nation board exam results

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hey everyone. now that a lot of us are in the position of choosing the dental school we are going to attend, i thought it would be helpful to put together a list of board scores for all the dental schools.

just list a school and put the stats for part 1 and/or part 2.

ill start--

Univ. Detroit mercy: >95% pass on first try on both part1 and part 2.

thanks

 

[DesiDentist]

University of Washington S.O.D.

99.9% pass part I on first try

99.5% pass part II on first try


99.9999999999999999999998% pass boards w/in two tries.


DesiDentist

 

[tinker bell]

Where does one find these stats?
T

 

[Beagle]

NYU is 95% on part 1

 

[Big_Poppa DDS]

Most people with pass boards on the first try, this should not be a big factor when choosing a dental school.

 

[PashaJ]

Shouldn't we focus more on how high they score as opposed to how many pass. We're all smart people, so I assume most of us will pass. It's really how high you score that matters for post grad.

 

[Bcat]

UCONN average for part 1 was 91.6% last year just behind Harvard at 94%

 

[Rhea]

Oh wow, that's amazing that UofDetroit, NYU have a higher pass rate than UCONN and Harvard!! For some reason I thought Harvard pass rate would have been more like a 100% since only the very smart/elite get in. Interesting.

 

[PashaJ]

I think the UCONN and Harvard numbers are the average scores acheived by the students, whereas the other numbers are the percentage of people who pass (score above a 75) on the boards.

 

[DesiDentist]

Rhea,

I think you are mistaken. The 91.4% is the average that the class got, whereas the NYU is the pass rate, or the percentage of the class that passes. I think that 95% for NYU is a little high, I thought it was around 85% of the students pass. So in other words the average of the class at UCONN is 91.4% (this is their grade) meaning that the people who pass average 91.4%, it is understood that 100% of the people pass the boards at UCONN and Harvard...well duh!!

Hope this makes sense,

DesiDentist

 

[Rhea]

Yup....the UCONN and Harvard numbers didn't make sense to me either. But I guess it makes sense if those are the board scores. I guess the post started out as "what percentage pass the boards", so I just went down the list. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[xc1999]

Rhea,

Actually, what that person meant about UCONN was that their score was 91.6%......NYU just has 95% of the PEOPLE passing the test.....in other words, 95% of the people at NYU got a 75 (which is the passing score) on the boards. And at harvard, their average board scores were 94%........which bascially means (and I'm assuming) that for UCONN and Harvard, pretty much almost 100% of the people pass the boards.....with scores well above the national average (which is like an 85 I think....).

Hope that clarifies everything!

 

[PashaJ]

XC,
I think you mean at least a 75 at NYU.

 

[xc1999]

Pasha J,

Yes, that's exactly what I meant....thanks for the correction! 🙂

 

[PashaJ]

Sorry for the correction, I just didn't want people to get confused.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Some day we will all learn that the board scores of the schools we attend simply don't matter.

Perhaps your personal scores will matter (and this will vary from student to student), but who cares what OTHER students, in OTHER classes, at OTHER schools are scoring.

Besides, if you are a highly motivated student who wishes to specialize, you would serve yourself better by attending a school where scores are LOWER than average, which makes your scores look all the better.

For instance, if everybody at your school scores a 92% on the boards, and you get an 89%, you don't look so hot.

If you get an 89% however, and your school averages a 84%, then you might end up in the top of the class.

All in all, board scores should be a factor in choosing a school, but a very minor one! It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to choose a school based on board scores.

It is similar to choosing what kind of car to buy, based on the number of tickets your friends have gotten in their cars: Tommy has had 3 tickets in a Honda, so I shouldn't buy that, but Elaine has had only 1 ticket in a Toyota, so I'll buy that. Their driving skills have NOTHING to do with your driving skills!

 

[crimson]

Gavin, you have posted some good points but I have to disagree on one crucial point. Averages are important when evaluating a program because they give a solid idea about the overall academic horsepower driving it. For eg., UCONN has been in the top 5 schools for the last five or six years in terms of NDBE Part 1 scores. What this tells me is that UCONN faculty and it's academic program are doing something more right than the other 45 programs out there (apart from the obvious difference in the cohort group of students responsible for that score).
By the way my number one decision making criteria is cost. Every dentist I have spoken to has told me that they could all pay back their loans BUT would have really wished they had taken out the least amount possible coz the amount of loans you get to buy a practice and put in cool things is a function of the overall debt load. So less money borrowed for education leads to more opportunities to assume debt later on.

 

[groundhog]

Gavin and Crimson both make good points. All other factors being equal, the remaining issue for each indiviudal (who has a choice of schools) is to decide which type of teaching environment will best fit her or his learning style. For example, are you a self motivator or do you tend to push yourself harder only if the others in your boat are doing likewise? Neither trait is more desireable than the other. The important thing is to know yourself in order to be able to choose the best possible situation that matches up with your style. While UCONN put out a class with one of the highest AVERAGE board scores in the nation, NOVA put out a student with one of THE highest board scores in the nation. Some UCONN students may not have done so well in they had been at NOVA and likewise for the student at NOVA if he had been at UCONN.

 

[lhamtse]

Go with UCONN guys...small class size, low tuition fee, good quality of education = very competitive board scores...can't beat that...!
LT

 

[Rhea]

Gavin, I agree with your outlook. Getting into 'any' dental school is truly a blessing for me; it's an opportunity to attain my goal of becoming a dentist! And THAT is important.

I plan to work really hard over the next four years and I am not really too concerned about how the other students perform on the boards because I know that if I try my best, I will do just fine.

 

[xc1999]

Pasha J,

Oh, it's fine....I wouldn't want people to get confused either.

 

[ItsGavinC]

You are correct, scores can give some glimpse into the "academic horsepower" behind a certain school. Don't be fooled into thinking that a higher horsepower means life will be easy. You will still have to put forth tons of effort, and there is a slight chance you won't score top in your class.

Evaluation of the teaching style, as was posted, ought to be a key factor in determining where to matriculate.

 

[Big_Poppa DDS]

Once you are in dental school and are studying for boards you will realize that boards are just a money maker and they test old concepts and sometimes irrelevant material. I remember studying things about gold foil for part 2 and gold foils aren't even taught anymore. Part 1 I remember a question concerning buffers and pka's in the biochem/physiology section - who cares!!!

A school that tends to have high board scores probably teaches around board information which may not always be the modern idea. My class at marquette scored around 84 for part 1 and 80 for part 2 - both slightly below the national average. I studied the decks and old tests only and scored 92 and 88. On the other hand 97% of my class passed the clinical boards on the first attempt and people who did poorly on national boards aced the clinical boards.

 

[Tiramisu]

wrong,
most schools that have high board scores have integrated medical curriculums, not just targeting at board exam topics!!

 

[flat4]

I was curious about the "academic horsepower" under the hood over at Temple. Anybody have any recent average scores (on both parts I & II) for Temple? I already know the passing rate, I just want to know the averages (just to make things clear 🙂 ). Thanks

 

[tinker bell]

GoLakers, what's the passing rate for Temple?

 

[tinker bell]

Prestigious schools tend to have better scores. partly because only cream of the crop are in their class. And if you're smart, have high DAT scores and GPA, would you pick Meharry over UPENN. I think that all dental schools offer almost the same number of classes. Your motivation will make your board scores. Not the schools. Faculties won't sit there and babysit your board studying time. I won't select schools base on just board scores. I don't even know what is the board scores for my first choice. But I couldn't care less, it's still my number one choice. I just know that I will be in the top 5%, no matter where I end up going. What the previous class did is not a good prediction of my future performance (Sound like Wall Street?)

 

[flat4]

Don't quote me on this but I think the passing rate at Temple was over 97% (one of the questions I asked at my interview in September).

-Fuzzy Memory

 

[robf]

Originally posted by tinker bell
I just know that I will be in the top 5%, no matter where I end up going.

A lot easier said than done. Once you get there you'll see how competitive it is and how much work it is. You have to be good with your hands too. There are people in my class who aced histology and anatomy, but almost had to repeat the first year because they couldn?t wax a tooth to save their life.

 

[tinker bell]

I actually can wax quite good😀