Those Mormon Kids

[yosemitesam]

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ItsGavinC just mentioned in another thread how many orthodontists there are in Utah. I was just wondering why there are so many Mormons who choose dentistry; it is definitely a larger percentage than in the population as a whole. Every school I know of has at least several Mormon kids. Even here in Georgia -where out-of-staters aren't even considered- we have several in predoctoral. And the specialty residents are about to take over - in fact, both endo seats are filled by Mormons.

Why don't the high-concentration Mormon states like Utah and Idaho have their own schools 😕 How many of y'all are Mormon out there? Just wonderin'. By the way, I am too. 🙂

 

[DesiDentist]

Legend has it a long long time ago Mr. Smith had a toothache. It hurt so bad that he could not concentrate on God. Then this angel came and fixed his tooth with gold foil and lo and behold, Mr. Smith realized how much a tooth doctor could work wonders. Like an angel, the tooth doctor could alleviate pain. Thus Mr. Smith sprang on this voyage to find an area where everyone was suffering from this hellish dilemma. He went with his followers and lo and behold landed at Utah. He saw Indians and they started fixing teeth just like that angel with gold foil.

See now those people in UTAH are decendants of the tooth doctor angel and now they want to fix teeth too.



DesiDentist

 

[yosemitesam]

lol Desi. Not sure if you are poking fun at me or just being funny. lol anyway .

P.S. I know there is a pretty narrow group of people who are gonna be interested in this. Hope I didn't offend anyone else by bringing up religion on this forum. If so, sorry; not tryin' to proselyte or anything. 🙂

 

[DesiDentist]

Nah, I'm not trying to offend anyone. Just using my imagination on what probably happened.

Mormons: If you can't beat 'em, Join 'em.



DesiDentist

 

[Brand]

I enjoyed Desi's look on it.🙂

 

[Bcat]

I am doing undergrad in Cincinnati but I applied to ten schools from Cali to New York and everywhere in-between. I met other LDS Students or Applicants at every school. Anyway, I don't know why so many of us are dentists... my family already has a couple of doctors, businessmen, and lawyers so I decided to be a dentist... for the good of the fam....😉

 

[Percocet]

I think it is because they eat so much ice cream, roast beef and hot chocolate (since beer and whiskey are out of the picture. oh, and don't forget the green jello with carrots-it sticks to your teeth) which makes tooth decay a big problem. Also, since the families are so big, just think if you had to buy braces for all of the kids, you would go broke!!!!😀

PS-Donnie and Marie set such high standards when it comes to teeth, what do you expect? 😉

Perc-

(BYU '03)

 

[bitecys]

13 out of 76 in our class are mormons...now to put that into perspective. we have 53 instaters from the 80 instaters that applied. that leaves 23 out of staters selected from the 700 that applied, with 13 being mormons from utah.

being from a state school, there are quite a few faculty who don't particularly enjoy the fact that we are educating out of state people who we know have absolutely no intentions of remaining in the state past their education years.

personally, i couldn't care less...I figure this way, if there is any religion I should know something about before I graduate it should be the mormon faith.

 

[TechDent]

From what I have observed most adcoms like people who are already married. They believe that they are most stable individuals and can handle the rigors of dental school. Since alot of mormons are already married I think that gives them an edge over other people. In addition byu offers many extra classes geared toward people going into dentistry and is one of the top schools in the nation. Furthermore it may be that they are a more disciplined or focused group of people who strive to achieve their goal until they attain it.

 

[JonR]

The reason mormons choose dentistry is because it goes together perfectly with their view of the way the family should be. The father (it is always mormon men that you'll see) wants to provide for the family so his wife will not have to work and he also wants to be able to spend time with his family (ie not have to be on call like a physician). Dentistry fits perfectly with this lifestyle. You can provide for your wife and kids so that your wife is not forced to try to hold down a job and hold down the fort (that is not a sexist statement, but it is the way things are done in the LDS culture). I am not a mormon, but I my dissection and study group is me and three mormons, so I have gotten to learn quite a bit about their faith and how dentistry fits in. Did you know that BYU sends HUNDREDS of people to dental and medical school EACH year? It sends more than an other US school. The competition is usually higher for them because they have to compete with each other since a school won't take all mormons even though there would probably be anough to fill entire classes; in fact they often see 2 or 3 classmates at EACH interview!! All of the mormon guys that I hang out with had at least 21 academic DAT scores with one guy having a 23! They tell me several of their classmates with 21-22 DAT scores were turned down, probably b/c the school just can't take so many mormons in the name of diversity!! At BYU, they are told that they just won't be competitive unless they have at least a 20 academic avg. because there are just so many of them applying to the same schools. I think the average dental school class these days is about 1/4 mormon.

 

[groundhog]

I don't know, maybe huffing nitrous for a boost does not violate their moral principles?????


Actually, BYU does a bang up job of prepping undergrads for dental school. I have stated in other threads that I think BYU is the best school to attend as an undergrad if ones desires to become a dentist.

On the other side of the coin, I am told that female Mormon dental students are a rare commodity and, when found, are usually single.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Originally posted by yosemitesam


Why don't the high-concentration Mormon states like Utah and Idaho have their own schools 😕

I've spoken to many administrators about this, and the general consensus is that having a school would cost these states money.

Right now, 90+% of their applicants are getting accepted, so there isn't any need for a school, at least from their standpoint.

Of course, we would all like cheaper tuition, and the RDEP program doesn't handle near enough students to make that cheaper tuition dream achievable.

 

[Brand]

The only BYU statistics I have are 2 years old.

Total applicants: 134 (only one female)
Total accepted: 101 (the chick got in)

Average DAT scores: 19.4/19.4
Average accepted DAT scores: 19.9/19.7

16 of the accepted students had GPA's (science) under 3.0.

I've heard other BYU folks say that the newest statistics, just one year newer, the number of applicant went up to 200, and the acceptance rate is over 90%. I'm not to sure about that. The way BYU calculates these numbers are when people actually call up and say, "I was accepted" or "I wasn't accepted". I know for a fact that some of the people I know who didn't get in never reported back to the school.

Also, don't give too much credit to BYU's faculty and curriculum. The average entering Freshperson is in the 94th percentile of High School students. These people should be doctors and dentists. The will be doctors and dentists regardless of BYU. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters all of which went to Grad school after graduating from BYU (yes, even the girls). Everyone of them was successful, but were frustrated because they were soooo far behind other students who came from other universities. Research at BYU is none existant, and the faculty are not anywhere close to the top of their fields. These BYU students who get into medical and dental school should be given all the credit. The school itself needs alot of work.

I don't know, maybe I'm just bitter because BYU fined me $300 for throwing a snowball. Or when my dorm mother would always walk in on me while I was in my underwear to do room check. Or when I was referred to the honor code office for have my girlfriend (now my wife) over in my apartment past midnight. Or when I was referred to the honor code office for calling my friend a name. Or when.........it goes on and on.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Brand,

I respect your thoughts on how the statistics are gathered, however your assumption is not true. The statistics are gathered through AADSAS, not directly from the students. The "unofficial" list which is kept is done so in just the manner you described -- students notifying the health professions office. The statistics, however, are not obtained in such a manner.

 

[ItsGavinC]

JonR,

Seeing so many LDS people at interviews is strange, indeed.

At Case, I interviewed on the first interview day. There were 5 of us, and we were all LDS.

At UNLV, there were 6 of us, and 3 were LDS.

At Arizona, there were 6 of us, and 4 were LDS.

As Brand says, the list "goes on and on" 🙂

What you said about a 20 on the DAT not being competitive is true. I've never heard that said explicitly from any advisors, but the general consensus and feeling is that everybody else is going to get a 20, so a score of such would just be par.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Brand,

Here are the more recent stats for BYU:

Total Applicants: 181
Total Accepted: 164 (91%)

Average DAT Scores: 20.4/20.7
Average Accepted DAT Scores: 20.6/20.8

I posted this info because I find it interesting to compare it with the info which you posted (which was a year prior to this info).

Note that there were 47 more total applicants, 5 female applicants, and that the average AND accepted DAT scores went up as well.

They are expecting to have 230+ students apply to dental school this coming year.

 

[tinker bell]

There are lots of students at Case from Utah, I heard one student told me the reason is that there is a former faculty member from Case went to utah to start the predental and he/she has been very successful to send all of those predent overthere to dental schools all over the US.

Tinker Bell-TEMPLE DENTAL 007😎

 

[dentalfreak]

I too am LDS and I attend Utah State University where we also have around 95% acceptance rate. Our stats last year were 19/19 and a 3.65 GPA. We only have around 25 applicants each year though. I also know that half the student body at Case Western is mormon. When Phil Aftora came to Utah to recruit he said that out of the 80 they accept, 40-45 are LDS. Virginia also recruits to Utah and about 30% of that school is LDS. Marquette is another school that really likes LDS kids and Yes it does fit our lifestyle of having time with the family which to most of us is very important. I however, do not plan on coming back to Utah to practice because it is flooded with Dentists. So I am sure that at any school you go to, there will be LDS people.