The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and College of Dentistry recently released numbers that show their students see near-perfect employment placement within half a year of graduation.

Leadership at both graduate schools said their graduates have a 100 percent employment placement within six months of graduation, according to new data from the colleges.

College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics Dean David Johnsen spoke highly of his program and its students. Johnsen said approximately 80 percent of the state of Iowa’s dentists are UI alums.

“We provide intense clinical experiences, critical thinking situations and ability to adapt, and a sense of social responsibility,” Johnsen said.

The Carver College of Medicine saw 143 students graduate in 2019, UI Health Care media-relations director Tom Moore said.

“The Carver College of Medicine has had many successes with the national resident matching program, with graduates obtaining first-year positions after graduation [from Carver],” Moore said in an email.

Forty-one percent of students in the class are entering primary care training, including 15 students going into family medicine, 24 in internal medicine, three in obstetrics-gynecology, and 17 in pediatrics, Moore said.

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“[Carver students] receive strong mentoring and are often working in labs, allowing critical thinking skills,” said Carver College of Medicine Executive Dean Patricia Winokur, in an email to The Daily Iowan.

With nationally recognized programs across the country, this has allowed a foot in the door for a majority of the Medical and Dental school graduates, Johnsen and Moore said.

In its 2020 edition of “Best Graduate Schools,” U.S. News ranked the Carver College of Medicine as the No. 1 choice for physician-assistant candidates.

“Iowa [dental] students are in the top five nationally for patient/clinical experiences in the DDS program.  We are regularly above average on-Board scores,” Johnsen said.

UI dental graduates have landed jobs throughout the country, from California to New York and everywhere in between, as well as in Iowa, Johnsen said in an email.

Moore added that the most popular states after Iowa for first-year training were California, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Johnsen referred to Iowa’s “dental economy,” or its need for dentists, noting that this area is extremely strong in its high need for dentists. So, he said, job opportunities are always present after a dental-student graduates.

Winokur had a similar argument for the Carver College of Medicine.

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“Employers and scientists around the country have often come across University of Iowa faculty and students. They gain a breadth of experience [at Carver], and it serves students well going out into the workforce after graduation,” Winokur said.

According to the Carver College of Medicine website, 316 faculty are listed as Best Doctors in America, and 50 percent of the program is made up of women.

Graduates from the UI College of Dentistry take jobs in advanced programs or enter service programs which help serve identified communities such as underserved families, military families, and more, Johnsen said.

With high ratings for the medical school — the Carver College of Medicine ranked eighth in *Business Insider’s* Medical Schools in America — Johnsen and Winokur hope to keep up their trends of student success and graduates transitioning smoothly out into the field of their respective areas of study.

“We have terrific students eager to learn and to serve,” Johnsen said. “I hope we can keep up with them.”