Hello denthill.,
im just writing a few points up about the merits of each school..UPENN/UCSF
hope this helps you..
UPENN = Ivy League!! MOST important fact to note!! Cant beat that!!
---Teaching- Traditional lecture format with notes
----Penn is known to be research oriented, but aside from that it give its students a great experience in clinical aspect of it. The greatest attraction for applicants is the fact is that Penn gets the most amount of students into specialties
--- Living cost difference b/w Philly and California( expensive) over the span of 2 years is enough to make a considerable difference
---Most of the basic science faculty is all "in house."--- 'in-house' faculty is a real plus they understand dental students and they usually go out of their way to explain the relevance of much the material (no matter how dry) to dentistry
.---faculty, and the administration for that matter, at Penn are very approachable, appreciate student questions, and make themselves available outside of class.
-- Upenn has externship programs even IDP students can participate- They have a program where you do an externship in a hospital for 8 weeks your senior year, allow you to study aboard for a semester and take selective classes.
--Housing is good you got to hunt for your place well in advance--it's a socially thriving campus.- PENN is a student friendly school-- faculty is ultra supportive, the students are diverse, there is support everywhere--- two coffee shops in the dental school,.----.will keep u awake to study---
Check this website---www.upenndentists.com
--- Gorgeous building with a great dent sim lab. The student lounge is like a hotel with 2 flat panel big screens with dvd players and a computer lounge.
--- Upenn is obviously Ivy League and has one of the highest specialty matching rates.
--- you can't go wrong with PENN.
UCSF ~
---Fee- (from their website-Tuition is $13,375* per quarter plus a first year mandatory instrument/laboratory kit fee of approximately $23,000, paid in four equal payments of approximately $5,750 (includes handpieces, articulators, endodontic apex locators, touch and heat instrument, cavitron, various hand instruments, etc). Entering students receive a list of fees and expenses applicable to the IDP curriculum prior to matriculation.)
---Teaching-Traditional lecture format and notes----- not PBL!!-
---tops the nation in clinical productivity
---Facilities- Great!--- great campus and weather
---Research-Great-amount of funds received from NIH for research--good school to go to if you want to specialize; i think its a research oriented institution
---Patients-tons of patients in SF- students here seem to have little trouble finding enough patients/procedures to fulfill their requirements--do tons of lab work!
----UCSF (in my opinion) is a well-rounded program that produces good general dentists and great specialists
----Area-view of the golden gate bridge, the ocean, the city
Check this thread regarding UCSF research! .It tops in research funding too!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=209427&highlight=UCSF
texts along with an interactive CD was handed out during orientation so that students could start reading up!!Also heard that the students do well in licensing exams
However, two schools are both VERY good schools, very competitive and very hard to get in...
good luck
ta
