Dental Schools Rankings

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CarmenO

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Hi everyone! 🙂

I have been fortunate enough to get into a few schools in the US and was wondering how to go about making my decision... Is there a listing that I am unaware of that ranks American dental schools? If this list does not exist, how does one 'grade' a school? - by board results, facilities, reputation... etc.? And if so, where can this info be found?

Any help would be appreciated... I have no idea how to begin this process.

😕

THANK YOU!
 
There is no official list, but you can find out average scores (e.g. board scores) from the schools themselves.

When you do interviews, you can talk to students and see how they feel about the way the school is training them and talk to graduates to see if they felt prepared when they graduated.

The things that I looked at when I interviewed at schools were

Part I boards - since this helps determine if you'll get into a specialty program (if you are interested that is)

tuition - how much money you end up spending for your education can make a big difference. Being in debt over 300K with a school like USC and only 150K with UCLA is significant.

default rate - the rate at which students are not able to pay off their loans. You usually want a lower number meaning that students graduate--> make money --> pay off loans

Part II boards - not really that important. As long as you pass, I don't think it makes a difference as to your chances of getting into a specialty program or practicing as a general dentist


- There are some other things to look at....but perhaps people can post what numbers they learned from the schools when they interviewed there. I only went to 2 interviews, so the only ones that I remember are:

UCLA - 2002 average part I board score = 91 (#1 in the nation)
UOP - <1% default rate (they said this is one of the best)
 
CarmenO

Congrats on your acceptances! As for your inquiry, US News ranks all colleges from undergraduate to graduate level... EXCEPT for dental schools. Dental schools were last ranked in 1993, a lot of dental schools complained about the criteria used to judge dental schools. As a result, dental schools are no longer included in the US News' anual rankings. I do not know of any other organization that ranks schools.
 
Here's a link to the 1992 and 1995 Gourman Report Rankings. These lists are ten years old and have been heavily criticized like every other ranking system (don't put too much faith in them as they don't hold much merit). Anyways, take a look if you want:

http://members.tripod.com/~softballteam/best.html
 
In a way, I wish they would post rankings for fun. However, I commend the ADEA for not succumbing to ranking its schools. To rank schools is ridiculous in my opinion. Every school has something great to offer. And why should one feel like he or she is going to an inferior school like the University of Oklahoma especially if that school is in the person's home state.

As far as prestige is concerned, do we really need to rank schools to figure out which schools are prestigious. Harvard is Harvard.

I think by not ranking schools, it allows people to focus on criteria that is important to them as opposed to worry about attending the highest rank school they can.

The one thing I have seen on here which I think is very cool is that people are so proud of their schools. The UOP people think their schools is tops. The Temple people couldn't see themselves attending any other school. Yah-E loves nova. Desidentist is psyched about Penn. That's how it should it be. When you start ranking schools, people get into petty debates. Some people will actually attend a school they don't like because U.S. News had it ranked 2 spots higher than their first choice.

In addition, I would hate specialty programs and employers to use a magazine's ranking system to determine the quality of a certain graduate.
 
mcataz has a really good point. Take a glance at the Pre-Allo board and see what rankings has done to the pre-meds over there. They are a little too obssesed with the numbers and USNews.

Things to look at for each school:

Debt - Definitely look at this factor. Being $250K is a lot, and it can get even larger if you decide to specialize right after (and have to pay for the program) or try to buy a practice in a few years. Disregard debt if you have a full ride from somewhere (army, navy mom & dad) or a hefty scholarship.

Recent Graduates - They are probably the most reliable source. What are they doing now? How did they feel their experience in dental school prepared them for practice? How prepared do they feel compared to graduates from other schools they've met? How do others view their dental school's reputation when they say "I am a ______ dental school grad."

Upper Classmen - How have they enjoyed their experience? What do they think? How difficult is it to get patients - do you have to recruit your own patients? How crazy is it to meet requirements? I would talk to a number of them, because there are always a few very disgruntled people in each class. Freshmen aren't very helpful because they have yet to experience the clinical world at their school, but they would be able to comment on the basic science preparation at the dental school.

Facilities - also a good thing to look at. Are the clinics run down or state-of-the-art?

Maybe if you have more specific concerns about the schools that took you we could help you out with them here.

Good luck!
 
hey guys...

I agree with griffin04....I posted a response to this question in another thread regarding dental school rankings =)...so if u are interested in finding out what I and alot of other SDN members had to say.....feel free to browse the other thread =)

=)

have fun!
 
Hi there,

Does anybody have a ranking list of Dental Schools in Great Britain? Or in Europe? Thank you!
 
Where can you get a copy of that? I never saw it...


unagi07 said:
CarmenO

Congrats on your acceptances! As for your inquiry, US News ranks all colleges from undergraduate to graduate level... EXCEPT for dental schools. Dental schools were last ranked in 1993, a lot of dental schools complained about the criteria used to judge dental schools. As a result, dental schools are no longer included in the US News' anual rankings. I do not know of any other organization that ranks schools.
Click to expand...
 
Note that the rankings on that dude's website are bogus anyhow. I love how Nova was ranked in 1992, 5 full years before the dental school opened it's doors.
 
Can a mod delete a thread an make sure it never comes back!?
 
They can lock it. That will pretty much ensure it doesn't come back but will slowly settle to the bottom of the SDN forums ocean and eventually become a fossil due to the pressure of the threads on top of it.
 
I nominate this sucker to become a fossil... Anyone second that?! I get so sick of this question.
 
:laugh: yeah, this is the oldest thread I have seen...That waaaay was before I knew I wanted to go to dental school...





armorshell said:
Did you happen to notice the part where unagi made that post 5 years ago? Or where his last post was in 2003?
Click to expand...
 
awwww...that sucks! I was hoping it was accurate since Columbia was #4 on there! 😛




armorshell said:
Note that the rankings on that dude's website are bogus anyhow. I love how Nova was ranked in 1992, 5 full years before the dental school opened it's doors.
Click to expand...
 
SHC1984 said:
awwww...that sucks! I was hoping it was accurate since Columbia was #4 on there! 😛
Click to expand...

Looks fine to me. This roughly parallels the medical rankings, for the top schools anyway. Harvard's always top. Michigan's usually on par with Columbia, and UCSF's usually above both those. Penn's the only new change, since it's gone up in the rankings in the last few years. However, the medical community seems to think its position on the rankings is underserved. But that's another story.

Here's the medical rankings. Looks kinda similar. CU's not all that high up there, after all.
1) Harvard
2) Penn
3) UCSF
4) Washington
5) Baylor
6) Columbia
7) Michigan
8) UCLA
 
I originally posted on this thread back in 2003 and nothing has really changed on SDN since then except the addition of more forums.

I return to point out that much to the disbelief of the pre-dents on this thread, both of those rankings from that website do look accurate as they were originally published in the mid 1990s. (I say this based on my memory of those lists). I made my original decision in 1997 to attend dental school and as I debated between Ivy vs. state, I remember the list from US News very clearly because it starkly contrasted all the other school lists (med, law, undergrad, etc) in that issue of US News rankings with the top 12 schools all being state schools. I was feeling drawn to the more expensive school for all the nebulous reasons predents on this board still debate even though all private practice dentists & specialists (including ivy grads) told me to go state because it is cheaper and no one cares where you graduated from when you get out. Someone pulled out the US News with all of those state schools at the top and I started scratching my head. Then some dentists actually started quoting me actual loan repayment figures and the decision became much clearer.

I also remember seeing the Gourman reports from the same time period too and the list from the Gourman report looked nothing like the US News list and I started to realize why all rankings for dental school are worthless. There were some Gorman reports from later in the 1990s as well and the list from that website looks accurate as I remember it (not sure about that Nova thing), but the only way to ever come across a Gorman report was to find it at some obscure location in the reference section of the Health Science library. They weren't exactly sold on the newsstands between Good Housekeeping and the Snickers bars. I bet if you visit your college libraries, you'll probably find an old copy of the Gorman report hidden somewhere in the stacks.
 
gryffindor said:
I remember the list from US News very clearly because it starkly contrasted all the other school lists (med, law, undergrad, etc) in that issue of US News rankings with the top 12 schools all being state schools.
Click to expand...

Did you look under the section titled "Top Public Schools?"
 
Wow eventhough i knew there is no ranking in uS Dental schools this was very helpful and informative thanks guys!!
 
IdiotsAnnoyMe said:
Did you look under the section titled "Top Public Schools?"
Click to expand...

No, that was the list of the top 12 dental schools, not the top 12 public dental schools. I've moved so many times I have since lost my copy, but I'm sure that issue of US News can be found in the library if anyone is still wondering about the rankings from 11 years ago.
 
I find that ranking hard to believe...how can the top 12 be all public schools? makes no sense at all...

The 1992 ranking and the ranking by Dentsds makes much more sense. 👍




gryffindor said:
No, that was the list of the top 12 dental schools, not the top 12 public dental schools. I've moved so many times I have since lost my copy, but I'm sure that issue of US News can be found in the library if anyone is still wondering about the rankings from 11 years ago.
Click to expand...
 
SHC1984 said:
I find that ranking hard to believe...how can the top 12 be all public schools? makes no sense at all...

The 1992 ranking and the ranking by Dentsds makes much more sense. 👍
Click to expand...

Oh I see how it works. So when you don't like the rankings, or the way they're performed, you just disagree with them and move on?

Weird, huh? Thanks, though, you've seriously made my day with that comment.
 
SHC1984 said:
I find that ranking hard to believe...how can the top 12 be all public schools? makes no sense at all...

The 1992 ranking and the ranking by Dentsds makes much more sense. 👍
Click to expand...

I guess I really don't understand your fetish for Ivy League schools...or the inability to accept that there might be schools out there that are better than Ivy League schools.

It might just be that I'm from the west, but I've never, ever heard anything special about Ivy League dental schools.
 
armorshell said:
Oh I see how it works. So when you don't like the rankings, or the way they're performed, you just disagree with them and move on?

Weird, huh? Thanks, though, you've seriously made my day with that comment.
Click to expand...

HAHA, I was thinking the exact same thing. Anything that does not say Columbia is amazing SHC1984 has a problem with.
 
I'm too lazy of a resident to walk over to our university's main library and look up the original list. I'm leaving that up to one of you uber motivated undergrads to do it if you are in such disbelief that the lowly state schools could outrank private schools in the US News. Again, this discussion proves why ranking schools is worthless in our profession.
 
SHC1984 said:
I find that ranking hard to believe...how can the top 12 be all public schools? makes no sense at all...

The 1992 ranking and the ranking by Dentsds makes much more sense. 👍
Click to expand...

Well, the 1992 ranking has NYU at #9. Soo, are you really, really sure it's accurate? I mean, back then, I heard they also had to do an autopsy at NYU!😛








(sarcasm implied😀)
 
tamkhan said:
Well, the 1992 ranking has NYU at #9. Soo, are you really, really sure it's accurate? I mean, back then, I heard they also had to do an autopsy at NYU!😛

(sarcasm implied😀)
Click to expand...

I know they had to at some point. My grandfather told me a story about gross anatomy at NYUCOD back in th 50's, where after dissecting a cadaver they took the large intestine out, hooked it up to the end of a faucet and sprayed the med students with it.

Ahh, the good ol' days.
 
:barf:
Thanks for that graphic description...I wanted to know that...



armorshell said:
I know they had to at some point. My grandfather told me a story about gross anatomy at NYUCOD back in th 50's, where after dissecting a cadever they took the large intestine out, hooked it up to the end of a faucet and sprayed the med students with it.

Ahh, the good ol' days.
Click to expand...
 
UCSF and UoP...# 1 ranked in the country for health food yuppies, veganism, homosexuality, and free love. Gotta love that!
 
.
 
Last edited:
TerpFan said:
:laugh::laugh::laugh: Should have sprayed the med school rejects that steal our spots in DS. 👍
Click to expand...

You're basically saying that dental school is for medical school rejects. Nice.
 
UNR.Grad said:
You're basically saying that dental school is for medical school rejects. Nice.
Click to expand...

OH GOD NO!!!! thats DEF not what i meant to say. I know 4 people that got rejected from med schools last year and applied to dental schools this year and got in and i couldn't have been more pissed off about it. i HATE it when people use it as backup because there are people like me(i didnt apply this cycle, im just saying) who have wanted to be a dentist since they were 7 (no lie) that don't get those spots, its pretty unfair. this is why i said "steal our spots in DS"

our = people that really want to become dentists
 
armorshell said:
I know they had to at some point. My grandfather told me a story about gross anatomy at NYUCOD back in th 50's, where after dissecting a cadaver they took the large intestine out, hooked it up to the end of a faucet and sprayed the med students with it.

Ahh, the good ol' days.
Click to expand...

Hahaha that's funny and very gross at the same time. :scared: Did happen to tell you what their revenge was? haha
 
Don't rely on the rankings too much. Every school has their plus and minus.
Besides, you get what you put into it (as in effort).

Personally, i think part I boards are important if you want to specialize, but part II gives you an idea how much you know clinically.

Some schools, you do well on part I, but they have horrible part II scores. If you plan on being a GP, you might want to consider schools with a strong clinical background.

Goodluck to you all. 👍
 
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