Experience at BU Dental

[redsox9877]

Wow..where to start and how do you want to know!

For starters--this is to give those who are applying an idea of what is really going on at this school. I understand dental school isn't a walk through the park but this is a nightmare through the park--LITERALLY!

For the amount of tuition you pay at this school you would like to think that you would walk out of dental school ready to practice however that is far from the truth. The clincal experience here is very limited to the point where when you graduate you really question whether you are even competent to work independently. The school will tell you that 'we match so many into post-grad' and that is great if you want to specialize however if you want to do general dentistry then you should feel proficient in your skills to be able to practice when you leave here, but most have to do a GRP/AEGD bc of the lack of experience here. There are way too many students and not nearly enough chairs or patients.

There is something wrong when you have to get up at 6am in the southend of Boston to walk to school to book appointments and some get up earlier than that to do so. Yet the school has done nothing about it or even addressed it. I feel like the goal at BU is not to make a positive experience for their students but to simply get their tuition money.

Granted there are some excellent clinical teachers here but on the flip side there are plenty that aren't and make things very difficult and counterproductive.

Another thing is this school will try to sell you 'APEX' as if it is the greatest experience ever and it is the exact opposite of that. It is an excuse to not give you a proper summer break and be someone's assistant at a dental practice for free and suction and clean rooms all day. Don't fall for it bc you didn't come to dental school to become a good '4 handed dentistry' assistant.

Even some of the didactic courses here which are essential for you to become a good clinician are poorly taught. The entire school knows that some of the people teaching them need to change yet it has yet to happen regardless of what you say in your course eval. Don't expect changes they are few and far between.

I honestly think the reason that this school gets very little alumni funds is because people leave here very bitter and resentful of the school. And yes every dental school has its problems but it is hard to comprehend the monumental problems at this school yet no solutions or changes. And you will always encounter those at the school who have a positive experience but that is like 10% versus the 90% who don't. I really hope in deciding to go here you take a serious look into these things and ask these questions bc one day you will be here and realize you might have made a mistake.

Instead of feeling excited about graduating I am worried if I am going to graduate in time to start my GPR.

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[MrVagus]

Wow..where to start and how do you want to know!

For starters--this is to give those who are applying an idea of what is really going on at this school. I understand dental school isn't a walk through the park but this is a nightmare through the park--LITERALLY!

For the amount of tuition you pay at this school you would like to think that you would walk out of dental school ready to practice however that is far from the truth. The clincal experience here is very limited to the point where when you graduate you really question whether you are even competent to work independently. The school will tell you that 'we match so many into post-grad' and that is great if you want to specialize however if you want to do general dentistry then you should feel proficient in your skills to be able to practice when you leave here, but most have to do a GRP/AEGD bc of the lack of experience here. There are way too many students and not nearly enough chairs or patients.

There is something wrong when you have to get up at 6am in the southend of Boston to walk to school to book appointments and some get up earlier than that to do so. Yet the school has done nothing about it or even addressed it. I feel like the goal at BU is not to make a positive experience for their students but to simply get their tuition money.

Granted there are some excellent clinical teachers here but on the flip side there are plenty that aren't and make things very difficult and counterproductive.

Another thing is this school will try to sell you 'APEX' as if it is the greatest experience ever and it is the exact opposite of that. It is an excuse to not give you a proper summer break and be someone's assistant at a dental practice for free and suction and clean rooms all day. Don't fall for it bc you didn't come to dental school to become a good '4 handed dentistry' assistant.

Even some of the didactic courses here which are essential for you to become a good clinician are poorly taught. The entire school knows that some of the people teaching them need to change yet it has yet to happen regardless of what you say in your course eval. Don't expect changes they are few and far between.

I honestly think the reason that this school gets very little alumni funds is because people leave here very bitter and resentful of the school. And yes every dental school has its problems but it is hard to comprehend the monumental problems at this school yet no solutions or changes. And you will always encounter those at the school who have a positive experience but that is like 10% versus the 90% who don't. I really hope in deciding to go here you take a serious look into these things and ask these questions bc one day you will be here and realize you might have made a mistake.

Instead of feeling excited about graduating I am worried if I am going to graduate in time to start my GPR.

Agreed whole heartedly....but rumor has it that all dental schools have problems, always have and always will.... Even if that is the case universally, then Dental education as a whole needs a top-to-bottom overhaul...

 

[Daurang]

APEX is a brilliant scam. They accept a huge amount of students without the space for so they send their students out to various dental offices to do a couple months of assisting. Their national board review is a joke; befriend someone at Tufts or Harvard and go to their review or obtain their review materials.

 

[blankguy]

I was under the impression that APEX is a crap shoot. For some in works out well for others it doesn't. Also anybody who thinks that you can go right out of dental school to owning your practice right away like nothing is a bit delusional. I feel that dental school INITIATES you into the profession but the experience after school is up to the individual.

 

[kING701]

I know two people that had an opposite experience @ BU. I think you get what you put into dental school no one will deny you opportunity.

 

[gatorfan99]

I know two people that had an opposite experience @ BU. I think you get what you put into dental school no one will deny you opportunity.

Those 2 people are ANOMALIES, believe me!

B.U. is a nightmare

 

[tinman831]

Moving to pre-dental.

 

[gatorfan99]

bump

 

[blankguy]

Could people clarify why BU is bad? There good teachers and not so good teachers at every school.

 

[Ewok1984]

yeah..bump..

 

[tamkhan]

Even thought I might be heading to BU, I think APEX is worthless. It's basically just a summer long shadowing experience, thus, a complete waste of summer.
I never really liked BU that much, but people have told me that the clinical training at BU is adequate enough. I guess everyone needs to see it for themselves.

 

[qwaszx]

please expand on this seriously. The thing that bothered me is there is 115 kids and are they feelin the same, like how are they dealin cuz they probably have the same sentiments if not all but some resentment towards the skool. I felt the same way after visiting the skool. and the apex sounds good but it does seem useless. and the $$$ is ridiculous.

 

[redsox9877]

Like I mentioned before--I am sure every dental school has it's problems and no one is saying that when you graduate dental school you will be ready to open up a practice. However you should atleast feel confident enough to work as an associate at a practice, but at BU most students have to do a GPR/AEGD not nec by choice but b/c the training here is very poor. For those that say oh dental school is what you put into it--I couldn't disagree more. There are plenty of us that work hard everyday here and seem to be going no where bc the school has issues beyond any student's reach. Like I said the problems at this school are huge and you should def look into them and ask hard questions before deciding to go here. Ask the school how the patient pool is, how difficult is it to get appointments--when I say that you have to wake up at 6am to stand in line to book appointments, I am not exaggerating by any means. Ask about board scores, clinical req, etc. Ask the tough questions that I feel this school tries to sugar coat.

 

[blankguy]

Now that you mention it. They did say that they changed the way patients are booked recently during the tour while I was there. Overall I felt that BU needed to improve their curriculum, it was rough around the edges. Who knows what the next Dean will do.

 

[Polly Grip]

I just wanted to post up here really quickly and echo the sentiments of redsox and gatorfan. I'm a student at BU and I couldn't be more unhappy with the way things are run around here.

The real sad thing is that when I was applying to schools, BU had some really great buzz around it. I asked a lot of questions and nobody seemed to have anything terrible to say about it, but nowadays, it seems like the exact opposite.

As for reasons why this is a miserable place:

It really all starts before you ever get into clinic. First year is not really terrible. It's all pretty standard stuff from what I gather. However looking back on the preclin training in second year, it's very clear that most of it is a total waste of time.

Specifically, spending a year with our removeable faculty is nightmare. In the age of implants, spending this amount of time on complete dentures is really crazy. The better part of second year is spent covering complete denture fabrication which is great for getting through the nightmare of clinic, but worthless for the rest of your career. As for learning more complicated techniques in third year, (like maybe implant supported dentures, implant supported partials, how to do an altered cast impression, etc.) you're told they exist, but good luck ever doing any of this in clinic, or even a poor simulation in the lab.

Endo is a joke. Getting one week of training on such a complicated task is really unfair to the patients we are supposed to be helping. This year they changed the system from a week long festival into a semester long affair. Either way, at BU you can graduate without doing RCT on a single live patient. That being said, I'm told that preclin endo training is poor at a lot of schools, and I don't really have a basis of comparison. But come on. How is it possible to graduate from a dental school without ever doing a real root canal on a real person?

It only gets worse when you hit clinic. There isn't nearly enough staff to handle everyone. So what does BU do? They expand the advanced standing class. It seems like there's never enough patients, never enough chairs, and never enough faculty to get anything done. As a result, most of third year is spent waiting in line contemplating what a real dental school must be like.

The BU I applied to was supposed to listen to student's complaints. The school I'm attending now doesn't particularly care about you or your progress as a dentist in training. This was always the rap I heard about NYU (too many students/nobody cares about you) when applying to schools, and it seems that BU is following in their footsteps.

I could go on and on about this subject, so if anybody has any particular questions, I'll be happy to answer them. For now I have to pray that my five o'clock patient shows up.

 

[anon1025]

^^^ Um...wow . Speaking of that, during my interview @ Tufts. One of the d3 student interviewer was BU student who transfered to Tufts. I guess I know why...

 

[blankguy]

It must be double bad since you are in the middle of a dean search. I hope the new dean fixes everything for you.

 

[Ewok1984]

it seems there's no postive about BU from SDN. Any positives about BU?

 

[blankguy]

it seems there's no postive about BU from SDN. Any positives about BU?

Sounds like it is BUs turn to get bashed mercilessly
It really seems that there is a lack of leadership at BU because from the way the students have posted there is a general sense of indifference from the faculty.

 

[Ranelar]

good, maybe if enough people say enough bad things, I'll have a better chance at getting in next year

 

[tamkhan]

so much BU bashing

 

[blankguy]

so much BU bashing

Don't worry. NYU got bashed so much within the last couple of years but that didn't stop them from getting 4K applicants.

 

[anon1025]

Dont worry, every school goes through ups and down. BU does not have historic reputation for being a BAD school.

 

[moxn]

I think APEX is worthless.

aww... that, and the one-exam-per-week, is what sold it for me.
regardless, better make the best of it...
i know a fabulous place i want to be worthless in for 3 months...
are any of you aware how easy/difficult it is to do one's apex overseas? during the interview someone mentioned that one can apply or petition for a new site, but how successful have past attempts been?

cheerio.

 

[tamkhan]

Well, since APEX is really just a waste of time, I'm going to try my best to get it done in Pakistan. I don't think they would care. Maybe I should just go to NYU.

 

[musl85]

Well, since APEX is really just a waste of time, I'm going to try my best to get it done in Pakistan. I don't think they would care. Maybe I should just go to NYU.

Now that is a great idea.

we love adding people to our growing list

 

[qwerty86]

Waiting to hear back form them. Interviewed early March
Oh yeah, I dont think its possible to do APEX internationally. You can do the 4th year externships internationally.

 

[blankguy]

Come to think of it. BU is not a bad school so it could just be that BU is hitting a rough patch right now. I don't think this is the way the school operates usually.

 

[thimsmits]

When talking to BU students at my interview, it seemed that it was mainly 4th year students that had the complaints. The 3rd years seemed happy about choosing BU.

 

[tamkhan]

When talking to BU students at my interview, it seemed that it was mainly 4th year students that had the complaints. The 3rd years seemed happy about choosing BU.

Because they know they can't graduate on time.
I'm so evil; I should be supporting BU, but I've joined the 'bashing' bandwagon.

 

[qwerty86]

I received similar opinions during my interview day. I think BU is going through some rough times. The school is not going to continue with its current state throughout the next 4 years. I am sure everyone at BU realizes the issue and are working on it.

 

[Wolfram]

in that case a whole generation of BU students got royally screwed

during my tour of their facilities, we passed a student who quietly whispered to those fortunate enough to hear that everything the tour guide was saying was bull**** and not to go there. true story. my tour buddy and i were confused.

 

[blankguy]

The school just didn't really impress me that much. I had a pre dec1st interview there. I had a feeling that the people in my group were very competitive candidates who weren't going to end up at BU.

 

[gatorfan99]

Waiting to hear back form them. Interviewed early March
Oh yeah, I dont think its possible to do APEX internationally. You can do the 4th year externships internationally.

No, you have to do both APEX and externship in the U.S., they will give a list of externship sites for you to "sorta" choose from.

By the way, if what we're going through at B.U. is a "rough patch" I don't want to know what a bad situation is like, everything and everyone at this school is working against its students. Oh yeah, we're also flooded with international students..

 

[tamkhan]

I think there is a general consensus on at least one issue: patient shortage.
Is the whole class class bothered by all these problems?

 

[blankguy]

No, you have to do both APEX and externship in the U.S., they will give a list of externship sites for you to "sorta" choose from.

By the way, if what we're going through at B.U. is a "rough patch" I don't want to know what a bad situation is like, everything and everyone at this school is working against its students. Oh yeah, we're also flooded with international students..

BU is very well known internationally and it is expensive so you are bound to end up with internationals who have $$$$$.

There are also a fair number of them at Tufts. Rough patch or not I feel that BU needs improve its curriculum. Maybe the next dean will take BU to the next level. Don't take this the wrong way, BU is a fine institution and will do the job but I personally feel that the setup could be better.

 

[BUSCAM]

BU Dental School is simply put a scam. They rape their poor students for all they can take. They max out their loans based on what they are allowed, and give nothing in return. Absolutely nothing. They will force you to behave in such disgusting manners to get out of there, that you wont be able to live with yourself anymore. Everyone should boycott this school, they should lose their accreditation and be forced to reform. The dean Dr. Hutter keeps the school alive because he is on the board of accreditation, but that's the only reason they haven't shut that place down yet. If you attend that school you will feel dirty as a human being.