Who makes an excellent dentist?
Is it someone who sailed through organic chemistry in college? Or someone who brings a wealth of life experiences and personal qualities to a role that is critical to ensuring their patients’ health?
That’s perhaps an unfair choice. Many people can check a lot of boxes. But the question gives you some idea of the dilemma that confronts UCSF and other dental schools as we review the applications of the students who seek to become our future dental professionals.
The issue of college and graduate school admissions is top of mind for many given this past summer’s Supreme Court decision putting an end to race-based admissions. Here in California, we have been unable to consider race in admissions since Proposition 209 was passed in 1996. This is one of the reasons why we aim to take a more comprehensive look at each applicant.
We consider their life journey and think about how they will fit with the overall group. More than selecting individuals, we are building a class. Our students learn from their professors and their clinical instructors and also from each other.
At UCSF, our team has implemented a holistic admissions process to create a rich learning environment for everyone. This approach is based on three things, each weighed equally: metrics, experiences and attributes.
Metrics are those things that are easily quantified: a person’s grade point average (especially in science classes) and their scores on standardized tests, such as the Dental Admissions Test (DAT).
Being a good student matters. We want our healthcare professionals to be smart. And no student who is considered for admission here is less than top tier in metrics. But to shape a successful class, we also look at other qualities.
Experiences are what an applicant has done outside the classroom. Did they serve in the military? Are they a mother of two? A Division I college athlete? Did they run a charity?
Applicants with life experience add to the richness of the class which can create better dentists.
Attributes are the personal qualities that make us all different. If we select everyone who looks, thinks and worships like I do, there's little opportunity for me to learn something new from my classmates. We will get along well, but we will lack exposure to people who might broaden our horizons, and in turn help us take better care of the world.
When UCSF admits a new student, and then we add someone else who has complementary unique qualities, the learning environment becomes better for everyone.
Applicants who present with differences benefit everyone. If some are the first generation in a family to attend college, or some speak other languages, or have a different family heritage, or are transgender, or are pursuing a second career—these all enrich the class.
The important thing to me is that dental schools stop focusing solely on the academic rockstars who score the highest on the metrics. Whether an applicant is in the 94th percentile or the 97th percentile is of little significance—of course those people are likely to be successful. All the top schools traditionally compete and offer scholarships to attract these top academic performers.
Admissions policies that focus strictly on metrics would lead to selection of only students in the 97th percentile or higher. With this approach, another applicant in the 94th percentile might be overlooked when they could greatly enrich the learning experience for their classmates. Given that the numbers of diverse individuals admitted to dental schools nationally aren't increasing, we must think broader. The numbers are slightly higher at UCSF, but our goal is to continue to improve them.
The Distance Traveled
I want to reiterate that a holistic admissions process includes metrics. It’s important to know that students can handle a rigorous and challenging academic workload.
We don’t throw out high test scores and grades—and we also don't throw out that first generation kid from the Central Valley who applied multiple times just because they’re at the 94th percentile.
I was talking to one of our students recently. His mom is from Guatemala and his dad is from El Salvador. He grew up in the middle of the desert in Southern California. He is the first one in his family to graduate from high school and college, and the first one to go to professional school.
That is a distance traveled. It should be part of the equation.
We have programs and people at UCSF dedicated to helping students like that. One example is our post-baccalaureate program. If students went through college and did not get into UCSF on their first application, some of them can come to the post-baccalaureate program, where we teach them how to become competitive for graduate school. Many of those students eventually gain admission and thrive in dental school. Without that program, they might have been overlooked.
Studies show that health care is more effective when health care professionals have a better connection with patients. Understanding their patients’ lives and where they’re coming from helps health care providers build strong relationships with patients. If everyone practicing medicine or dentistry has a similar background, it may be a challenge to build a relationship that results in the best outcomes for patients who come from a different segment of the population.
The U.S. population is becoming more diverse. The challenge for us is to educate a representative set of health care professionals who will provide care for everyone. That starts with who we admit to our schools.
