Canadians accepted to U.S. dental schools

[reddishh]

Either way, I think that students who apply for both Canadian and American schools are smart. Sure, everyone wants to stay in Canada, but the reasons are mostly economic and personal (it's cheaper, and it's home), rather than academic (Canadian schools are "better" because they have higher matriculant GPAs... ha!).

 

where does that come from? I NEVER said canadian schools are "better" because they require higher GPA!! I also didn't say people would choose canadian schools because of academic reasons. You need to learn how to read carefully before writing comments lol

[uncooling]

I think most people would choose canadian dental school over the ones in the states because no one cares about school reputation in this field. If you care so much for the name, then you should go for a business school instead.

[uncooling]

come on guys, it's a general assumption that "american schools= backup for CAN students when they don't get in canadian schools"

 

I'm not saying it's easy to get into american schools, but no one would apply to Canadian schools as their back up because it requires higher GPA and DAT compared to american schools hence harder to get in.

[IamIDP]

I think you misinterpreted my point here. I was just saying that many people would choose canadian schools over american schools and I NEVER said that it's bc canadian schools are harder to get in. It's a separate statement and I was just looking at GPA and DAT when I say "competitive". I agree that there are more than just GPA and DAT for american schools, but you'd still need HIGHER GPA and DAT for canadian schools.

 

Anyway, it wasn't even my main point. My main point was that people would choose canadian schools over american schools which IamIDP didn't agree. Since he didn't reply back on me, I'm assuming he now gets that most people would choose canadian schools over american schools (including ivy league schools)

 

There are several reasons people choose the US over Canada:

1. Opportunities, In the US you have a realistic chance of specializing in dentistry or becoming a surgeon after medical school. In Canada, its extremely competitive.

2. Money, you make alot more money in the US than Canada in the medical field. Only rarely do Canadians rarely make more than their US counterparts in this field.

3. Prestige, go anywhere in the world and more people will respect you for being a Dr. from the US than Canada (people dont know how competitive it's here).

4. Going to the US, you can practice both in the US and Canada if you choose to.

5. Becoming a US citizen

.

 

By staying in Canada, you'll be closer to family and friends. And if you work hard, opportunities will come. Regardless, I think you are narrow-minded for saying that people who choose to go to the US for dentistry/med are "stupid" compared to Canadians who are accepted here. Alot of us are well-qualified with very high-gpas but still choose to go to the US for obvious reasons like I mentioned above.

 

P.S. I'm just throwing this out there, If you chose to do med here and compete everyone for a res. spot, there is a chance you'll end up not specializing and be stuck as a family physician. I would rather work at Shoppersdrugmart than do this (im not even kidding), so my point is specializing is more realistic in the US. And money isn't matter once you grab a calculator and realise you'll make that extra money back within a 10 years (realistically) in the long run.

[reddishh]

There are several reasons people choose the US over Canada:

1. Opportunities, In the US you have a realistic chance of specializing in dentistry or becoming a surgeon after medical school. In Canada, its extremely competitive.

2. Money, you make alot more money in the US than Canada in the medical field. Only rarely do Canadians rarely make more than their US counterparts in this field.

3. Prestige, go anywhere in the world and more people will respect you for being a Dr. from the US than Canada (people dont know how competitive it's here).

4. Going to the US, you can practice both in the US and Canada if you choose to.

5. Becoming a US citizen

.

 

By staying in Canada, you'll be closer to family and friends. And if you work hard, opportunities will come. Regardless, I think you are narrow-minded for saying that people who choose to go to the US for dentistry/med are "stupid" compared to Canadians who are accepted here. Alot of us are well-qualified with very high-gpas but still choose to go to the US for obvious reasons like I mentioned above.

 

P.S. I'm just throwing this out there, If you chose to do med here and compete everyone for a res. spot, there is a chance you'll end up not specializing and be stuck as a family physician. I would rather work at Shoppersdrugmart than do this (im not even kidding), so my point is specializing is more realistic in the US. And money isn't matter once you grab a calculator and realise you'll make that extra money back within a 10 years (realistically) in the long run.

 

ok, here you're talking about med school not dent school, and after searching the posts you made, I realized you're interested in medical school more than dental school (you've already posted 100 postsa about med schools).

 

now, this explains why you were misunderstood and have this misconception about choosing american schools over canadian schools. I value your choice I don't want to say you're wrong for choosing american schools, but I still think you're wrong in saying that "EVERYONE would choose UPenn over UofT" whent it's actually the reverse.

[phy241]

Hey, sorry IamIDP, I got a bit lazy yesterday and didn't get a chance to get back to you. I did my undergrad at UofT. There's 2 reason why I chose UofT over UPenn:

1) Money, this is definitely the biggest one for me (it's much cheaper to go to UofT than Penn for me, even if I had the Dean's scholarship from Penn, it would still be cheaper)

2) Even if it costs the same, I would still go to UofT. It's HOME, dental school is already stressful, and it will be nice to be able to hang out with your friends and family once in a while. I value my family and friends a lot, and I consider it a luxury to be able to go to a good school that's also close to home. Also, I love TORONTO! It's hard to find a city like Toronto

 

UPenn is a great school, amazing faculty and curriculum, and speaking to most of the Canadians there, as a Canadian your chances of standing out in the class are very good. In terms of curriculum, I spoke to a student who went to Penn and then transferred to UofT: he liked Penn's curriculum a lot better, but he had no trouble matching to a specialty of his choice in Toronto. I think all the Canadians who I spoke to, went there as backup (to prove reddish's point) because I think most people like to be close to home and save money. I don't think it has anything to do with which school is better or more prestigious (so let's avoid unnecessary arguments people haha).

However, if your goal is to specialize (it seems like you are interested in that), then UPenn is definitely the place for you. To be honest with you, I was also considering UPenn first but then it seemed a bit immature to me to go there just so I have a better chance of specializing when I didn't even know if I would want that down the line to begin with. However, like I said, if you are set on specializing then you can't go wrong with UPenn. Looking at it from the other side, you should know that a LOT of UofT students get into residency programs in US, so you haven't closed all doors per say by choosing Canada. Hope this helps you:)

[IamIDP]

Hey, sorry IamIDP, I got a bit lazy yesterday and didn't get a chance to get back to you. I did my undergrad at UofT. There's 2 reason why I chose UofT over UPenn:

1) Money, this is definitely the biggest one for me (it's much cheaper to go to UofT than Penn for me, even if I had the Dean's scholarship from Penn, it would still be cheaper)

2) Even if it costs the same, I would still go to UofT. It's HOME, dental school is already stressful, and it will be nice to be able to hang out with your friends and family once in a while. I value my family and friends a lot, and I consider it a luxury to be able to go to a good school that's also close to home. Also, I love TORONTO! It's hard to find a city like Toronto

 

UPenn is a great school, amazing faculty and curriculum, and speaking to most of the Canadians there, as a Canadian your chances of standing out in the class are very good. In terms of curriculum, I spoke to a student who went to Penn and then transferred to UofT: he liked Penn's curriculum a lot better, but he had no trouble matching to a specialty of his choice in Toronto. I think all the Canadians who I spoke to, went there as backup (to prove reddish's point) because I think most people like to be close to home and save money. I don't think it has anything to do with which school is better or more prestigious (so let's avoid unnecessary arguments people haha).

However, if your goal is to specialize (it seems like you are interested in that), then UPenn is definitely the place for you. To be honest with you, I was also considering UPenn first but then it seemed a bit immature to me to go there just so I have a better chance of specializing when I didn't even know if I would want that down the line to begin with. However, like I said, if you are set on specializing then you can't go wrong with UPenn. Looking at it from the other side, you should know that a LOT of UofT students get into residency programs in US, so you haven't closed all doors per say by choosing Canada. Hope this helps you:)

 

Yes that helps and is fully understandable. Thank-you for taking the time to respond

[dentcan2012]

lol this thread went off in a different direction! Interesting responses.

Thanks to all those that posted their stats Those are some pretty high stats to say the least -- congrats btw! To anyone else, please continue to post your stats!

[Sandrixx]

My stats are definitely on the lower end of the ppl on this forum...but I applied to 16 schools in the states (app was complete end of august) and only heard from 4 pre Dec 1. Rejected NOVA, interviews at buffalo, usc and minnesota.

 

stats are oGPA- 3.54, sGPA - 3.5, bcp - 3.62 and non sci 3.7.... first two years were really bad (2.8s)..the rest all 4.0. (including 2 years of masters grades). US dat scores were not the best either AA 19, PAT 21..canadian was better but the US schools didn't see those.

 

got into buffalo and usc, will be going to buffalo providing i dont get into the canadian schools im waiting hear about post interview...probably wont hear anything good though since my GPA is probably the lowest of the interviewees!!

 

what's nice about the US apps is they want to know more about your other experiences, and I've had over 2000 hrs in the dental office, and have been doing research for 5 years now...and you can put down your volunteering and things like that..

 

definitely apply to the states!! Im under the impression they aren't accepting as many canadians as they used to..but it still increases your chances of getting in.

 

Hey,

Congrats on your acceptances! I also currently have a low GPA.. I was just wondering where you were able to land interviews in Canada.

Thanks

[hey123]

Hi! I'm a UfT student also on the lower end of gpa... I am considering applying to schools in the states. My first year gpa was a 2.09 which has been pulling my cgpa down. I just finished my fourth year and will be doing an extra year starting this September. I am also thinking of doing a masters since my current cgpa is 3.1 =( I was wondering if you could tell me which program you did your masters in? Was a thesis program? also, how do schools look at your masters marks? Do they average them with the undergrad scores ? I am confused about which program I should do masters in...I appreciate your help & congratulations on getting into buffalo! I think you would probably get into western since they look at your last two years!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My stats are definitely on the lower end of the ppl on this forum...but I applied to 16 schools in the states (app was complete end of august) and only heard from 4 pre Dec 1. Rejected NOVA, interviews at buffalo, usc and minnesota.

 

stats are oGPA- 3.54, sGPA - 3.5, bcp - 3.62 and non sci 3.7.... first two years were really bad (2.8s)..the rest all 4.0. (including 2 years of masters grades). US dat scores were not the best either AA 19, PAT 21..canadian was better but the US schools didn't see those.

 

got into buffalo and usc, will be going to buffalo providing i dont get into the canadian schools im waiting hear about post interview...probably wont hear anything good though since my GPA is probably the lowest of the interviewees!!

 

what's nice about the US apps is they want to know more about your other experiences, and I've had over 2000 hrs in the dental office, and have been doing research for 5 years now...and you can put down your volunteering and things like that..

 

definitely apply to the states!! Im under the impression they aren't accepting as many canadians as they used to..but it still increases your chances of getting in.

[DKS]

Hi! I'm a UfT student also on the lower end of gpa... I am considering applying to schools in the states. My first year gpa was a 2.09 which has been pulling my cgpa down. I just finished my fourth year and will be doing an extra year starting this September. I am also thinking of doing a masters since my current cgpa is 3.1 =( I was wondering if you could tell me which program you did your masters in? Was a thesis program? also, how do schools look at your masters marks? Do they average them with the undergrad scores ? I am confused about which program I should do masters in...I appreciate your help & congratulations on getting into buffalo! I think you would probably get into western since they look at your last two years!

 

I did my masters in a thesis based program in microbiology. Defending my thesis in a couple weeks actually. I'm not sure, if you have 0 lab experience jumping into a thesis based masters might not be a good idea. There's tons of programs out there I couldn't tell you which to do! U of T has dental science masters - maybe look into that? I know there's course based master's around too, but there are not as many. As for how they factor it into your scores - no one knows. Western gives you bonus points (if you have it done by april--I didn't), U of T doesn't tell you how, but they like them too. I did have an interview at u of t and uwo-no dice at either. pretty sure my interviews were crap though. I have no idea what they are looking for with those CDA questions. and im living in alberta so i had a u of a interview, waiting on that still (again, low grades, need to ace the interview..sigh). hope this helps! pm me if you have further questions.

[Ostracized]

Hi! I'm a UfT student also on the lower end of gpa... I am considering applying to schools in the states. My first year gpa was a 2.09 which has been pulling my cgpa down. I just finished my fourth year and will be doing an extra year starting this September. I am also thinking of doing a masters since my current cgpa is 3.1 =( I was wondering if you could tell me which program you did your masters in? Was a thesis program? also, how do schools look at your masters marks? Do they average them with the undergrad scores ? I am confused about which program I should do masters in...I appreciate your help & congratulations on getting into buffalo! I think you would probably get into western since they look at your last two years!

 

I got into UofT several years ago with a 3.5 cGPA and a MSc. Due to increasing competition, I doubt I would be able to get in today. If only your 1st year was bad, focus on schools that drop your worst year.

[hey123]

thanks guys! I appreciate your input. I have actually done a research course with a prof so i guess i do have some experience in the lab. I was thinking of doing a masters that would allow me to find a job in case dentistry doesnt work out but at the same time, i dont want to do one that might risk my GPA. I did see that dentistry masters program but I think ill do biochem and apply for other ones and see which ones i get in.

 

As of now i think i have no chance of getting into canadian schools but i will apply anyway at western, UFT and sask. next summer!

 

Congratz Ostracized on getting into UofT! yes, unfortunately it's alot harder nowadays. But, getting into dental school isnt easy so I"m sure it was hard back then as well

 

And DKS, hang in there. I'm sure you'll get in, there's always next cycle. You can work on your interview skills in the mean time =) Best of luck!

[DKS]

thanks guys! I appreciate your input. I have actually done a research course with a prof so i guess i do have some experience in the lab. I was thinking of doing a masters that would allow me to find a job in case dentistry doesnt work out but at the same time, i dont want to do one that might risk my GPA. I did see that dentistry masters program but I think ill do biochem and apply for other ones and see which ones i get in.

 

As of now i think i have no chance of getting into canadian schools but i will apply anyway at western, UFT and sask. next summer!

 

Congratz Ostracized on getting into UofT! yes, unfortunately it's alot harder nowadays. But, getting into dental school isnt easy so I"m sure it was hard back then as well

 

And DKS, hang in there. I'm sure you'll get in, there's always next cycle. You can work on your interview skills in the mean time =) Best of luck!

 

Thanks.. except Im not gonna wait around another year Im going to buffalo!! Im really excited about it...only downfall is price but not worth waiting another year to try to get into a canadian school with my sub-par GPA. Buffalo seems like a great option for those from toronto - it's less than 2 hours away. Might be something you want to look into!

[zeroNINE]

Thanks.. except Im not gonna wait around another year Im going to buffalo!! Im really excited about it...only downfall is price but not worth waiting another year to try to get into a canadian school with my sub-par GPA. Buffalo seems like a great option for those from toronto - it's less than 2 hours away. Might be something you want to look into!

 

Congrats! A periodontist I shadowed said he loved it =). I think Buffalo is the perfect solution, close enough to home and you'll have the advantages of an American dental school too.

[hey123]

As of now, I would go into any dental school i get in considering my low gpa =D You're right buffalo's totally worth it. You can come visit family every weekend!

[hmsbrf]

hi everyone,

 

I am also a canadian thinking of applying to american dental schools. When I read everyone's gpa grades, I'm slightly confused as to how you are calculating your gpa. My school reports percentage and I think letter grades on the transcript. Are you guys converting your letter grades to ADEA quality points directly (even though the percentage range for out letter grades in canada is different from american percentage range)? or the gpa your posting is by converting your percentage grade to letter grade based on american percentage range and then converting that letter to ADEA quality point?

 

I'm asking because when I calculated both ways, the two gpa were VERY DIFFFERENT. My gpa based on canadian percentage range for letter grades is 3.85 but my gpa based on american percentage range is 3.15. So LOL there is a HUGE difference. Can someone please help me with how to do this calculation?

 

Thanks

[pat kelly]

If you have letter grades they use that to calculate your GPA regardless of your percentage. They give you the chart on how they determine what letter grades are worth how many points.