An analysis of the decline in dental school applicants, 1975-1978

There has been a significant reduction over the past three years in the number of applicants to dental school. This paper, which is based on an analysis of over 30 variables contained in the American Association of Dental Schools Application Service data bases for the 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1978 entering class years, indicates that only four of these variables are related to the decline in applicants: (1) region of parents' residence, (2) grade point average, (3) college major, and (4) parents' socio-economic status. The decline in applicants from the socio-economic lower middle class documented here once again raises the possibility that access to dental education is being denied to the economically disadvantaged.