male applicants decreased dramatically from 1985
to 1990, the pool of female appli-
cants held constant or increased somewhat during
this same period. Since 1990, the
number of males and females enrolled has
basically been stable, with about 2,700 males
and 1,600 females making up each first-year
class (see preceding graph). For 2000, for
example, the number of women enrolled was 1,721
or 39% of all enrollees. This per-
centage is somewhat higher than that of women
enrolled in the past five years. No evi-
dence of sex bias is suggested from the
application data of the past five years. Thus it is
clear that motivated and qualified women can
readily find a place in dental school. The
profession is receptive to their admittance and
it is likely that women will play a signifi-
cant role in oral health care in the years to
come.
MINORITIES IN DENTISTRY
While there has been a substantial decrease in
the total applicant pool to dental school,
the minority applicant pool, on the other hand,
has increased. Thus, for 1996–97, a total
of 5,470 out of 16,570, or about 33% of all
students enrolled in dental schools in the
United States were minority group members. The
breakdown among minority groups
for first-year enrollees is about 24% Asian,
4.9% Hispanic, 5.9% African-American, and
0.6% Native American. Within these four groups,
the enrollment of the first three has
gone down a little over the past year and that
of Asian students has increased slightly.
This suggests that minority enrollment may be
leveling off. The minority enrollment for
freshmen for 2000–01 in each of the dental
schools is given in Table 20.1.
Minority Recruitment in Dental
Schools
To help improve the proportion of minority
students represented in the dental schools,
special recruitment and retention efforts are
employed by many schools. The following
are some of the approaches used by dental
schools to enhance recruitment and retention
of minority and disadvantaged
students.
1. Recruitment extends into high schools and
community centers, using seminars
and workshops to inform prospective students of
the opportunities that are
available.
2. Contacts are developed and maintained with
prospective applicants by means of
college campus visits and communicating with
predental advisors and other rel-
evant faculty members.
3. In some cases application fees are
waived.
4. Prematriculation orientation programs are
frequently offered for from two to ten
weeks during the summer. As part of such a
program, learning skills, test-taking
methods, and training to improve study habits
and note-taking abilities may be
offered.
5. Prematriculation summer programs in dental
anatomy, histology, or biochem-
istry are offered by some schools to lighten
the freshman-year load.
6. Students may be assigned special faculty
and/or upper-class student advisors.
Personal professional counseling may also be
offered.
7. Students may be provided with tutorial
assistance when necessary.
8. Students may be permitted to extend their
educational program to five instead
of four years, thereby lightening their load
each semester by one or two courses.
9. Individual teaching utilizing audiovisual
learning modules may be offered.
10. Special scholarship and loan funds may be
provided.
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