How important is EC activities to Canadian school adcom?

[Guest smooth operater]

Hello guys!

 

I am wondering if Canadian dental adcoms take EC activities (ie voluteering) in great consideration like med school adcom and US dental school adcom?

 

I am asking this b/c my GPA wasn't that great (79%) in first yr science due to heavy involvement in the community like tutoring kids for free and decorating elementry school at one of worst community in my area. I am pondering whether if I should cut down some volunteer time to get high grades next school yr instead? since I heard Canadian dental adcoms don't really take EC in great consideation. It's all about who gets the higher GPA.

 

Any advices? Thanks!

[Guest jughead09]

GPA is everything....keep up your marks, that's my advice! If you are ok with the idea of heading south of the border, then your ECs will definately help you. However, here in Canada, GPA is primarily what gets you into dental school:\

[Guest epzi]

I would have to agree, gpa is very important (and the DAT). EC can be integrated into the structured interview and you could score some major points using your life experience to answer the q's but if EC's are dragging your gpa down, definitely drop some (or all, depending on your course load) to focus on classes. Personally, I volunteered a little in first year and then pretty much nothing for the next 3 and it didn't affect my dentistry application.

On a side note, i'm not bashing volunteering at all, i think its great and very worthwhile, I'm looking purely from an admissions perspective,

epzi

[Guest reena98765]

Hi

 

U of T only looks at your last 2 years of GPA and select sections of the DAT. Western allows you to fill in some EC, but I dont think they're really important (in the application process). So technically, you can walk into U of T dentistry even if you were a hermit for your entire life (although most of have put in countless hours of EC and volunteering). I dont even think their interview counts much, as most U of T interviews lasted only 15 to 20 minutes, with irrelevent silly questions. I feel sorry for students who actually had to take the time and money to travel across the country to come to the interview, since it seemed like more of a formality than informative for the admissions committee. I found the process of applying to dentistry in Ontario to be very easy because they dont care about anything but your marks. So, study!!!!

 

Bye

[Guest Dentist]

don't you guys think??

 

canadian schools focus too much on GPA & DAT

it's inevitable since there are way TOO MANY applicants

BUT I don't think it's right. can't give you any reasonable reasons but it's just not right...

[Guest Saint Seiya]

Well, then does this mean...it's not right either to accept applicants with high GPA in dental specialties???

 

I'm sure they like people with high NBDE & GPA for dental specialties. This is not just Canadian phenomenon. It's worldwide, including USA.

[Guest reena98765]

Hi

 

its true that it is near impossible to get into dentistry in canada with a low gpa, but it truly is possible in the US. the US application process is much more thorough (essay, experiences), and so they do look at applicants more holistically. if a student has a 3.0, but steller life experiences, you still have a shot in the US. we have so few schools in canada, so everything is much more competitive. a 3.8 gpa seems to be the average for dental, medical, and law schools here, but is almost unheard of as an average at US schools, unless we look at at the top tier schools. (hope i dont get any americans attacking me for my comments. i'm speaking based on my experiences and reported gpas).