How hard IS IT to get into Dental School?

[poshdoctor]

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Ok so I am currently a Pre-Med student and I have a 4.0 GPA. But I recently went to the dentist and I im thinking that Dental School may be better for me than Medical School. I like the idea of having low-malpractice (or no malpractice at all🙂), easier work scheds, and not having to complete a long greuling residency program🙁. (also the possibility of being my own boss)

I have noticed that there are not nearly as many Dental School as Med Schools so is it Hard to get into Dental School? Do most Pre-Dental Students get matched?

PS forgive me if my questions sound stupid because I'm just learning about this Dental stuff lol

 

[redchesus]

The fact that there are only 60 some schools in the whole country (many are also OOS unfriendly) makes it ultra competitive, many people have to try a second or third time, or don't get in at all

 

[EndangeredPasta]

Ok so I am currently a Pre-Med student and I have a 4.0 GPA. But I recently went to the dentist and I im thinking that Dental School may be better for me than Medical School. I like the idea of having low-malpractice (or no malpractice at all🙂), easier work scheds, and not having to complete a long greuling residency program🙁. (also the possibility of being my own boss)

I have noticed that there are not nearly as many Dental School as Med Schools so is it Hard to get into Dental School? Do most Pre-Dental Students get matched?

PS forgive me if my questions sound stupid because I'm just learning about this Dental stuff lol

I just want to friendly remind you that you might get some ******* people posting comments questioning why you are switching. Don't worry about them, you do not need to explain to anyone why you are thinking of other careers -- its your life. I personally think it is great your thinking of other careers. I still believe I would be happy in medicine just as I would be in dentistry. I just lean towards dentistry for certain reasons. (also, I am not bashing just the pre-dent forum. The pre-med forum gets just as defensive)

One more thing, when I talk about applying to med school, I am talking about allopathic schools and not osteopathic just for the sake of making it easier to compare.

Anyways, the answer to your question is that it is competitive. Just like medical school, less than 40% (exact stat anyone?) of those applying get accepted. In general though, the average stats of those applying and getting accepted are a little higher for medical school than dental.

There are a couple things that are needed specifically for applying to dental school. You will need dental experience (shadowing will do) and you will most likely want some kind of manual dexterity expierence that you can talk about. Also, the DAT is a little different because it has a Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) and a Quantitative Reasoning Test but does not have a physics component.

Basically, if you are a competitive medical applicant and have the stuff above, you will be a competitive dental applicant.


P.S. Also keep in mind that their are less schools, but also less applicants.

 

[rav4182]

getting into dental school IS DIFFICULT, not as much as getting into med school. but its STILL DIFFICULT.

start shadowing or volunteering in a dental clinic to get some experience, start looking into when you want to apply and when you want to take the dat's so you can work out when to start studying.

 

[poshdoctor]

I just want to friendly remind you that you might get some ******* people posting comments questioning why you are switching. Don't worry about them, you do not need to explain to anyone why you are thinking of other careers -- its your life. I personally think it is great your thinking of other careers. I still believe I would be happy in medicine just as I would be in dentistry. I just lean towards dentistry for certain reasons. (also, I am not bashing just the pre-dent forum. The pre-med forum gets just as defensive)

One more thing, when I talk about applying to med school, I am talking about allopathic schools and not osteopathic just for the sake of making it easier to compare.

Anways, the answer to your question is that it is competitive. Just like medical school, less than 40% (exact stat anyone?) of those applying get accepted. In general though, the average stats of those applying and getting accpeted are generally a little hire for medical school than dental.

There are a couple things that are needed specifically for applying to dental school. You will need dental expierence (shawdoing will do) and you will most likely want some kind of manual dexterity expierence that you can talk about. Also, the DAT is a little different becuase it has a Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) and a Quantative Reasoning Test but does not have a physics component.

Basically, if you are a competitive medical applicant and have the stuff above, you will be a competitive dental applicant.


P.S. Also keep in mind that their are less schools, but also less applicants.

GREAT ANSWER 🙂 just what I wanted to know 🙂

 

[peanutb123]

4000 seats for 11k applicants.

 

[DonutEater]

4000 seats for 11k applicants.

~14K applicants

 

[peanutb123]

~14K applicants

No ~11k apps. 2k8 2k9 & 2k10 have been around ~11k.

so i would say 2k11 is ~11k too...

 

[DonutEater]

No ~11k apps. 2k8 2k9 & 2k10 have been around ~11k.

so i would say 2k11 is ~11k too...

No way... really? AADSAS told me 14K.

 

[rnbaxter]

No ~11k apps. 2k8 2k9 & 2k10 have been around ~11k.

so i would say 2k11 is ~11k too...

👍"For the 2009-2010 application cycle, 11,632 applicants applied for admission to dental schools in the United States. Just 4,067 were eventually accepted. The average dental school applicant entering the school year in 2009 had an overall GPA of 3.54 and a science GPA of 3.46. Additionally, their mean DAT Academic Average (AA) was 19.00 while their DAT Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) score was 19.40" ADEA

 

[erk005]

Ok so I am currently a Pre-Med student and I have a 4.0 GPA. But I recently went to the dentist and I im thinking that Dental School may be better for me than Medical School. I like the idea of having low-malpractice (or no malpractice at all🙂), easier work scheds, and not having to complete a long greuling residency program🙁. (also the possibility of being my own boss)

I have noticed that there are not nearly as many Dental School as Med Schools so is it Hard to get into Dental School? Do most Pre-Dental Students get matched?

PS forgive me if my questions sound stupid because I'm just learning about this Dental stuff lol

I believe you are referring to a program where pre Med students rank their favorite schools and when accepted to their top choice Med school they are withdrawn from all schools lower on their list (or something along these lines). To my knowledge no such program exist for dental school applicants, and many people hold multiple acceptances, place multiple deposits, etc. This can drag the process out. ex: many of us got rejected from BU this morning for the 2010 application cycle.

As far as malpractice, I would bet it is much lower for dentists, but overhead is very high for dentist who own their own practice. I agree that no residency and better schedules are a huge + for dentistry, just keep in mind many students go in to a program called GPR or some other residency type program after graduating from dental school.

 

[LaFleur]

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