what's being a canadian like?

[doowonie]

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So a lot of canadian applicants are out there who aspire to go to US. No offense to any of americans reading here, but i find that a lot of Canadians have an edge in terms of school gpa with similar standings of DAT however i dunno if this is a hunch or anything but.. i hav a feeling that even given the same out of state conditions with fellow americans, do canadians not get accepted as easily as other americans? I saw a lot of americans going in with low gpa varying from low 3.0s to somewhere mid 3.5 ish gpa. I just wanted to clear up if there're preferences for US schools to accept Americans over any foreign students or treat all the out of state equally in terms of acceptance :S.
Note: i'm not trying to create any hate comments towards americans or disrespect it's just a litte curiosity that i had in mind for awhile since american gpa cut off is lower than canadian schools (due to more number of schools) yet i don't see a lot of canadians going in

 

[wired202808]

So a lot of canadian applicants are out there who aspire to go to US. No offense to any of americans reading here, but i find that a lot of Canadians have an edge in terms of school gpa with similar standings of DAT however i dunno if this is a hunch or anything but.. i hav a feeling that even given the same out of state conditions with fellow americans, do canadians not get accepted as easily as other americans? I saw a lot of americans going in with low gpa varying from low 3.0s to somewhere mid 3.5 ish gpa. I just wanted to clear up if there're preferences for US schools to accept Americans over any foreign students or treat all the out of state equally in terms of acceptance :S.
Note: i'm not trying to create any hate comments towards americans or disrespect it's just a litte curiosity that i had in mind for awhile since american gpa cut off is lower than canadian schools (due to more number of schools) yet i don't see a lot of canadians going in

Your observations are correct. Some schools like Tufts and NYU are Canadian friendly and will accept a large amount of them. However other schools particularly in-state schools barely accepted or interview any Canadians. The bias is probably a policy that US schools would favor US students.

A similar thing occurs with Asians, where some schools admit a large amount of Asians, while others accept very few.

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

do canadians not get accepted as easily as other americans? I saw a lot of americans going in with low gpa varying from low 3.0s to somewhere mid 3.5 ish gpa.

Because you have to be exceptional as a canadian to get accepted to an American dental school. Only certain schools accept a decent number of canadians so competition is quite high. A canadian who applies to American dental school with a 3.5 GPA or lower is pretty much wasting his/her time.

I just wanted to clear up if there're preferences for US schools to accept Americans over any foreign students or treat all the out of state equally in terms of acceptance :S.

Yes, there's preference for Americans at the majority of schools. That's just the way it is. Public schools are funded by state tax payers so most want to see residents of their states become dentists. Private schools are generally more canadian friendly but tend to take only a certain number of canadians. How would an American dental school look if it took half of its class from Canada when there's plenty of qualified applicants in the US?

 

[mike ashley]

American dental schools practically accept canadians with open arms compared to canadian dental schools and foreign applicants.

Canadians have it good so stop whinning, it must be nice to be able to take the cDAT and still apply to american schools as a back up.

*ahem* carving is not a substitute for organic chemistry.

 

[wired202808]

American dental schools practically accept canadians with open arms compared to canadian dental schools and foreign applicants.

Canadians have it good so stop whinning, it must be nice to be able to take the cDAT and still apply to american schools as a back up.

*ahem* carving is not a substitute for organic chemistry.

i've always wonder what is carving?

 

[coolbeans123]

i've always wonder what is carving?

It's a Canadian DAT section where they have to carve a piece of soap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL2h7_ZqhxQ

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

American dental schools practically accept canadians with open arms compared to canadian dental schools and foreign applicants.

Canadians have it good so stop whinning, it must be nice to be able to take the cDAT and still apply to american schools as a back up.

*ahem* carving is not a substitute for organic chemistry.

Canadian applicants are forced to apply smartly, only to schools that are "Canadian-friendly" and even then they are often overlooked in favour of an American applicant with a similar application. However, it's only fair; why bother training a dentist who is likely to leave the country and not contribute to the local or regional community? That said, it is still difficult to achieve admission as a foreign (even Canadian) applicant. Only a handful (maybe one out of every 4 or 5) dental schools is worth our efforts.

I also wouldn't say "Canadians have it good". There are very few dental schools up here in Canada and they are exceptionally difficult to get into. Even in the handful of Canadian-friendly schools in the U.S., only a few seats are typically given to foreign applicants each year. No one says American applicants can't apply to Canadian schools as many of them accept American applicants as well. I'd rather have a breadth of 60+ schools to choose from rather than the perhaps 25 or so that I actually have a realistic chance of getting into (including both the States and Canada).

And you're right, carving is not a substitute for organic chemistry, and that's not the mindset that American schools use. There's no equivalent on the U.S. DAT and thus there's no way to evaluate it without being completely unfair or ludicrous, so schools simply don't look at it. Case in point, I have a 23AA and 26's in PAT/RC, but only an 11 in carving. Although I do imagine schools pay rather close attention to the grades we got in our organic chem classes.

As for what the OP said, I sort of agree, but only in a biased way. I feel like I should have gotten more interviews than I did, and had more choice of schools than I did, and in the back of my mind I am always wondering if it's simply because I'm not an American citizen. I don't hold it against anyone, I just sort of expected more. Call me selfish.

[Edit] Also, being Canadian is awesome.

 

[BoxerRumble]

Aren't there only a handful of Canadian dental schools? Why don't they open up more schools up there to cater to the demand? We see so many American dental schools popping up, but not so much up there. Is there a reason why?

 

[wired202808]

It's a Canadian DAT section where they have to carve a piece of soap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL2h7_ZqhxQ

this looks annoying and useless lol i'd rather be doing Orgo!

 

[Pat Kelly]

this looks annoying and useless lol i'd rather be doing Orgo!

you know what's more useless? organic chemistry. You will need to know next to nothing in your dental school training and absolutely none when you get out of school.

 

[wired202808]

you know what's more useless? organic chemistry. You will need to know next to nothing in your dental school training and absolutely none when you get out of school.

thats not true, organic chem helps you understand biochem. Additionally, I'm happy I took Orgo and successfully passed a class that was super hard. I dont see how this soap carving would enhance anything. Unless I was going to jail and I need to learn how to make a shank 😛

 

[yellowjeeep79]

you know what's more useless? organic chemistry. You will need to know next to nothing in your dental school training and absolutely none when you get out of school.

Amen, I'd rather have some one in my practice with hands.

 

[lemoncurry]

this has turned into a canada vs usa bashing thread in record time. closing.