On Monday 82 Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) students in the Class of 2018 at Roseman University College of Dental Medicine-South Jordan began their education to become dentists. Here are some fun facts about the incoming class of dental students.
There were more than 12,000 applicants to dental school nationwide in 2014, and 1,939 of them applied to Roseman CODM, about one in every six applicants. The selection committee had the difficult job of narrowing these qualified applicants to a class of just 82 students—1 out of 24 applicants, or just 4 percent—who were ultimately accepted and enrolled.
Students in the Class of 2018 come from 20 different states around the U.S., and three students are Canadian citizens. Utah natives make up 30 percent of the class with 24 students. This year’s class has an almost 50/50 split of female and male students with 40 female students and 42 males. Utah currently has the lowest number of female dentists in the country at just three percent, according to a 2009 report by the American Dental Association.
Nationally the age of dental students is 24-25 years old, but this class has an average age of 27, about two to three years more mature.
The incoming dental students studied a wide range of undergraduate topics along with completing the required pre-dental courses, with majors literally spanning from Accounting to Zoology. Ten of the incoming students have master’s degrees, one student has already graduated from a dental program in a foreign country, and another student recently received a PhD in biochemistry.
Roseman University DMD students are held to a high standard, expected to achieve a 90 percent pass rate on all of their exams as part of the school’s Mastery Learning model. With such impressive backgrounds, this year’s class appears poised for success as they embark on their study of dental medicine.