@ucbalumnus, I wasn’t surprised PS ranked Mudd #2. Forbes ranking the college 103 was unexpected.
Women’s colleges lower PS rankinging may also be attributable to the fact many women interrupt their career,or scale back to part time, to raise their kids. But that doesn’t explain why Forbes and PS have women’s colleges so significantly far apart in their respective rankings. Bates, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Kenyon. et al., are very similar but again their rankings are separated between Forbes and PS more than one would expect. Forbes ranked Grinnell #69—PS#1198. What possible fact can account for a 1129 point spread?
In such rankings, it’s important to consider the methodology. Payscale ROI is essentially median salary - cost. Forbes best value is 25% quality, 20% earnings, 20% debt, 15% graduation, 10% drop out risk +… Considering these methodologies, I’d expect Pascale rankings to be dominated by a combination of percentage of students that choose higher paying majors and selectivity. Engineering schools will do well, and LACs will not do as well. I’d expect Forbes to be more of a USNWR type ranking where the usual selective colleges do well, both research and LACs. The women’s colleges you mentioned likely have extreme differences because women as a whole are less likely to choose engineering and other higher paying undergrad majors than males are. In short, both ranking systems seem completely arbitrary, particularly the Forbes percentages. I’d suggest looking the actual numbers that are important to you (job prospects for your major, your expected cost, your expected debt, etc.), rather than such lists.
Poor OP asked a simple question and now it’s veered into Payscale.
@moomoodog what “easier” colleges and easier than which others? Lots of kids go to less competitive colleges and then off to dental school. But as said, you have to try to choose the right environment for you.
I think it depends on the school…
@moomoodog: can you actually list examples of the “harder” and “easier” colleges?
Are you talking Adams State v. Colorado College, or are you talking UConn v. Wheaton?
@CrewDad, if you utilize the PayScale rankings “with financial aid” you’ll see these schools all jump up the rankings - https://www.payscale.com/college-roi. Once you do that, you’ll see that some are in the top-100ish on both Forbes Best Value and PayScale ROI lists:
I selected the USNWR top-25 LAC’s (not including service academies):
Forbes........PayScale
Amherst…#16…101
Wellesley…#25
Williams…#26…57
Pomona…#27
Haverford…#29
Claremont…#32…62
Colgate…#42…69
Middlebury…#46
Davidson…#47
Hamilton…#49… 65
Vassar…#50
Bowdoin…#51
Swarthmore…#54… 101
W&L…#55… 47
Wesleyan… #57
Carleton…#58
Bates…#59
Richmond…#62
Colby…#66
Grinnell…#69
Smith…#72
Harvey Mudd #103…2
Colorado Coll#149
@moomoodog, I think postings #1-4 provide good guidance.
Browsing around CC, I came across this thread that exemplifies what can happen to bright-but-not-brilliant kids who get caught up in the meat grinder at high-powered universities with a “weed-out” mentality. (Mind you, not all “high-powered” universities have a “weed-out” mentality; some are actually known for grade inflation.)
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/pre-dentistry-dental-school/1973388-predent-with-low-gpa.html
There are countervailing considerations, such as the opportunities and prestige of a “name” degree, but if you are really, really serious about becoming a dentist, you should, IMHO, consider a decent college where you are on the 75th, or better yet 90th, percentile on the bell curve. Then, look deeper at your candidate school’s actual record of getting grads admitted into dental school.
haha, right.
Thanks for the input 
For example, the higher end of my college app that I am highly considering, are: USC, Vandy, Rochester, U of Pacific accelerated program and some of the higher tier UCs. The Low end of my college app list consists of schools like: U of portland, SCU, and UIUC
@moomoodog, I’m not that familiar with the UC’s or Pacific, but know USC, Vandy and Rochester fairly well. I agree with @BasicOhioParent that it’s probably better to be on the upper end of the accepted score curve as who wants to struggle too much.
That said if you are an unhooked ORM applicant, you’ll likely need to be in the top-25% of ACT/SAT scores to be accepted at USC, Vandy, Rochester anyways.
This is a number I would ignore.
Many dental schools, like medical schools, expect a committee letter of evaluation if your school offers it. This allows colleges to manipulate the admit rate by only giving good recs to its better candidates. Let me write the letters and I can get any college in the country a 80%+ admit rate.
In fact I’d suggest using the school record, if anything, as a warning sign of a school that screens. An average college should have average success in dental and medical school admissions. Maybe you’ve found the place that works miracles, but I would use a surprisingly high rate as a red flag to look deeper into what they do with the pre-health advising before enrolling.
@Chembiodad . I used the PS list that included all schools. Even when adjusted for FA, the list does not resemble yours. For various LACs to miraculously pop to the top, the https://www.payscale.com/college-roi/school-type/liberal-arts does the trick.
Re #31
The committee letter process basically weeds out marginal pre health students before they apply. Of course, each college has its own definition of “marginal”.
If you end up being marginal, would you rather be told not to bother applying because the chance of admission is low (avoiding cost and stress of the application process), or would you rather try anyway with a high chance of failure? Your answer here can tell you whether committee letters are good or bad for you. The answer may differ at different colleges which have different definitions of “marginal”, as indicated by admission rates to health profession schools.
@crewDad, regarding posting #29, the list is correct if you utilize the “With Financial Aid” button - I shifted the column headers for easier reading.
…Forbes…PayScale
Amherst…#16…101
Wellesley…#25
Williams…#26…57
Pomona…#27
Haverford…#29
Claremont…#32…62
Colgate…#42…69
Middlebury…#46
Davidson…#47
Hamilton…#49… 65
Vassar…#50
Bowdoin…#51
Swarthmore…#54… 101
W&L…#55… 47
Wesleyan… #57
Carleton…#58
Bates…#59
Richmond…#62
Colby…#66
Grinnell…#69
Smith…#72
Harvey Mudd #103…2
Colorado Coll#149
One thing that is easy to do is to get a list of current dental students at your target school and look at where they went to undergrad. You will quickly see what the usual feeder schools are. I’m guessing from your list that you are out west?
@Booajo, that’s a great suggestion!
My thought for the OP:
College is a very special opportunity to learn thinking skills that will help in graduate/dental school and in your career. It is a time to explore diverse topics of interest and challenge your own thinking with lots of ideas, readings, discussions, and debates.
I don’t know if this is what you meant in your post, and maybe I am wrong, but it sounds like you are approaching college with an attitude that you would rather not be challenged because what matters most is getting high grades. The underlying assumption seems to be that college is just a necessary hurdle en route to a lucrative career. To go to college with this philosophy seems a tragic waste of an educational opportunity to me.
I don’t think one needs to go to the most selective colleges to be challenged, but I do think one should focus more on the learning to be had during the experience than the grades on the transcript at the end of it.
So my answer to your question, “How is this idea?” is “Terrible.” And you may know it in your heart, which may be why you posted the question. Go to a college that seems like it will suit your intellectual and extracurricular interests, with a social-emotional atmosphere that suits you. Major in whatever you are most passionate about learning. Take the necessary pre-dental courses. Excel because you love what you are doing, not because you are taking the path of least resistance and avoiding anything resembling an intellectual challenge.
Good luck and best wishes for a fulfilling four years of college and a successful career as a dentist.
All US dental schools are very good. When it comes to applying students are hoping for an acceptance, any acceptance. I don’t think they have target schools.
Second, without inside knowledge that dental schools indeed have “feeder” schools the way some Ivies used to have relationships with prep schools, I don’t see how this is puts the student at an advantage. Let me give an imaginary counter-factual. Tufts (to pick a good school) has 4 students at Texas A&M, as many as any other. Good pick, right? But suppose 50 Tufts kids applied to US dental schools and only 30 got in; it’s hard to get good grades at Tufts. At UMass not a lot of kids are thinking dental school; only 5 applied but 4 got in. Conclusion? Since kids are not randomly assigned to undergrad and the same percentage don’t apply from each college, the source of current enrollees carries no information.
All dental schools are good, agree. But they tend to be quite regional. For example, every kid at Wisconsin applies to Marquette. And believe me, Marquette will take a UW kid over a UW La Crosse kid every time (given same GPA and test scores).