Columbia or NYU

[Inci-dental]

I got accepted to NYU and was accepted to Columbia yesterday. Columbia had been my dream school for quite some time, and NYU was my safety school.

The only problem I have with Columbia is that a lot of people say that the clinical experience is not good at all, and that it's a bad school if you want to just do general dentistry, and that its a specialization school. D1's only have one 4 hr pre-clinic class, wheres at NYU D1's have clinic 3 times a week, for 3 hrs each. Columbia is superior in terms of didactic education and has a very friendly, and family-like environment, whereas thats not the case at NYU.

I'm still not sure whether or not I want to specialize, and am leaning mostly to not specialize. Most people say that I'll be a ****ty general dentist coming out of Columbia.

My questions is; do you guys think that it will really handicap me to go to Columbia for general dentistry, or do you guys think that I'll become a good dentist if I put in a lot of work in residency and will gain all that missing experience through some years of practice out of dental school?

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[cacazor]

You definitely can put in the extra effort to improve skills to be a good GP... You're not gonna be "handicapped". But if your focus is to be a GP, why fight the uphill battle? That's like learning how to play the violin so you can get better at the guitar.

And what makes columbia your dream school other than prestige-romantics? If you are leaning mostly to not specialize, that's not 50/50 at all lol.

 

[Inci-dental]

You definitely can put in the extra effort to improve skills to be a good GP... You're not gonna be "handicapped". But if your focus is to be a GP, why fight the uphill battle? That's like learning how to play the violin so you can get better at the guitar.

And what makes columbia your dream school other than prestige-romantics? If you are leaning mostly to not specialize, that's not 50/50 at all lol.

P/F/H grading system, VERY friendly environment, block learning as opposed to taking the course the full semester, cheaper by 4-6k year, excellent didactic education. The only downside is the clinic, and I'm asking if that can be compensated for

Edit: fixed my wording on 50/50

 

[cacazor]

It'd be harder to compensate for clinic experience than the things you just listed. IMO, just because it is didactic focused doesn't mean it is didactic superior. I am not even quite sure what makes a school didactic superior over another. NYU has like 99% pass rate on boards ; they offer a great didactic education there too.

 

[Faux]

I repeatedly read that everyone will be pretty much the same at the end of a GPR/AGED. So if you choose columbia, I wouldn't be too worried about the GP aspect. I was worried about the medical courses and the relevance to dentistry and the patients we will be treating. No one could really give me a straight answer regarding the relevance to our career on interview day. And like cacazor , NYU had top passing board rates too lately, they seem to be doing something right.

Congrats on your choices and good luck!

 

[Pongmaster27]

H

 

[UCLADDS2015]

Isn't GPR mandatory to practice as a GP in New York anyway? Go to Columbia, any advantage NYU has clinically will be made up for after going to a good GPR/AEGD.

 

[Inci-dental]

I repeatedly read that everyone will be pretty much the same at the end of a GPR/AGED. So if you choose columbia, I wouldn't be too worried about the GP aspect. I was worried about the medical courses and the relevance to dentistry and the patients we will be treating. No one could really give me a straight answer regarding the relevance to our career on interview day. And like cacazor , NYU had top passing board rates too lately, they seem to be doing something right.

Congrats on your choices and good luck!

Well, if you are planning on practicing in NY after graduation then you will have to do an extra year anyways ti be a general dentist. So, either way you would have to do an AEGD or GPR, which means you will get plenty of practice. But, if you are going to practice in a different state, then NYU for general dentist and Columbia for everything else.

Isn't GPR mandatory to practice as a GP in New York anyway? Go to Columbia, any advantage NYU has clinically will be made up for after going to a good GPR/AEGD.

Yes! One year of GPR is a requirement in NY and I'm planning on practicing here. And that has been my whole logic the whole time. I was thinking that GPR will prepare me well enough and I wont be completely clinically inept.

 

[Bis-GMA111]

columbia can't compete with nyu clinically, that's a fact.

 

[fishstalker73]

I graduated from NYUCD and I also completed an AEGD residency. During my AEGD residency, I was quite surprised to see how incompetent and hesitant my co-residents were clinically. One of my co-residents was from Columbia, two were from UCSF, and one was from Temple.

 

[deleted659902]

I graduated from NYUCD and I also completed an AEGD residency. During my AEGD residency, I was quite surprised to see how incompetent and hesitant my co-residents were clinically. One of my co-residents was from Columbia, two were from UCSF, and one was from Temple.

AEGD isn't a residency...

Perhaps all the competent ones went on to specialize?

 

[fishstalker73]

AEGD isn't a residency...

Perhaps all the competent ones went on to specialize?

AEGD is not a residency? The states of CA and NY recognize it as a residency.

 

[Hammer Time]

Go Columbia. If it's your dream school go for it, don't listen to what others say about it.

 

[LFA20]

nyu

 

[MolarBear93]

Sure, you could argue nyu has a better clinical experience. But they're still not worth the money. The class size is too big and it's not the best experience from what I've heard. Now Columbia on the other hand, is incredibly amazing. But if you're really looking for a great clinical experience, go to a place like vcu.

 

[allantois]

If you ever want to move anywhere from northeast, you could really use an Ivy name to your advantage.