% specialist. In other words with mediocre scores you can kiss the idea of specializing goodbye. How true is that?
Also, what is it about general dentistry that is more favorable than orthodontics?

 

[Ineedanassociate]

No I was about 12th in a glass of 65 and had about a 3.65 GPA I couldn't see spending the time and money for two more years of education when I was as interested in almost all phases of dentistry. I received the AGD award for the "Senior Student who in the opion of the faculty shows the greatest interest,knowledge,and profeciencyin general dentistry. I like it all! But in order to get the best results in ortho. you need the specialist. If you realy want it you'll get in maybe not right out of dental school, you might need a GPR or a year or two as an associate.

 

[Ineedanassociate]

that would be class not glass of 65!

 

[skim2]

Excuse me but I think Columbia is also an Ivy league school.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Yes, Columbia belongs to the Ivy League, as does Penn. These two schools, along with Harvard, are the only Ivy League schools to have dental schools.

 

[ayoon80]

Good Question! I was wondering the same thing. I'm deciding between UCLA, UCSF, LLU and USC. I've heard ucla and ucsf are good research/specialty schools and usc has good alumni support..and llu has a good clinical program, etc.. but I'm not sure which school would offer the best opportunity for me to specialize, since I would also like to go into Orthodontics. If anybody knows anything regarding the programs at any of these schools let me know, thanks~!

 

[ussdfiant]

There are 8 schools that make up the Ivy League. They are:

University of Pennsylvania (Go Quakers!)
Harvard
Yale
Dartmouth
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Brown

ussdfiant
B.A.
University of Pennsylvania
C/O 1994