National Board I & II Rankings

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SkiMan

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I was wondering if anyone knows where I could find info on how students at different dental schools do on the Boards. A couple of schools I visited said their average was in the top 10, but I would like to see this in print.

BTW, this is not the main factor I am using to chose which school to attend. I'm just curious.

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I have been told that UW has 100% regional board passing rate by the president of the ADA. Also, the national boards are always top in the nation, which go back and forth between Harvard for the #1 spot. I was told this by Liz Gately, the admissions director.

Arizona had a ~92% national board passing rate last year. One student, who was late in her pregnancy at the time, did not pass. Arizona has not had a senior class and therefore has not taken the regional boards.

A good question to ask at interviews would be: "how do you prepare your students for the national board part I?"
 
bluhe02 said:
I have been told that UW has 100% regional board passing rate by the president of the ADA. Also, the national boards are always top in the nation, which go back and forth between Harvard for the #1 spot. I was told this by Liz Gately, the admissions director.

Arizona had a ~92% national board passing rate last year. One student, who was late in her pregnancy at the time, did not pass. Arizona has not had a senior class and therefore has not taken the regional boards.

A good question to ask at interviews would be: "how do you prepare your students for the national board part I?"


Thanks for the input. That does help :) , but I was kinda hoping for more :( . If anyone has a website or the name of a journal where I could find out this information, it would be greatly appreciated.
 
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bluhe02 said:
I have been told that UW has 100% regional board passing rate by the president of the ADA. Also, the national boards are always top in the nation, which go back and forth between Harvard for the #1 spot. I was told this by Liz Gately, the admissions director.

Arizona had a ~92% national board passing rate last year. One student, who was late in her pregnancy at the time, did not pass. Arizona has not had a senior class and therefore has not taken the regional boards.

A good question to ask at interviews would be: "how do you prepare your students for the national board part I?"


So many schools claim to go back and forth with Harvard for #1. UW is an amazing school for sure but, I've heard this about UCLA, Alabama, UPenn, Tufts.

A school comes in second for 1 year and then they claim they keep alternating with Harvard every year. At least it shows that Harvard always has its act together! I guess it's mainly due to the fact that dental students are enrolled in the world's best medical school for the first 2 years.
 
Audio said:
So many schools claim to go back and forth with Harvard for #1. UW is an amazing school for sure but, I've heard this about UCLA, Alabama, UPenn, Tufts.

A school comes in second for 1 year and then they claim they keep alternating with Harvard every year. At least it shows that Harvard always has its act together! I guess it's mainly due to the fact that dental students are enrolled in the world's best medical school for the first 2 years.

I agree. The school that has legitimate bragging rights for board scores (consistently #1 or #2) is Harvard, since they're what every other school compares themselves to. All the other top schools are up there as well, but they all seem to compare themselves to the big H.
 
SkiMan said:
I was wondering if anyone knows where I could find info on how students at different dental schools do on the Boards. A couple of schools I visited said their average was in the top 10, but I would like to see this in print.

I've looked at many schools, rankings and stats. If you want to get a rough estimate for NBDE I rankings take a look at each school's TS avg and science GPA avg:

http://dentalstats.tripod.com/03-04.htm

There seems to be a good correlation between the two. That's just my opinion. Every year there seems to be a diff school with the highest avg but I would put Harvard, UCLA, UCONN, UW in top 4 and UCSF, UPENN, Columbia in top 7. UCONN may not have one of the highest AA averages but it tries to accept those with high TS scores and high science GPAs. I think that's their key to success. This is just my opinion. Other people may disagree with me and people can disagree.

P.S. I said on avg. For example, UCONN was #1 [part II] 2-3 yrs ago but #5 in another yr. but I think they are in top 4 on avg.


SkiMan said:
BTW, this is not the main factor I am using to chose which school to attend. I'm just curious.

This should not be the only factor to choose a school.
 
I remember that the students at Harvard told us during our interview day that Harvard has been #1 in part I for 15 or 17 consecutive years. Last year's average was approx. 96 :eek: Part 2 they said is another story, although they are not very far behind... :confused:

I think all schools have a very high passing rate. So a school is not special to have a passing percentile in the 90's. Take into consideration the average scores of the schools keeping in mind the national average~

my 2 cents...
 
correction:

based on a published article on March 26, 2003:

In 2003, UCONN was ranked #1 on part II not part I. I apologize. I didn't read the whole thing. It starts with "UConn Dental School #1..." I'll read some more. If I find something new I'll post it for everyone to know.

P.S. Still I think there is a correlation between TS+Science GPA and success on part I . Harvard has the highest TS avg (i.e. 22) and the highest science GPA avg.
 
Another factor is how much time the school gives you to prepare for the NBDE's and how many students want to specialize.

If a student doesn't want to specialize there is no reason to bust your butt on the test. Passing is all that is important.
 
PDizzle said:
Another factor is how much time the school gives you to prepare for the NBDE's and how many students want to specialize.

If a student doesn't want to specialize there is no reason to bust your butt on the test. Passing is all that is important.

I might be wrong...but I think we are thinking too much about our future at this point. It's always good to make a plan ahead of time, but I feel like we are going too deep.

We all are somewhat interested in specializing after a doctoral degree. However, we might change our plan once we are in a dental school, and you want to be a great general dentist/practioner instead.

So, I think that it's good to consider board scores, but your decision should not be totally depends on schools' average board scores. Although your education can help you to increase/decrease your board scores, more importantly your board score depends on YOU, YOUR ABILITY, and YOUR EFFORTS. :thumbup:

"KNOW THY SELF......" :luck: :thumbup: :luck:
 
swanlake said:
I might be wrong...but I think we are thinking too much about our future at this point. It's always good to make a plan ahead of time, but I feel like we are going too deep.

We all are somewhat interested in specializing after a doctoral degree. However, we might change our plan once we are in a dental school, and you want to be a great general dentist/practioner instead.

So, I think that it's good to consider board scores, but your decision should not be totally depends on schools' average board scores. Although your education can help you to increase/decrease your board scores, more importantly your board score depends on YOU, YOUR ABILITY, and YOUR EFFORTS. :thumbup:

"KNOW THY SELF......" :luck: :thumbup: :luck:

I agree but if your school schedules 3 finals the week after the NDBE then your kinda screwed!
 
PDizzle said:
I agree but if your school schedules 3 finals the week after the NDBE then your kinda screwed!

Or 3 finals the week before...
 
Rezdawg said:
Or 3 finals the week before...


I personally don't think that any school will give you 3 finals a week before/after NDBE.

If there is one, let me know..... :eek:
 
yeah UCONN said for part 1 they are usually around 2-4. usually 2 or 3. the dean basically said harvard is usually number 1 (for part 1) that is.
 
PDizzle said:
I agree but if your school schedules 3 finals the week after the NDBE then your kinda screwed!

Not entirely--the material you are learning for the finals is the same that is being tested on Part I, and vice versa. The *best* way to study for Part I is to do well in your coursework.
 
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