<p>I’m going to the University of South Dakota in fall 2007. I got into the Honors Program.</p>
<p>I would say I have a good chance of doing well. My SATs were significantly above the average (2250) and since I already know I’m going to grad school I’m going to make a very strong effort to maintain my GPA above 3.6. My high school is very competitive and I already have ~25 credits from the AP, so I don’t think I’m overestimating how well I can do.</p>
<p>If I do as well as I think I’m going to, is it possible for me to “move up” from the 3rd tier to a 1st or 2nd tier medical school after graduation?</p>
<p>Thanks CC :)</p>
<p>1.) Dentists aren’t required to attend medical school – as for dental school admissions, I have no idea. (Hopefully someone else will?) They are required to attend dental school. A few people will actually do both (?!), but that’s extremely rare.</p>
<p>2.) Medical schools don’t come with Tiers the way law schools do. While there is *some *discrepancy – I suspect this is mostly because different schools have different hospitals – the floor is still very, very good. So schools usually don’t come with “tiers” associated with them.</p>
<p>3.) At least for medical school, it’s always possible to go anywhere from anywhere. While a 3.6 isn’t particularly eye-catching, the name of the school on its own will definitely not rule you out from anywhere.</p>
<p>Also, as with medical schools, the “best” or most difficult to get into dental schools don’t match up with the “best” undergrad schools.</p>
<p>Example: the College of Dentistry at the University of Nebraska has had the highest average GPA for their entering class in 10 of the last 14 years (Harvard had the highest the other 4 years, I believe). </p>
<p>Dental school admissions are competitive. There are certainly fewer people interested, but also fewer spots. I’m pretty sure that the number of applicants is increasing faster than medical school applicants (in terms of %, not absolute numbers). I’m also pretty sure that the number of spots to dental school is increasing at a slower rater than the number of spots to medical school. Throw in the fact that a lot of “failed” medical applicants try to get into dental school (but rarely the other way around) and you can see just how competitive it can be to get in. (I know from seeing my cousin reapplying for the third time).</p>
<p>Perhaps the premed forum should become the pre-health forum, as to encompass all health careers - pharm, dent, med, optometry, something like SDN, but not quite as big.</p>
<p>The main problem I think is not the title so much as the lack of expertise – I certainly don’t know anything about admission to other health programs. BRM sounds like he’s got a better handle on it, but what we’d really need is a dental student or dentist or something like that.</p>