The Uber-High GREs: 1580, 1590, 1600

14_of_spades
Fri, 29 Sep 2006 00:47:01 +0000

umm…

when i say admission won’t be a huge challenge - let me put it to u using an example.

dental school is 4 years of study AFTER an undergrad. so someone who does dents will have done an average of 8 years of univ. study. they’re out, ready to make good money, and may have debts to pay. further, the type of person who would be interested in dental school is likely very pragmatic (i.e. not into research, is more of a clinician - can we agree on this?).

now, imagine dental GRADUATE school - i.e. MS, PhD in dental medicine. would u not agree that the numbers of DENTISTS applying to their PhD programs probably isn’t that many? after all, they’d be turning down a good job with good pay, to do something that might not be their primary interest (research), for less money, and for FIVE more years. many such programs are filled with students who did psychology, engineering etc. in their undergrad, only to pursue a PhD in some aspect of dental sciences. in this event, i think u can imagine a scenario where it is possible that dental school graduate programs are trying to ENCOURAGE dentists to apply, since there are so few dentist-PhDs occurring. as such, if u have the DDS, then admission into dental grad school probably isn’t “that big” a challenge, since no other DDS’s are applying and you possess the most fitting degree to do such a program to begin with.

i have a health professional degree. it isn’t dentistry, but it’s equivalent. and this is the situation i’m in. i’ve contacted several schools with a simple question regarding applications, and they’ve ALL replied saying they are encouraging applications from people with my graduate health degree. all these schools know its in their best interest to educate the next generation of DDS/PHD faculty, i think that’s pretty obvious…

i’m not saying grad school admission is easy, but in certain instances, its the schools that are soliciting applicants.