Ucla + Oms

[ems5184]

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For anyone at UCLA, how do you feel about the schools decision to not rank the students and for anyone applying for a specialty (which I hope to do) how will this impact the application? Will programs be reluctant since you cant show you were in the top 20% of the class, or will they just give the board scores a higher weight?

I would really like to go to UCLA's dental school, but this system is the only thing holding me back from applying.

 

[ems5184]

anyone know about this?

 

[justletmein]

there's no ranking, but there's still "exceptional passes" "marginal passes" etc. for those who want to specialize, you gotta bust some exceptional passes and attend seminars, do some research with professors, etc.

 

[Dr.SpongeBobDDS]

That's pretty funny they claim to have no grading scale, but then have exceptional pass, average pass, marginal pass. Sounds a lot like "A, B, C, Fail" to me. Just like every other school out there. Why even bother with the silly names?

If there was a school that truly had no grading scale and let you focus on learning to become a good dentist instead of memorizing a bunch of mindless trivia I'd jump all over that.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Spongebob is right, as usual. 99% of schools that are pass/fail or "don't rank" still have High Pass with Honors, High Pass, Pass, or Fail.

Further, just because you don't see a rank at those schools doesn't mean you aren't ranked. Afterall, it isn't like the administration just destroys your exam grades after you take the exam. They may not report them on your transcript but somebody upstairs has them all recorded.

 

[DDSSlave]

Further, just because you don't see a rank at those schools doesn't mean you aren't ranked. Afterall, it isn't like the administration just destroys your exam grades after you take the exam. They may not report them on your transcript but somebody upstairs has them all recorded.

But if they aren't reported on your transcript then you are affectively not ranked.

As I mentioned in another thread, a friend of mine had said during an ortho interview they ran across a couple of UCLA students who were applying to 30+ schools. Apparently, those students saw it as a disadvantage.

 

[ems5184]

I kind of see it as more of a disadvantage than an advantage. It's really a tough call though, I find it somewhat hard to believe that a specialty program would turn you down based on the grading system of your dental school, but it is up to them, they can do as they please.