questions, questions, more questions!

[flowerpot]

Hi, been working on my personal essay for dental application and decided to take a break/do some research on possible dental schools and happened upon this site. this is awesome!! been reading through past messages and many of my questions have been answered.... anyway, a few more burning questions for y'all...
1) deferrment: i'm applying officially for 2002, but i'm considering taking a yr. off before actually attending; i've talked with admissions at different schools and gotten mixed responses... anyone have any idea?

2) suggestions for research: i've been looking at the diff. dental school websites, but it's hard to find the ans. to questions i'm really curious abt, e.g. location/city, class size, students' satisfaction, etc. etc./ know of any sites to browse?

3) research/clinical: i'm sure it's been asked and answered bef., but which schools are best known for research, which for clinical? (again, what would be the best place to find the answers...)

4) i keep reading abt. the stats for board passing rates or something like that... what is that, and how would u find the stats for the different dental schools?

thanks thanks!! appreciate your help, and pls. ask me to clarify if my questions aren't clear....it's late and i should be sleeping.. nite!

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[chocobo]

1) You probably already know that each school has a different stance with deferment. Some schools don't allow any deferment. You can either apply for 2002 to schools that will allow for deferment or apply for 2003. There were many interviewees who were taking the year off, so I would imagine that taking a year off is not a big deal at many schools.

2) There really aren't that many predental websites. I recommend predental.com's e-mail list to get advice from fellow predents.

4) To become a dentist (in the US anyway), one must pass the National Boards Part I and II. So the higher the pass rate, the better. But I have heard that some schools don't allow some students to take the boards part I until the school deems them fit to take the board. Some schools don't have many students, so if one fails, it can drop the pass rate more significantly than at another school that has many students. It seems like most schools have students that don't pass, and many dental students have told me that it's usually the individual's fault (and not the school's). I would just e-mail the admissions to inquire about their board pass rates for the past few years.

 

[flowerpot]

Thanks for answering my questions! I really appreciate it... in regards to deferrment: I've heard mixed advice. One advisor told me to apply a yr. early regardless of the schools' "official policy", then simply hand in the deposit after gaining acceptance, and then inform the school of my decision to defer. The advisor said that would be the best option, especially given the fact that I would be travelling abroad during the year off, and would not be able to interview at the dental schools. On the other hand, I've heard that if the school does not "officially allow" deferrment, students would be required to go through the entire application process again, even if they were already accepted. Wondering if anyone knows how strict schools actually adhere to their deferrment policy... (whether it would be worth it to risk applying to a school that does not allow deferrment)