I can speak of MWU as I am currently part of the 1st inaugural class.
There are both advantages and disadvantages of a new school
Advantages:
1. Facility: MWU currently has the most up to date, state of the art Sim Lab in the US. All our equipment is new, and we will be using the newest in dental technology.
2. Professors: Majority of the first 2 years in any dental school is spent in the Basic Sciences. MWU already having a medical, pharmacy, podiatry, PA, Biological sciences program (Optometry is being made next year), they already had a solid basic sciences program along with all the professors. MWU also has 2 campuses (one in Illinois, and one in Arizona). So this university obviously knows what its doing to be this successful. For the new dental college at MWU, the staff basically used this foundation and designed a basic science program for the dental students so we are ready for Part 1 boards. In terms of the dental staff, our dean has done an awesome job in hand selecting our dental professors. Our Dean is one of the major contributors to the making of ASDOH. So he has already been through the whole process in building a new dental school. Its his 2nd time doing this, so he knows what he is doing.
You put "curriculum in chaos" as one of your disadvantages, but I can tell you, thus far there has been no chaos. There has been only one minor adjustment. The dean along with his staff has done an exceptional job in planning our curriculum.
In terms of the curriculum, a new school has an advantage in having newer ways of teaching material. MWU is doing the systems/module sysytems approach (it is NOT PBL). Also integrated into our curriculum, we are taking Dental ethnics classes, which not many schools teach.
In terms of the NBDE know how that you put, our dental faculty are really knowledgable regarding the boards. We always here (thats important for the boards) At MWU we are required to take the Boards Part 1 after our 1st year. To make this possible, MWU has done a nice job in cutting all the unneccessary info, and really emphasizing what we really need to know.
Disadvantages:
1. You are right in terms of the alumin network. Us being the 1st class, we don't have any alumni. However, I heard that the Illinois campus is also making a dental school with around 140 students. Even though its on a different campus, they will also be technically "Midwestern" students, which means when the Illinois campus is up and running, MWU will be graduating almost 300 students per year total from both campuses.
2. We don't have the "brand name power" that other schools have. However, realistically once you graduate your still a dentist, and not many people care as long as you are a good clinician.
Things to keep in mind:
MWU was modeled after 2 schools, U of P being one of them, and ASDOH. MWU is like UOP in the sense that MWU is like a 3 year program (takes the boards and does all the basic sciences in the 1st year), and spends all 3 years with actual dentistry. So technically we are like UOP but with 1 more year of clinical experience.
