does undergrad really matter?

[Regina330]

Hey everyone!

I just want to know your opinion on this question:
Does the undergraduate school you go to really matter? One dental school more or less insulted me about my undergrad institution, saying it might not be challenging or that the grading system may not be difficult. Yes I come from a small private school that practically no one out of state has heard of, but I worked for my grades and I am happy with my GPA and DAT. I don't think that my undergrad school should hinder my application considering my stats, my experience, and my desire to be a dentist!

What do you guys think?!?

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[Blue Tooth]

isn't that the point of standardized tests (flawed as they are)- to put gpas form different schools in perspective for comparison?

 

[Yah-E]

No, not if it's an accredited 4 year university of college! If a dental school say all that to you, write to the Dean of the dental school and get a different opinion! I would personally just say F#@* that dental school and take my money and invested into some where else! Dental schools' admissions office staff should be PERSONABLE and ENCOURAGING, I'm starting to see that some those schools are simply lacking in that department, especially with an applicant as yourself with respectable GPAs and DAT scores. I can understand if you have substandard academic credentials and their just being honest with you, but they should not treat you like that when you have presentable numbers. I say, give that school the middle and a "F" for Recruiting 101!

 

[lalo5]

just out of shear curiosity , which school was it?

 

[quantumhead]

I can understand your frustration, I have experienced the same kind of reactions to my undergrad school. I believe that it stems from grade inflation at some schools. An A at a school that is known for inflating grades does not match a school that does not. This is unfair for those of us who got our A through hard work. But it is a real thing. This is most likely the reason most pre-health students are so vocal about grade inflation in there classes. I know that I got very vocal during some of my classes when I saw them bumping up scores because the class average was low. One time I got a 98% on a test and the class average was below 60% although there were about four of us who did well and about ten more that did average they bumped everyone up untill the average was a 75%. This helped me very little while one of my friends went from a mid C to a High B. Anyway, it's not right but I can see where the preception comes from.

 

[10040]

I would like to say that one dental school looks your school down does not mean that all the other dental schools do that. I like to share an experience to you, explaining why I think this way. I am also from a small school. I changed my major from IT to Bio couple years ago. So I could not take the O chem before my DAT (You are from a small school, you should know how small schools offer courses. Sometimes every other years or even longer than that!) Anyway, I took the DAT and I did not get a satisfactory O Chem score. During my interviews, one school concerned it very much and asked me to retake it. But the other schools were impressed with my score without taking the O chem course. So, it just depend on schools. For me, I don't think a small school has any disadvantage than a large, well-known one. Just work hard on the DAT and that is self explainatory. :wink: