Undergraduate grades, class standings, and performance in a graduate orthodontics curriculum

This study shows that graduate performance correlates poorly with undergraduate class standing; that relatively large differences in class standing are not generally accompanied by correspondingly large differences in grade point average; and that performance in just ten courses, taken in the freshman and sophomores years, predicts, with a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.88, the final undergraduate class ranking of a student. It is argued that variables other than class rank should receive more weight in the selection of graduate dental students. Undergraduate orthodontics courses made no significant contribution to this prediction. These factors, when combined with a failure to include other relevant factors in selecting graduate students (in particular, the failure to take into account any postgraduate clinical experience), explain the low correlation between undergraduate class rank and performance in the graduate orthodontics program. It is suggested therefore that factors other than undergraduate class rank receive considerably more weight in the selection process.