In summary, the attrition rate for the recent dental school freshman classes has been reduced to 3 1/2 %. The national freshman enrollment of US dental schools can be expected to have approximately a 7% attrition rate by the time of graduation. The reasons for student withdrawal are evenly divided between personal and academic problems. The academic problems are experienced with slightly more frequency in nonclinical courses than in technique courses, both areas of difficulty being predicted significantly by DAT scores. Finally, the attrition rate for women is higher than for men, which has been true to a significant degree in the first-year classes during the past two years, as well as for all four years of dental school. However, no specific reason has been identified for this difference.

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