Hey I am currently a sophomore undergraduate and I was wondering because I've mixed answers--Do dental school's favor students who went to better undergraduate schools than others? Thanks
Undergraduate...
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Generally if its a 4 year college/university, it doesn't matter. The thing they are mostly concerned with is your numbers: GPA and DAT.
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Big name schools probably have some sort of subconscious effect on adcom folks, if nothing official at all.
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Completely false.
Think about it guys. Put yourself in an adcom's position.
Applicant A has a 3.5 GPA from MIT
Applicant B has a 3.4 GPA from Yale
Applicant C has a 3.5 GPA from Jackson State
Applicant D has a 3.5 GPA from Canisius
Assuming similar DAT's and LoR etc etc, which two would you choose?
My friend who went to UCLA talked to the executive dean at UoP and he straight told him "anything over a 3.0 at UCLA is good enough for me". Think he says that about Weber State, or Wagner College?
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however, if you do very well, your undergrad school should not inhibit you.
..i would guess, however, that if yuo are at a school where you needed a 2.5 to get into from hs that you basically should have a 4.0, with lots of challenging sciences
..i would guess, however, that if yuo are at a school where you needed a 2.5 to get into from hs that you basically should have a 4.0, with lots of challenging sciences
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LOL. Your assuming the applications will magically fall onto the table of an adcom in exactly that matter...GPA's similar etc.......yea, that doesn't happen when you have several thousand applications to sift through...
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Valid point, but I'm sure considering the amount of applicants, there are many cases where people have very similar grades and DAT scores. And if that does happen and you have to make a decision, then more likely you would choose the one who went to a better school. However, that's why they make you interview. I would think the interview is what makes or breaks candidates who are that close.
I would concentrate more on just doing well rather than the name of the school. If you have a high-end GPA, they're not going to deny you because the school "wasn't good enough"
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Thats exactly what I was trying to get at.
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This is the exact reason that some schools like UoP and Columbia weigh DAT more than GPA. If you look at a student's profile on predents, you should expect to see a DAT score that correlates to his/her GPA. If you don't, in my opinion, it's a pretty clear indication that the undergrad school probably suffers from severe grade inflation. Some may argue that if someone didn't put in enough time studying for the DAT this could occur, but if someone spent so much effort in their undergrad they should be responsible enough to prepare well for the DAT.
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Way to state the obvious polarmolar. I think all of us know if we do well at our schools we should get into D-School. However, what if for some unforeseen reason you don't get that 3.8 GPA. At least that 3.1 at a good university will give you a better chance than the one at a lesser known college.
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LOOOL, who is stating the obvious????
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we have a family friend that's on ADCOM for a med school and apparently there is some "schmooze" factor for schools. i guess schools are ranked by tiers of how challenging they are... so the more challenging school you attend, the higher your "schmooze" factor for overall eval.
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so the answer to the OP is: not really
well. all schools do not teach differently. and you shouldn't look towards schools to pick the easy one, but instead for the one that gives you the best education.
think of going to a ****ty school and getting a 4.0. but then having to write the DAT and realize taht you've been learning garbage all this time and do really poorly on the DAT. then consider going to a good school that you may not get as high of a GPA in, but challenged you and will allow you to do really well on the DAT.
think of going to a ****ty school and getting a 4.0. but then having to write the DAT and realize taht you've been learning garbage all this time and do really poorly on the DAT. then consider going to a good school that you may not get as high of a GPA in, but challenged you and will allow you to do really well on the DAT.
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I heard this too. I talked to a guy who's a dental professor and an admissions officer, and he mentioned that they look at where the undergrad school ranks by tier. He specifically mentioned some Barron's book that ranks colleges - I don't know if it's one of those standard college guides for high schoolers or something else, he wasn't specific and I haven't gone to the bookstore to look for it. I think he might have said the book ranks the schools by program, so they look at where your school's science program ranks in erms of difficulty. Something like that. But obviously I can't say if every school does that.
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Nope... as long as it is a 4 year university. I got into several d-schools and I went to a small college that is not well known. Get a good gpa and do well on the DAT and you shouldn't have any problems.
It does matter. We all like to think it doesn't, but it does. The degree to which it matters differs from school to school. I go to an unknown (and I mean UNKNOWN) small liberal arts school, and science program, in my opinion, is, while not insanely difficult, still quite challenging. Class averages on science exams usually range between high D's and low C's. It kinda annoys me, knowing that my 3.7 here isn't going to be worth as much as a 3.4 at an Ivy League or even a state school, but it's not anything I can call unfair. This is what I get for not buckling down in high school.
