Mentasti Lauren E, Thibodeau Edward A
Office of Dental Admissions, University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06030-3905, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2005 Aug;69(8):890-5.
The purpose of this study was to examine predental enrichment activities and their impact on the number of applicants from some of the nation's top dental school feeder institutions (DSFI). The DSFI were identified by their total number of applicants to dental schools and the number of applicants per total student enrollment. A survey consisting of twenty-seven questions on possible predental enrichment activities was administered by phone or sent by email to eighty-eight DSFI, with forty-nine responding. In addition to identifying and characterizing the most common predental enrichment activities, the relationships among the number of applicants, predental activities, and total student enrollments per institution were evaluated. The total number of dental school applicants/institution was correlated with the total student enrollment/institution (r=0.529) and the number of predental activities/institution (r=0.520). No correlation was observed between the number of activities at an institution and dental school applicants per thousand enrolled. Sixteen of the DSFI reported ten or more enrichment activities, the most common being preprofessional health advising (96 percent), dentistry club (88 percent), and volunteer programs (73 percent). In general, larger institutions produced more applicants and provided more enrichment activities. However, there was no correlation between the number of dental school applicants per thousand students enrolled and the number of activities at an institution. Results indicate that there are specific predental enrichment activities common to some of the top dental school feeder institutions in the United States. A better understanding of successful feeder programs may assist nonfeeder schools in developing or strengthening an interest in dentistry as a career option.
本研究的目的是考察牙科学前强化活动及其对来自美国一些顶尖牙科学院生源机构（DSFI）的申请者数量的影响。DSFI是根据其向牙科学院的申请者总数以及每总学生入学人数中的申请者数量来确定的。通过电话或电子邮件向88个DSFI发放了一份包含27个关于可能的牙科学前强化活动问题的调查问卷，有49个做出了回应。除了识别和描述最常见的牙科学前强化活动外，还评估了各机构的申请者数量、牙科学前活动与总学生入学人数之间的关系。每个机构的牙科学院申请者总数与每个机构的总学生入学人数（r = 0.529）以及每个机构的牙科学前活动数量（r = 0.520）相关。未观察到一个机构的活动数量与每千名入学学生的牙科学院申请者数量之间存在相关性。16个DSFI报告了10项或更多的强化活动，最常见的是职业前健康咨询（96%）、牙科俱乐部（88%）和志愿者项目（73%）。一般来说，规模较大的机构产生的申请者更多，提供的强化活动也更多。然而，每千名入学学生的牙科学院申请者数量与一个机构的活动数量之间没有相关性。结果表明，美国一些顶尖牙科学院生源机构存在特定的牙科学前强化活动。更好地了解成功的生源项目可能有助于非生源学校培养或增强对牙科作为职业选择的兴趣。
