The relationship between admission criteria and student success in dental hygiene education

This study was performed to ascertain the degree of satisfaction with current dental hygiene admission criteria and whether a relationship exists between admission criteria and academic and clinical student success in dental hygiene education. All dental hygiene directors of accredited dental hygiene programs in the United States were sent questionnaires, 185 respondents completed the requested information. The participants completed questions concerning their institutional setting, traditional and non-traditional admission criteria, satisfaction rate of criteria used, assessment of criteria, and provided information on pass rates for both written and clinical boards.; Satisfaction with existing selection criteria was demonstrated by 91% from the respondents. Positive correlations were found between completion of prerequisite courses at the “C” and above level, college science GPA in prerequisite courses, references, and writing samples with passing scores on the Dental Hygiene National Board for both 1999 and 2000. Only completion of prerequisite courses at the “C” and above level were statistically significant at the 0.05 or above level. Anatomy/physiology, microbiology, chemistry, English, and psychology were positively correlated to success on the Dental Hygiene National Board for 1999 and 2000, however, none were significant at the 0.05 or below level. The results varied considerably between 1999 and 2000 on traditional and nontraditional selection criteria and passing rates on clinical boards. For 1999 and 2000 positive correlations were first-come, first served (open admissions policy) and references to clinical success, however none were significant at the 0.05 or below level. Anatomy/physiology and microbiology were positively correlated with clinical success for 1999 and 2000 but none were significant at the 0.05 or below level.; The majority of directors did review selection criteria and student success on a regular basis. The information on which selection variables would most adequately select the student who will be successful should not be over generalized and requires further research. The author proposed recommendations for further research on current admission criteria and their relationship to academic and clinical success.