For those of you attending or will be attending Columbia, can you tell me your reasons for choosing the school? I've heard many good things, but I've also heard it's very cut throat. Any comments would be appreciated.
Are they really that big of a specialty producer? This year they had 7 out of 15 into ortho, where Nova had 7 out of 7 into ortho and Temple had 5 out of 6 into ortho. It seems like some other schools have a much better ratio of getting into specialty programs. On the other hand, are the rest of people screwed because they have to attend an extra year of GPR and they are not good at clinical skills?ayg103 said:I chose columbia because of its challenging curriculum (esp. pass/fail system), high ratios for specializing, and the faculty there were all awesome. I never got the impression from the school that it was cut throat, but it is competitive. But I would take this with a grain of salt. Almost all schools are competitive because this is a point of education where people are deciding what they want to do for the next 20-30 years in their lives. Its not like college where you can switch majors three or four times. Professional school is serious and requires a lot of dedication. Of course it going to be tough, but it should be because only a small percentage of the population are qualified to look after a person's health. I really don't think columbia is more or less competitive than other schools. It all depends on the type of students in the class and it seems like the incoming 2009 class are all focused, but willing to help each other out (as well as going out to get hammered). CUSDOS 2009 rocks!! 👍
gundam said:Are they really that big of a specialty producer? This year they had 7 out of 15 into ortho, where Nova had 7 out of 7 into ortho and Temple had 5 out of 6 into ortho. It seems like some other schools have a much better ratio of getting into specialty programs. On the other hand, are the rest of people screwed because they have to attend an extra year of GPR and they are not good at clinical skills?
Thanks for the input. Look at the ratio though. Columbian applicants are not even 50% successful, where Temple, Nova and Michigan have almost 100%. I'm not comparing schools but the 4 year hard work doesn't seem worthy enough. If you are in, happy ending, while if you are not in, then you have to stay another year then apply, I don't think that's a 100% garantee, so there gotta be people who failed twice and then what are they gonna do, another GPR, ok you can if you want and if you don't want, then that means you did a 6 year program to be a general dentist. In this sense, it's better to attend somewhere else. Just my 2 cents, no hard feelings.paolorossifan said:Schools like Temple also have more students than us. Furthermore, 7 is still higher than 5 and equal to Nova. In past years it was 8 ortho. I would highly doubt that Temple or Nova send about 6+ students into OMFS (the grand daddy of specs) each year. Coupled with similar numbers in Pedo, slightly lower in perio/endo, Columbia has about 20-25(/75) students in these top spec. alone each year. I dont know where this lack of clinical skills rumor began, Im sure we will be at the very least as competent as any other grad in general skills.
I got the data off the dental forum. About getting into the specialty program, I think it depends on a lot of things and many times stats are not everything. I give you an example, one guy who's got a 98 board I score from Columbia didn't match this year. That's scary. Think about it, what if you study until your eyes bleed and get the score you wanted, and with that hope you can get into a good specialty program but afterall you are replaced by a Nova kid who had a relatively easy life and only 90 on the board. Wouldn't you cry for three days in a roll? Period.MSZ said:If you don't mind me asking, where are you getting these stats about % into specialty programs? And, if a school is p/f, how does the school consider a student for a specialty program (other than their board scores)?
Dr.BadVibes said:Everyone knew that this was coming....just wanted to make some clarifications here:
Dude, you're hilarious.I didn't see this post coming but I definitely saw you are coming to post whenever there's ColumbiaDr.BadVibes said:Everyone knew that this was coming....just wanted to make some clarifications here:
First of all, although you guys might think that Columbia is not cutthroat because of their pass/fail system, think again. When applying to specialty programs, Columbia applicants are still ranked when they get letters from the Dean that give the student certain status such as "very high honors", "high honors", "honors". So, specialty programs are gonna know which students are top of the class and which are not. So I dont care what anyone says, if its A/B, pass/fail, high honor/honor, or simple GPA, EVERYONE IS STILL RANKED IN SOMEWAY OR ANOTHER!
So tell me?? By going to a school like Columbia where people goto specialize and where grades are the most important thing, and an extremely rigorous medical curriculm, dont you think its gonna be a cutthroat atmosphere? People will say that notes are shared, blah blah blah, but its just common sense and human nature that a school filled with wannabe specialists will be cutthroat.
Remember....class rank is one of the biggest factors that speciality programs will look at....so tell me this. Which school do you think it would be easier to be higher ranked? Columbia or Temple? should be an obvious answer.
Furthermore, comparing Columbia's match rate with other schools....although Columbia might have higher numbers than other schools, the most important number to look at is NUMBER OF PEOPLE APPLIED! Its obvious that more students from Columbia are gonna apply, but do they all get in??? If Columbia has 8 people going into ortho and Nova only has 7, who gives a crap when 15+ people from Columbia applied and only 7 people applied from Nova.
So palorrisfan can come on here and say blah blah, 20-25 people from Columbia out of a class of only 75 are specializing, blah blah....this stat means dick when you consider that most of the class applied.
Gundam made a good point....you can specialize from ANY SCHOOL...so pick one that has a good clinical education, so at least you have a good clinical education to fall back on if your specializing plans dont pan out as you thought they would and you are not forced into doing extra years in a GPR.
(don't be so harshy) Anyways, I just wanna clarify that I'm not Dr.B. His opinion doesn't mean it's my opinion. I just think that for a name like Columbia, the dental program is scary at some point.gundam said:I got the data off the dental forum. About getting into the specialty program, I think it depends on a lot of things and many times stats are not everything. I give you an example, one guy who's got a 98 board I score from Columbia didn't match this year. That's scary. Think about it, what if you study until your eyes bleed and get the score you wanted, and with that hope you can get into a good specialty program but afterall you are replaced by a Nova kid who had a relatively easy life and only 90 on the board. Wouldn't you cry for three days in a roll? Period.
Dr.BadVibes said:Everyone knew that this was coming....just wanted to make some clarifications here:
First of all, although you guys might think that Columbia is not cutthroat because of their pass/fail system, think again. When applying to specialty programs, Columbia applicants are still ranked when they get letters from the Dean that give the student certain status such as "very high honors", "high honors", "honors". So, specialty programs are gonna know which students are top of the class and which are not. So I dont care what anyone says, if its A/B, pass/fail, high honor/honor, or simple GPA, EVERYONE IS STILL RANKED IN SOMEWAY OR ANOTHER!
So tell me?? By going to a school like Columbia where people goto specialize and where grades are the most important thing, and an extremely rigorous medical curriculm, dont you think its gonna be a cutthroat atmosphere? People will say that notes are shared, blah blah blah, but its just common sense and human nature that a school filled with wannabe specialists will be cutthroat.
Remember....class rank is one of the biggest factors that speciality programs will look at....so tell me this. Which school do you think it would be easier to be higher ranked? Columbia or Temple? should be an obvious answer.
Furthermore, comparing Columbia's match rate with other schools....although Columbia might have higher numbers than other schools, the most important number to look at is NUMBER OF PEOPLE APPLIED! Its obvious that more students from Columbia are gonna apply, but do they all get in??? If Columbia has 8 people going into ortho and Nova only has 7, who gives a crap when 15+ people from Columbia applied and only 7 people applied from Nova.
So palorrisfan can come on here and say blah blah, 20-25 people from Columbia out of a class of only 75 are specializing, blah blah....this stat means dick when you consider that most of the class applied.
Gundam made a good point....you can specialize from ANY SCHOOL...so pick one that has a good clinical education, so at least you have a good clinical education to fall back on if your specializing plans dont pan out as you thought they would and you are not forced into doing extra years in a GPR.
paolorossifan said:"So tell me?? By going to a school like Columbia where people goto specialize and where grades are the most important thing, and an extremely rigorous medical curriculm, dont you think its gonna be a cutthroat atmosphere?"
Only a current Columbia student could answer that. You are NOT that. Nor am I (yet). Its not fair to speculate on something one know little about.
"a school filled with wannabe specialists will be cutthroat"
Is it fair to make a general statement about CU students. Wannabe? Aren't we all wannabee until we get a spec. or we fail to get a position?
"Its obvious that more students from Columbia are gonna apply"
Again, how would YOU know this? All schools will have a similar amount of "Wannabees", because once you get into dental school we are "even". Since Temple and other schools have greater number of students than CU and thus making it more difficult to get a top rank, which is more "cutthroat" now?
"you can specialize from ANY SCHOOL......so pick one that has a good clinical education, so at least you have a good clinical education to fall back on"
So take Toronto's finest's advice and apply to Columbia or any other school in North America. You can't say you have an equal chance to specialize from any school and say you don't have the same chance to become a good general from one.
Pablito Rossi. La sua scuola, Il suo gioco del calcio è bello.
Now, when you graduate dental school and jump into your private practice and take 2 hours to do a routine filling, do you think many patients will want to come back to you?ScorpiORTHO said:Ok, so here's the deal. You all make it sound as if doing a GPR is bad. This is not the case and in fact many of the most successful dentists and leaders in the field do GPRs. It is such a good learning experience regardless of whether or not you're ready to practice on your own after graduating from dental school. If you want to be well-rounded and well-educated, even in general dentistry, you'd be smart to do one of these. NY and CT are almost making it mandatory to practice in these states that you do a GPR. It's only one year but the benefits will last you a career....think about the variety of procedures, types of patients, speed you acquire, contacts you make on a professional level out of dental school etc. GPRs are a good thing. After talking to some Columbia 4th years, some Columbia students may have to do them but they get into their top choice GPRs that's for sure. So please don't put down doing GPRs. Also by the end of 4 years of dental school, a lot of students actually WANT to do General dentistry even at top schools like columbia. This shouldn't be a shocker. People change their mind or feel like doing a GPR before committing to a specialty. It's a life-long career, so jumping into private practice asap is not a big deal. You have your WHOLE life to do that if you want.
t12kim said:I totally agree with you. right on, man.
vertical bite said:Dont go to a school for its name.....
paolorossifan said:People always say that about Columbia, Harvard, PENN, etc. Lets remember it wouldn't be a name if it wasn't great.
Dukie said:True. But, as many dentists have said to me: don't confuse a good undergraduate school with a good dental school. Just because the school has a great undergraduate reputation means nothing about how skilled its dental students will be.
But having a good name is nothing wrong right. C'mon you only live once. Go somewhere there are great people.Dukie said:True. But, as many dentists have said to me: don't confuse a good undergraduate school with a good dental school. Just because the school has a great undergraduate reputation means nothing about how skilled its dental students will be.
In fact, the reality is more scary. Out of the 7 nova kids, only 3 have a board score of over 90. Of course I could be wrong, but no more than 3. I don't understand what causes them over the Columbia kids who all have over 90 on the boards. Isn't that scary? Come to think of it, it's almost not fair, but you can't beat the system.paolorossifan said:No offence taken, and i hope I myself don't offend 🙂 . Is this a true story? A Nova student with 90 board received a position over a Columbia srudent with 98? I think all things even anyone from any school should have a better chance than someone with 90 (not thats a bad score by any means). I think the 90 student must have had something the CU student didn't (recommendations, extra experience, higher class standing...). And/or the Cu student applied to a limited/difficult position(s).
Dr.BadVibes said:Everyone knew that this was coming....just wanted to make some clarifications here:
First of all, although you guys might think that Columbia is not cutthroat because of their pass/fail system, think again. When applying to specialty programs, Columbia applicants are still ranked when they get letters from the Dean that give the student certain status such as "very high honors", "high honors", "honors". So, specialty programs are gonna know which students are top of the class and which are not. So I dont care what anyone says, if its A/B, pass/fail, high honor/honor, or simple GPA, EVERYONE IS STILL RANKED IN SOMEWAY OR ANOTHER!
So tell me?? By going to a school like Columbia where people goto specialize and where grades are the most important thing, and an extremely rigorous medical curriculm, dont you think its gonna be a cutthroat atmosphere? People will say that notes are shared, blah blah blah, but its just common sense and human nature that a school filled with wannabe specialists will be cutthroat.
Remember....class rank is one of the biggest factors that speciality programs will look at....so tell me this. Which school do you think it would be easier to be higher ranked? Columbia or Temple? should be an obvious answer.
Furthermore, comparing Columbia's match rate with other schools....although Columbia might have higher numbers than other schools, the most important number to look at is NUMBER OF PEOPLE APPLIED! Its obvious that more students from Columbia are gonna apply, but do they all get in??? If Columbia has 8 people going into ortho and Nova only has 7, who gives a crap when 15+ people from Columbia applied and only 7 people applied from Nova.
So palorrisfan can come on here and say blah blah, 20-25 people from Columbia out of a class of only 75 are specializing, blah blah....this stat means dick when you consider that most of the class applied.
Gundam made a good point....you can specialize from ANY SCHOOL...so pick one that has a good clinical education, so at least you have a good clinical education to fall back on if your specializing plans dont pan out as you thought they would and you are not forced into doing extra years in a GPR.
nnjh said:Where do you get your numbers and your facts? Columbia's clinic suck?? We have 80,000+ patients a year. Did you people see patients crowding the waiting areas in the clinics? The fact is somewhere around 35 ppl applied for specialty and 27 got in. Those are impressive numbers. Some have military obligations and the rest will probably do a gpr/aegd and many of them will end up specializing or if they wish some will end up being general practitioners.(many people here actually want to be gp's) If any of you want to get the straight facts call the admissions office or email an alumni of the school. All this columbia bashing is getting pretty pathetic. Most of us here chose columbia as our first choice after being accepted to all or nearly all of the schools we applied to and don't think we chose this school without giving in deep thought.
For the people considering columbia come visit the school and talk to ppl D1-D4. Most or all of them will tell you that are satisfied with their decision to come here. And badvibes, if you are happy and satisfied with your school and its program why feel the need to bash other schools? And why do you feel the need to advertise your school's "superior clinical" program every single chance you get? And hey why don't you bash other private or state schools and add more flavor to your diet, there are plenty out there, and I'm sure that you don't think they're all perfect. Stop the childish columbia bashing and get over your fixation and inferiority complex.
paolorossifan said:👍 This guy/girl is my idol.
Statements like this give more fuel to the fire - it's a little snooty. The posts by nnjh et al. are all you need. Columbia's a good school.Dentist 2 be said:99.9% of the people that bash Columbia are those who got rejected from Columbia. 🙄
nnjh said:Where do you get your numbers and your facts? Columbia's clinic suck?? We have 80,000+ patients a year. Did you people see patients crowding the waiting areas in the clinics? The fact is somewhere around 35 ppl applied for specialty and 27 got in. Those are impressive numbers. Some have military obligations and the rest will probably do a gpr/aegd and many of them will end up specializing or if they wish some will end up being general practitioners.(many people here actually want to be gp's) If any of you want to get the straight facts call the admissions office or email an alumni of the school. All this columbia bashing is getting pretty pathetic. Most of us here chose columbia as our first choice after being accepted to all or nearly all of the schools we applied to and don't think we chose this school without giving in deep thought.
For the people considering columbia come visit the school and talk to ppl D1-D4. Most or all of them will tell you that are satisfied with their decision to come here. And badvibes, if you are happy and satisfied with your school and its program why feel the need to bash other schools? And why do you feel the need to advertise your school's "superior clinical" program every single chance you get? And hey why don't you bash other private or state schools and add more flavor to your diet, there are plenty out there, and I'm sure that you don't think they're all perfect. Stop the childish columbia bashing and get over your fixation and inferiority complex.
Dentist 2 be said:99.9% of the people that bash Columbia are those who got rejected from Columbia. 🙄
Dr.BadVibes said:After all, just because Columbia's history or public health department are top notch, obviously means that their dental school is the best as well 🙄
Idiot!!!!! [as I slap my head]paolorossifan said:My thoughts exactly!
Dentist 2 be said:99.9% of the people that bash Columbia are those who got rejected from Columbia. 🙄
Dentist 2 be said:99.9% of the people that bash Columbia are those who got rejected from Columbia. 🙄
delicious said:People who go to Columbia are those who couldn't get into Harvard. 🙄
How do you like that?!!! 😛 It's just as stupid.
foh said:Actually, this is the case for me lol.![]()
Got interviews at Penn, Columbia, & Harvard (and few others). Didn't get into Harvard, and got into Columbia/Penn (and few others). After considering few personal reasons, I chose Columbia. If I got into Harvard, I probably would go there hehe. 😀
You guys are hilarious. The personal attack from delicious actually got you. The big H is everything.onetoothleft said:LOL me too
onetoothleft said:LOL me too
delicious said:OK, that was a bad example I guess. But you guys get the idea: saying that someone is criticizing your school because they probably couldn't get in is arrogant, and snooty. Under no circumstances, could that come across well.
As for columbia, I guess we've established that it is Harvard's trash-bin. Or waste-bucket, if you will. It should now be called Columbia University School of People Who Couldn't Get into Harvard. 😛
OH man!! Are you columbia people gonna take that?!! Or have I really hit the nail on the head? Would all you columbia people rather be going to harvard? I can't believe that. Columbia's a solid school in its own right, and its in NYC. I'm really not trying to be mean - you guys would be surprised about my connections with columbia. great school!! 😀delicious said:Or Washington Heights Community College of Big H Wannabees
delicious said:OH man!! Are you columbia people gonna take that?!! Or have I really hit the nail on the head? Would all you columbia people rather be going to harvard? I can't believe that. Columbia's a solid school in its own right, and its in NYC. I'm really not trying to be mean - you guys would be surprised about my connections with columbia. great school!! 😀
i know you are but what am i?paolorossifan said:Your humour is just a little childish for anyone to care.