<p>I am a sophomore/junior at a small, fairly unknown college. I transferred to this college from a top college (Ivy level) after my first semester. I have all As here and I had good SAT scores. </p>
<p>I was wondering if it would be worth it for me to transfer from my current college to one that is on a similar level to my previous college? I would have to give up some of my credits and graduate at a later date than my expected if I transferred now. I plan on attending dental school after I complete my undergraduate degree. I've heard that where one gets their undergraduate degree matters in graduate school admissions, so I don't want the level of my current college to negatively affect my chances in graduate school placement.</p>
<p>Look into the statistics of your school and see how many people get accepted into med school/dental school. That would be a good thing to do, my friend was a transfer student and she transferred where I am now because the school she went to previously had a very low acceptance rate, and here mostly everyone gets in, if you’re not weeded out. Another thing is just MCATs, if your school isn’t making you feel prepared for them, then maybe consider transferring…other than that, I would say not to if neither of those apply.</p>
<p>Hi connela, thanks for your reply. There aren’t many people applying to medical school or dental school from my college; I’d venture a guess of about 10 each year. There are only about 160 people graduating per year, and about 25-30 science majors. I feel prepared in some subjects, like chemistry, but I will still do extensive studying on my own before taking any standardized exams, no matter where I am.</p>
<p>Dental school is a professional school (like med, law, arch, etc.) rather than grad school (for MA or PhD), and so may emphasize different criteria in applicants. Have you researched to see what really counts in applying to dental school? I ask because for Med school, your gpa and MCATs generally are much more important than which UG school you attended. Just guessing, but I’d expect dental school to be similar. Here’s a google search with some websites that might help:</p>
<p>[dental</a> school preparation - Google Search](<a href=“dental school preparation - Google Search”>dental school preparation - Google Search)</p>
<p>I agree with entomom’s advice. The other thing I would suggest is to perhaps gain experience at a dental clinic–actual experience would probably put you a bit ahead of other applicants.</p>
<p>Thanks entomom. I’ve done research on what matters when applying to dental school, which is why I am asking this question. Most sources say that where you go for undergrad is not so important, but others say it would be helpful to go to a highly ranked school if you plan on applying to the more selective dental schools (which I am). I have a great GPA, am set to graduate summa cum laude, and I am sure I will do well on the DAT, if practice tests are any indicator. I just don’t want to get rejected on the basis of my school not being difficult enough or not well known.</p>
<p>dfa, thanks. I plan on volunteering at a private practice sometime next semester. Thanks for reminding me; it should be helpful.</p>