Friendly Advice to Dental School Applicants

[TheDentalDude]

After looking around this pre-dental subforum for some time I’ve noticed a trend that should be addressed. Around 70% of all of the posts are “Can I get in dental school with a low GPA” and “what are my chances of being accepted to dental school”. There are enough of these posts for anybody who wants an answer to either of those questions to get the answer they are looking for. The reason those people are asking is because they are scared. Anybody trying to get into dental school has every right to be scared. It’s a hard process and it takes most people more than one try to get into dental school. My advice is to stop looking at admission rate statistics. Many schools only accept 10% of all applicants. The statistic they don’t show is the amount of interviews they hand out. That percentage is way higher. If you get an interview it means you are good on paper. Many people are offered interviews by schools every year. I’ve seen statistics as high as 50% of applicants getting interviews. If you get one you should spend a chunk of your time practicing interview skills so you can show the admissions comittee you want it and have what it takes. If you work hard on your interview, don’t lie, and show the interviewer how much you want it, you will be apart of that 10%. And remember, just because you aren’t accepted the first time doesn’t mean your chances of going into dentistry are over. You actually have a better chance of getting in because you have the opportunity to show admission committees that you are committed to going into dentistry by working harder in the off time. The first people a dental school is going to choose is the people who want it the most. I hope this has helped anybody who is scared about getting into dental school.

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[FutureDentist97]

Thank you for your advice

 

[doc toothache]

After looking around this pre-dental subforum for some time I’ve noticed a trend that should be addressed. Around 70% of all of the posts are “Can I get in dental school with a low GPA” and “what are my chances of being accepted to dental school”. There are enough of these posts for anybody who wants an answer to either of those questions to get the answer they are looking for. The reason those people are asking is because they are scared. Anybody trying to get into dental school has every right to be scared. It’s a hard process and it takes most people more than one try to get into dental school. My advice is to stop looking at admission rate statistics. Many schools only accept 10% of all applicants. The statistic they don’t show is the amount of interviews they hand out. That percentage is way higher. If you get an interview it means you are good on paper. Many people are offered interviews by schools every year. I’ve seen statistics as high as 50% of applicants getting interviews. If you get one you should spend a chunk of your time practicing interview skills so you can show the admissions comittee you want it and have what it takes. If you work hard on your interview, don’t lie, and show the interviewer how much you want it, you will be apart of that 10%. And remember, just because you aren’t accepted the first time doesn’t mean your chances of going into dentistry are over. You actually have a better chance of getting in because you have the opportunity to show admission committees that you are committed to going into dentistry by working harder in the off time. The first people a dental school is going to choose is the people who want it the most. I hope this has helped anybody who is scared about getting into dental school.

Is that off the top of your head or do you have any basis for the claim? The 10% acceptance rate for "many schools" is meaningless since each applicant applies, on average, to 10 schools. The information on the number of interviews is readily available.

 

[TheDentalDude]

It’s actually the enrollment rate. I averaged the numbers from the Journal of Dental Education (0.5*[16.4+2.6]) to get a 9.5% enrollment rate which I rounded to 10%. I should’ve been more specific. You are right about the fact that the amount of people who get accepted to a school every year is higher than the percent who enroll. Kaplan’s study states that about 50% of all people who apply to school each year end up matriculating which supports your statement.