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What do you all think? If you got into both, why did you choose one over the other?
Penn vs. Columbia?
- Thread starter sts9
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Well I didnt get in to both because I didnt apply to Columbia, because of the comments I heard about Columbia. From what I heard the training is much better at Penn (dental wise), medically it is better at Columbia because dental and med students take the same classes together their first year, and then any additional dental classes the dental students have to take separately. Thus most of the lectures are not focused on dental topics but medical topics. Also I heard many Columbia students are generally unhappy at the school. Of course this is what I saw from past responses from other people and not my own personal experience, which you can find in the archives. Anything you wold like to know about Penn specifically I can help you with.
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hahha i have heard the same things about penn. when i was applying people told me that columbians get better clinical training and people seem happier there
i discarded both when i was choosing because these are just rumors. i personally think it depends on how much time you are willing to put in clinical training and people are as happy as they can be in dental school
(comparing us with some of my friends in other schools).i actually like having classes with med students. since med school has more money (from alumni) and is well respected (med schools are ranked) we get some pretty awesome faculty. Also their classes are VERY well organized and med students share their review materials with us (and those are pretty good).
for me the decision was pretty hard btw schools but i ended up choosing columbia because it was cheaper (and finaid was a lot better), the nyc is the a lot of fun and having H/P/F is nice.
good luck w your decision!
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I was accepted to both schools this cycle and decided to attend Penn. I went to Columbia undergrad & was quite familiar with the school, student, & overall life there. needless to say, I had my heart set on CDM...until I went to Penn. I thought the curriculum is amazing as well as the amount to clinical training. But, Academically the 2 schools are on point, & don't vary much, so picking based on this doesn't work. Next is clinical preparation. from the countless times I've been at CDM & the 2 times I've visited Penn, I believe that the clinical training & requirements are more extensive @ Penn. this I get from just talking to students & faculty & from this forum as well.
I'm currently employed as a pediatric dental assistant & one of our dentist is a Harvard grad. she did her pedo training in dc, where she was one of 3 students. Guess where the other two were from...u got it, one Penn & one Columbia. Overall she felt as though the Columbia student was a little better at integrating medical & dental issues, & may perhaps do a little better at say getting tested to be board certified. On the other hand, she felt that the Penn grad was exposed to more diverse clinical cases, and was better prepared to handle them. If she had to pick one of them to do a filling for her, she'd pick Penn.
Some other fine points:
1. P/f/h is awesome...still wish i was walking into that.
2. I want friends besides dental students & the graduate life at Penn is FAR beyond that of Columbia. Having been @ Columbia for 4 yrs, i got to see 1st hand the discontinuity among CU's grad programs & I'm sure it has to do with these programs being spread all over uptown Manhattan & there's is no central graduate center or events to bring all together.
3. Columbia students complain about at times having to prove themselves as dental students in respect to the meds. Now i don't think they're being compared but i do think that I'd get tired of hearing 'when a pt walks into ur practice with a cyst on his neck & irregular bowel movements...' chances of that happening in a dental setting, fairly slim. while all this information may make u 'a more learned practitioner' doesn't mean that if u don't take classes with med students will some how deem u unable to treat this 'rare' pt. simply overstated, u can google it if something isn't ringing a bell. DS is hard enough, I'd like the atmosphere to be as accommodating as possible.
4. I find that Penn students are a more arrogant than CDM, not exactly my cup of tea...
5. I wanted to have another ivy name on the c.v. ;-)
6. CDM students tend to be frustrated by the communication barrier in treating a majority of Hispanics. Philly is seems to be an under-served english speaking community. But if spanish is a language u have mastered, may not be a problem
7. Penn is one of the few universities that teaches my native language, igbo. I'd love to have the opportunity to read & write it.
8. Imo, nyc is hands down more amazing than philly
9. DMD VS DDS??
10. Cdm does block scheduling where, from what I've been told, it's one exam a week @ penn. It'd be nice not to be bombed with intense exams during a given amount of time
okay, so the empirical question, which school should u pick? And the answer i gave myself, was it all depends on ME! Ideally I would have loved to sit & interview a student who went to both d schools...not possible. I trust that both schools will produce competent gen dentists @ the end of 4 yrs...go where u'll be happiest!!
& that's my long piece as I sit here under the drier getting fabulous curls
I'm currently employed as a pediatric dental assistant & one of our dentist is a Harvard grad. she did her pedo training in dc, where she was one of 3 students. Guess where the other two were from...u got it, one Penn & one Columbia. Overall she felt as though the Columbia student was a little better at integrating medical & dental issues, & may perhaps do a little better at say getting tested to be board certified. On the other hand, she felt that the Penn grad was exposed to more diverse clinical cases, and was better prepared to handle them. If she had to pick one of them to do a filling for her, she'd pick Penn.
Some other fine points:
1. P/f/h is awesome...still wish i was walking into that.
2. I want friends besides dental students & the graduate life at Penn is FAR beyond that of Columbia. Having been @ Columbia for 4 yrs, i got to see 1st hand the discontinuity among CU's grad programs & I'm sure it has to do with these programs being spread all over uptown Manhattan & there's is no central graduate center or events to bring all together.
3. Columbia students complain about at times having to prove themselves as dental students in respect to the meds. Now i don't think they're being compared but i do think that I'd get tired of hearing 'when a pt walks into ur practice with a cyst on his neck & irregular bowel movements...' chances of that happening in a dental setting, fairly slim. while all this information may make u 'a more learned practitioner' doesn't mean that if u don't take classes with med students will some how deem u unable to treat this 'rare' pt. simply overstated, u can google it if something isn't ringing a bell. DS is hard enough, I'd like the atmosphere to be as accommodating as possible.
4. I find that Penn students are a more arrogant than CDM, not exactly my cup of tea...
5. I wanted to have another ivy name on the c.v. ;-)
6. CDM students tend to be frustrated by the communication barrier in treating a majority of Hispanics. Philly is seems to be an under-served english speaking community. But if spanish is a language u have mastered, may not be a problem
7. Penn is one of the few universities that teaches my native language, igbo. I'd love to have the opportunity to read & write it.
8. Imo, nyc is hands down more amazing than philly
9. DMD VS DDS??
10. Cdm does block scheduling where, from what I've been told, it's one exam a week @ penn. It'd be nice not to be bombed with intense exams during a given amount of time
okay, so the empirical question, which school should u pick? And the answer i gave myself, was it all depends on ME! Ideally I would have loved to sit & interview a student who went to both d schools...not possible. I trust that both schools will produce competent gen dentists @ the end of 4 yrs...go where u'll be happiest!!
& that's my long piece as I sit here under the drier getting fabulous curls
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hey scandalouslj, seeing as i'll be joining ur family, are there any words of advice for an incoming D1? I.e. start studying now for X course, nice yet affordable apartments, toughiest 1st classes, things ur unhappy about, etc. oh & lastly, I know GRD gets focused one 2nd semester, how's the change from 1st to 2nd semester?
