The Best Dental Schools?

So who is the best? Harvard, UCSF, Texas-San Antonio...? I suppose the questions that each and every potential dental student should be asking are“which school is best for me?”. Do you want to be a good research dentist or a clinician (UCSF vs. UOP)? Are you looking for prestige (harvard)? Do you want to learn in a competitive environment or a laid back one? Do you like the city or the rural area? Do you have preference for a particular patient pool ? Are there an adequate number of patients? Can you afford the school (state supported vs. private)? Will you fit in?.....and the list goes on. Obviously when you sit down and soul search for awhile you will realize that the more “prestigious schools” may not be a “fit”. The pundits have come up with their complex formulas to assign rankings to dental schools and to determine who is #1. Personally I think this is garbage as do dental schools (recently they have refused to give 1997 information for ranking purposes). Anyway for those of you who care how GOURMAN or U.S. News ranks the schools, I have listed them below:



1992 Gourman Report Rankings

  1. Harvard (If you have an ego go here. They accept the best!)
  2. UCSF - (good reputation but students don't speak highly of their school)
  3. Michigan
  4. Columbia
  5. Penn (In a bad neighborhood)
  6. UCLA (in a very rich neighborhood)
  7. Ohio State
  8. Tufts - (OK place according to one student)
  9. NYU (even the students say "don't come here")
  10. Minnesota- (if you like the cold go here. Good school)
  11. Illinois
  12. Washington (highly prefers in-state residents)
  13. Buffalo (do you know how cold it gets there?)
  14. Temple (Nice school but in a dumpy neighborhood, otherwise a must apply)
  15. Creighton
  16. USC (In bad neighborhood and had a poor CA licensure pass rate in the year 2001)
  17. Marquette
  18. Case Western (spoke with some people and they enjoyed their experience)
  19. Pitt (good experience, but many patients opt for extractions...poor patients)
  20. North Carolina
  21. NOVA - (new school in Florida. One student claims it's nice. Let's wait for them to work out some bugs)
  22. Indiana
  23. Iowa (have new sim lab)
  24. Stony Brook
  25. Baylor (good school, housing is easy to find close by)
  26. San Antonio (good school)
  27. Oregon
  28. Louisville
  29. Boston U. (private and expensive. A must apply for those with shaky stats)
  30. University of Pacific (expensive , but only 3 years! Everyone I know loved it there)


1994 (used for 1997) U.S. News Top 12

  1. San Antonio
  2. North Carolina
  3. Iowa
  4. Michigan
  5. Washington
  6. Buffalo
  7. Alabama
  8. UCSF
  9. Indiana
  10. Maryland
  11. Minnesota
  12. UCLA



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