| Summary: | Admission into Faculties of Dentistry is based heavily on overall preprofessional average, prerequisite average and Dental Aptitude Test scores amongst other criteria. The purpose of this study was to investigate the predictive validity of these variables on success in the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of British Columbia. This success was measured by standardized grades for individual courses, and year averages which were the sum of course grades weighted for unit value. A further measure of success in psychomotor skills was dentoform technique grades for second year Fixed Prosthodontics and Operative Dentistry. Data were collected from 312 students admitted to the Faculty of Dentistry at The University of British Columbia between 1969 and 1976. The data were organized into files on which multiple regression analyses were performed. The results of these analyses showed that overall preprofessional average significantly correlated .17 to .29 with eight individual first and second year course grades. Overall average also significantly correlated .36 with first year average and .29 with second year average. Prerequisite average did not correlate significantly with any of the criteria studied. Of the DAT scores, the consistently significant correlations were between DAT Manual Average and five individual course grades. These were second, third and fourth year Restorative Dentistry (.36, .21 and .20 respectively), Oral Biology Occlusion .31 and Biochemistry 300 at .27. DAT Manual Average correlated .20 with second year average and .30 with third year average grades. Manual Average also showed significant correlations with preclinical technique grades, .38 with Fixed Prosthodontics and .32 with Operative. Chalk Carving showed consistently significant correlations ranging from .20 to .40 with five individual course grades. These were second and third year Restorative Dentistry, Oral Biology Occlusion, Biochemistry and Anatomy (Neuro). Chalk Carving correlated .24 with third year average, .31 with Fixed Prosthodontics and .33 with Operative technique grades. DAT academic average correlated significantly with five individual course grades in the first two years, it also correlated .2 0 with first year average. The remaining DAT subscores showed few significant correlations which could be used in the selection of students for admission to the Faculty of Dentistry. It is recommended that overall average and chalk carving should be given equal emphasis in the selection process and that Manual Average may be disregarded if the chalk carving score is available. === Education, Faculty of === Educational Studies (EDST), Department of === Graduate
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