Which one is more competitive...medical or dental?

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Mstoothlady2012

Mstoothlady2012

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:) Hi guys just out of curosity wanted to ask a question...i asked many people but none of them were able to answer this question so thought to ask you guys...sorry if this has been discussed on SDN before..

Which school is more competitive to get into? dental or medical?

Thanks!
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Dental schools. Far less d-schools than m-schools, and more and more people in increasing amounts are starting to realize just what an amazing job it is to be a dentist.



Question: Anyone know the total number of applicants for last year's cycle that is verifable (URL to ADEA, the AADSAS booklet?). Where can I find this information?
 
Mstoothlady2012 said:
:) Hi guys just out of curosity wanted to ask a question...i asked many people but none of them were able to answer this question so thought to ask you guys...sorry if this has been discussed on SDN before..

Which school is more competitive to get into? dental or medical?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

To be perfectly honest, it is really vetinary medicine which is the most competitive. However, I think the stats would show that percentage wise, medical school is still slightly more competitive to get into than dental school though it seems like the gap is closing.
 
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tooth decay said:
To be perfectly honest, it is really vetinary medicine which is the most competitive. However, I think the stats would show that percentage wise, medical school is still slightly more competitive to get into than dental school though it seems like the gap is closing.
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That wasn't the question, but I agree with you. If you want to talk about competitive it goes like this:
vet > dent > med > law/business
 
allopathic schools are more competitive in terms of required stats compared to dental.
 
BodybldgDoc said:
allopathic schools are more competitive in terms of required stats compared to dental.
Click to expand...

When you say "required stats" do you mean requirements to apply or the requirements of matriculated students?

I'm speaking more in terms of the statistics needed to get in, AS WELL as taking into account # of applicants per # of seats available.
 
jeninny44 said:
That wasn't the question, but I agree with you. If you want to talk about competitive it goes like this:
vet > dent > med > law/business
Click to expand...

Pharmacy school is pretty difficult to get into too.
 
Cymbidium said:
Pharmacy school is pretty difficult to get into too.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that. To be honest, dentistry is the only thing that has been on my radar, and I only know that vet is really difficult to get into b/c my older sister is a Vet. I'm only interested in being a dentist so I have no first hand experience with the other applications.

Out of curiosity, where would you place pharmacy in my above equation (and it's ok to use equal signs as well)
 
Vet > MD > DDS > DO > Law > Pharm Statistically from the last bunch of accept. rates I looked at. One DO school near me has a class AVERAGE of 3.2!!!! They accept 200 students!
 
SugarNaCl said:
Vet > MD > DDS > DO > Law > Pharm Statistically from the last bunch of accept. rates I looked at. One DO school near me has a class AVERAGE of 3.2!!!!
Click to expand...


What is the breakdown in terms of (# of applicants) / (# of available seats) ? Does anyone know?
 
SugarNaCl said:
Vet > MD > DDS > DO > Law > Pharm
Click to expand...

I definitely agree here, but I believe part of the reason getting into vet school is so competitive is because there aren't that many vet schools out there, so it's kind of an unfair comparison.

As for med school specifically, I definitely think it's more competitive than dental school, b/c they expect much higher stats and community involvement than dental school. Also I personally think that the MCAT is MUCH more difficult than the DAT.
 
jeninny44 said:
When you say "required stats" do you mean requirements to apply or the requirements of matriculated students?

I'm speaking more in terms of the statistics needed to get in, AS WELL as taking into account # of applicants per # of seats available.
Click to expand...

stats required in terms of getting in. I'm not taking into account the number of seats available. There are less dental schools in comparison to med schools but the number of pre-med applicants is also relatively higher in comparison to pre-dent applicants.
 
wackiezackie82 said:
I definitely agree here, but I believe part of the reason getting into vet school is so competitive is because there aren't that many vet schools out there, so it's kind of an unfair comparison.
Click to expand...


That's the whole point. Why do you think I have asked twice for a breakdown of #applicants versus #seats ?

One reason why Dental is extremely competitive is because there are a heck of a lot less dental schools out there than med schools. Inherently this makes it more competitive than if there were more seats.
 
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wackiezackie82 said:
I definitely agree here, but I believe part of the reason getting into vet school is so competitive is because there aren't that many vet schools out there, so it's kind of an unfair comparison.

As for med school specifically, I definitely think it's more competitive than dental school, b/c they expect much higher stats and community involvement than dental school. Also I personally think that the MCAT is MUCH more difficult than the DAT.
Click to expand...
that is true that there are not many vet schools but also there are not many students interested in vet as far as i know ...sry if i m wrong...
 
BodybldgDoc said:
stats required in terms of getting in. I'm not taking into account the number of seats available. There are less dental schools in comparison to med schools but the number of pre-med applicants is also relatively higher in comparison to pre-dent applicants.
Click to expand...


yeah.. I don't know. that's why I've been asking ppl for links to information. there must some sort of ADEA breakdown as well as the med school equivalent breakdown. In the grand scheme of things it's not that important since dentistry is the only thing I want to do and a great job, but it would be interesting none the less.
 
jeninny44 said:
That's the whole point. Why do you think I have asked twice for a breakdown of #applicants versus #seats ?

One reason why Dental is extremely competitive is because there are a heck of a lot less dental schools out there than med schools. Inherently this makes it more competitive than if there were more seats.
Click to expand...
yes that is true....56 dental schools & ~126 med school...but also you have to take into account that there are very less predents than premeds....i think the ratio is like half....dont know... i am just guessing on what i see at my school...every1 i ask they are premed...i can hardly find a predent...i dont know if this is true just around this area or throughout the nation.
 
Mstoothlady2012 said:
that is true that there are not many vet schools but also there are not many students interested in vet as far as i know ...sry if i m wrong...
Click to expand...

Yeah... I'm not so sure how many people apply to vet school either, but it just seemed like a lot of students at my undergrad were applying including one of my best friends and it took her 3 years to get in! Who knows.
 
Hey guys, i would advise you to stop this discussion. Next thing you know, a med student will show up and start bashing. Believe me, we don't want to argue with those guys. I have seen a wild fight on facebook about a post entitled 'Dental School was my first choice, i am not a med-reject.' The OMFS guys got really pissed to the point that they let the MDs know that OMFS is a.k.a 'alpha of doctors'

If somebody is interested in medicine, go there. Those who like dentistry, stay around us. Don't start comparing these schools. All we know is 'dentist usually have bigger balls than MDs.'
 
Maybe doctoothache could do a statistical comparison...
 
blasterx said:
Maybe doctoothache could do a statistical comparison...
Click to expand...

That would be so awesome. Can someone who knows Doctoothache pass this thread along his way and suggest it? I'm curious what the answers would be, but would not know how to even begin such an analysis.
 
Vets aren't very smart. The students I know weren't anywhere near the top of the class. Marginal typically.

There aren't lots of spots in vet schools, because guys don't apply. More women care about animals than men.

Dent's competitive because there are fewer seats and schools have strong yet stupid bias. Lots of schools (like Nova) WANT mediocre students. They prefer to interview 16-18 AA over 23-24 AA.

Med's more competitive in terms of pure nerdiness. There are many more introverted geeks in the med school setting. I speak from personal experience.
 
dentstd said:
Vets aren't very smart. The students I know weren't anywhere near the top of the class. Marginal typically.

There aren't lots of spots in vet schools, because guys don't apply. More women care about animals than men.

Dent's competitive because there are fewer seats and schools have strong yet stupid bias. Lots of schools (like Nova) WANT mediocre students. They prefer to interview 16-18 AA over 23-24 AA.

Med's more competitive in terms of pure nerdiness. There are many more introverted geeks in the med school setting. I speak from personal experience.
Click to expand...

What's that? I'm glad you said it's your personal experience bc I know 3 people that got into vet school, 2 were phi beta kappa and 1 was lower GPA and had to go to Ross or St. Kitts or something. One out of the 3 was a man and I know a lot of very outgoing med students. I guess you can't judge just from your personal experiences. Eh?
 
Rev Balls said:
Hey guys, i would advise you to stop this discussion. Next thing you know, a med student will show up and start bashing. Believe me, we don't want to argue with those guys. I have seen a wild fight on facebook about a post entitled 'Dental School was my first choice, i am not a med-reject.' The OMFS guys got really pissed to the point that they let the MDs know that OMFS is a.k.a 'alpha of doctors'

If somebody is interested in medicine, go there. Those who like dentistry, stay around us. Don't start comparing these schools. All we know is 'dentist usually have bigger balls than MDs.'
Click to expand...
Dental is my first choice & will always remain my first choice. this is the first time i am applying to d-school. i have never applied to any professional school before. even if i get rejected for 08 cycle...i will not give up....i will keep on trying until i get in...so plz this thread is just out of curiosity (read the first msg in this thread)...no1 is abusing med school...its just a discussion
 
hi guys i got this #s from ADEA book..

2005-06 US dental schools

applicants - 10,731
enrollees - 4,558

~42% got accepted.

does anyone have the #s for med school? so we can figure out the percentile.
 
Here is the info I found but am uncertain how reliable some of it is:

MD 37364: 17,004 = 46% (2005)
DO 9737: 3880 = 40% (2006)
DDS 12,000: 4300 = 36% (2007)
VMD 5194: 2600 = 50% (2006)

I really don't think you can count on pure acceptance rate though b/c we all know that MD programs generally have higher standards than DO programs etc.
 
here is one thing I know about MD schools...

If you have... say a 3.1 or 3.2 GPA, about a 30 or so on the MCAT (this is equivilant to about a 20 on the DAT).... then you have a better shot of becoming the next LeBron James than getting into MOST USA schools. MD schools LOOK HARD on your GPA.

On the other hand a 3.2 GPA with a 20 on the DAT gives you an "OK" chance of getting into a Dental school
 
Good discussion; thanks to those people for digging up those numbers and raising their respective points.

Personally, it does not matter to me or affect me, as I never was interested in anything other than dentistry, but it is still interesting since as a dentist you are going to hear the "couldn't get into med school, huh?" comments your whole life.

Maybe doc toothache can weight in on this. Would be interesting to see an in-depth analysis, especially when the 2006-2007 cycle numbers are released.
 
Speaking of which, nobody could apply to AADSAS since mid-MArch. Shouldn't those numbers be available by now?
 
Mstoothlady2012 said:
hi guys i got this #s from ADEA book..

 2005-06 US dental schools

applicants - 10,731
enrollees - 4,558

~42% got accepted.
Click to expand...


Keep in mind the ADEA book lists schools that do NOT participate with AADSAS, such as Mississippi, Georgia, Louisianna, etc. I suspect those schools are included in the enrollees number of 4558.. so if this assumption of mine is correct, the enrollees number is actually somewhat lower.
 
So - the percent admitted == how competitive something is? Nah. But then again it really dosen't matter -> dental school / medical school are both competitive (and what impact does this have on a career choice?).

Just out of my own personal curiosity I searched for avg. GPA for diff schools... each is a good school. Each of these should be near the top for a given field.

Yale - Law 25 to 75th percentile GPA 3.83-3.97
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/brief/lawrank_brief.php

Harvard - MD avg GPA 3.81
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/premium/main/mdrrank.php

SUNY stony brook - DDS avg GPA 3.71
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Dental_Surgery

Cornell - Doctor of veterinary medicine avg GPA 3.7 http://www.vet.cornell.edu/admissions/prep.htm

UCSF - Pharm D avg GPA 3.53
http://pharmacy.ucsf.edu/pharmd/admissions/aboutstudents/

Columbia College of Dental Medicine avg GPA 3.4
http://dental.columbia.edu/education/faqs.htm

If all you take competitive to mean is that there are more people going for fewer spots... than the above is irrelevant. But if what you mean is that something is more difficult, than I think avg GPA for an accepted applicant is a more useful measure. Of the health professions medical school is the most difficult to gain admission to. Can't really compare law, because the GPA is not dependent on the same course work.
 
wont said:
So - the percent admitted == how competitive something is? Nah. But then again it really dosen't matter -> dental school / medical school are both competitive (and what impact does this have on a career choice?).
Click to expand...


Good points and discussion! :thumbup: Thanks for including those links.
 
Which school is more competitive to get into? dental or medical?
Click to expand...

This is sort of like comparing oranges and apples; they are different fruit. You need to define what you mean by "competitive" and what kind of statistics will demonstrate that for you. I'm sure your answer may very according to which criteria you choose.

On the other hand, I am wondering about the motivation for your question. It's really a moot point to me, since it is likely that people who apply to one aren't going to apply to the other. My imagination is that by the time you are applying to a professional school that is as long, arduous, and expensive as either medical or dental school, you will have some clue as to which one you love. It's too difficult of a path to choose it arbitrarily in my humble opinion.

In terms of average overall GPA of a matriculant the differences between the two professions isn't profound, 3.52 for DMD/DDS (Ref: Wikipedia; Students Admitted in 2006) and 3.64 for MD (Ref: AAMC; Matriculants, 2006 Application Year). But this is just one number in a sea of many application elements. We all know that the application process consists of many factors, some of which are subjective. Additionally, I'm fairly sure that there are significant differences in application processes across the two professions. I wouldn't even try to compare them, as there are likely to be different elements that create a successful applicant in each profession.

Basically, I hope that whomever chooses medicine can be competitive for medical school and whomever chooses dentistry will be competitive for dental school. I happen to like "Fuji apples," so I learned how to cultivate an apple tree. It's a seedling right now, as I will be starting medical school this fall. I wish you luck in cultivating your application and much success in getting admitted into dental school.

:luck:
 
ddstobe said:
Did you say there are only 7, 987 applicants (from your link) for dental school? Which year are you referring?
Click to expand...

Those were old numbers and the dental school applicants have increased dramatically. Stand by for an update.
 
wont said:
So - the percent admitted == how competitive something is? Nah. But then again it really dosen't matter -> dental school / medical school are both competitive (and what impact does this have on a career choice?).

Just out of my own personal curiosity I searched for avg. GPA for diff schools... each is a good school. Each of these should be near the top for a given field.

Yale - Law 25 to 75th percentile GPA 3.83-3.97
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/brief/lawrank_brief.php

Harvard - MD avg GPA 3.81
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/premium/main/mdrrank.php

SUNY stony brook - DDS avg GPA 3.71
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Dental_Surgery

Cornell - Doctor of veterinary medicine avg GPA 3.7 http://www.vet.cornell.edu/admissions/prep.htm

UCSF - Pharm D avg GPA 3.53
http://pharmacy.ucsf.edu/pharmd/admissions/aboutstudents/

Columbia College of Dental Medicine avg GPA 3.4
http://dental.columbia.edu/education/faqs.htm

If all you take competitive to mean is that there are more people going for fewer spots... than the above is irrelevant. But if what you mean is that something is more difficult, than I think avg GPA for an accepted applicant is a more useful measure. Of the health professions medical school is the most difficult to gain admission to. Can't really compare law, because the GPA is not dependent on the same course work.
Click to expand...
i am doing a carrer choice here....i have already decided my career since high school & i am going to stick to it until i get in....i just wanted to see how much chance i have in getting into a d-school...coz i dont have predents friends here...but i have heard alot from premeds & prepharm students in how hard they struggle to get in blah blah....so wanted to see where i stand! thats about it!
i am not picking a career based on some #s
 
spicedmanna said:
This is sort of like comparing oranges and apples; they are different fruit. You need to define what you mean by "competitive" and what kind of statistics will demonstrate that for you. I'm sure your answer may very according to which criteria you choose.

On the other hand, I am wondering about the motivation for your question. It's really a moot point to me, since it is likely that people who apply to one aren't going to apply to the other. My imagination is that by the time you are applying to a professional school that is as long, arduous, and expensive as either medical or dental school, you will have some clue as to which one you love. It's too difficult of a path to choose it arbitrarily in my humble opinion.

In terms of average overall GPA of a matriculant the differences between the two professions isn't profound, 3.52 for DMD/DDS (Ref: Wikipedia; Students Admitted in 2006) and 3.64 for MD (Ref: AAMC; Matriculants, 2006 Application Year). But this is just one number in a sea of many application elements. We all know that the application process consists of many factors, some of which are subjective. Additionally, I'm fairly sure that there are significant differences in application processes across the two professions. I wouldn't even try to compare them, as there are likely to be different elements that create a successful applicant in each profession.

Basically, I hope that whomever chooses medicine can be competitive for medical school and whomever chooses dentistry will be competitive for dental school. I happen to like "Fuji apples," so I learned how to cultivate an apple tree. It's a seedling right now, as I will be starting medical school this fall. I wish you luck in cultivating your application and much success in getting admitted into dental school.

:luck:
Click to expand...
thnx 4 ur wish....once again m not pickin a career by asking u guys which 1 is more competitive...i just dnt kno any predent whos is struggling in gettin g into d-school...but i hav seen many cases of med & pharm....thts y i was just wondering wher d school stands in terms of struggling...rejection...competitive..etc
 
:beat:


who cares?
 
Mstoothlady2012 said:
thnx 4 ur wish....once again m not pickin a career by asking u guys which 1 is more competitive...i just dnt kno any predent whos is struggling in gettin g into d-school...but i hav seen many cases of med & pharm....thts y i was just wondering wher d school stands in terms of struggling...rejection...competitive..etc
Click to expand...

Understood. I don't venture around these parts, so I'm likely out of the loop, but the title of your thread attracted my attention. However, given what you said, I think a better, or more direct, question, instead of looking to compare different professions, would be, "How do you stand as of now in terms of being competitive for the dental school application process?" Additionally, it might also be useful to ask, "Given your current state, what can you do to increase your chances and options for dental school application?" Just some suggestions. Again, I don't know much about the dental school application process, but I gather that it is competitive enough to give pause. I suppose that and everything else is arguable. :D

Good luck in your endeavors.
 
Mstoothlady2012 said:
i am doing a carrer choice here....i have already decided my career since high school & i am going to stick to it until i get in....i just wanted to see how much chance i have in getting into a d-school...coz i dont have predents friends here...but i have heard alot from premeds & prepharm students in how hard they struggle to get in blah blah....so wanted to see where i stand! thats about it!
i am not picking a career based on some #s
Click to expand...
sorry i meant to say i am NOT doing a carrer choice here
 
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