Dental School Guide Service Reliable?

[sirkay]

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Hi everyone, I have a quick question about a service I came across yesterday called Dental School Guide. I'm wondering whether it's reliable/worth the investment. They're charging a couple thousand dollars and claim to have application grading rubrics sourced directly from the admissions offices of multiple dental schools.
Has anyone used this service before? If so, would you recommend it for someone trying to maximize their chances of getting in this cycle?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm never a fan of spending thousands of dollars, especially when you are facing a $500K debt to attend dental school. If I were a responsible admissions officer (and I have been), I would never share my admissions rubric because they are proprietary. I have great doubts about admissions officers that will endorse a specific admissions consultancy; the ethical perception crosses a line of objectivity.

They do have a podcast (which you can access without giving away your information for marketing). Understand that in today's era, the podcast is a vehicle to drum up business. The information it contains probably would be useful but not different from what they would tell applicants at their own recruitment events or if prompted at the ADEA GoDental Virtual Fair which happened last week. Or the TMDSAS podcasts for the dental school admissions interviews.

How to Assess Your Academic Competencies | Student Doctor Network | SDN

Learn how to frame your academic competencies when applying to medical or other health professional school.

www.studentdoctor.net

How to Assess Your Pre-Professional Competencies | Student Doctor Network | SDN

Learn how to frame your pre-professional competencies when applying to medical or other health professional school.

www.studentdoctor.net

Here's the deal: you can do the same amount of work for free. We have experts here and current students that can also give you insights without you spending thousands of dollars. There are also other private chats and forums where you could join for a fair amount less. But if any source has you avoiding accessing authoritative sources from the ADEA Dental School Explorer/Official Dental School Guide or your own networking with ASDA/SNDA, you are more likely going to spend more money than you have to on your success.

If anything, such enterprises and pitches perpetuate the big problem with dentistry: only those from high-income brackets including those whose families have successful dental businesses can go to dental school. We know this is a big problem in medicine where over half of matriculated students come from the top 20% of income levels in the US. This problem is even worse in Canada and outside the US, and dentistry is much less "diverse."

 

[sirkay]

I'm never a fan of spending thousands of dollars, especially when you are facing a $500K debt to attend dental school. If I were a responsible admissions officer (and I have been), I would never share my admissions rubric because they are proprietary. I have great doubts about admissions officers that will endorse a specific admissions consultancy; the ethical perception crosses a line of objectivity.

They do have a podcast (which you can access without giving away your information for marketing). Understand that in today's era, the podcast is a vehicle to drum up busineses. The information it contains probably would be useful but not different from what they would tell applicants at their own recruitment events or if prompted at the ADEA GoDental Virtual Fair which happened last week. Or the TMDSAS podcasts for the dental school admissions interviews.

How to Assess Your Academic Competencies | Student Doctor Network | SDN

Learn how to frame your academic competencies when applying to medical or other health professional school.

www.studentdoctor.net

How to Assess Your Pre-Professional Competencies | Student Doctor Network | SDN

Learn how to frame your pre-professional competencies when applying to medical or other health professional school.

www.studentdoctor.net

Here's the deal: you can do the same amount of work for free. We have experts here and current students that can also give you insights without you spending thousands of dollars. There are also other private chats and forums where you could join for a fair amount less. But if any source has you avoiding accessing authoritative sources from the ADEA Dental School Explorer/Official Dental School Guide or your own networking with ASDA/SNDA, you are more likely going to spend more money than you have to on your success.

If anything, such enterprises and pitches perpetuate the big problem with dentistry: only those from high-income brackets including those whose families have successful dental businesses can go to dental school. We know this is a big problem in medicine where over half of matriculated students come from the top 20% of income levels in the US. This problem is even worse in Canada and outside the US, and dentistry is much less "diverse."

Thank you for the reply. Yea I was skeptical about the service as well thinking it was too good to be true. Thank you for the resources and info on where else to look that will help me out a lot!!

 

[Ryxndek]

hundreds of thousands of applicants have been admitted to dental school without paying money for a consulting company. Don't. Do your due diligence and use the resources found on here and reddit, and other free online platforms to get the information you need. the ADEA explorer is probably the best investment in a paid resource if you must spend money.

 

[Dental_dream_in_the_makin]

I agree that not everyone needs help applying to dental school. But as someone with a lower GPA and as a first-generation applicant, I honestly felt like I needed more guidance.

As someone who’s currently using Dental School Guide I feel like it’s been really helpful for me. They do have information directly from dental schools, and I’ve been able to work with someone involved in admissions. My mentor is from Midwestern AZ.

Also, not everything they offer costs thousands of dollars. They have smaller resources/services starting around $15, so it really depends on what kind of help you’re looking for.

Like I said, I don’t think everyone needs something like this, but for me personally it’s been a huge help, especially with figuring out what the schools I’m applying to are actually looking for. I definitely feel much more prepared for this cycle because of it.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I agree that not everyone needs help applying to dental school. But as someone with a lower GPA and as a first-generation applicant, I honestly felt like I needed more guidance.

As someone who’s currently using Dental School Guide I feel like it’s been really helpful for me. They do have information directly from dental schools, and I’ve been able to work with someone involved in admissions. My mentor is from Midwestern AZ.

Also, not everything they offer costs thousands of dollars. They have smaller resources/services starting around $15, so it really depends on what kind of help you’re looking for.

Like I said, I don’t think everyone needs something like this, but for me personally it’s been a huge help, especially with figuring out what the schools I’m applying to are actually looking for. I definitely feel much more prepared for this cycle because of it.

I used to work in dental admissions, and you could have gotten my help with an SDN membership or other donations to support this non-profit resource. Again, it's good to get as much insight as you can, but it's not a mystery what dental schools want. The question is if you have a skills and the persistent mindset to pay the debt back.