Does it matter where you go for undergrad? I am particularly interested in attending CSULB instead of UCSC. Will this have a significant effect on the chances of admission? Thanks.
Does undergrad institution matter?
- Thread starter hye345
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You undergrad institution, imo, doesn't matter a lot. If you do excellent grade and DAT-wise, it won't matter if you went to CSULB or UCSC. Just do well and it's not really an issue. But, if someone does equally well at Long Beach as they do at UCSC, then, yes, it has a slight effect, but so many other things...like predental experiences, attitude, dedication to the field, community services, etc. all matter way more than which school you went to.
The only time this doesn't apply is when you go to a feeder school...for example...Grand Canyon is a feeder school to Pacific. East Coast private schools tend to look at East Coast private school applicants first. California public schools look at california applicants more favorably, etc.
The only time this doesn't apply is when you go to a feeder school...for example...Grand Canyon is a feeder school to Pacific. East Coast private schools tend to look at East Coast private school applicants first. California public schools look at california applicants more favorably, etc.
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as long as:
-your GPA is competitive
-your DAT score is competitive
-you have adequate dental experience
it doesn't matter what school you go to, especially if you apply to an out of school state. for example, a school in nevada wouldn't know the difference between GA state and Georgia College State University.
take care,
-your GPA is competitive
-your DAT score is competitive
-you have adequate dental experience
it doesn't matter what school you go to, especially if you apply to an out of school state. for example, a school in nevada wouldn't know the difference between GA state and Georgia College State University.
take care,
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What is this? A person beating a dead horse? Of course it matters where you go to undergrad. Cost is as much of a factor for undergrad as professional school. At large schools some people feel underappreciated by students and faculty. At small school some people feel overappreciated by students and faculty. In terms of admission it is a meaningless distinction. The higher the GPA and DAT the better the odds of an interview. The rest of the application also needs to be strong so don't go to somewhere too remote to get the extracurriculars strong.
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i don't think so...make sure it is a decent state college or university andnot a JC or CC and do well with gpa and dat.
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OK, good point. When I'm not on SDN or dmdstudent.com I look at the reports available to dental schools in the form of information generated by ADEA. One of the reports appears to apply some form of rating to undergraduate instituation. See for yourself http://www.academicmanagement.com/admit2007/
However, I still say it's mostly GPA and DAT score to get you to the interview. Then you can talk about how challenging your JC/CC/four year school was in the interview.😀
However, I still say it's mostly GPA and DAT score to get you to the interview. Then you can talk about how challenging your JC/CC/four year school was in the interview.😀
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The answer to the question is yes. In my mind that isn't even debatable. The real question then would be "how much does it matter?" I believe the answer to that is "usually not much."
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Hey Gavin, do you think most CA dental schools would pick applicants from UCLA over UC Irvine? I mean I called UCLA SOD yesterday asking if they favored their own students and they said no.
(I'm actually a 2nd year attending UC Irvine right now and just got admitted to UCLA as a transfer student. soo i am heavily weighing out if i should transfer)
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Dude, are you serious? If you're qualified and a great applicant they won't discriminate against UC Irvine. If UCLA has a disproportionally high amount of UCLA BS/BA's attending the dental school it is most likely because they, having a dental school on campus, are better informed about dental school/dentistry being a graduate/career possiblity.
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It's factored I believe, though not much. It should be factored more heavily, but that's another discussion. Some undergrad institutions, utilize a curve that may land a "straight scale 95" as a low B, and explaining this at an interview sounds more like a whinefest.
How much it counts really can vary depending on the members of the AdComm. At my grad school, we had one member of the admissions committee who wouldn't even look at your application if you didn't go to a prestigious enough school. So, if you applied that year and didn't go to a top school (I'm not 100% sure how she decided this, but it was pretty strict with a particular bias against state schools), you had a guaranteed vote against you.
A few years later, our admissions committee rotated around to be dominated by faculty who went to lesser known undergrads or had friends who went to lesser known undergrads, etc. The name of your undergrad switched from on of the most important parts of your application to a pretty minor part. That was all within the same program at the same school in the span of just a few years!
If you are in HS now, there is no way to know which people will be on the Ad Comms when you are ready to apply to dental school. My advice would be to get the best education you can. Don't go to a school that is above your head because you think the name will impress -- if you are overwhelmed, you won't do well, won't learn as much and you'll only hurt yourself in the long run. At the same time, don't go to a school way below your level, because you won't be taking full advantage of the opportunities you could be taking.
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At every single dental school I applied to, the applications went through the admissions office, where one person read through every single application prior to the interview. When you talk about rotating faculty, this has always been post interview, when they gun through the merits of the individual, as well as the interviewer's scores for said applicant. This, however, is not a singular individual offing anyone because of their school, but rotating sets of faculty members convening weekly.
For the purpose of being granted an interview, the undergrad name carried very little, because there are many students at low tier 1 schools at the interviews, as well as many less prestigious state schools. This may be largely because the head of many admissions departments do not really care for such honorifics. After all, most of them hold master's degrees and not Ph.D.'s, so I doubt they are reading these apps with a stick up their butt.
For the purpose of admissions, alma mater familiarity and ego may play a role, but it doesn't seem to play a large one, because more than one assessor votes on a considered appliant. Every school has "that egostistical prof that is a complete douche," and it's usually balanced out by other more sensible faculty members (exceptions include Uconn of course). Don't play to one clown's standards. For proof, look at the accepted class at schools like Harvard, Penn, Columbia, and etc. They don't just take exclusively from their own ivy niche.
