How competitive are dental schools compared to med schools and other graduate schools? What does it take to get to dental school? How “hard” would u have to work? Thanks for the help.
Admission to dental school is just as competitive as admission to medical school.
National average admitted GPA 3.5-3.6. Average DAT score >20. Admission rates range from 3% to 10% of applicants.
[Compare Dental Schools](http://dental-schools.startclass.com)
There’s a whole forum for pre-dental questions here: [Pre-Denistry & Dental School](Pre-Dentistry & Dental School - College Confidential Forums)
And there’s a Guide to Applying to Dental School on SDN:http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/threads/scumbag-steves-ultimate-guide-to-the-2017-application-cycle-and-the-universe.1197114/
Besides grades and a good DAT, you’re expected to have pretty much the same ECs as med school applicants do: research, shadowing, clinical volunteering, community service, academic awards.
I would say maybe slightly less competitive than medical school in terms of average GPA of matriculants, but you definitely still need to work very hard.
Unlike applying to college, there is no such thing as safety schools when applying to dental schools. Even excellent grades and test scores will not come close to guaranteeing you acceptance to somewhere.
Many dental schools do have mandatory shadowing and/or dental experience hours prior to application, not matriculation.
Also the perceptual reasoning section on the DAT is crazy. I remember seeing my friend’s study book in college and the questions were hard. Makes sense though since so much of your work is done looking into the patient’s mouth from the side/above and through a mirror.