non-us schools...Caribbean?
Started by merkman320
i dont think this works the same as it does for med schools, because foriegn trained dentists still have to go to dental school in the US anyway as opposed to foriegn trained docs, who just have to pass the exams and do residency!merkman320 said:
merkman320 said:
I am sure that some of the Canadian schools teach in English, some in French
Check it out:
Univ of Alberta, Univ of BC, Univ of Manitoba, Univ Toronto, Univ Western Ontario,McGill Univ, & Univ Saskatchewan 😎
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
coolhanluc said:
If you can't get into a US dental school, it will be much, much harder getting into a Canadian school as it is many, many times tougher and more competitive to get into. That's why there are so many Canadians studying dentistry in the US....because they can't get into a Canadian school. Your GPA must be as least mid to high 3s to be competitive. This is definitely the case with the Canadian citizens or PRs. I am not sure about international or non-Canadian or non-PR students, although I would imagine it would be of a similar situation due to the very limited spaces set aside for them.
If you want to study abroad, I would suggest Europe such as the UK where the quality of the dental education is very similar, if not, the same as North America and it's, of course, in English. Another great place is Australia. You'll definitely have a much better chance there than the Canadian schools.
If you ultimately want to practise dentistry in North America, I think it would be best to try to get into a US school by improving your GPA if that needs to be done. It would save you a lot of hassle, money and time later on because you won't have to worry about doing a two-to three-year international program for foreign trained dentists which is a bi$%ch to get into. Good luck.
cheer_up said:
Yeah, I totally agree... even with a high GPA, when you apply to Canadian schools, usually the cutoff for an interview is usually a 3.8
for most schools (i.e. Toronto, McGill). *You might as well apply to Harvard* Plus if you factor in the fact that some schools only have a limited amount of spots for out of province / international students, you would need an incredible GPA and DAT scores to even remotely have a chance. Oh yeah, you also have to write the Canadian DAT where you have to do the soap carving component, which the first time I did it, I got killed big time on it lol. And the test is only offered twice a year too, so you have to wait 4 months if you screw up a section, which totally blows. Plus the interviews are bloody stressful in Canada too. Basically, you need med school marks to get into dental school in Canada along with awesome DAT scores. I know many people who went to Australia to study and some went over to Europe. But best of luck if you apply to Canada as an internation student 😀
if you're an american, or non-candian for that matter, it's not as hard to get into a candian school. I mean there are less spots reserved for foreigners, but the requirements are much lower. I think for UofT you need like a 3.0, the rest depends on the # of applicants.
going anywhere but canada or the us means having to do a 2-year dental program when you return, and that is also quite competitive.
good luck.
going anywhere but canada or the us means having to do a 2-year dental program when you return, and that is also quite competitive.
good luck.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
colt said:
Nope, you have it the other way around. A 3.8 in Canada is pretty much a 4.0 in the states... The Canadian grading system is more unforgiving than the AADSAS one. An A+ is a 4.0 in Canada, while A = 3.9, while it's worth 4.333 and 4.0 in the States (AADSAS) respectively. Not sure about the whole 3.0 for an international student for Toronto. It's pretty deceiving because it also said 3.6 is the min. for Canadian students, while the first year I applied I had a 3.7 and still didn't get an interview.
Many US schools grade as follows: A/4.0=90-100, B/3.0=80-89, C/2.0=70-79 D/1.0=60-69 Doing a search I found that Canadian grades are: A+/4.0=85-100, A/3.7=80-85, B+/3.3=77-79....and so on.prez_al said:
I'm not sure how the US +/- system works as my school doesn't use it, but I think it's like A+/4.0=94-100, A-/3.7=90-93 and so on. All things being equal, a Canadian mark of 85 will give a 4.0 and the same mark will give 3.0 in the US.
Grading scales aside, the population of Canada is 32.5 million with 10 dental schools. That is 1 dental school per 3.25 million people. The US has a population of 295.7 million with 56 dental schools. That would be 1 dental school per 5.28 million people.
colt said:
You should also take class sizes into consideration. Most of the class sizes are quite small. The University of Toronto, I believe, has one of the largest class sizes, if not, the largest class size in the country with about 65 students. The other ones, especially the Prarie Provinces, accept much less than that.
colt said:
This is so untrue. While I believe that there may be a slight discrepancy in converting the Canadian grades into the US grades, the discrepancy just cannot be that big. A GPA of 3.0 in the US is a low 70s in terms of percentage and no way, by any conversion scale, equals to an 85% grade in the Canadian scale. I think you give the US grades way more credit than they deserve.
On UofT's website, I read that they graduate 70 per year. How big are the other schools in Canada? I also see that Western's class of '09 is 55, Alberta= 32, UBC= 40. I can't find anything on the others.cheer_up said:
Regardless, compared to the US, their are about the same amount of spots relative to the population. There are also many more Canadians that come to American schools.
cheer_up said:
A discrepency of over 15% for each grade level doesn't make sense to me. So a 3.3 in the states, if you convert that into canadian grades would be close to a 4.0, which will get you in ANY school a person wants?! 😕 Even if it might be "easier" to get a 4.0 in Canada, I believe at my school out of 25 000 people, only 10 people have a 4.0, and that's only for one year. There has to be a way to standardize marks, and usually they make the schools in Canada harder to get those high 90 marks (no bell curve unless half the class is failing). I'm not sure about the difficulty of undergrad in the states; but I heard from profs (correct me if this is wrong) who got their degrees from (at least) Ivy League schools, they hand you A's or it wasn't as tough as places here.
colt said:
Yeah, there are A LOT of Canadians studying dentistry in the US. These people didn't come to the US to study because their parents are mega rich that they want to waste money on tuition fees; or because the American dental education is any better than the Canadian one, but because they couldn't get into a Canadian dental school. Mind you, these people aren't stupid at all. In contrast, they're bright students with competitive grades. This goes to prove my point that it is way more competitive to get into a Canadian dental school than a US school, except Harvard and the State schools. You can ask the Canadian students who are interested in studying dentistry and got in the US and not Canada, or those who got into both, and they will tell you the same thing. A lot of the Canadian students use the US dental schools as a backup.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
cheer_up said:
It's true... getting into Canada is insanely hard, essentially ALL the schools are like state schools since the schools only accept people from their own province. Many med students in Canada use Canadian dental school as a backup for medical school (and med school has slightly higher standards). Which leaves us to using american schools as backup
*sarcastically*. Who would really want to spend 2x more on tuition if their kid could get in Canada?! I mean, if I got into both a Canadian and American school, the American school would have to offer me a big a$$ scholarship before I would go there or it would have to be Harvard.
prez_al said:It's true... getting into Canada is insanely hard, essentially ALL the schools are like state schools since the schools only accept people from their own province. Many med students in Canada use Canadian dental school as a backup for medical school (and med school has slightly higher standards). Which leaves us to using american schools as backup
Unlike in the US, I think it is just nearly as competitive to get into a med school in Canada as it is to get into a dental school. With UofT's average of about 3.8 in GPA this year, I'm sure one has a great chance of getting into a med school too
. Anyway, side issue.Hey, prez_al, have you applied to any Canadian dental school yet? You've got a great GPA. Hope you'll get in. If not, I'm pretty sure you'll get in a US school. All the best of luck to ya.
Once again, the % in a course is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the letter grade. AADSAS doesn't even look at % for us. Think of it this way, our class averages are in the 60s. So getting an 85 or a 90 is a lot harder than getting that mark in a US school. The only thing that matters is the letter grade that is used to convert to the GPA scale. I could easily say, look how easy US schools are because all their students get easy 80s while up here, our class averages are 60s. But I don't because I understand how it works.
and also, AADSAS bumps the GPA up a lot. I mean, a 4.333 is unheard of at my school. that's just nuts. With the GPA scale for dental schools in Ontario, your GPA drops too because not only do we not have 4.333s, you need an A+ to get a 4.0 and an A, which is a 4.0 on AADSAS, is only a 3.9 on our dental school scale.
and also, AADSAS bumps the GPA up a lot. I mean, a 4.333 is unheard of at my school. that's just nuts. With the GPA scale for dental schools in Ontario, your GPA drops too because not only do we not have 4.333s, you need an A+ to get a 4.0 and an A, which is a 4.0 on AADSAS, is only a 3.9 on our dental school scale.
cheer_up said:Unlike in the US, I think it is just nearly as competitive to get into a med school in Canada as it is to get into a dental school. With UofT's average of about 3.8 in GPA this year, I'm sure one has a great chance of getting into med school too
Hey, prez_al, have you applied to any Canadian dental school yet? You've got a great GPA. Hope you'll get in. If not, I'm pretty sure you'll get in a US school. All the best of luck to ya.
actually, GPA wise, UofT dents had a higher average than UofT meds (i think it was last year or the year before). Their average was 3.84 while meds was a 3.81.
med applicants use dents as a back up in Ontario especially because the application is so simple. No essay, no letter or recs. Just fill it out, send it and wait for word of an interview.
That's what I like about dents in Canada. Every single person in your class is there because they love dentistry, not because they couldn't get into meds. They chose dents over meds. They're fully committed to the profession. Very good feeling 👍
cheer_up said:
hey, thanks cheer_up,
you know, i didn't have the greatest GPA (like a 3.74) but I just went in there with no stress and had fun in the interview. It all worked out. Somehow I got in and I like to think it's cuz I didn't study 24/7 and instead, skipped some class to chill with my girlfriend, or went clubbing when some of the keeners were studying. It all works out in the end so hang in there.
I had a girl in my O-Chem 2 class that already had her B.S./B.A. from a big canadian school. She bragged about her gpa during the first couple of classes. She took O-Chem 1 at a canadian school (didn't really pay attention to which one, but I think it was McGill) and supposedly recieved a grade of A. She would have been lucky to recieve a grade of C in O-Chem 2. She didn't do so hot in lecuture or lab.
This was just my own personal experience with a canadian student. If you ask me it is a myth that canadian schools are "tougher" than U.S. schools.
This was just my own personal experience with a canadian student. If you ask me it is a myth that canadian schools are "tougher" than U.S. schools.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
cheer_up said:Unlike in the US, I think it is just nearly as competitive to get into a med school in Canada as it is to get into a dental school. With UofT's average of about 3.8 in GPA this year, I'm sure one has a great chance of getting into a med school too
Hey, prez_al, have you applied to any Canadian dental school yet? You've got a great GPA. Hope you'll get in. If not, I'm pretty sure you'll get in a US school. All the best of luck to ya.
Thanks 🙂 . I did apply to canadian dental schools, I got interviews from Toronto and Western; but I applied this year when it was insanely competitive (3.8 avg cutoff as indicated on my friend's rejection letter) and plus my DAT scores weren't that great when I applied 19/19/18... 14 in carving 😱 Basically, gonna try again this year with my Feb 06 scores and apply out of province lol.
Yeah, I've heard the same from many people on here. I'd like to see a study that compares the 2 grading systems. I mean, both countries are covering the same material -- probably using very similar books too. I've also read that Canadian schools look at only your last 2 yrs of undergrad!Hardbody said:
Do you think American students want to pay 300k for NYU? If I couldn't get into an American school and I had another option in another country -- I'd gladly pay 500k. American students don't have this option though.cheer_up said:
Not many American students want to pay 2x as much for a private school, but they do it. If Canadian schools were 400-500k and American students thought they had a realistic chance of getting in -- they would apply.prez_al said:
Basically, Canada has about the same "seat-to-population" ratio as America. They also have the option of going south.
colt said:
Yeah, I know about the hefty tuition fees that the Americans and the Canadians who study in the US have to pay to private schools. Even though the Canadian dental school tuition fee is subsidized by the government to a large extent, I still think it's quite high. In general, the North American students have to pay so much for their higher education. The E.U. dental students in the UK pay nowhere near as much as the North American students do. However, that's reality.
And yeah, it's definitely a good thing that the Canadian students have the option of going south if they want to have their dream career become a reality. Unfortunately, not many American students can do the same i.e. come to Canada to study dentistry.
The problem is that there are no private schools in Canada. I think if there were, like there are in the US, then admissions would be definitely be a lot easier and many American students would be able to apply too.
colt said:
Well, that's hard to say for sure unless you know the total number of seats of all the dental schools in the US and Canada. You know pretty much know the two countries' population, but you need to know the class size as well as it is just as important as the number of schools that exists.
