ASDOH vs WesternU: Which one would you go to?

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I'd like to hear about why people would recommend ASDOH, too! Deciding between ASDOH and UMich myself right now.

My pros for ASDOH: warm location, closer to home (cheaper flights), cheap cost of living, modular program, seems to be cheaper than UMich, and cool special care unit.

Cons: maybe modular system isn't for me?, less resources to specialize than at UMich?

I really loved my interview at ASDOH (haven't been to Western, so can't speak for that), but I'm torn, too. 🙁 Between ASDOH and Western though (given I don't know anything about Western), I don't know either--I'd look at the costs and proximity to home, and how you think you could do in the modular system, and what other opportunities might you have at each school that you might not get at the other...

Good luck, it's a hard decision!!
 
PS. Did you interview at ASDOH in mid-Nov? If so, you might have been at my interview if you're from UCSD...🙂
 
ASDOH v. Western? ASDOH all the way! I don't have time to elaborate. I'll sum it up with one word: clinical. That word gets thrown around a lot, but it's serious business over there. You'll get speed, confidence, and exposure to a lot of stuff. Member90210, check into their specialization rates in the past. Maybe UltHombre knows some more recent data. Last time I cared to look into it, it was pretty surprising. The biggest thing I can attribute that to is the clinical strengths.
 
i am also deciding between asdoh and westernu as of yday, and im heavily leaning towards asdoh - i just got a much better feeling from the interview - the happiness of the students and so on. the only thing i like about western more is the location (outside of LA)
but it gets pretty hot in pomona too

im from houston, so they are pretty much equidistant for me
comments, critiques?
 
I'll add that I carpooled with an ASDOH D3 today and had a nice chat about life there. He was doing a special needs rotation over by my school. He was telling me about some bone grafting he did alone the other day. As for the high residency placement, his opinion is that a small part of it also has to do with the fact that every student graduates with a certificate (minimum requirement) or masters (optional) in public health. I guess that makes sense.
 
ASDOH fer shizzle. You can do a rotation up in Alaska.
 
jeffity said:
Maybe UltHombre knows some more recent data.
Click to expand...

You rang?? 😀

ucsdstudent01 said:
Got accepted to both, but dont know which one to attend at this pt? anyone mind sharing some insights to both schools????
Click to expand...

Anyone that knows me on this forum, knows i am a huge ASDOH fan, so i can try and shed some light there. But i don't know much about Western.

First off, when ASDOH was first opened they wanted to originally make it a 3 year program like UOP. They modeled it very similar to Arthur Dugoni's (the father of modern dental education) style, however they decided that rather than do 3 years, they would just just tack on a very heavy clinical 4th year. It is almost similar to a GPR in the kind of experience you gain. You rotate through several public health clinics around the country, where you do tons of procedures. You act as the dentist! You don't have anyone looking over your shoulder to check on you (like the clinics at schools), but you do have a supervising dentist to help you if you need it. I volunteer at one of these rotation sites and meet a lot of the students. I have asked them how many different procedures they have done and i usually get a response like this "I don't know... probably 400-500 extractions, i lost count. Maybe 50+ crowns... 10 root canals, as many dentures as i want. I honestly don't know man. We aren't required to keep track, we are just tested on our ability to perform it at the end of school." If any of you are familiar at all with clinical experience, you would know this is a ton!!

So during your first year, they really focus on didactics. The modular system is great, every student i know loves it. It really preps you for the boards, which you take after year one, so its done and out of the way. 2nd year, you are in the sim clinic full time and take your dental courses and start seeing your first patients by the end of the year. 3rd year you are in the school clinic full time. 4th year is all rotations, while maintaining your patients in the school clinic.

Other reasons might include: the staff is awesome, the dual MPH option, high specialization rate (see below), and Phoenix is a great place to live.

This is a great video of the Dean. My buddy is currently the President of the D1 class and he says that he meets with several of the deans on a weekly basis to discuss the needs of the students. They are truly accommodating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBPzYaKuGZY&feature=youtu.be

Member902507 said:
Cons: maybe modular system isn't for me?, less resources to specialize than at UMich?
Click to expand...

I will tell you that you will be at no disadvantage to specialize by going to ASDOH. Last year of their class of 76, they had a little over 30 match into a specialty residency. This doesn't include AEGD or GPR either. That is over 40% of the class!!! These were competitive specialties too... they had 14 apply to pedo and all 14 matched. They had 6 match ortho and the rest were distributed between prosth, perio, and oms. Getting the dual MPH is a real bonus. Dr. Bell, the vice dean, said last year that everyone who applied to a specialty with the MPH got in. It is not incredibly difficult to get the MPH either. Since ASDOH is public health oriented, they interweave PH courses into their curriculum, it is mandatory. In fact every student will get a certificate in public health from this, as you take 8 classes of PH. Well if you continue on and take anther 8 classes your third and forth year, you will graduate with the MPH, so you are already half way there. Most of it is online as well.

Also, if research is your thing, during years 2 and 3 you can actually go to places like UCSF, Harvard, etc and go do research for 3-4 months. They have agreements with these schools and externships already set up. So you wont be lacking if you want to add research to your resume.

Lastly, you don't hear much about it. But ASDOH has an ortho residency and an AEGD. With the AEGD you get a special certification in special care dentistry, they have a special clinic set up for special needs patients.

Hope this stuff helped!!! Any other questions, please PM me.
 
is asdoh in the same league as the some of the newer schools like midwestern and lecom
or is it more comperable now in education to some of the more top tier schools

its hard to place schools without an offical report - but how does asdoh stack up against some of the more classical schools?

and also where is western in this?
 
ASDOH >>

That school has awesome clinical experiences, including rotations, and if you look their specialty rates aren't shabby either. The facilities and location are nice if not the most exciting thing.
 
UltimateHombre said:
You rang?? 😀



Anyone that knows me on this forum, knows i am a huge ASDOH fan, so i can try and shed some light there. But i don't know much about Western.

First off, when ASDOH was first opened they wanted to originally make it a 3 year program like UOP. They modeled it very similar to Arthur Dugoni's (the father of modern dental education) style, however they decided that rather than do 3 years, they would just just tack on a very heavy clinical 4th year. It is almost similar to a GPR in the kind of experience you gain. You rotate through several public health clinics around the country, where you do tons of procedures. You act as the dentist! You don't have anyone looking over your shoulder to check on you (like the clinics at schools), but you do have a supervising dentist to help you if you need it. I volunteer at one of these rotation sites and meet a lot of the students. I have asked them how many different procedures they have done and i usually get a response like this "I don't know... probably 400-500 extractions, i lost count. Maybe 50+ crowns... 10 root canals, as many dentures as i want. I honestly don't know man. We aren't required to keep track, we are just tested on our ability to perform it at the end of school." If any of you are familiar at all with clinical experience, you would know this is a ton!!

So during your first year, they really focus on didactics. The modular system is great, every student i know loves it. It really preps you for the boards, which you take after year one, so its done and out of the way. 2nd year, you are in the sim clinic full time and take your dental courses and start seeing your first patients by the end of the year. 3rd year you are in the school clinic full time. 4th year is all rotations, while maintaining your patients in the school clinic.

Other reasons might include: the staff is awesome, the dual MPH option, high specialization rate (see below), and Phoenix is a great place to live.

This is a great video of the Dean. My buddy is currently the President of the D1 class and he says that he meets with several of the deans on a weekly basis to discuss the needs of the students. They are truly accommodating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBPzYaKuGZY&feature=youtu.be



I will tell you that you will be at no disadvantage to specialize by going to ASDOH. Last year of their class of 76, they had a little over 30 match into a specialty residency. This doesn't include AEGD or GPR either. That is over 40% of the class!!! These were competitive specialties too... they had 14 apply to pedo and all 14 matched. They had 6 match ortho and the rest were distributed between prosth, perio, and oms. Getting the dual MPH is a real bonus. Dr. Bell, the vice dean, said last year that everyone who applied to a specialty with the MPH got in. It is not incredibly difficult to get the MPH either. Since ASDOH is public health oriented, they interweave PH courses into their curriculum, it is mandatory. In fact every student will get a certificate in public health from this, as you take 8 classes of PH. Well if you continue on and take anther 8 classes your third and forth year, you will graduate with the MPH, so you are already half way there. Most of it is online as well.

Also, if research is your thing, during years 2 and 3 you can actually go to places like UCSF, Harvard, etc and go do research for 3-4 months. They have agreements with these schools and externships already set up. So you wont be lacking if you want to add research to your resume.

Lastly, you don't hear much about it. But ASDOH has an ortho residency and an AEGD. With the AEGD you get a special certification in special care dentistry, they have a special clinic set up for special needs patients.

Hope this stuff helped!!! Any other questions, please PM me.
Click to expand...

Shoot man, just when I had started leaning towards UMich again you brought me back and are making me lean towards ASDOH. Thanks a lot for all of the information, it really helped give me a better idea of ASDOH, and I'll probably be pm-ing you in a bit. 🙂
 
UltimateHombre said:
You rang?? 😀



Anyone that knows me on this forum, knows i am a huge ASDOH fan, so i can try and shed some light there. But i don't know much about Western.

First off, when ASDOH was first opened they wanted to originally make it a 3 year program like UOP. They modeled it very similar to Arthur Dugoni's (the father of modern dental education) style, however they decided that rather than do 3 years, they would just just tack on a very heavy clinical 4th year. It is almost similar to a GPR in the kind of experience you gain. You rotate through several public health clinics around the country, where you do tons of procedures. You act as the dentist! You don't have anyone looking over your shoulder to check on you (like the clinics at schools), but you do have a supervising dentist to help you if you need it. I volunteer at one of these rotation sites and meet a lot of the students. I have asked them how many different procedures they have done and i usually get a response like this "I don't know... probably 400-500 extractions, i lost count. Maybe 50+ crowns... 10 root canals, as many dentures as i want. I honestly don't know man. We aren't required to keep track, we are just tested on our ability to perform it at the end of school." If any of you are familiar at all with clinical experience, you would know this is a ton!!

So during your first year, they really focus on didactics. The modular system is great, every student i know loves it. It really preps you for the boards, which you take after year one, so its done and out of the way. 2nd year, you are in the sim clinic full time and take your dental courses and start seeing your first patients by the end of the year. 3rd year you are in the school clinic full time. 4th year is all rotations, while maintaining your patients in the school clinic.

Other reasons might include: the staff is awesome, the dual MPH option, high specialization rate (see below), and Phoenix is a great place to live.

This is a great video of the Dean. My buddy is currently the President of the D1 class and he says that he meets with several of the deans on a weekly basis to discuss the needs of the students. They are truly accommodating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBPzYaKuGZY&feature=youtu.be



I will tell you that you will be at no disadvantage to specialize by going to ASDOH. Last year of their class of 76, they had a little over 30 match into a specialty residency. This doesn't include AEGD or GPR either. That is over 40% of the class!!! These were competitive specialties too... they had 14 apply to pedo and all 14 matched. They had 6 match ortho and the rest were distributed between prosth, perio, and oms. Getting the dual MPH is a real bonus. Dr. Bell, the vice dean, said last year that everyone who applied to a specialty with the MPH got in. It is not incredibly difficult to get the MPH either. Since ASDOH is public health oriented, they interweave PH courses into their curriculum, it is mandatory. In fact every student will get a certificate in public health from this, as you take 8 classes of PH. Well if you continue on and take anther 8 classes your third and forth year, you will graduate with the MPH, so you are already half way there. Most of it is online as well.

Also, if research is your thing, during years 2 and 3 you can actually go to places like UCSF, Harvard, etc and go do research for 3-4 months. They have agreements with these schools and externships already set up. So you wont be lacking if you want to add research to your resume.

Lastly, you don't hear much about it. But ASDOH has an ortho residency and an AEGD. With the AEGD you get a special certification in special care dentistry, they have a special clinic set up for special needs patients.

Hope this stuff helped!!! Any other questions, please PM me.
Click to expand...

Wow you are making me regret not applying to ASDOH, sounds great!
 
Western is still new and will be graduating their first class this year, I believe. ASDOH is relatively new but has already established a very good reputation for service and clinical skills.

I lived not far from Pomona but I would have a difficult time choosing western over ASDOH.
 
lemoncurry said:
Western is still new and will be graduating their first class this year, I believe. ASDOH is relatively new but has already established a very good reputation for service and clinical skills.

I lived not far from Pomona but I would have a difficult time choosing western over ASDOH.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I go to school in Claremont and would love to stay nearby.
 
HASassin said:
is asdoh in the same league as the some of the newer schools like midwestern and lecom
or is it more comperable now in education to some of the more top tier schools

its hard to place schools without an offical report - but how does asdoh stack up against some of the more classical schools?

and also where is western in this?
Click to expand...

I personally don't think it is in the same league as the newer schools, mainly because ASDOH has been open for 10+ years now. It has graduated dentists from all over the country and has established a reputation for producing good clinicians. However, it by no means has the same reputation as some of the schools that have been around for 25-100 years.

Western is still "too new". If i am not mistaken, they haven't produced a first graduating class. They are still tweaking the curriculum and working out the kinks. Considering this, i don't think they have established a reputation yet.

Some other things to think about.... Western is in SoCal, which is beautiful, but count on an extra 5-10K of living expenses per year.
 
Member902507 said:
Shoot man, just when I had started leaning towards UMich again you brought me back and are making me lean towards ASDOH. Thanks a lot for all of the information, it really helped give me a better idea of ASDOH, and I'll probably be pm-ing you in a bit. 🙂
Click to expand...

No problem. I am not familiar with the price of Mich, but if you are instate, i am sure you would save a ton of money. If there is more than a 40K difference, i would definitely choose Mich. I value cost above almost everything else.
 
man ASDOH looks attractive, especially since i grew up in tucson.

but starting this cycle they require pre-reqs younger than 5 years. that's bad.
 
UltimateHombre said:
No problem. I am not familiar with the price of Mich, but if you are instate, i am sure you would save a ton of money. If there is more than a 40K difference, i would definitely choose Mich. I value cost above almost everything else.
Click to expand...

I'm actually not in-state, so according to the ADEA guidebook 4 years at UMich OOS is ~$336k, and ASDOH is ~$368k. However, I don't think ASDOH is this expensive, primarily because they've said living expenses are around $30k. I think that's being wayyy to generous. One of the things I loved about ASDOH was how housing was so cheap around that area. Even if you say $1000 for apt rent per month (which is at least double of what the students there told me they paid), and even another $1000 per month for car rental, gas, and food, that's a total of $24k for living expenses, bringing ASDOH down to about $342k in my opinion. And even then, I was being EXTREMELY generous with the numbers I used. Can anybody chime in on if $30k is actually necessary for ASDOH per year?

I actually think Michigan and ASDOH would cost about the same overall...couple thousand here and there is negligible I'd say.
 
Ferneezy said:
man ASDOH looks attractive, especially since i grew up in tucson.

but starting this cycle they require pre-reqs younger than 5 years. that's bad.
Click to expand...

What???

I have been accepted and all but 3 of my prereqs are 5-10 years old.
 
Member902507 said:
I'm actually not in-state, so according to the ADEA guidebook 4 years at UMich OOS is ~$336k, and ASDOH is ~$368k. However, I don't think ASDOH is this expensive, primarily because they've said living expenses are around $30k. I think that's being wayyy to generous. One of the things I loved about ASDOH was how housing was so cheap around that area. Even if you say $1000 for apt rent per month (which is at least double of what the students there told me they paid), and even another $1000 per month for car rental, gas, and food, that's a total of $24k for living expenses, bringing ASDOH down to about $342k in my opinion. And even then, I was being EXTREMELY generous with the numbers I used. Can anybody chime in on if $30k is actually necessary for ASDOH per year?

I actually think Michigan and ASDOH would cost about the same overall...couple thousand here and there is negligible I'd say.
Click to expand...


Sounds right to me. Plus being closer to home is always nice.When I looked at housing in the Ann Arbor area I noticed it seemed much higher than in my home town. A house that would cost 200,000 where I live would cost atleast 350,000K in Ann Arbor.
 
Phoenix is cheap to live in. But get ready to commute to school every day (probably not on a bike with the heat). And be willing to move around 4th year to rotations.
 
jojohygienist said:
yes, I matriculate in July. maybe they won't accept +5 yrs pre-reqs if you don't have a degree to go along with them.
Click to expand...

not sure degree status matters. i'm staring at an email from someone in admissions saying the 5-year rule will be a requirement with no exceptions with this upcoming cycle.

bonus: last year's admitted class had an average of 700 community service hours.

700.
 
It's listed on the admissions requirements on their site:

"Currently, prerequisite science courses are recommended to be taken within 5 years of applying. Beginning with the 2013-2014 application cycle this will become a requirement."
 
Take a look at Doc Toothache's excel chart if you don't have the ADEA Guidebook. It said ASDOH costs about $368k for the 4 years, but I feel as if that's being WAYYYY TOOOOO GENEROUS for housing expenses. They had housing expenses as $30k per year, and I think even $24k is more than enough. You could buy a house (according to ASDOH students) in Mesa or nearby for $70k. A HOUSE. A 3-bedroom house. That's crazy.

So I'd say ASDOH costs around $340k (probably less), even if you were to live "extravagantly".
 
According to his excel chart and the ADEA guidebook, Western was $257k FOR THE FIRST THREE YEARS. So it'll probably total to ~$345k for all 4 years, and that's living on a shoestring budget. They had living expenses as $20k per year, but that seems to be too little for Southern California.....
 
jeffity said:
It's listed on the admissions requirements on their site:

"Currently, prerequisite science courses are recommended to be taken within 5 years of applying. Beginning with the 2013-2014 application cycle this will become a requirement."


😱 no more love for the nontrads with older prereqs I guess.
Click to expand...
 
i know asdoh is a great school, but does anyone have any positives on western??
 
Easy pick. Asdoh

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
 
ddsmission said:
i know asdoh is a great school, but does anyone have any positives on western??
Click to expand...

Here is what i know about Western, my only sources are: a rep came to my undergrad university and gave a presentation and i have a friend that goes there. I have never had any personal experience with the school.

First off, a rep told us that they actually modeled much of their curriculum after ASDOH. They seem to be very public health oriented and follow an osteopathic ideology when it comes to treating patients (ie: treat the person as a whole/holistically).

One thing i thought was pretty cool, was that they are very focused on inter-profession education. Meaning, you take classes all throughout your 4 years, where you will get case studies and you will work in groups with other health profession students. So for example, you might get a case study, where you are treating a patient with a heart condition; you will have a med student, optometry student, nursing student, and a pharmacy student along with you in your group. This is to foster an interdisciplinary approach to treatment planning.

You will also take all your didactic classes with the DO and DPM students in a large lecture hall. Although your grades will only be compared to the other DMD students. This is both good and bad, it gives you the opportunity to meet and study with other people, but it doesn't seemed as tight knit. You also have to wear a shirt and tie everyday vs. scrubs.

Overall, Western seems to be shaping out to be a great school with a great clinic. However, it is just "too new" still. It hasn't been proven clinically or academically and i think they have only graduated one class. I am sure it is a great school, but when compared to a proven school like ASDOH, it is hard to point out a whole lot of positives.
 
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