<p>Tufts, Penn, NYU, U of Pacific</p>
<p>Rank them please!</p>
<p>How are Dental Schools ranked, and how could I get more information about the rankings?</p>
<p>Thanks for the question on our Ask the Dentist Web site regarding the ranking of Dental Schools. To my knowledge, there have only been two individuals or organizations that have ranked dental schools; US News and World Report in 1993 and The Gourman Report on a periodic basis. Both organizations have multple flaws in the methodology of ranking the schools. </p>
<p>The major problem is that the rankings were based on the perception of Deans, administrators, faculty and others about the relative quality of the schools and not on any objective criteria that compared "apples to apples". The dental schools complained bitterly to US News and as a result US News has discontinued ranking US dental schools. Parenthetically, the dental schools were given wide acclaim by our colleagues in higher education as being the only education enterprise that has stood up to US News. As you may know, rankings of all colleges and universities are under intense criticism by our colleagues in the higher education community. </p>
<p>Dominick P. DePaola, DDS, PhD
Former President
Baylor College of Dentistry
The Texas A&M University System
<a href="http://www.tambcd.edu/DentalCE/askdoc/html/school_rankings.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.tambcd.edu/DentalCE/askdoc/html/school_rankings.html</a></p>
<p>Dental School Rankings</p>
<p>Dental school applicants should be aware that there are proprietary publications available that purport to rank dental schools according to the quality of their programs. The American Dental Education Association and the American Dental Association advise applicants to view these rankings with caution. The basis for the rankings are questionable, and even those individuals most knowledgeable about dental education would admit to the difficulty of establishing criteria for, and achieving consensus on, such rankings.</p>
<p>All U.S. dental schools are accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation, and all have their relative strengths. A dental school ideally suited to one applicant might not be appropriate for another. The American Dental Education Association and the American Dental Association recommend that applicants investigate on their own the relative merits of the dental schools they might wish to attend.</p>