UCSF vs. UIC Clinical Experience

[LkiB11]

Hi! So I'm deciding between attending UCSF or UIC for dental school, and a major deciding factor for me would be the clinical aspect of each school. I am from Chicago so I'm already pretty familiar with the fact that UIC has a large patient pool; clinically, it is also an extremely impressive school. However, I'm a little less familiar with UCSF and would like to hear from current/past UCSF dental students about their clinical experiences (i.e., are there lots of patients?). This would help a lot with my decision. Thanks!

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[DoctaFauci]

Better questions that should be your priority: do you want to spend four years in Chicago or SF? I assume Chicago will save you a pretty penny (including living expenses), but anyway cost is a major consideration unless you plan to do HPSP, etc. Do you think you want to do post-graduate training (specialty, GPR/AEGD)?

UCSF is the more "prestigious" school; however, it is P/F and that (sometimes) can affect post-graduate selection. That being said, I only externed there but the didactic education and research opportunities are second to none. Plus I love SF. I know UCSF has started night clinics, so you should have no shortage of patient experience.

I placed more emphasis on the clinical education than I should have when I was choosing schools. About to graduate, I now realize that no school in the country will graduate a competent, up-to-speed dentist. I don't feel any less prepared than someone who did 50 units of fixed in dental school to my ~20. Sure, some programs are stronger clinically. But seeing 2-3 patients a day for a couple of years pales in comparison to 1) GPR/AEGD 2) real-world practice. There's only so many ways to cut a prep; any deficiencies can be made up with a residency or good CE.

I will say if one school permits you to do more externships, mission trips, etc while in school, that's a strong facet of clinical education you'd want to consider and take advantage of.

TLDR: don't base your decision on clinical training; there are far more important factors to consider.

 

[shendo]

Thought I give my 2 cents from the perspective of an AEGD site director. I would say if you are planning to do a post grad residency or spend alot of money on CE's after you graduate then the amount of clinical experience you get at your school will matter less. However, if you plan to go straight into practicing right after graduating from dental school, then I would say the more clinical experience, more reps of different procedures you are able to do during school, will benefit you alot. For example you mentioned UCSF as one of the choices you are considering- one thing you would want to consider is that the majority of UCSF dental students nowadays graduate without doing any molar root canals since they are required to do an endo clerkship first in order to work on molars RCT's. The scary thing is that most jobs nowadays want dentists who are competent in doing molar root canals and I feel not being given the opportunity to do molar RCT's in dental school will put alot of these UCSF grads at a disadvantage.

 

[goflossyoself]

Thought I give my 2 cents from the perspective of an AEGD site director. I would say if you are planning to do a post grad residency or spend alot of money on CE's after you graduate then the amount of clinical experience you get at your school will matter less. However, if you plan to go straight into practicing right after graduating from dental school, then I would say the more clinical experience, more reps of different procedures you are able to do during school, will benefit you alot. For example you mentioned UCSF as one of the choices you are considering- one thing you would want to consider is that the majority of UCSF dental students nowadays graduate without doing any molar root canals since they are required to do an endo clerkship first in order to work on molars RCT's. The scary thing is that most jobs nowadays want dentists who are competent in doing molar root canals and I feel not being given the opportunity to do molar RCT's in dental school will put alot of these UCSF grads at a disadvantage.

Do you know this as a site director or are there any sources for this?