BU vs. Tufts

[adadental]

I have to pick one. What do you guys think?

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[hoppingpre]

Tufts. It has a better reputation and is deserving of it.

 

[fogorvostan]

My brother is a dentist practicing in MA. I asked him for his thoughts and he said Tufts.

 

[tombradyschin]

Tufts has a better SDN reputation amongst pre-dents. Nothing wrong with BU though. The best dentist I ever met was from BU. At the end of the day, 4 years at Tufts = DMD, 4 years at BU = DMD.

 

[BYU4you]

I've heard tufts is great from quite a few people over here in Utah and even from a professor at BU said Tufts is great.

 

[gatormichigan]

My husband went to BU and he says Tufts had better clinical.

 

[adadental]

Thanks for all of your help guys!

 

[Incis0r]

Tufts. It has a better reputation and is deserving of it.

My brother is a dentist practicing in MA. I asked him for his thoughts and he said Tufts.

Any specific reasons why?

 

[LFA20]

tuft

 

[BUDMD2018]

Not here to start any fire. Inbox me if you have questions about BU.

 

[fogorvostan]

Any specific reasons why?

He feels that the clinical exposure at Tufts is better and overall the school is better respected. He has very good friends who teach at BU though and doesn't think it is a bad school, just that he favors Tufts.

He went to Stoneybrook in case anyone is curious.

 

[A Pre-dent]

.

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

I mean I'm a little biased because my boss/dentist is a Tufts alum who volunteers there sometimes, but I would choose Tufts over BU regardless if I was in your shoes. It just seems to have an overall better reputation and a little more edge over BU, but they're both situated in Boston which is a really great city (also a biased opinion because I don't live too far away ... ) so you can't go wrong! Congrats! I hope to be in the same predicament as you next cycle

 

[obscurlit]

BU by extension, isn't as good. The only thing my friend told me about it was that during his interview, they wouldn't stop bashing Tufts and Harvard (inferiority complex, much?) Also, the entire school is made out of concrete, as if they never finished building it. The students didn't seem as outgoing nor excited about the school, in comparison.

Doesn't need to be said, but Tufts also has a gorgeous new simulation clinic, the entire school has pretty much been renovated, and is far easier to get to, since it sits right on a T line.

BU is probably an OK school, but given the choice, 9 times out of 10 Tufts would probably win...

That wasn't true during my interview at all. The many students I talked to during my interview were pretty enthusiastic about BU, and the no one mentioned Tufts or Harvard except once, during which the dean complimented Tufts and Harvard before talking about how they felt BU was differed from the other two schools. BU has its issues, as do all schools (some more and some less), but like you said, it's an okay school. I don't think it's an insanely bad school, which is how many people depict it to be on this forum based on previous clinical issues, etc.

Though I concur with everything else that you said. I agree that Tufts is one of the best schools - great rep, nice facilities, strong clinical curriculum, great faculty, and super connected to Boston and convenient since it's right next to the T. I think they're both fine schools, though if given the choice, I would most likely pick Tufts. It's actually my #1 OOS school of choice Hope this provides more perspective for you, OP!

 

[Incis0r]

strong clinical curriculum

Can you elaborate? How do you know the clinical is strong? Is it just through word-of-mouth?

 

[obscurlit]

Can you elaborate? How do you know the clinical is strong? Is it just through word-of-mouth?

Mostly word of mouth about lots of clinical hours and experience (more so than other schools). Also, more requirements to fill prior to graduation. I can't confirm any of this for sure obviously, but I've really only heard great things about them. Technically all speculation on my end, I guess. Hopefully they send me an invite my way so I can see for myself haha

 

[Screwtape]

Lol just came from a thread about the sky falling and >$250k in debt should be the ceiling for dental school, and now here's a discussion between picking two schools that will both put you in a hole >$400k.

But to answer your question I have a buddy who is a 4th year at Tufts, seems to speak highly of it. It's a pretty awesome building, but you already know that.

 

[BUDMD2018]

Okkk, I think this BU vs. Tufts gets brought up every year around December. I certainly agree that Tufts is a great school, because I know lot of friends at tufts and I know practitioners from Tufts that does exceptional work. School facility is great, and they probably have a great time at their pre-clin.. But, every dental school has pros and cons.. If you can dig through old posts about BU, there are certainly lot of negative things about BU. I am a DMD II student at BU, so I haven't started clinic yet, but I do assist quite often and get to interact upper classmen. We changed to group practice, which started few years ago and it is getting stabilized as of right now. Students are happy and they have no problem like mentioned in older posts. We certainly don't bash on Tufts and Harvard.. There are great faculty members here and I personally know lot of BU alums who are great practitioners. Rumors are just rumors. I personally haven't seen most of the things that were mentioned here (maybe it happened long time ago or I missed it). Just weight all the pros and cons about the school and go where your heart desires (I guess tuition matter as well, whatever is cheaper). Congrats on your acceptances and enjoy while it lasts, cuz tons of studying will wait for you at dental school

 

[Incis0r]

Just gonna leave this here for you to watch:



And this:



And this:

 

[ajj70]

Tufts has a better SDN reputation amongst pre-dents. Nothing wrong with BU though. The best dentist I ever met was from BU. At the end of the day, 4 years at Tufts = DMD, 4 years at BU = DMD.

Exactly....and I will bet that once you start your practice, 99% of your patients won't even care where you went to school.

OP--since you interviewed at both schools, which one did you like the best? Maybe go back and visit both again if you can and see if one feels better to you than the other. Boston is about 50K less than Tufts so that is something to consider too.

 

[Incis0r]

From a close friend, who interviewed at both Tufts and BU - and is now attending Tufts... Tufts is far better by almost every single metric. I have a nagging feeling that if dental schools were ever ranked in the future, Tufts would probably be one of the top schools in the country.

The administration is probably the best out of any dental school - they actually listen to the students and care about the what goes on. So much that the student government was able to have certain exams rescheduled earlier/later (during exam blocks with back-to-back exams for example). But this all contingent on behavior and respect - the students respect the administration immensely, and the feeling permeates the entire school.

The class sizes are too large for generalities - but there's a "work hard, play hard" mentality present across a few groups - my friend is having a blast. The class size is large, yet surprisingly close knit, even across class years. The school pairs you up with a VIP (vertical integration partner, or a "big" as everyone calls them) across all 4 years, whom you get pretty close to. For what its worth - Tufts has this weird ability to recruit people from across the country - supposedly many people had offers from Harvard, Columbia, UCSF, their state schools, and chose Tufts in the end, so Tufts must be doing something right...

BU by extension, isn't as good I think. The only thing my friend told me about it was that during his interview, they wouldn't stop bashing Tufts and Harvard (inferiority complex, much?) Also, the entire school is made out of concrete, as if they never finished building it. The students didn't seem as outgoing nor excited about the school, in comparison.

Doesn't need to be said, but Tufts also has a gorgeous new simulation clinic, the entire school has pretty much been renovated, and is far easier to get to, since it sits right on a T line.

BU is probably an OK school, but given the choice, 9 times out of 10 Tufts would probably win...

EDIT: I've heard a lot more about BU than I posted, but I don't want to post anything too negative in case some administrator is watching these forums... pm the guy above if you want the nitty gritty.

What year is your friend at Tufts?