Sadly, not always or usually the case. Nepotism and other issues with dentistry are fairly rampant, and most schools will do just about anything to "help along" a student who is almost trying to fail out nowadays.
I know exactly what the OP means though, but to give hope, not too long ago an SDNer just got in on her 3rd try. I work together with a lot of predental students. all in all in my city, I personally know well over 50, and I wouldn't want a good half of them to work on my teeth, but a lot of those who probably shouldn't get in (in my opinion) will while others who really deserve it are left in the dust.
Perfect example: guy I know who pretty much told me he is going into dentistry to make money and use it to get girls and be able to marry a 20 year old model when he turns 40 will be going to dental school next year with a huge scholarship...also is a minority (like me). Meanwhile, a middle class white male with no dental connections in the family I know who is probably the nicest guy in the world, helped his little brother realize and work on his alcoholism, worked as a dental assistant for 3 years at a periodontist, knows more about dentistry than 95% of predents, awesome grades and average DAT scores, worked as a medical assistant for years, an orthopedic therapy assistant for years, etc. has applied 6 times with only 1 interview and 0 acceptances. It's too bad we don't have an e-meter that can measure who has their heart in the right place for going into this field, because we're losing a lot of really great potential dentists with the system we got now.
