Is it a disadvantage to go to a prestigious undergrad?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

thimsmits

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2007
Messages
81
Reaction score
0
I ask this question purely based on GPA?

Because most classes are based on class average, would it be a disadvantage to go to a highly competetive university when applying to dental school. If one's GPA is 3.2 at a school like Berkeley or Columbia, wouldn't you expect it to be close to a 4.0 at a less competitive university?

I understand that some dental schools will give you a couple tenths if you went to a highly competitive university, but does it really compensate?

Thanks.

Members don't see this ad.
 
I'd avoid em. Who wants to hang out with a bunch of rich, snobby people? Go to your state school and party with the best of them!!

In reality, unless you're going to use all the resources the "prestigious" schools can potentially offer, then it may not be worth the extra costs. I went to a big state school and I had nowhere near enough time to take advantage of all the opportunities the school had. So I saw no benefit in attending a school like you suggest.

From what people say...there are very schools that actually "boost" your GPA like you suggest. Afterall, you doing a psychology degree from prestigious U is still easier than the 3rd tier engineering degree.

Just do well no matter where you go and you'll get where you want to be in life. Good Luck.

(btw...don't expect a great response on this thread. You're gonna get ivy kids bashing the state schools and state schools bashing the ivies. At the end of the day, the average student is the same no matter where you go....)
 
I went to Berkeley. It helps when you apply. They look at your classes as being harder. They know more "prestigeous" colleges have hard classes and they take that into account. It actually helps even if you dont have the 4.0. A 3.0 coming out of Berkeley in the sciences is pretty good. Just have extra stuff with your application like volunteer work or whatever to make yourself seem less nerdy.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I actually already graduated from an Ivy, and I have the low gpa (3.2 or so). I was just posing it as a hypothetical to see what people think or know because I was unsure about the question.
 
this is one reason a standard test exists (DAT) to gauge how you compare to the nation.

So when a 3.2 ivy leager gets a 17 you know he is like the 3.8 CC student who got a 17.:D

Or the ivy leager gets a 3.1 but gets a 24. Then you know he learned a lot or studied hard, etc. I would go where you want and not read into undergraduate very much...just get the best darn scores possible.
 
My 3.25 Ivy league undergrad GPA caused no problems at all. Not even the slightest indication that anyone was at all concerned with my GPA.

I actually already graduated from an Ivy, and I have the low gpa (3.2 or so). I was just posing it as a hypothetical to see what people think or know because I was unsure about the question.
 
go to an undergrad school that you like...if it happens to be a state school..go there..if it happens to be an ivy league school...go there. You tend to do well at the school that you like.
...with that said...i don't like how some dental schools are playing around with numbers. For instant if you have the same dat score and you went to a hard and prestigious school with a 3.0 gpa...and the other person has a 3.9 at a "some" school, the person with the 3.9 will more likely to get your seat. Schools don't want their ave. GPA to go down. I know a couple of cases like this in reality. It's up for you to decide.
 
I had a low GPA from a state school and still got in to my top choice dental program. I always assumed going to a school like Berkeley would make it harder because it is common knowledge that they practice grade inflation. It would be cool to compare the success of ivy league-ers to the rest of us.
 
I had a low GPA from a state school and still got in to my top choice dental program. I always assumed going to a school like Berkeley would make it harder because it is common knowledge that they practice grade inflation. It would be cool to compare the success of ivy league-ers to the rest of us.

Public School: k-12 & undergrad....got a 99.9percentile DAT. It's about the individual, not the school. I hate to break the secret but the OChem reactions are the same no matter what state you are in or what lecture hall you're sitting in.

I will say there was some direct questioning of my undergrad education by the "ivy" dental schools. They weren't even tactful about it. They thought I was at a party school and couldn't have possibly learned anything. I partied, and learned something so screw them.
 
I actually already graduated from an Ivy, and I have the low gpa (3.2 or so). I was just posing it as a hypothetical to see what people think or know because I was unsure about the question.

Did you go to Cornell?

...and you should be happy with your undergrad. There's no substitute for the ability to critique ideas. Your Ivy undergrad made sure you had plenty of that. I promise you. Many tests at lower ranked schools try to see how much information you can regurgitate. It's completely useless.

Skills stay with you for life. Memorized facts dissipate over time.

...and schools have experience in this field. If people with low GPA's from certain schools tend to do well in dental school, the school'll be more likely to overlook the gpa. If 3.9's from lower ranked school don't do well, then the dental school won't put much bearing on the gpa. It all works out.
 
I went to Berkeley. It helps when you apply. They look at your classes as being harder. They know more "prestigeous" colleges have hard classes and they take that into account. It actually helps even if you dont have the 4.0. A 3.0 coming out of Berkeley in the sciences is pretty good. Just have extra stuff with your application like volunteer work or whatever to make yourself seem less nerdy.

This is crap. Whether classes are harder at one school or another, or one school practices grade inflation or not are arbitrary to an adcom. They want to see good grades during undergrad, and then these grades have to be backed with a good science DAT score. Unless the dental school is Harvard, they do not care if you went to Berkley, Yale, or your state school. Dont be fooled by an interviewer saying, "Oh you attended Harvard University." He or she is not impressed, they are just saying that they recognize the name. In the end the due from a JC with a 4.0 and DAT 20+ is going to get looked more than the Ivy Leager witha 3.5 and 18 DAT. A 3.0 from Berkley is again a 3.0 and no amount of EC's or shadowing is going to help.
 
Public School: k-12 & undergrad....got a 99.9percentile DAT. It's about the individual, not the school. I hate to break the secret but the OChem reactions are the same no matter what state you are in or what lecture hall you're sitting in.

I highly doubt that anyone who went to public school could score that high on the DAT without cheating. ;)

Did you go to Cornell?

...and you should be happy with your undergrad. There's no substitute for the ability to critique ideas. Your Ivy undergrad made sure you had plenty of that. I promise you. Many tests at lower ranked schools try to see how much information you can regurgitate. It's completely useless.

Memorizing facts and regurgitating information? You mean like you do on all those standardized tests you take? Last time I checked, the DAT and NBDE don't contain a critical thinking section (IMHO it probably should...)
 
The DAT is no accurate barometer of the critical thinking skills one may have learned from college. You'll see the difference of the ivy education when you establish a practice, network, and tackle the business and life paradigm.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
The DAT is no accurate barometer of the critical thinking skills one may have learned from college. You'll see the difference of the ivy education when you establish a practice, network, and tackle the business and life paradigm.


that statement is as ignorant as saying all ivy leaguers lack social skills.

to make a generalization about a student population is absurd. the ivy doesn't always attract best and brightest. many of those students attend their state uni's b/c they are PAID. those students have financially made a smarter move than those that have forfeited years of their life to repaying debt.

but as always...this same argument always comes to the same conclusion: THE DAT IS THE GREAT EQUALIZER ....

jb!:)

EDIT: PS- i just re-read my post and i wasn't slamming PennPB. just stating my opinion.
 
The DAT is no accurate barometer of the critical thinking skills one may have learned from college. You'll see the difference of the ivy education when you establish a practice, network, and tackle the business and life paradigm.

Unfortunately, critical thinking probably has very little to do with success in dental school. Assimilate as much information as possible and spit it back out on tests.
 
that statement is as ignorant as saying all ivy leaguers lack social skills.

to make a generalization about a student population is absurd. the ivy doesn't always attract best and brightest. many of those students attend their state uni's b/c they are PAID. those students have financially made a smarter move than those that have forfeited years of their life to repaying debt.

but as always...this same argument always comes to the same conclusion: THE DAT IS THE GREAT EQUALIZER ....

jb!:)

EDIT: PS- i just re-read my post and i wasn't slamming PennPB. just stating my opinion.

I'm a big boy and can take opinions for what they are - don't sweat it. I find it funny that you say the DAT is the great equalizer, yet are completely not acknowledging another standardized test (the SAT), where ivy league averages blow state school averages clear out of the water, back into the gulf of Mexico. If you can make a generalization of the scope of the DAT as the "great equalizer", someone can make the same generalization about the SAT.

Critical thinking will help more than you seem to give it credit for. Who cares whether or not it helps in memorization alone ? That is one hurdle, among many others, in becoming a skilled clinician and businessman. Medical didactics is memorization - developing solid marketing schemes, novel treatment techniques, technology, and having the wherewithall to make something of your medical knowledge however, is not regurgitation. Like other professions, there are many tangents one can take, limited only by one's myopic scope.
 
I'm a big boy and can take opinions for what they are - don't sweat it. I find it funny that you say the DAT is the great equalizer, yet are completely not acknowledging another standardized test (the SAT), where ivy league averages blow state school averages clear out of the water, back into the gulf of Mexico. If you can make a generalization of the scope of the DAT as the "great equalizer", someone can make the same generalization about the SAT.

Yes, Ivy league schools recruit students with high SAT (and GPAs), but they certainly don't neccesarily develop them. That's simple selection bias. The SAT is (used to be at least) a great equalizer. Hell, that's why standardized testing in general exists, to provide a backdrop with which one can compare students taught at different schools, because unlike a rose, a GPA is not a GPA is not a GPA.

Critical thinking will help more than you seem to give it credit for. Who cares whether or not it helps in memorization alone ? That is one hurdle, among many others, in becoming a skilled clinician and businessman. Medical didactics is memorization - developing solid marketing schemes, novel treatment techniques, technology, and having the wherewithall to make something of your medical knowledge however, is not regurgitation. Like other professions, there are many tangents one can take, limited only by one's myopic scope.

While that's all well and good, and almost certainly true, "developing solid marketing schemes, novel treatment techniques, technology, and having the wherewithall to make something of your medical knowledge" doesn't really have all that much to do with making the grade in dental school.
 
I love the arrogance of Ivy league graduates. They can have the lowest gpa, barely scrape by, retain nothing...but they are much better than everyone else because they got a higher SAT score;) . Isn't it funny that if you are talking to someone who graduated from an IVY league school, they will let you know it. The conversation will have nothing to do with it and still they will some how slip it in there. I think my amazement with that is equal to my amazement with how many times a chiropractor will call him/her self a doctor in one sentence.
 
Yes, Ivy league schools recruit students with high SAT (and GPAs), but they certainly don't neccesarily develop them. That's simple selection bias. The SAT is (used to be at least) a great equalizer. Hell, that's why standardized testing in general exists, to provide a backdrop with which one can compare students taught at different schools, because unlike a rose, a GPA is not a GPA is not a GPA.

You can argue what develops minds, and what does not. Empirical evidence of several years at my boarding school would argue that development can be heavily influenced, as our average SAT score only dipped below 1360 once over the past decade. Then again, you would probably argue the school sets a selection bias based upon a standardized exam one must take before being admitted to a certain boarding school. The list goes on... bottom line for me, I know what worked, and what didn't.

Anyone is certainly welcome to feel that their school did not develop their mind, but that may also have been a function of the school they chose to matriculate at. Overall, it's a tenuous position to argue, and is why hatred toward the ivy's is stupidly hilarious.

While that's all well and good, and almost certainly true, "developing solid marketing schemes, novel treatment techniques, technology, and having the wherewithall to make something of your medical knowledge" doesn't really have all that much to do with making the grade in dental school.

Like I said, a person is limited only by their myopic scope. If the target on your radar before entering school is just making the grade, that's your personal bullseye.
 
I think my amazement with that is equal to my amazement with how many times a chiropractor will call him/her self a doctor in one sentence.

haha. and you call Ivy grads arrogant ? Taking the hipocritical oath a little early, aren't you ?

Here, I corrected your statement above, for what a medical doctor might say about you in the future.

I think my amazement with that is equal to my amazement with how many times a dentist will him/her self a doctor in one sentence.
 
It is funny that you 'corrected' me (re-read your edit).

I am happy with my place in life. I don't need to tell everyone I am doctor and reinforce that idea in every conversation. People that do that are not only wasting a lot of time, but annoying everyone else in the room in the process. You seem bent on everyone knowing you went to an Ivy. Good luck with that. I wish you the best.
 
Ohh now I get it..you thought I was putting chiros below dentist or something like that. Not at all! I am just amazed that everyone I talked to called himself doctor so many times (third person). Some dentist say they are just as smart as MDs as well. I think the whole idea of comparing who is 'better' is silly. I am going to D-school because it really looks like fun, not to be called doctor or get credit for being as smart as an MD.
 
You can argue what develops minds, and what does not. Empirical evidence of several years at my boarding school would argue that development can be heavily influenced, as our average SAT score only dipped below 1360 once over the past decade. Then again, you would probably argue the school sets a selection bias based upon a standardized exam one must take before being admitted to a certain boarding school. The list goes on... bottom line for me, I know what worked, and what didn't.

I know what worked and what didn't also, and my anecdotal evidence is just as good as yours.

I can't boast that my high school had such a spectacular average SAT, but then again a good portion of my high school class never took the SAT, and another good portion wasn't planning for much more for their lives then community college. More bias? Give me a class full of gunners at any school and I'll show you high grades.

Like I said, a person is limited only by their myopic scope. If the target on your radar before entering school is just making the grade, that's your personal bullseye.

Never said that it was, but the "critical thinking" skills you laud as sole property of the ivy league probably aren't going to help you (during dental school) as much as you think.
 
the DAT is not a good exam!!! the difference between 21 science and 20 science is 1-2 questions. etc. etc.
 
Never said that it was, but the "critical thinking" skills you laud as sole property of the ivy league probably aren't going to help you (during dental school) as much as you think.

I agree armorshell.

For some reason this makes me thing of the movie "Good Will Hunting." How the people from Harvard bragging about going to Harvard, while Will could really care less about it.
Granted this was just a movie. But it doesnt matter if you go to a state school or a Ivy school.
Both schools will attract great students and learn more or less the same material, it is just up to the student to take advantage of the opportunity. More students will probably use this opportunity at a Ivy League school, only because they are paying up the @$$.

I developed great "critical thinking skills" at a public university, soo what.
Ivy League schools are over priced and over rated. But they just have that "Stigma" that makes people appreciate the bull **** that some of their students say.
 
I agree armorshell.

For some reason this makes me thing of the movie "Good Will Hunting." How the people from Harvard bragging about going to Harvard, while Will could really care less about it.
Granted this was just a movie. But it doesnt matter if you go to a state school or a Ivy school.
Both schools will attract great students and learn more or less the same material, it is just up to the student to take advantage of the opportunity. More students will probably use this opportunity at a Ivy League school, only because they are paying up the @$$.

I developed great "critical thinking skills" at a public university, soo what.
Ivy League schools are over priced and over rated. But they just have that "Stigma" that makes people appreciate the bull **** that some of their students say.


Eh, I don't have a problem with the Ivy leagues. They manage to attract hordes of top tier students every year, despite the astronomical cost.

Where the problem comes in is when people start claiming rote superiority of an ivy league education without any proof in hand besides a fancy name.
 
SAT is still a very good equalizer just like the DAT. It's funny to hear people said that MONEY and good SAT scores are related... If you are smart you will do well on the SAT/DAT or whatever exam..
Money has nothing to do with your SAT scores or getting into Ivy leagues if you are smart and ambitious you will get accepted.
YES, if your parents are rich with connections getting into Ivy colleges will be easier for you, but that does NOT mean its impossible for a middle class person to attend a Ivy league college...

Yes, Ivy league schools recruit students with high SAT (and GPAs), but they certainly don't neccesarily develop them. That's simple selection bias. The SAT is (used to be at least) a great equalizer. Hell, that's why standardized testing in general exists, to provide a backdrop with which one can compare students taught at different schools, because unlike a rose, a GPA is not a GPA is not a GPA.



While that's all well and good, and almost certainly true, "developing solid marketing schemes, novel treatment techniques, technology, and having the wherewithall to make something of your medical knowledge" doesn't really have all that much to do with making the grade in dental school.
 
SAT is still a very good equalizer just like the DAT. It's funny to hear people said that MONEY and good SAT scores are related... If you are smart you will do well on the SAT/DAT or whatever exam..
Money has nothing to do with your SAT scores or getting into Ivy leagues if you are smart and ambitious you will get accepted.
YES, if your parents are rich with connections getting into Ivy colleges will be easier for you, but that does NOT mean its impossible for a middle class person to attend a Ivy league college...

What are you talking about? No one said money and the SAT were related. No one said anything even remotely like that.
 
the second comment by wizzefiend. I believe that person assumed that ivy league students are all "rich snobby people" . read the first sentence of the second comment.

I only quoted you b/c I believe the SAT is a good equalizer even today.

No one in this thread said SAT is related to money, but many people in my sociology class was saiding it and I thought it was funny that people would blame their bad SAT scores due to money..


What are you talking about? No one said money and the SAT were related. No one said anything even remotely like that.
 
the second comment by wizzefiend. I believe that person assumed that ivy league students are all "rich snobby people" . read the first sentence of the second comment.

I only quoted you b/c I believe the SAT is a good equalizer even today.

No one in this thread said SAT is related to money, but many people in my sociology class was saiding it and I thought it was funny that people would blame their bad SAT scores due to money..

I have no idea what you were trying to say in your first paragraph. However.

And there is nothing wrong with me making that assumption that ivy leagues are loaded with rich and snobby people. That has been my experience. It takes money to get into the schools and it takes money to stay in the schools. If that is incorrect, then start getting your fellow ivy students to stop bein jerks to the state school people when they interact.

High SAT scores are often linked to higher incomes. That doesnt mean the people with money are smarter....they just have more resources. My parents plopped me into a $500 SAT class when I was in HS. I got a full scholarship becuase of it. Kids across town in lower class can't afford the stupid class...they get 50 points lower than me and college costs them $50k more. It's stupid and unfair.
 
SAT is still a very good equalizer just like the DAT. It's funny to hear people said that MONEY and good SAT scores are related... If you are smart you will do well on the SAT/DAT or whatever exam..
Money has nothing to do with your SAT scores or getting into Ivy leagues if you are smart and ambitious you will get accepted.
YES, if your parents are rich with connections getting into Ivy colleges will be easier for you, but that does NOT mean its impossible for a middle class person to attend a Ivy league college...

What about the lower class? When you got to study for your SATs for the few months before the test, those kids were out making money for their family and praying they will have enough energy to drag themselves to school the next day.
 
Unfortunately, critical thinking probably has very little to do with success in dental school. Assimilate as much information as possible and spit it back out on tests.

I love the arrogance of Ivy league graduates. They can have the lowest gpa, barely scrape by, retain nothing...but they are much better than everyone else because they got a higher SAT score;) . Isn't it funny that if you are talking to someone who graduated from an IVY league school, they will let you know it. The conversation will have nothing to do with it and still they will some how slip it in there. I think my amazement with that is equal to my amazement with how many times a chiropractor will call him/her self a doctor in one sentence.

Whoa, chill out guys. I believe the OP asked if going to a more prestigious school helps or hurts in DENTAL SCHOOL ADMISSIONS. The OP did not ask what personal biases you have against Ivy league graduates or even whether or not an Ivy education better prepares you for dental school. Frankly, you guys really don't seem to have much of a basis for these opinions anyway.

To answer the actual question, yes, I think it does help. There is no question that my undergrad school helped in my own admissions process. I was asked about my educational background with obvious positive bias and I was able to gain admission to some highly competitive schools despite the fact that my GPA was below their respective averages. Yes, I did receive a couple of rejections, but I think if everything else in my app remained the same but I had gone to a less competitive school, I would have had less success in my admissions experience.
 
Whoa, chill out guys. I believe the OP asked if going to a more prestigious school helps or hurts in DENTAL SCHOOL ADMISSIONS.

That's fair, so easy to get derailed though.

Frankly, you guys really don't seem to have much of a basis for these opinions anyway.

That is why they call them opinions, because we don't really have any basis or evidence. Otherwise, they would be facts.
 
That is why they call them opinions, because we don't really have any basis or evidence. Otherwise, they would be facts.

You can have opinions with basis and evidence. For instance, you'd have a basis for your comment on the importance of critical thinking if say, you were currently a dental school student with experience taking dental school tests.

(That comment was directed more at the other guy anyway)
 
You can have opinions with basis and evidence. For instance, you'd have a basis for your comment on the importance of critical thinking if say, you were currently a dental school student with experience taking dental school tests.

(That comment was directed more at the other guy anyway)

I'd like to think I've heard enough about what it's going to be like academically to be able to make a few basic assumptions, but I must concede that you are correct. My evidence is the worst kind, secondhand and anecdotal.
 
Where the problem comes in is when people start claiming rote superiority of an ivy league education without any proof in hand besides a fancy name.
I haven't been following this discussion too closely (and therefore have probably taken this comment out of context) but I think it's fair to say that ivy league schools attract both a higher caliber and more diverse body of educators and students, which makes an ivy education inherently better if not only for those reasons by themselves. Not to mention the funding that ivies receive to provide the finest facilities and resources anywhere, that allow them to remain on the cutting edge of education, if not become revolutionary. Ivy leagues have the ideal learning enviornment that nearly every school in the country aims to emulate, so they are better.

Now if you're comparing some of the more established universities to ivies then you might have an argument that ivy league schools aren't necessarily better. But if you're comparing the education you receive at harvard with that you receive at state university, then there really is no comparison. Not that you couldn't get a perfectly adequate education at state u, but it wouldn't be as good for reasons beyond mere academics that must be included in the college experience.

And though you may get only a few tenths added to your GPA (I don't even know if that is how it works), this more well-rounded education that I'm talking about, IMO, is probably considered, and might make up for a lower GPA (even after compensation). not that I'm an expert... that's just how I would see it if I were on an ad com. Also, as others have mentioned, the DAT is kind of important too!

Disclaimer: I didn't graduate from an ivy.
 
this is interesting...people who go to good schools tend to defend the "goodness" of their schools while the people who go to "some" school tend to make everything relative or even attack the supposely good schools. The truth tends to be somewhere in the middle. If you ever read Friedrich Nietzsche's Master and Slave morality....this is exactly what happens.
 
I know what worked and what didn't also, and my anecdotal evidence is just as good as yours.

I can't boast that my high school had such a spectacular average SAT, but then again a good portion of my high school class never took the SAT, and another good portion wasn't planning for much more for their lives then community college. More bias? Give me a class full of gunners at any school and I'll show you high grades.



Never said that it was, but the "critical thinking" skills you laud as sole property of the ivy league probably aren't going to help you (during dental school) as much as you think.

You seem to have a penchant for misquoting people. When did anyone who posted so far, list the Ivy network as the sole proprietors of critical thinking in their curricula ? What I did say however, was this -

That (making the grade, as you put it) is one hurdle, among many others, in becoming a skilled clinician and businessman. Medical didactics is memorization - developing solid marketing schemes, novel treatment techniques, technology, and having the wherewithall to make something of your medical knowledge however, is not regurgitation.

You can have opinions with basis and evidence. For instance, you'd have a basis for your comment on the importance of critical thinking if say, you were currently a dental school student with experience taking dental school tests.

(That comment was directed more at the other guy anyway)

Or say, if you had the opportunity to pick a dentist's brain, who happens to also manage his own consulting firm and several, succesful fee for service practices. I see your point, though it addresses a point that no one mentioned. I was not talking exclusively about dental curricula when I evoked the merits of schools that stress critical thinking.
 
Ohh now I get it..you thought I was putting chiros below dentist or something like that. Not at all! I am just amazed that everyone I talked to called himself doctor so many times (third person). Some dentist say they are just as smart as MDs as well. I think the whole idea of comparing who is 'better' is silly. I am going to D-school because it really looks like fun, not to be called doctor or get credit for being as smart as an MD.

Yeah, settling down a bit might be good for everyone. An Ivy grad defending their school and style of learning, does not amount to a self-congratulatory bid. Someone defending their school, is not the same as "someone heralding it's greatness." Pretty distinct line between the two, actually.

Actually, I have a brief story to share. Had an ultrasound for a bike accident the other week, and the radiology resident who performed the US offered her congratulations on choosing dentistry. She said, "You made the smart decision." Go figure, guess the grass is always greener elsewhere.

Also, I prefer the British system of using the term "doctor." Makes far more sense than how it's tossed about in the US.
 
You seem to have a penchant for misquoting people. When did anyone who posted so far, list the Ivy network as the sole proprietors of critical thinking in their curricula ?

The DAT is no accurate barometer of the critical thinking skills one may have learned from college. You'll see the difference of the ivy education when you establish a practice, network, and tackle the business and life paradigm.

Misquote?

But I digress, as it's been pointed out this thread has been thoroughly derailed. Rightly or not, a prestigious undergrad most likely does help you get into dental school. I've heard tell of some schools out there that "adjust" GPA for difficulty of curriculum.
 
Unfortunately, critical thinking probably has very little to do with success in dental school. Assimilate as much information as possible and spit it back out on tests.

i would argue that is true to a certain extent, but to distinguish between the A student and the B student.. A sometimes is able to find more patterns, and quicker than the average B student.
 
damn right ivy leaguers are rich, snobby people. I wouldn't have it any other way. snoot, snoot.

What's wrong with money? Not a damn thing.

What's wrong with being snobby? Well, I'm gonna lie and say, "not a damn thing"
 
Unfortunately, critical thinking probably has very little to do with success in dental school. Assimilate as much information as possible and spit it back out on tests.

Are you perpetuating the conception of dentists as mindless drones? Someone should start another med v dent fight. You can represent the MD's.
 
Are you perpetuating the conception of dentists as mindless drones? Someone should start another med v dent fight. You can represent the MD's.



i don't think he is.. he is right about having to assimilate massive amount of information --- both fields do that
 
I don't imagine med school is any different. Also, you might want to look up the definition of "critical thinking."

um, you can look up the definition of "vague-ass references." what tha hell are you talking about?

if you're alluding to med school not having critical thinking, med school's about diagnosing diseases. You read charts and test results and make the diag. The board exams (step 2) are ALL critical thinking. Your rank in the country depends on how well you think critically.
 
What is the way the british use the term doctor? I looked it up in a dictionary and it says the same for the way we use (med, dent, pharm, ect.). Is it just used for those in the med field? Most people here mean only MD when they say doctor, even though that isn't correct.

"Also, I prefer the British system of using the term "doctor." Makes far more sense than how it's tossed about in the US."
 
Yes, it kind of gets confusing sometimes. But dentists are doctors but they are not physicians.

What is the way the british use the term doctor? I looked it up in a dictionary and it says the same for the way we use (med, dent, pharm, ect.). Is it just used for those in the med field? Most people here mean only MD when they say doctor, even though that isn't correct.

"Also, I prefer the British system of using the term "doctor." Makes far more sense than how it's tossed about in the US."
 
I dont think it is confusing at all. We define a doctor is a person with a doctorate. It is a title awarded to a person that has attained the degree. Penn PB was saying we should do it the way the British do it. I dont know how the British differ from us. Could someone explain to me how the British definition of doctor deffers from ours? Thanks.
 
Top