Dental School Admission For Nontraditional Students

Q: I'm almost done with the prerequisite courses for dental school. Since I'm a Texas resident I'm hoping to attend one of the three dental schools in Texas. I was wondering if anyone in this group has any knowledge on how a nontraditional student's application is evaluated in any of the Texas dental schools. I noticed that the average age for the class of 2004 is more than a year lower than the average age for the applicant pool for that year, so on average a recent college graduate has a better chance of getting admitted than someone who's out of school for more than five years. Is there a way to overcome this? Would a high DAT score compensate for my 'deficiency' in terms of age? (I'll be 31 when I apply). Any other pointers in this regard are highly appreciated.

A:Traditionally those with some life experience had that in their favor, not held against them. The age spread in the recent class may just be a reflection of who applied rather than some movement to make it harder for older students. I was "non-traditional" when I applied, and interviewers seemed to like that. US News did rank dental schools 1 time. It was probably 3 or 4 years ago. While I do not have the issue I do just happen to remember which school garnered top ranking: Univ of Texas Dental School, San Antonio I am sure that you could easily locate this issue, but realize that it is a few years old. U.S. News & World Report ranked the top five dental schools in March of 1993 as follows: 1) University of Texas San Antonio 2) University of North Carolina 3) University of Iowa 4) University of Washington 5) Alabama (I think) As I remember, the ranking was done by sending questionairres out to all of the dental school deans, asking each of them to rank the various programs across the country. Apparently, the deans across the country have much respect for these programs.

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