The number of applicants to dental schools in the United States continues to rise at a double-digit rate, 12 percent from 2005 to 2006 and 14 percent from 2006 to 2007. The number of applicants to the 2006 and 2007 years' entering classes of U.S. dental schools was 12,500 and 13,700, respectively. The number of first-time enrollees (4,600) in 2007 was the highest recorded since 1989. Men continue to comprise the majority of all applicants, 55 percent in 2006 and 53 percent in 2007. However, the percentage of women applicants to each school ranged from a third to more than half. Underrepresented minority (URM) applicants comprised 12 percent of the applicant pools in both 2006 and 2007. For the 2007 entering class, URM enrollees comprised 13 percent of enrollees. As in previous years, in 2007, the largest number of applicants and enrollees came from states that are among the largest in population in the United States: California, Texas, New York, and Florida. Grade point average and DentalAdmission Test scores were the highest in more than a decade. More than three out of four of the 2007 first-time, first-year enrollees earned a baccalaureate degree either in biological/life or physical sciences or in health. Regardless of major field of study, the percent rates of enrollment generally exceeded 30 percent, though there were exceptions (e.g., engineering and education). The majority of enrollees to the 2007 entering classes were twenty-two or twenty-three years of age.

14 improvement in digital technology and our understanding of it continues, we will experience further improvements in its capacity, reliability, cost-effectiveness, and ease of use. Soon it will be impossible, even with great effort, to achieve the same learning results without the use of the new technology.Higher education institution should recognize that digital technology has already begun to change how students learn.In looking ahead, every higher education institution should recognize that digital technology has already begun to change how students learn in every setting-online courses, elementary and secondary schools, and training centers as well as traditional classrooms. Indeed, as the capacity and use of technology continue to advance, the traditional classroom and the on-line course will look more and more alike to the student. Each venue will use technology to enhance learning, encourage active learning, and provide for frequent communication with faculty members and other students. In both settings, faculty members will move toward the role of mentors and guides of learning rather than as the primary sources of information.All of these changes will raise important questions for higher education institutions. For example, the debate over technology has serendipitously moved the goal of improving teaching from the periphery to the center of the institution's concerns, raising the possibility of a renaissance in the efforts to improve the level of student learning. What incentives for faculty performance should institutions develop in response to the impact of new technology on pedagogy?Moreover, those institutions skilled in the use of technology to improve learning will soon be seen as more dynamic and effective than their less-engaged competitors. Therefore, institutions and faculty members that focus on excellent teaching will need to excel in the use of technology to remain leaders in teaching. How should the institution support faculty members as they make this transition?Finally, students, too, must be proficient at using digital technology. Every new wave of students arrives on campus with greater, but still uneven, experience in technology and with ever-higher expectations. What infrastructure and support should institutions provide students from all backgrounds to ensure a high level of technical expertise?In short, as technology's impact on pedagogy becomes more profound, every institution will need to develop a strategy for its use. Higher education is in the digital rapids. And as any whitewater veteran will tell you, in such circumstances, it is far better to steer than to drift.