Best Schools for Specializing

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dentstd said:
All 3 of the most recent mods have slipped and pushed the barriers on their post activities. It's nothing bad. The ones that havn't pushed that barrier (aphistis, itsgavinc, tinman) also don't say anything.
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I don't mean to come to armorshell's defense or anything, but a lot of the stuff he said were "instigated," in my view. Personally, if I see someone who is spewing out stuff that lacks credibility or common sense, I'd just ignore that individual. It's kind of like athletes getting reprimanded for getting in with fans in the stands--yeah, there is no way that Ron Artest should have gone into the stands, but the fact remains that a fan went out of the line to throw beer at him. Of course that is an extreme case, but SDN posters need to understand their limits and not taunt moderators.

SDN moderators are on the whole very good. When I was in my old field, I used to visit the board at Science Career Forum a lot. Now, on that board, you really see the moderators with whips and guns. They have their own agenda and get into it with any poster who posts opinions different than their own, and actively censors (removes) posts at will. So if you think SDN moderators are harsh, you haven't seen the real nazis yet.
 
doc toothache said:
A 25 AA is exceptional achievement and one should definitely feel proud. If we wish to continue to remind our readers of our success would it not be easier to just include the AA score in the signature?
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I rarely ever talk about my score unless it's topical. Note that in this thread, it was brought up by someone else as an attack on my character, hence it's mentioning.
doc toothache said:
Since you appear to be singularly concerned over the statistical "garbage" that passes through SDN, in the case of the range of DAT scores it would be more productive if you addressed this issue with ADEA or you could simply walk over the UOP registrar and ask them a simple question. Why some of the high scores that are noted by ADEA do not appear to come on the high range of distribution may be a mystery. It could well be as Dentsd suggested that we may have a number of professors with too much time on their hand that decide to take the DAT, MCAT, LSAT and PCAT just for kicks. It could also be, at least in the present case, that ds purely and simply include all the DAT scores taken by the enrollees and thus we would be looking at an average score of the student in question rather than high score. In any case, the information given by the ADEA should be viewed as a guide rather than for the accuracy of the high and low ranges. On multiple retakes reporting only one would be akin to reporting a gpa after the failing grade have been removed from the trascripts.
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I have already done both, and got no response from ADEA and the school doesn't know about any mistake in reporting.
 
Note that being an (assistant) moderator doesn't preclude me from responding to insults, engaging in arguments, or even being snarky assuming it falls within the realm of the TOS. The only difference between me and anyone else on the forum is I can delete spam and move threads into the right spot.
 
JFF I calculated the specialization rate for Pacific:

Year First Application Cycle Total for all application cycles
2008 15% 15% (This was the most recent cycle)
2007 19% 24%
2006 10% 21%
2005 13.5% 21%

Note this doesn't include AEGD or GPR
 
Shunwei said:
SDN moderators are on the whole very good. When I was in my old field, I used to visit the board at Science Career Forum a lot. Now, on that board, you really see the moderators with whips and guns. They have their own agenda and get into it with any poster who posts opinions different than their own, and actively censors (removes) posts at will. So if you think SDN moderators are harsh, you haven't seen the real nazis yet.
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Scientists with bigger egos than pre dent/dent s/dent? Who would have thunk? We should be grateful to be in the presence of such kind and considerate mods.
 
sdn staff and regular users are held to the same TOS. it's not any "less acceptable" for a mod to engage in a heated discussion nor is it "more acceptable" for a regular user to do so.
 
doc toothache said:
Scientists with bigger egos than pre dent/dent s/dent? Who would have thunk? We should be grateful to be in the presence of such kind and considerate mods.
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Let's not get into the mentality of scientists here. That area is too complicated and difficult for a discourse here on SDN. However, that Science Career Forum is sponsored by AAAS. So eventually I found out that its real agenda is to promote scientist and rope in folks for the career. Any opinions or postings--and there are a lot of these--about the rampant problems and abuses of the field is viciously attacked upon. Compared to that board, this board is indeed very mild and tolerating.

My advice to Armorshell: You are just playing into STD's plans. He's goading you with his usual display of arrogance and ignorance, so that you can be shown up here. Personally, I don't know why you even bother getting a score report to show him. If someone questions my academic achievements, I just laugh and walk away. Could have saved that $25 for yourself and gotten a nice dinner instead.
 
doc toothache said:
For this list to be meaningful, it would need to be compared to the national distribution of specialists.
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Yeah, you should get right on that.

Pacific has past and current students who pursue specialty training. That was the only reason I posted the list. Probably no more or no less than the average dental school. Harvard is not the average dental school. Columbia is not an average dental school. UCSF, UPenn.....

Pacific spends its money, time, and faculty resources on training dentists the best they can. They are pretty upfront about that and there is no push for people to specialize. That is the goal of the school and it is very fitting for the 500+ students we have here.

How come everyone thinks dental schools are that much different? At the end of your 3-4 years, you get a degree, go practice dentistry, and let the true learning begin.
 
dentstd said:
Something verifiable'd be awesome. UoP's already under heat for potentially giving false information on match rate.
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lame.

dentstd said:
Typing in ortho 9 times for a single year doesn't cut it. UoP seemed to triple Harvard's rate, and it's not believable, even if it inclues previous grads.
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Of all things, ortho has all kinds of people specializing later on. From what I gather on the forum here, ortho programs like the experience.

And no, i'm not going to get you anything verifiable because I have no ability to. What could I possible post that could do that? This was provided for the forums in general to help applicants make decisions. No applicant should trust anything on this forum, it can however be used to spark some questions. A prudent applicant can now call Pacific if they really care about the specialization rates. There is your verification. What do I get out of this by making information up? NOTHING.

That data came from a giant list of Names, Grad Year, Program, Match Year, etc. I've got info that goes back even further but I was just taking a break from studying pathology. I'm not about to release that type of info, even if it was posted in a very public part of our school.
 
Moderators can still contribute to threads. Some users just have the expection that they refrain from certain types of comments, but they are by no means obligated to do so. There exists a few threads in the past where SugarNaCl flamed someone but later tried to apolgized. He soon closed that thread to make it go away. Moderator conduct has pushed barriers in the past. None of these moderators said questionable things before their moderatorship. Maybe they became complacent.

Whoispittsnoogle said unpopular things like how dental students don't usually come from top 20 schools or how many dress like crap. There's truth to these statements, but he was banned. Censorship of unflattering things is sometimes the law of the land here.
 
SaxyDucky said:
lame.



Of all things, ortho has all kinds of people specializing later on. From what I gather on the forum here, ortho programs like the experience.

And no, i'm not going to get you anything verifiable because I have no ability to. What could I possible post that could do that? This was provided for the forums in general to help applicants make decisions. No applicant should trust anything on this forum, it can however be used to spark some questions. A prudent applicant can now call Pacific if they really care about the specialization rates. There is your verification. What do I get out of this by making information up? NOTHING.

That data came from a giant list of Names, Grad Year, Program, Match Year, etc. I've got info that goes back even further but I was just taking a break from studying pathology. I'm not about to release that type of info, even if it was posted in a very public part of our school.
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A big topic of this thread is the validity of reported numbers in match rate. Ask directors of admissions directly during the interview, and they'll lie to your face and say 35%. Columbia, UCLA, and UCSF has been under fire on here regarding their match rate, and I've noticed that almost always that fire came from a UoP student. I'm just raising concern about the credibility of the source. I'm concerned about the possibility that a few liars from the class are misrepresenting information. This is in part due to the total absense of verification presented in their words.

Attack me freely if you wish regarding the 23/25 scenario. I'm just citing a published document. I just want to make sure readers of this site are aware that UoP's reported match info on this site's backed up solely by the word of its students, while there exists scattered documents for Columbia, UCLA, and UCSF.
 
dentstd said:
A big topic of this thread is the validity of reported numbers in match rate. Ask directors of admissions directly during the interview, and they'll lie to your face and say 35%. Columbia, UCLA, and UCSF has been under fire on here regarding their match rate, and I've noticed that almost always that fire came from a UoP student. I'm just raising concern about the credibility of the source. I'm concerned about the possibility that a few liars from the class are misrepresenting information. This is in part due to the total absense of verification presented in their words.

Attack me freely if you wish regarding the 23/25 scenario. I'm just citing a published document. I just want to make sure readers of this site are aware that UoP's reported match info on this site's backed up solely by the word of its students, while there exists scattered documents for Columbia, UCLA, and UCSF.
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As mentioned before, the document is unverifiable considering it contains personal information. I'd scan it and black out the names, but you'd probably accuse me of forgery.

But hey, it seems highly likely that two people would carefully craft a fake "post-grad match" sheet with 4 years of information just to promote a school who we owe nothing to.
 
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dentstd said:
Moderators can still contribute to threads. Some users just have the expection that they refrain from certain types of comments, but they are by no means obligated to do so. There exists a few threads in the past where SugarNaCl flamed someone but later tried to apolgized. He soon closed that thread to make it go away. Moderator conduct has pushed barriers in the past. None of these moderators said questionable things before their moderatorship. Maybe they became complacent.
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1 incident of a moderator flaming someone means almost nothing. And your assertion that no moderators have said questionable things before gaining that status is a joke. I haven't changed my posting habits at all, and I doubt others have either.

dentstd said:
Whoispittsnoogle said unpopular things like how dental students don't usually come from top 20 schools or how many dress like crap. There's truth to these statements, but he was banned. Censorship of unflattering things is sometimes the law of the land here.
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Clearly you're ignoring the multiple times I defended whoispittsnogle in public, and you don't know about the times I fought to keep him on the forum in the private mod forums. Blame the moderators if you want, but the majority of the people on this forum wanted him gone.
 
Funny thread. Very interesting reading for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
 
It was the title that caught my eye, but your dissertations are what kept me captivated.
 
armorshell said:
As mentioned before, the document is unverifiable considering it contains personal information. I'd scan it and black out the names, but you'd probably accuse me of forgery.

But hey, it seems highly likely that two people would carefully craft a fake "post-grad match" sheet with 4 years of information just to promote a school who we owe nothing to.
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Scan it and blacken it if you wish. But it means little, because it's mixed comparison. You can't compare the two. Ex. Columbia's information contains match info immediately upon graduation, not after several years of practice.
 
armorshell said:
1 incident of a moderator flaming someone means almost nothing. And your assertion that no moderators have said questionable things before gaining that status is a joke. I haven't changed my posting habits at all, and I doubt others have either..
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I was trying to not call you out.


armorshell said:
Clearly you're ignoring the multiple times I defended whoispittsnogle in public, and you don't know about the times I fought to keep him on the forum in the private mod forums. Blame the moderators if you want, but the majority of the people on this forum wanted him gone.
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Was I talking to you directly?

I'll chiefly blame the person or persons who enacted the ban, but I'm under the presumption that only moderators can ban people. The majority of bloggers can learn to live with having him around, because they could actually be a part of the problem Pittsnoogle was talking about. There currently exists very unflattering truths about the dental field. The response is always attempts to shut them up.

One dentist mentioned how newly built dental schools are affiliated with DO schools, not famous medical schools. He was banned within a week. People cared not that ASDOH, Midwestern, and soon to be Eastern Carolina are such schools. They we just highly offended for his "trolling' *cough, cough* stating these truths. I wouldn't be surprised if I were the next person banned just for acknowledging weaknesses within the field I love.

Moderators should be more careful about censorship vs trolling. That's all I'm saying.
 
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people are not banned in an effort to censor them. pitts and the other guy you mentioned were just stirring up trouble. It wasn't so much what they were saying but how people were reacting to it, which is really the essence of trolling.
 
lemoncurry said:
people are not banned in an effort to censor them. pitts and the other guy you mentioned were just stirring up trouble. It wasn't so much what they were saying but how people were reacting to it, which is really the essence of trolling.
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then the problem's the people who reacted. The end result of banning those who speak unflattering truths is a form of censorship. Regardless of whether it was the goal, the end result is such. There will always be heated issues, abortion being one in the media. Dumb students, affirmation action, etc will be those in dental school.
 
there is a big difference between a heated discussion on a sensitive topic such as abortion or politics and trolling. The former deals with people having polarizing points of view who feel very strongly and the latter is someone who says things simply to get people riled up. There have been occasions where a user elicited strongly negative responses including outright flaming to just about everything they posted, but they were not banned because there was no evidence of intent to troll. One person in particular comes to mind but I will not mention the username here.

No one is trying to hide anything. A person can come on here and reveal the darkest secrets about each and every health profession, but if they do it in such a way as it is not viewed as trolling, then they are free to continue. There's a right way and a wrong way to say things. there are plenty of people out there who get their jollies from going on message boards and stirring up trouble. Trolling is against the TOS, but there is nothing in the TOS that prevents airing dirty laundry.
 
lemoncurry said:
there is a big difference between a heated discussion on a sensitive topic such as abortion or politics and trolling. The former deals with people having polarizing points of view who feel very strongly and the latter is someone who says things simply to get people riled up. There have been occasions where a user elicited strongly negative responses including outright flaming to just about everything they posted, but they were not banned because there was no evidence of intent to troll. One person in particular comes to mind but I will not mention the username here.

No one is trying to hide anything. A person can come on here and reveal the darkest secrets about each and every health profession, but if they do it in such a way as it is not viewed as trolling, then they are free to continue. There's a right way and a wrong way to say things. there are plenty of people out there who get their jollies from going on message boards and stirring up trouble. Trolling is against the TOS, but there is nothing in the TOS that prevents airing dirty laundry.
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That dentist said nothing. I read thru his posts. There were, however, lots of:

Dentist: ASDOH's affiliated with a DO school.
SDN user: OMG! This is absolutely ignorant.
SDN user 2: I've never heard anything more ludricrous in my life! Ban him! Ban him!!!!
 
dentstd said:
Scan it and blacken it if you wish. But it means little, because it's mixed comparison. You can't compare the two. Ex. Columbia's information contains match info immediately upon graduation, not after several years of practice.
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Read the list. It contains match information for each year, including the class they graduated from. Therefore, it contains match information immediately upon graduation and years post graduation.
 
armorshell said:
Read the list. It contains match information for each year, including the class they graduated from. Therefore, it contains match information immediately upon graduation and years post graduation.
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What list? The one someone created by pressing the buttons Ctrl+V a bunch of times?
 
The interesting thing about trolling is that it is a technique occasionally used by adcoms in interviews.
 
UCSF2012 said:
Look through that post you branded at ignorant and you'll see there was nothing uninformed about it. Judgemental, possibly, but not without knowledge. And do you not see the hyprocracy of everything you said? And numerous places where you try to put words into peoples' mouths, and I don't feel like defending myself based on someone's emotional tantrum.
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What happened to this guy in the argument, he's usually right up in the mix. Did he take a vacation to Fantasyland or something?
 
Since I payed for it anyway, skidoosh:
pwned.jpg

pwned2.jpg
 
armorshell has a name?
"i'm a REAL boy!"
-pinocchio
 
wow. while i'm incredibly jealous of your scores, you can bow down before my l33t QR skillz!
 
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