san antonio dental school: the good the bad and the ugly
 

there were previous threads in this forum and the predents forum. just wanted to continue the discussion because it is interesting. i want to set it straight i am not an alias of brknglass. this is a new alias to remain anonymous.

the good: announcement of 95 million dollar dental school building. :laugh:
the bad: budget cuts across the board tuition and fee increases faculty personell firings consolidation of departments consolidation of jobs for efficiency blah blah blah reduce spending. :mad:
the ugly: taxpayer funded institution. someone explain to me how uthscsa dental school came up with the money to construct a new building when they claim they don't have any money. :confused:

using a blog review in the article about the school is misleading to the public in a way to increase enrollment in the program.

free speech freedom of choice to participate in this topic

I would think that since it's a taxpayer funded institution that the money comes via the texas state legislature. But UTHSCSA isn't the only institution having to reduce budgets and so forth. Colleges all over texas,and the US, are having to do the same thing; budget cuts, consolidating operations, laying off employees, and outsourcing...etc. For instance, at Texas A&M (where I went for undergrad), in the past few years have increased tuition costs, made budget cuts, and are currently in the process of outsourcing dining services, landscaping, custodial services and building maintenance.

But if you're going to one of the 3 texas dental schools, then consider yourself blessed because those schools are in the top 5 cheapest dental schools in the nation, considering tuition and fees only - around 200k if you include living costs, and that's IF you take the full amount every year.

Increased tuition and decreased funding you will see at every school you go to these days. When I started dental school 4 years ago I was quoted 180k if I took out the max loans on my entrance paper, I did exactly that and Im at 225k only 12k of that is incurred interest, Im in state as well. I did a rotation at a clinic where a new grad from san antonio was just hired there, he seemed very happy with the program but told me several people in his class 3rd year failed one or more fixed/removable competency in the clinic and had to repeat the whole year. Apparently this is common and the school has no problem making you repeat a year. This would never happen at my school as there is no room for students to repeat a year.

I go to UT Houston (now called UT School of Dentistry at Houston) and I wonder the same things. They continue to talk about our tuition going up in order to hold onto to faculty, but we are moving into our brand new state-of-the-art building ($155 million) on June 6th this year. If they had the money for that, why not $5 million for normal costs like professor salaries? Also, to forewarn anyone out there with the thought of "I'll go to San Antonio because it will be brand new," many of the 2010/2011 Graduates have said that admissions told every class that "they would be the ones to first move into the new building." If you are choosing btw Texas schools, just pick the school you feel you fit best at.

The School of Dentistry in Houston got the funding for a new school from MD Anderson because they wanted the space of the current dental school's location. If not for MD Anderson, the old building would still be home to UTDB. Thanks to MD Anderson and their quest to take over the Medical Center, the students and staff will very much enjoy their new digs. MD Anderson is ready to start building at that location and across the street from the dental school.

:sleep:

I was told today by a faculty member that ~8 3rd years will be repeating next year. I just don't see how students are made to repeat "for the money". If it was for the money, they would open up more IDEP spots. Holding students back causes the school to use more money to train students, and these students will produce less for the school because they have to share clinic chairs. Even with the subsidies the state pays per student, I just don't see how it's all "for the money".

Kind of early to make predictions.

the good: dental job makes it possible to pay back student loans
the bad: "For the first 10 years of our marriage, we were still paying stuff off, even when we were supposed to be saving for Malia and Sasha," Obama said. "We didn't pay off all of our student loans until about eight years ago."
even with a dentist's salary it will take 25+ years to pay back those loans
the ugly: uthscsa is contributing to the national debt and student loan bubble that is to follow the mortgage loan bubble collapse by failing and expelling students


Education
THE DENTAL SCHOOL WILL:

Maintain our role as the principal source of dental health professional education in South Texas.
Attract from the applicant pool, the best qualified applicants for admission into our undergraduate and graduate programs.
Graduate competent dentists who demonstrate that level of special skill, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, ethical practices, and experiences necessary to make the transition from faculty supervision to the unsupervised practice of general dentistry.
Maintain and monitor a curriculum that is contemporary, relevant, and efficient, competency and scientifically based, which will foster ethical behavior, problem solving skill, critical thinking, and the concept of life long learning.
Provide advanced and continuing education programs that are responsive to current and future needs of the profession.

evidence of high rates of student failures shows this statement to be dishonest and fraudulent
administration is in denial and would rather point fingers at the students for being at fault for their own failure

My advice is you should've worked/studied harder... The biggest reason for a student to fail is when he/she doesn't ask for help when they need it. I busted my hump and left on good terms from one of the best dental schools out there... zero regrets

+1 :thumbup:

:)

:)

.

+pity+



Your fault that you were down to begin with. It's not the school's fault you received at least one "F" due to your truancy.

Everyone needs a kick in the rear when they perform poorly. It's up to you if that kick causes you to rise to the challenge or to continue wallowing on the floor.

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else." - John Burroughs

What are you implying with the comment about cheapness coming with a price? That Texas dental students aren't getting a quality education? What I hate the most about people making stupid comments, is the ignorance part of it. Until you've attended a dental school in Texas all 4 years, you are not eligible to make such assertions. Unless you are just being a dumb@#$ about it. This a reply to Brknglass!

I think he or she might be talking about it being cheap, but if it takes an extra year and that sets you back 150K it is not so cheap.

I hope they are not too hard on the juniors this year. Someone that is still there told me they might have a gpg of all juniors next year because they were plannig on holding so many juniors back. I hope that is just some faculty member's idea of a joke.

[QUOTE=lux8;12458592]What are you implying with the comment about cheapness coming with a price? That Texas dental students aren't getting a quality education? What I hate the most about people making stupid comments, is the ignorance part of it. [B]Until you've attended a dental school in Texas all 4 years, you are not eligible to make such assertions. Unless you are just being a dumb@#$ about it.
:thumbup:
couldn't have said it better myself to both txlotusboy and houstondat although this response itself is ironic

the good: dental school is competitive and only admits the best and brightest
the bad: to be the best and the brightest means cutting corners for some
the ugly: cheating scandals usually get some form of media attention except when there is a cover up by the administration as in the oral pathology scandal
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/13/he...?iref=obinsite
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...195930970.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_16...ng-on-the-sat/
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/14/local/me-ucla14
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271377,00.html
http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4460
http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/...ves/25259.html

who is to blame for cultivating a culture of cheating? the cheater or the ones who allow the cheating

Whether or not there was an opportunity to cheat, it is still up the individual (and ONLY the individual) to decide if he/she wants to cheat or not - they have no one esle to blame but themselves.

the ppl who allow the cheating... good chance that they did the same at some point in their lives. Certainly not true 100% of the time, as with everything, there's always an exception to the rule.

:bang:

.

.

Again,

I find it very interesting that any post about SA, the "trinity" always post negative comments about SA and feel the need to say that "they" are not one in the same:


uthscsaalum
thinkaboutit
brknglass

Note to future posters on this thread, do not feed the trolls list above

:troll:

brokenglass,
I don't know who you are, what ax you have to grind, nor do I care to have the time to read all the filth that you have been smearing about my school. This I know. I worked hard, studied hard, and practiced hard. I got a good education at an excellent value. I am proud of my school, and to say that I am a graduate of UTHSCSA.\

I'm sorry you didn't have the same experience.

LOL


So you are basically pissed off that you got kicked out for your self-inflicted mistakes and other people did not get kicked out for their self-inflicted mistakes. This is understandable.

I wonder if you'd still be on your, pun intended, HIGH HORSE, if you got cut slack like the rest of them. The oral path debacle happened long before your dismissal. Where was the outrage prior to your dismissal?

+pity+

it concerns me that a student who is about to become a dentist is so cold and heartless that he would insult a poor student who was wrongfully dismissed and mistreated by the administration without knowing the whole story. it speaks volumes about the kind of person you are which in my opinion is not the kind of person i would want treatment planning my dental problems for concern he would only try to con me for a fast buck because you have little feelings in the way of another person's pain except for yourself. good luck to you and your education.

resource archive nbde question bank?

Wrongfully dismissed? Since when has it been wrongful to get dismissed for getting more than one F? Everyone knows her story, it's not a secret. After all her verbal diarrhea about the school on SDN, she has YET to specifically write of any great injustice done to her (other than the indirect injustice about how some of the students caught in the oral path debacle remain in school).

If brknglass wants to tell the world her negative views about the school, then her academic record is very pertinent info to assess the validity of her claims. If a person gets dismissed without a single failing grade, then there is a major cause for concern. If a person gets dismissed for more than one F, then their claims of injustice are hollow.

Operative grading is subjective. We all know that. So you ask questions, work hard, practice practice practice, show up to class, act polite, take your lumps, and play by their rules.

How did I all of a sudden become the greedy con artist with little feelings in the way of another person's pain? I'm not thinking of brknglass' pain, I'm thinking of the patients' pain when they get work done by an unqualified doctor who made it out of school with multiple Fs. Forgive me for not being on board with mediocrity.


I'm done with this useless thread too.


San Antonio is a great school, and I'm proud to be student here. :thumbup:

So you know my entire story? You've talked to me about it? You know how I receivedevery single grade? You were there for every single apology and appeal? I have no idea who you are. Actually only a few people know my story from the school. I only had ONE real f-- by about 1 point.. Oh wait.. Like the other 5 people in my class who repeated. The rest were made up.. And grades shouldn't be all objective .. And if they are than there's a whole lot more than not being ontime to class they should be failing people for. I'm pretty sure that if people made up a lot of your grades that indicated something you werent youd be upset too. Fact is, id you had actually known me or even read my other posts, is that I did mess up, and I acknowledged multiple times that it was to some Extent my fault. But what makes someone else more deserving of repeating than another when we all made mistakes. You absolutely do not know me and do not know my story and in fact quite a few people that do know the real story including faculty at the school completely disagree with what happened but cannot really speak up due to fear of their jobs and lack of respect. I'm sorry I do feel I have the right to speak out about the fact that they broke countless university policies and due processes in my case. Sad thing is although mine has been called the worst case of descrimination many have seen that I also have spoken out because of what I have watched them do To others.
I removed my posts and I'd really appreciate If you would stop saying things about me that you don't you been know. My posts are just personal experiences I have had or seen people have. I have not specifically called out anyone specifically etc and It seems like you'd be mature enough to do the same. I had stopped responding on here and I would appreciate you not commenting on things that you do not have knowledge of.

Funny how everyone is deleting their posts.
Point is, Dr. J made the decision to curve the grades, this was BEFORE the admin reviewed their case. Which in turn saved some from having those people come before the academic board. For some people, that was the only class that they were in jeopardy of going before the board. However in your case, because as we all know also benefited for the curve, you still had to go to the board for another course. They can decide whether to ALLOW you to remediate or repeat the year, and this is a PRIVILEGE.
I'm done here, this is ridiculous. This smearing of UTHSCSA is ridiculous, nothing is credible coming from a disgruntled ex-student

Oh and ps. My problems in school were polar opposite of who i have been my entire life and were due to health problems and a tough time in my life. Guess no one is allowed to make any mistakes.
Oh, and since according to you virtually everyone should be kicked out, how do you explain the students that are allowed 6 years? Like the 2 or 3 that graduated last year? So someone else deserves 2 chances and another person doesn't deserve one? There's no standardization.

Again .. Wrong . I can guarantee you I know way more about that entire situation than you do. my problem with that situation is the fact that I am was made out it to be someone I was not and allowed to have my character destroyed by a few faculty, while all other people who I believe made more types of moral mistakes faced no consequences of their actions.

If a school doesn't allow someone to remediate don't you think they should explain that choice?
Every person i know who was wronged by uthscsa received NO explanation of the decisions infact pretty sure we all received the same generic letter.

Closing this thread as it provides little in the form of content.