BU - the real deal

thought i'd start this thread for us actual BU students who wanna respond to all the BU negativity...this thread is in response to the carribean dental school thread where BU was a hot topic...

was hoping BU'ers could give up to date legit info on BU so that incoming applicants know what the real deal is....


day one of orientation was today and BU def knows how to treat its students...we were quite spoiled today with the freebie's and great food...esp the ice cream social....melted marshmellows! good lord.

anyways... At lunch each table had a faculty member to address our q's and discuss the school.... so here's some info that i thought might be useful for students who constantly read on this site that BU is a school for specialists and not enough clinical training is given...:

in first and second years there is APEX that you can complete in the school itself or BU affiliated clinics/practices... those 24 weeks of work is definitely amazing experience and a great way to get ur foot in the door with some prospective future employers

in ur third and fourth i believe there are externship programs (in addition to normal clinical work in the school) where u are required to work in BU affiliated clinics with close to little or no supervision...another chunk of GREAT clinical experience

each student in his third year is provided with a mentor who will oversee his clinical experience and make sure he is getting a wide spectrum of patients so that students are not performing one technique over and over..

patient pool...heated debate on the amount of patients BU is getting..and whether there are enuff to go around... here;s info right from the honcho's themselves : a handful of years back there were issues with MASS health and a lot of the patient pool werent' able to recieve dental care at the BU clinics... at that time there were not enuff to go around and a lot of students did not feel they were prepared to go out into the workforce without doing a GPR...as it stands there has been health reforms in place that have not only restored the adequate patient pool but in fact there is often an overflow of patients...

anyway...this info was gleaned directly from faculty at BU...if any of it is off or u disagree it's always useful to go to the school and check it out urself... but i thought i'd put it out there for those starting or thinking about BU and are getting a negative impression of the school from these forums and dr.badvibes (heheheh)...

more to come for those interested....

i honestly believe alot of the negativity simply comes from the lower GPA and DAT averages of BU as compared to the other schools. i must admit i was initially influenced by this negativity, but now BU is one of my top choices, because they seem to have a solid program and I would enjoy spending four years in a great city like Boston.

thanks..that was some really good information.
i dont care what ppl say..BU is definitely 1 of my top choices..besides being a good school, its in Boston! Boston ROCKS!

(really really 😡 😡 😡 about nomar though)

Nilez said:

thought i'd start this thread for us actual BU students who wanna respond to all the BU negativity...this thread is in response to the carribean dental school thread where BU was a hot topic...

was hoping BU'ers could give up to date legit info on BU so that incoming applicants know what the real deal is....


day one of orientation was today and BU def knows how to treat its students...we were quite spoiled today with the freebie's and great food...esp the ice cream social....melted marshmellows! good lord.

anyways... At lunch each table had a faculty member to address our q's and discuss the school.... so here's some info that i thought might be useful for students who constantly read on this site that BU is a school for specialists and not enough clinical training is given...:

in first and second years there is APEX that you can complete in the school itself or BU affiliated clinics/practices... those 24 weeks of work is definitely amazing experience and a great way to get ur foot in the door with some prospective future employers

in ur third and fourth i believe there are externship programs (in addition to normal clinical work in the school) where u are required to work in BU affiliated clinics with close to little or no supervision...another chunk of GREAT clinical experience

each student in his third year is provided with a mentor who will oversee his clinical experience and make sure he is getting a wide spectrum of patients so that students are not performing one technique over and over..

patient pool...heated debate on the amount of patients BU is getting..and whether there are enuff to go around... here;s info right from the honcho's themselves : a handful of years back there were issues with MASS health and a lot of the patient pool werent' able to recieve dental care at the BU clinics... at that time there were not enuff to go around and a lot of students did not feel they were prepared to go out into the workforce without doing a GPR...as it stands there has been health reforms in place that have not only restored the adequate patient pool but in fact there is often an overflow of patients...

anyway...this info was gleaned directly from faculty at BU...if any of it is off or u disagree it's always useful to go to the school and check it out urself... but i thought i'd put it out there for those starting or thinking about BU and are getting a negative impression of the school from these forums and dr.badvibes (heheheh)...

more to come for those interested....

Click to expand...

thanks a lot for this info nilez...its greatly appreciated...

Day 2 of orientation...

We had a long presentation on the VitalBooks DVD (a DVD with all the textbooks used in the curriculum with searching, highlighting, and note taking functions). A definite plus of BU is that it gives students the OPTION of using the vital book DVD or the physical hardbound texts. From what I understand the other 6 or 7 schools that use this software make it mandatory. I think this software is great to have as an option, but I am glad we are not forced to use it.

My take on the DVD vs. textbooks is:

I wouldn't really want to read from text on my computer for extended periods of time, and I would probably end up printing out a lot of the text, wasting money on ink and paper.

The fact that the DVD is significantly more expensive than buying the physical texts is a definite negative. The DVD is $4500. This price is split among the first 3 years of school ($1500/yr). The hardbound books are something like $1400 the first year, $1100 the second and $800 the third.

Along with the fact that if we pick the DVD and change our mind after the first year, we pay $1500 for that year to access all the textbooks in the 4 year curriculum, and at the end of that year, if we decide we want physical textbooks there are two options:
1. Cancel the vital books and receive a $250 refund, and lose access to ALL the books that were on the DVD.
2. Pay $500/yr to keep access to ONLY the first year's texts, along with some negotiable fee at the end of the 4 years for permanent access to those books.

Also there is definitely something nice about being able to look at multiple textbooks at one time (something not possible with the DVD)

So, I am choosing NOT to get the DVD. I'm sure there are people with many more positive things to say about the DVD, but it is just not for me.

Then,

We had an excruciatingly long occupational health screening (>3hrs for some).

We then had lunch (pizza) hosted by the Massachusetts dental association and ASDA. It was exciting to hear that ASDA organizes multiple social events like a cruise on the Charles coming up in a couple weeks. These socials are good ways to meet the older students (in years in school, not necessarily age 🙂 .)

After lunch we were distributed our new IBM T42 laptops and a few CD-ROMs about dental anatomy, dental radiography, and MS Office 2003. The laptops are quite nice (they should be, we paid enough for them) We then took a couple hours getting basic training on the computers, plugged them into the network to download the McAffee virus definitions and windows updates, and before we could do that, almost all the computers were promptly infected with a couple different viruses. 😱 the tech guy fixed all the comps and we got the updates and secured the computers.

All in all (even though we paid for it ourselves) getting the computer made all the waiting worthwhile.

Also, the students are all very friendly and I'm sure we will all have a great 4 years together.
😀

we should organize a boston area dental school get togeather.

We definitely should, when does Tufts start classes?

WildcatDMD said:

We definitely should, when does Tufts start classes?

Click to expand...

August 31st is the 1st day of orientation. Cant wait!

Nilez said:

thought i'd start this thread for us actual BU students who wanna respond to all the BU negativity...this thread is in response to the carribean dental school thread where BU was a hot topic...

was hoping BU'ers could give up to date legit info on BU so that incoming applicants know what the real deal is....


day one of orientation was today and BU def knows how to treat its students...we were quite spoiled today with the freebie's and great food...esp the ice cream social....melted marshmellows! good lord.

anyways... At lunch each table had a faculty member to address our q's and discuss the school.... so here's some info that i thought might be useful for students who constantly read on this site that BU is a school for specialists and not enough clinical training is given...:

in first and second years there is APEX that you can complete in the school itself or BU affiliated clinics/practices... those 24 weeks of work is definitely amazing experience and a great way to get ur foot in the door with some prospective future employers

in ur third and fourth i believe there are externship programs (in addition to normal clinical work in the school) where u are required to work in BU affiliated clinics with close to little or no supervision...another chunk of GREAT clinical experience

each student in his third year is provided with a mentor who will oversee his clinical experience and make sure he is getting a wide spectrum of patients so that students are not performing one technique over and over..

patient pool...heated debate on the amount of patients BU is getting..and whether there are enuff to go around... here;s info right from the honcho's themselves : a handful of years back there were issues with MASS health and a lot of the patient pool werent' able to recieve dental care at the BU clinics... at that time there were not enuff to go around and a lot of students did not feel they were prepared to go out into the workforce without doing a GPR...as it stands there has been health reforms in place that have not only restored the adequate patient pool but in fact there is often an overflow of patients...

anyway...this info was gleaned directly from faculty at BU...if any of it is off or u disagree it's always useful to go to the school and check it out urself... but i thought i'd put it out there for those starting or thinking about BU and are getting a negative impression of the school from these forums and dr.badvibes (heheheh)...

more to come for those interested....

Click to expand...

Hey Niles...you seem to mention my name a lot for some reason? 😍

Anyways, Im sorry to say negative things about BU in the dental forum, but remember in that post, I explicitly stated that this was what I heard from others....including a recent BU graduate who is doing an AEGD at Temple and told me that at BU she had an amazing time, but she really didnt get enough clinical experience.....so thats where that basis come from? And when did anyone say BU is for specialists???

Anyways, Im glad that you guys are having a great orientation week so far, but as far as the information they are giving you, I would be skeptical...remember, with schools like BU, in my opinion they are still selling their school to you guys, because in the next month, people can still get acceptences from other places and jump ship from BU....so they have to make it sound as good as possible....just like during the interviews....

Remember, when someone is selling a used car, they are gonna tell you all the good things, and "forget" to tell you the whole story....this doesnt only apply to BU...it applies to most schools, even my precious Temple, which Im sure has a few students jump ship at the last minute...

Have fun during the week!

that's pretty cool. nice new laptops. Just don't download too much porn and flunk out. Laptops are very addictive to use.

your advice is taken Dr.Badvibes 😍 ... merely presenting info... crossing fingers that its true... similar to the way you present info when u hear things from people... main goal is to put out more info on BU since all i see are negatives and very few really talking about some of the possibly good things about the school.. i haven't spoken to one student who said they were unhappy or dissapointed at their decision to be there

on another note...i too am going for texts..aside from saving the bucks... i just don't think those awesome dvd features are absolutely necessary...especially after today when already there is one book not on the dvd and hearing from the course directors that for some of the courses the lecture material is what's tested not the text material... also i'm not quite used to spending prolonged periods of time reading and studying off the comp...printing out stuff is a pain in the ass... and i don't quite have the willpower to stay off msn when i'm on my comp... love that they give us an option... 😀

today was day 3 of orientation: along with course and promotion and judicial and competancy info...we got our instruments..>>GOOD LORD.... tons of stuff... shocking... and overwhelming... gotta say though...the faculty here is extremely friendly... feel very comfortable at the school and there are TONS of international students which is pretty great.. also got fitted for our lab coats today..

tomorrow: pinning ceremony and bbqqqqqqqqqqq

Hello to all my fellow Terriers!!

I too am not going with the DVD deal, I can't stare at computer screens for long periods of time without my eyes hurting...

The tech guy that was showing us the laptop when we got them was pretty funny: "Let me tell you something my friend...".. we were all cracking up on the other room...

I'm lucky to live only 5 mins from the school, so carrying all those instruments wasn't too hard..

See you guys tomorrow!

BU is an exceptional school with a solid reputation. A dentist that I work with is a BU alum and he raves about it. I know one example doesnt make (or brake for that matter) a school's rep....

His take on BU is it gets a bad rap b/c it accepts a lot of people. The tuition and the cost of living make it difficult for a lot of students to attend there (if they have a cheaper option). That isnt to say that a lot -if not most- of the students there had multiple offers for dental school; just that the cost of the education is what deters many...

Take away the expense (which you cant do), and BU is as good as it gets..

Mis dos centavos...

Bringing this thread to life again from last year. 👍
I hope that we can get some contribution from current BU students on how that school is and few housing tips, the options that are available are too much, and I could use some help to narrow them down.

Thanks in advance

wow..i almost forgot i even started this thread..one year down... apex in progress.... ask some specific q's DB and i'll totally do my best to answer em!

DB#1 said:

Bringing this thread to life again from last year. 👍
I hope that we can get some contribution from current BU students on how that school is and few housing tips, the options that are available are too much, and I could use some help to narrow them down.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

I am wondering whether i can do apex in NY or I have to stay in boston?

Nilez,
Do you still have the same opinion after being there for a year? What are some things that you wish you had known previously and would you go back if given another opportunity to go somewhere else?

Konovsi, you can pretty much do APEX whereever there is a BU approved dental practice.... there are tons that are pre-approved and then if you wish to be somewhere where there isn't one, it is your responsibility to find an office so that the APEX people can interview the dentists there and make sure the practice is adequate... i'm doing my APEX in T.O for example and its the place i volunteered at in highschool...so there is tons of flexibility when it comes to where you APEX.

jdcinza,
if given the option to go anywhere (yes even UWO Dr.Badvibes), i'd choose to stay at BU... i really do like it there...
but i honestly think its an individual thing....i've spoken to classmates that love it and i've spoken to some who would prob transfer if given the choice...
first year is busy as hell...starts off pretty ok but gets crazy very very quickly..so if ur surrounded by decent folk and u have a decent living situation you can totally make the best out of a stresssing year..
some of the things i wish i had previously known: um i guess just that u really gotta stay on top of everything..i mean right from the beginning otherwise no joke you'll find yourself playing catch-up all year... and because of the weekly exams it wasn't the best feeling to be that stressed b4 each one..i also struggled a little with finding the best way to study for these exams... i wasn't completely aware of the formats of the exams which were ALL MULTIPLE CHOICE...i came from an undergrad which was pretty much all written answers and so i found it difficult to get used to having to memorize so much useless nonsense instead of really understanding the material...

anything else?? keep the q's comin and i'll try my best to answer.. 🙂

Hey Nilez, can you guess who I am?? 😀 😀 😀

Nilez said:

Konovsiif given the option to go anywhere (yes even UWO Dr.Badvibes), i'd choose to stay at BU...

Click to expand...

really??? DAMN!!! Things sure do change!

DB#1 said:

Bringing this thread to life again from last year. 👍
I hope that we can get some contribution from current BU students on how that school is and few housing tips, the options that are available are too much, and I could use some help to narrow them down.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

dude, I thought Harrison Court is where it was at?

I got my undergraduate degree from BU. I was accepted into BU dental but decided on UMKC mostly for financial reasons.

Although I really enjoyed meeting the BU staff at my interview, I got the distinct impression that BU was really REALLY crowded, and that APEX was kind of an excuse to shuttle some students out of the building to open up some chair space... Just my 2 cents....

Dr.BadVibes said:

dude, I thought Harrison Court is where it was at?

Click to expand...

dude, I wasn't talking to you, so get the faak ata here!

Nilez said:

wow..i almost forgot i even started this thread..one year down... apex in progress.... ask some specific q's DB and i'll totally do my best to answer em!

Click to expand...

Yea, like the housing situation. There are so many options available, do you think its better to get an apartment thats like 20 minutes from campus and drive to park close to campus all year (I really want to have my car arround).
Or is it better to get an apartment close to the school, and walk everyday. What are the pros and cons of living close and far away from campus?

I have been looking for housing on the internet, and there are tons of good options, so this will help me decide, thanks in advance.

DB#1 said:

Yea, like the housing situation. There are so many options available, do you think its better to get an apartment thats like 20 minutes from campus and drive to park close to campus all year (I really want to have my car arround).
Or is it better to get an apartment close to the school, and walk everyday. What are the pros and cons of living close and far away from campus?

I have been looking for housing on the internet, and there are tons of good options, so this will help me decide, thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Im in your boat here. Dont really know what Im going to do for housing.

If you want to live near the school, then the obvious "pro" is that the commute is short and easy and the prices are cheap in comparison to other parts of the town. The "con" is that the neighborhood may be a little on the sketchy side.

On the other hand, if you live further north, like Back Bay or Fenway areas, you will be living in the nice areas of Boston. Seems like there would definitely be more of a scene there as far as things to do and places to eat. The cost will be more and your commute will take longer. If you live in Back Bay, there is a bus that can take you straight to school, so Ive heard that it is a relatively easy commute.

Im pretty picky about living conditions, so Im leaning towards living somewhere in the Back Bay area if I can find it. I dont think the commute should be too bad, so I will just suck it up and deal with it.

And about the car thing, I think I will keep my car at home for the 1st semester or so just to get a feel for things. If I see that a car will help me out, then I will have it shipped up. Otherwise, I will continue with no car. I cant imagine not driving around, but I guess we'll see how things shape up when we get there. Ive heard parking can be a beyatch, so thats just one less hassle to deal with.

hey hey...

i might be a little bias in my response but i'm all for living in the south end...just makes life a whole lot easier in my opinion... some of my reasons:
1. wonderfully easy walk to school which no doubt becomes a biaaatch in the winter especially if you are carrying ur dental instruments to the slc etc... some classes start really early and some end later in the evening and really i just couldn't imagine having to commute 20 mins that early or later in the day when ur exhausted from everything.

2. this reason is def person-dependant but i myself liked the fact that there are a good chunk of fellow classmates around when ur living in the south end... there are always people around which i kinda liked..(most of the time anyway.. 😉 )

3. studying at school...if this is ur thing..then being that close to campus is great especially when ur pulling off sessions till ungodly hours

South end is like a less than a 10 minute cab ride to pretty much anywhere so its not like ur crazy far away from downtown or anything exciting

and yeah on first glance it looks a little sketchy but i think as funny as it sounds it kinda grows on you... doesn't really bother me and as a chick i know not to the hit the streets on my own at crazy hours...if ur responsible ur A-OK..

if ur considering south block.. probably not the safest place especially for girls at nighttime... but day time looks good to me..

alot of people who lived away from school have decided to make the move to south end but at the same there are those who have lived away that like to be away because they enjoy a little separation from classfolk after class hours..not a bad idea to be honest.. i don't know anyone who did live in south end who now wants to move away from it though..

langham, parmalee, harrison are some of the more safer buildings but they are kinda pricey if ur looking to live on ur own...actually EVERYTHING is pricey if ur looking to live on ur own... if u do live with someone be sure u know what ur getting into..not always ur best bet to live with a classmate that u are already gonna spend the whole day with...

As for the APEX comment..i heard alot of negativity about APEX b4 i started but i honestly dont know where it comes from... some of us are getting to do and watch some pretty amazing stuff in our clinics and its only been about 3 weeks...i honestly think its a great experience and i would choose to do it even if it become and optional thing.. just an amazing opportunity to watch the day to day happenings at a clinic and see how different dentists approach various situations/people/techniques etc.. only negative thing that i can see coming out of apex is if u got hooked up at a crappy clinic with an unattentive dentist but i think for the most part our APEX staff goes through a thorough screening process to minimize the chances of that happening
...


hope that helps a little...keep the q's coming...

p.s...don't know much about parking...but i only know 1 person who brought their car and parked and that wasn't a daily thing either so not sure if its very common or how it works....driving in boston is not fun