Yes, there is some advantage to going to a top tier school. Dental school's do recognize there is a difference in the degree of difficulty between schools and do take that into consideration. How much of a difference this makes is anyone's guess, but I suspect a 4.0 to 3.9 range gpa at UM Dearborn might look better to schools than a 3.5 from Yale even though you probably would have to work harder for your 3.5. I was in a similar situation as you and went to a top 20 school and was in the 3.2 range and took a couple of summer courses from a local state school that is actually ranked in the top 60 or 70 and found the upper level science courses there were much easier (as you might expect) and surprised myself by earning the top grade in both classes. I later got a master's degree before decided I wanted to go into dentistry and think I might not have been able to get in without having my master's despite a 22 on the DAT, although I feel if I had just gone to my local state school I could have earned a much higher GPA and perhaps had more acceptances. The point is, there is a difference and dental schools know there is a difference, however it probably doesn't play a big role. In the end, school's try use the DAT as the real comparison. Anyway, I would stay at Yale if for nothing else but to be better prepared for the rigors of dental school - if you were struggling to stay above a 3.0 then a transfer should be considered, but I wouldn't in your case. Plus, no admissions committee wants to find out that you changed schools because you wanted to take easier classes. If you manage a 3.5 at Yale, you will get into dental school and the extra effort you put in there will be a benefit to you when you get to dental school.
