Mormons in Dental School

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gorrillaunit18

Hello everyone,
So I am Mormon and a fellow friend of mine (who is actually a dentist as well as Mormon) mentioned that Mormons flock to dental schools more than any other graduate/professional schools. Is this true? If so, what are some schools that have the highest numbers? I'm just curious, that is all.

Gracias,
Gorrilla
 
gorrillaunit18 said:
Hello everyone,
So I am Mormon and a fellow friend of mine (who is actually a dentist as well as Mormon) mentioned that Mormons flock to dental schools more than any other graduate/professional schools. Is this true? If so, what are some schools that have the highest numbers? I'm just curious, that is all.

Gracias,
Gorrilla
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I have noticed a lot of pre-dents (website) went to BYU or are from Utah and read on the forum how Utah is overrun by dentists. Is being a dentist a desired profession for Mormons because they have larger families and need a steady income or is it an innate drive for success?? That sounds incredibly ignorant and stereotypical, so please shed some insight...

Otherwise I am not sure why Mormons flock to dentistry. I think I watch too much Big Love

http://whatmormonslike.blogspot.com/2008/04/mormons-like-professions.html
 
Tooth Pulp said:
I have noticed a lot of pre-dents (website) went to BYU or are from Utah and read on the forum how Utah is overrun by dentists. Is being a dentist a desired profession for Mormons because they have larger families and need a steady income or is it an innate drive for success?? That sounds incredibly ignorant and stereotypical, so please shed some insight...

Otherwise I am not sure why Mormons flock to dentistry. I think I watch too much Big Love

http://whatmormonslike.blogspot.com/2008/04/mormons-like-professions.html
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Nah, it's really not ignorant. At least you are asking, right?lol Well to tell you the truth, I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I think it mainly has to do with the steady income and the typical large families (although not all Mormons have large families). But my friend who is the dentist has 5 kids.:laugh: I never really knew how many Mormon dentists there were until a few days ago actually. Then I put it all together...there are 6 in my ward alone, which only has about 100 people or so, and that is counting their kids. 😱
 
JMU DUKES said:
they are everywhere.... they take up tooo many spots at VCU, my roomate is a 4th year and he has 30 mormans in his class and it is absurd. They take spots for in state residents and all they do is go back to Utah and never stay around VA. He says they don't get their wives to work, so they can stay on medicaid and get food stamps and use the system. There are many areas in VA that are in need of dentist and unfortunately VCU has a deal with Utah to take a lot of people from the state for out of state tuition to pay off the new building. I could go on for hours, I can't stand them and wish Utah would just get a dental school
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You sound angry/bitter. But I agree that Utah should get their own school...
 
JMU DUKES said:
they are everywhere.... they take up tooo many spots at VCU, my roomate is a 4th year and he has 30 mormans in his class and it is absurd. They take spots for in state residents and all they do is go back to Utah and never stay around VA. He says they don't get their wives to work, so they can stay on medicaid and get food stamps and use the system. There are many areas in VA that are in need of dentist and unfortunately VCU has a deal with Utah to take a lot of people from the state for out of state tuition to pay off the new building. I could go on for hours, I can't stand them and wish Utah would just get a dental school
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VCU does not have a deal with Utah, if they did they would have the same amount of Mormons from Utah every year but they don't. Also, they don't make their wives work because they generally have kids at home so they stay at home with them instead of putting their kids in day care. The wives of the ones who don't have kids work just like any one else. To say they all go back to Utah after graduation is also a generalization that is unfair and untrue. You and your friend are obviously bitter about Mormons for some reason and what you are saying shows complete intolerance and is abserd. Maybe they took your spot because you couldn't make the cut?
 
I don't think they are interested in Dentistry more than any other group. They just show up as a blip on the radar because they are more likely to be accepted.
If you were to compare what % of the application pool they are vs. what % of the under-grad population they are, they wouldn't appear to be so much of a statistical anomaly.
 
Roto Picante said:
VCU does not have a deal with Utah, if they did they would have the same amount of Mormons from Utah every year but they don't. Also, they don't make their wives work because they generally have kids at home so they stay at home with them instead of putting their kids in day care. The wives of the ones who don't have kids work just like any one else. To say they all go back to Utah after graduation is also a generalization that is unfair and untrue. You and your friend are obviously bitter about Mormons for some reason and what you are saying shows complete intolerance and is abserd. Maybe they took your spot because you couldn't make the cut?
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Are you a mormon?

I also heard VCU has a deal with the mormons, though i don't have a problem with it, as long as everyone's abilities are up to par 😀,
Hell, i actually would love it more if some people in the class are less qualified, that way i can have a easier time passing 😀
 
Blarelli said:
I don't think they are interested in Dentistry more than any other group. They just show up as a blip on the radar because they are more likely to be accepted.
If you were to compare what % of the application pool they are vs. what % of the under-grad population they are, they wouldn't appear to be so much of a statistical anomaly.
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Yea, doesn't BYU consider itself the Harvard of the West?? So if it is such a good school then I'm sure Mormons make strong applicants..

Blarelli, check out the link I posted earlier. I know it's a blog, but it says they like well paying professions, especially dentistry
 
Tooth Pulp said:
Yea, doesn't BYU consider itself the Harvard of the West?? So if it is such a good school then I'm sure Mormons make strong applicants..

Blarelli, check out the link I posted earlier. I know it's a blog, but it says they like well paying professions, especially dentistry
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I live in a city that is over 80% LDS. They are in every field, well paying or not. As for dentistry, BYU places well over 150 students each year. They have the best entrance statistics of any school I know of. If I had those resources and stats on my side, I'd consider dentistry if I hadn't already.
 
Roto Picante said:
VCU does not have a deal with Utah, if they did they would have the same amount of Mormons from Utah every year but they don't. Also, they don't make their wives work because they generally have kids at home so they stay at home with them instead of putting their kids in day care. The wives of the ones who don't have kids work just like any one else. To say they all go back to Utah after graduation is also a generalization that is unfair and untrue. You and your friend are obviously bitter about Mormons for some reason and what you are saying shows complete intolerance and is abserd. Maybe they took your spot because you couldn't make the cut?
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have a good day
 
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JMU DUKES said:
actually they do have a deal with Utah, consistently that state represents the most of any state other than VA. So i guess you call my roomate, a 4th year dental student a liar when he says there are 30 mormans in his class. It is a huge area of need for dentist in rural VA, outside the metro areas. All I am saying is, a Utah resident has no reason to go live in other parts of the state, when you have valid, hard-working VA resident who would love to go back to their area state school and have a reason to come back to their of the state to practice. No, i am not angry with them for taking my posts, cause we will find out here over the next couple of months. When I hear from various dental students about the negativity towards mormans, it is hard not to form an opinion. The overall feeling is nobody really has a liking to them outside of other mormans. Look this is just my opinion and not i am not trying to pick fights here.. have a good day
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Ya know, in most cases we call that bigotry/racism...:laugh: You sound very arrogant/bitter. :laugh:
 
JMU DUKES said:
actually they do have a deal with Utah, consistently that state represents the most of any state other than VA. So i guess you call my roomate, a 4th year dental student a liar when he says there are 30 mormans in his class. It is a huge area of need for dentist in rural VA, outside the metro areas. All I am saying is, a Utah resident has no reason to go live in other parts of the state, when you have valid, hard-working VA resident who would love to go back to their area state school and have a reason to come back to their of the state to practice. No, i am not angry with them for taking my spots, cause we will find out here over the next couple of months. When I hear from various dental students about the negativity towards mormans, it is hard not to form an opinion. The overall feeling is nobody really has a liking to them outside of other mormans. Look this is just my opinion and not i am not trying to pick fights here.. have a good day
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WOW. Go ahead and post a link explaining this agreement that VCU has with Utah, and while you're at it explain why so many dental schools have 'negativity towards mormans'.
 
There are a few students in my class who are Morman. I remember when I interviewed at Indiana there were booths set up of different organizations that dental students were in charge of. One was a Morman group, and the student in charge had contact info. for A LOT of other LDS students. As was already mentioned though, I think Mormans have a presence in virtually every school.
 
cjb04 said:
There are a few students in my class who are Morman. I remember when I interviewed at Indiana there were booths set up of different organizations that dental students were in charge of. One was a Morman group, and the student in charge had contact info. for A LOT of other LDS students. As was already mentioned though, I think Mormans have a presence in virtually every school.
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We've already decided that Mormons are infesting dental schools everywhere and no one likes them. Thanks for your neutral input though...



joking...
 
I thought this was interesting I don't know if it is true since I found it on wikipedia but here it is "Due in part to the school's emphasis on undergraduate research, BYU is ranked #10 nationally for the number of students who go on to earn PhDs, #1 nationally for students who go on to dental school, #6 nationally for students who go on to law school, and #10 nationally for students who go on to medical school. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young_University

I am a mormon and I do have a lot of mormon friends in law, dental, and medical school. I would honestly say that I have just as many non-mormon friends in the same fields of study. I want to be a dentist because it interests me and that is basically it. VCU doesn't have "a deal with mormons" which I think is funny as well that JMU Dukes posted that there are too many mormons taking up too many spots at VCU. That is like saying there are too many Catholics in a dental school what a joke. I am surprised he hasn't mentioned Loma Linda for having too many SDA's.
 
I have actually heard a good explanation as to why Mormon students have a large presence in Dental Schools.

Creighton has a set up with the University of Utah called the Rdep program, which places utah students in the Creighton program. Years ago the admissions dept at Creighton decided that too many Mormons were coming to their jesuit school and they would cut off Mormons. That next year the class suffered tremendously and the only difference from previous years, was the lack of Utah students (Mormons). Creighton finally decided that because most Mormon students were more or less non traditional (usually older, having served an LDS mission, married, focused, and don't want to "party" in school) they helped anchor the class. In some kind of annual Dental School meeting the Creighton Dean (maybe it was admissions) revealed his findings to the other schools. Since then schools have allowed more and more Mormons to try and "anchor" their classes.

Granted there is no proof for this, I can definitely see it being a possibility. All the Mormon dental students I know fall into that sterotype of older, married, and served a mission; and there is some advantage to that for sure.

And to address the comment about Mormons have no right coming out East and taking all the VCU spots, I'm sure if there were a Dental School in Utah they would be more than happy to stay at home and leave you your spots. But unfortunately for them there is no school in Utah.
 
This doesn't answer the original question, but hopefully it helps shed some light...

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not Mormon. I know multiple dentists who are Mormon and I know even more dentists who aren't. I was shadowing an endodontist one day and we were talking about my application. He asked me if I was Mormon. I said no. He said that was too bad because dental schools love Mormons. He explained it to me this way, Mormons typically don't party (I am sure there are a few that do, as with all religions) and generally have a service background. Dental schools like both of these. They are also very respectful and dedicated to service after dental school.

In my opinion, dental schools don't want students that will go out and get drunk and who knows what else every night. I wouldn't want a dentist who was more concerned with partying than studying while in undergrad or dental school. Which makes me laugh when I see threads like "which is the best party school" etc. Think about it, Mormons probably have better stats for all 4 years of undergrad too, due to the fact that they don't have the temptation of partying from time to time.

I have to agree, I wish Utah would get their own dental school. Because when I look at the ADEA book, it seems like every school I am applying to, there are multiple students from Utah that are attending. It might open it up a little bit for everyone else, but I think that is a slippery slope...
 
polkadds said:
Creighton finally decided that because most Mormon students were more or less non traditional (usually older, having served an LDS mission, married, focused, and don't want to "party" in school) they helped anchor the class.

All the Mormon dental students I know fall into that sterotype of older, married, and served a mission; and there is some advantage to that for sure.
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Is this true Latter Day Saints?? I will warn you, all work and no play will make you a dull boy
 
FutureDent020 said:
Is this true Latter Day Saints?? I will warn you, all work and no play will make you a dull boy
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I'm not married, but I don't 'party'. I served a 2 year mission, have several hundred hours volunteer work in scouting, and a few hundred more in different church leadership positions. So yeah, the church background is beneficial for my application.
 
Blarelli said:
I'm not married, but I don't 'party'. I served a 2 year mission, have several hundred hours volunteer work in scouting, and a few hundred more in different church leadership positions. So yeah, the church background is beneficial for my application.
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That probably looks a little better than my 50 hours as a big brother.
 
Blarelli said:
I'm not married, but I don't 'party'. I served a 2 year mission, have several hundred hours volunteer work in scouting, and a few hundred more in different church leadership positions. So yeah, the church background is beneficial for my application.
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Nice, I have roughly 300 hours. Yea, it really does help build that resume. 😀
 
Just to summarize what's already been said. From the student's stand point. Mormon's tend to have single income families. Dentistry provides the income to make that work these days (among other family oriented lifestyle advantages).

From the DS's stand point, Mormon's are generally a couple years older (due to the 2 year mission), thus are a little more mature. If that's backed up with good stats, that makes for a great combo.

Now, on to a couple comments/questions:

Gorrilla, is that Bernanke as your pic?

And, Mormon is spelled with two O's. It's not Mor-man. The only reason I mention it is I've seen it wrong quite a few times. It doesn't offend me, it just helps to spell things correctly.
 
alanan84 said:
Just to summarize what's already been said. From the student's stand point. Mormon's tend to have single income families. Dentistry provides the income to make that work these days (among other family oriented lifestyle advantages).

From the DS's stand point, Mormon's are generally a couple years older (due to the 2 year mission), thus are a little more mature. If that's backed up with good stats, that makes for a great combo.

Now, on to a couple comments/questions:

Gorrilla, is that Bernanke as your pic?

And, Mormon is spelled with two O's. It's not Mor-man. The only reason I mention it is I've seen it wrong quite a few times. It doesn't offend me, it just helps to spell things correctly.
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NO, it's MorMAN and they are BAD (joking obviously)
 
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alanan84 said:
Just to summarize what's already been said. From the student's stand point. Mormon's tend to have single income families. Dentistry provides the income to make that work these days (among other family oriented lifestyle advantages).

From the DS's stand point, Mormon's are generally a couple years older (due to the 2 year mission), thus are a little more mature. If that's backed up with good stats, that makes for a great combo.

Now, on to a couple comments/questions:

Gorrilla, is that Bernanke as your pic?

And, Mormon is spelled with two O's. It's not Mor-man. The only reason I mention it is I've seen it wrong quite a few times. It doesn't offend me, it just helps to spell things correctly.
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It is Bernanke, you a fan? 😳 He's pretty much my idol by the way. Good response by the way. 👍
 
Haha, I love how JMU DUKES posts all of these hateful ignorant posts and then doesn't even have the balls to leave them on SDN. Good thing they are all still listed as other people's quotes.
Anyway, couldn't this post have substituted "Californians" for "Mormons"? Every interview I've been to has about 80% Californians and 3 or 4 people from Utah/Mormons. Granted, the 4 schools I went to are all near/in Cali, so I don't know if this trend continues on the east coast. Do students in dental schools get angry about all of the Cali people in their schools? Sorry that BYU/Utah grads have better apps than you, man up.

And no, I have absolutely nothing against Californians, I'm just trying to show how ignorant it is to feel biased against 1 specific group of people just for going to school. And I don't have any stats to support this, but I'm willing to bet that there are more Catholics (practicing or not) than Mormons in dental school. Who cares?
 
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Gbrando2 said:
Haha, I love how JMU DUKES posts all of these hateful ignorant posts and then doesn't even have the balls to leave them on SDN. Good thing they are all still listed as other people's quotes.
Anyway, couldn't this post have substituted "Californians" for "Mormons"? Every interview I've been to has about 80% Californians and 3 or 4 people from Utah/Mormons. Granted, the 4 schools I went to are all near/in Cali, so I don't know if this trend continues on the east coast. Do students in dental schools get angry about all of the Cali people in their schools? Sorry that BYU/Utah grads have better apps than you, man up.

And no, I have absolutely nothing against Californians, I'm just trying to show how ignorant it is to feel biased against 1 specific group of people just for going to school. And I don't have any stats to support this, but I'm willing to bet that there are more Catholics (practicing or not) than Mormons in dental school. Who cares?
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Californian undergrads are generally coming out of good schools and have good DAT scores.

Also, California is VERY big. Hence, lots of students.
 
I would encourage everyone to not post publicly things you might regret later. You never know who's on here and who might find out who you are. Bad form all around IMO....Just a thought!

Scotty
 
scottyhoop said:
I would encourage everyone to not post publicly things you might regret later. You never know who's on here and who might find out who you are. Bad form all around IMO....Just a thought!

Scotty
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it's a free discussion and people vent, meh, i highly doubt admissions people at the peak of the season will take their time to read sdn. They are most likely swamped by students phone calls about "what are my chances, are my applications complete, how many interviews have been given out... etc etc..."
 
wantVCUdental said:
it's a free discussion and people vent, meh, i highly doubt admissions people at the peak of the season will take their time to read sdn. They are most likely swamped by students phone calls about "what are my chances, are my applications complete, how many interviews have been given out... etc etc..."
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You're correct, but you want to goto VCU no?? Part of your interview process is with a 4th year student, and they, in fact, are on here and have a say about your fate. If you happen to get a 4th year mormon (or any other 4th year that disapproves of your borderline prejudice comments), and your identity gets out, I would imagine you're in for a rough ride. Just a friendly bit of advice, not trying to pick a fight. We all make our own beds...

Scotty
 
doc3232 said:
Californian undergrads are generally coming out of good schools and have good DAT scores.

Also, California is VERY big. Hence, lots of students.
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Mormon undergrads are generally coming out of good schools (BYU, U of U) and have good DAT scores.

Also, the LDS religion is VERY big. Hence, lots of students.
 
better question.... where is there a school that isn't full of Mormons? 5 years at BYU has given me MORE than enough time to be with my "peers"... I'd like to go to a school where I'm the only Mormon. In fact, if I could be the only Mormon in a 50 mile radius, that would make me happy. What a freakin annoying bunch of human beings we are. In the immortal words of Jim McMahon... "Happiness is Provo in the rear view mirror."
 
Good RDEP explanation by Polka. There are 10 spots that Utah pays Creighton for; Similarly, Idaho pays for 8 spots. Students selected to be an R/I-DEP recipient receive financial assistance by their respective state. It makes since for the majority of the 10 and 8 spots to be filled by a Morman since there is a much higher percentage of LDS in Utah and Idaho than in other states! I know of non-LDS recipients of these spots, but they have to be academically and "extra-curricularly" competitive with a person who has likely done a mission, has a family, and participates in respectful activities. Translation to a dental school: has perspective from another country or area of the States, possibly has acquired a second language, is financially stable enough to start a family and still go to school, is mature, is focused on succeeding, likely to be a donating alum.

As for speculation that dentistry is heavily laden with LDS, why not? More money means the ability to support a larger family and the Church. I'm not LDS, but many of my classmates are, and all of the dentists I have shadowed are as well. Many also volunteer at least once a month at the local Free Clinic. I'm having trouble finding the fault in the schools that accept a large percentage of Mormons for recognizing this trend and trying to improve their school.
 
Gucci Row said:
better question.... where is there a school that isn't full of Mormons? 5 years at BYU has given me MORE than enough time to be with my "peers"... I'd like to go to a school where I'm the only Mormon. In fact, if I could be the only Mormon in a 50 mile radius, that would make me happy. What a freakin annoying bunch of human beings we are. In the immortal words of Jim McMahon... "Happiness is Provo in the rear view mirror."
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Eh, speak for yourself. I really enjoyed my time at BYU.
 
gorrillaunit18 said:
Hello everyone,
So I am Mormon and a fellow friend of mine (who is actually a dentist as well as Mormon) mentioned that Mormons flock to dental schools more than any other graduate/professional schools. Is this true? If so, what are some schools that have the highest numbers? I'm just curious, that is all.

Gracias,
Gorrilla
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It would have to begin from dental schools in or near the state of Utah.
 
wantVCUdental said:
it's a free discussion and people vent, meh, i highly doubt admissions people at the peak of the season will take their time to read sdn. They are most likely swamped by students phone calls about "what are my chances, are my applications complete, how many interviews have been given out... etc etc..."
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i remember there was this whole thread with that dude who got off waitlist from Midwestern who previously called Midwestern the worst dental school and all that other negative stuff. i believe current students showed the threads to their dean and they had big deal about this.

although it's very unlikely that what you say on public forum will affect any outcome with dental school admission, it's still best not putting any negative comments on public forum which can be used against you (i remember he had to delete all of his previous posts and had to apologize to dental students or something..). also with predents, it is getting easier to figure out who you are
 
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whoa jmu dukes. i'd watch what you write. you'd be surprised how easily people could figure out who you are from posts and names.
 
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I consider myself to not have much bias with regard to this subject seeing as I went to BYU and I am NOT MORMON.

1. Mormon's flock to dentistry because they recognize that in their religion, a family is almost mandatory (tough to get into Celestial Kingdom without one right?), so they KNOW they're going to have a family, and thus they need to provide for it. Dentistry pays great but more (maybe) importantly is that it has a short work week so they can spend time with their family.
2. There is definitely a "undertow" of competition amongst some LDS people (as every other group I suppose), however it def pushes LDS people into fields of prestige and cash flow.

There are def some schools that accept A LOT of Mormons seemingly on purpose. VCU, Oregon come to mind for sure - the dentist I shadowed went to Oregon way back when and said about 1/4 of his class was Mormon...my good friend is a LDS D1 there now and says there is still a strong presence. I got rejected from my state school (VCU) and then got in to two out of state schools, I'm not saying it's becasue a Mormon stole my seat, however it would be nice to blame it on that. The truth is LDS people make strong applicants due to the HUGE extracurricular part of the application - 2 year mission + ample semi-mandatory church related service, and the fact that they don't do the alcohol/drug game, and tend to be older and more mature, thus causing them to be "over-represented."

EDIT: My D1 class is about 3% Mormon.
 
Maka said:
I consider myself to not have much bias with regard to this subject seeing as I went to BYU and I am NOT MORMON.

1. Mormon's flock to dentistry because they recognize that in their religion, a family is almost mandatory (tough to get into Celestial Kingdom without one right?), so they KNOW they're going to have a family, and thus they need to provide for it. Dentistry pays great but more (maybe) importantly is that it has a short work week so they can spend time with their family.
2. There is definitely a "undertow" of competition amongst some LDS people (as every other group I suppose), however it def pushes LDS people into fields of prestige and cash flow.

There are def some schools that accept A LOT of Mormons seemingly on purpose. VCU, Oregon come to mind for sure - the dentist I shadowed went to Oregon way back when and said about 1/4 of his class was Mormon...my good friend is a LDS D1 there now and says there is still a strong presence. I got rejected from my state school (VCU) and then got in to two out of state schools, I'm not saying it's becasue a Mormon stole my seat, however it would be nice to blame it on that. The truth is LDS people make strong applicants due to the HUGE extracurricular part of the application - 2 year mission + ample semi-mandatory church related service, and the fact that they don't do the alcohol/drug game, and tend to be older and more mature, thus causing them to be "over-represented."

EDIT: My D1 class is about 3% Mormon.
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I heard polygamy is allowed in the religion ... & was wondering any of your Mormon classmates actually practices that ...
 
WaxWing said:
I heard polygamy is allowed in the religion ... & was wondering any of your Mormon classmates actually practices that ...
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There weren't any Fundamentalist LDS kids in my class (at least non that would admit it) so no. Who wants more than one wife anyways? From what I saw one wife is more than enough. In some cultures it's "somewhat accepted" for the husband to have a mistress, that seems far easier.
 
Little off topic. Do LDS patients search for LDS dentists for treatment? I am non-LDS, but have the opportunity of possibly purchasing an established practice in the Salt Lake City area. Would you see any problems getting patients not being LDS? Those that are LDS, do you search out LDS health providers?
Thanks
 
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Swoops said:
Absolutely not. SLC has more non-Mormons than Mormons.
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Swoops, Thank you for expedited response. Aside from the percentage of LDS to non-LDS populations, would you think that I would have any issues attracting LDS patients?
 
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