The University of Washington School of Dentistry remains firmly placed among the world’s top dental schools, according to the 2021 Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.
QS, a British educational organization, rated the School of Dentistry fourth in the United States and 15th in the world. In the United States, only the dental schools at the University of Michigan, University of California at San Francisco, and Harvard University ranked higher. Sweden’s University of Gothenburg dental school was ranked best in the world, while Michigan was second. The UW has consistently ranked among the U.S. top five and world’s top 15 for the last few years in the QS survey.
Several years ago, the School of Dentistry thoroughly revamped its curriculum to reflect changes in dental science and technology, new modes of dental practice, biomedical advances, and other elements. The school has also expanded its use of community clinical rotations around Washington state for third-year and fourth-year students to give them more experience in all aspects of general dentistry.
The American Dental Education Association recognized the school in 2017 with the William J. Gies Award, its top honor, for the school’s Regional Initiatives in Dental Education program.
QS surveys academics and employers to determine a school’s international reputation. QS also factors in research impact along with a metric that assesses productivity and citation impact of a scientist’s or scholar’s publications.