As someone who has just finished his 4th chronologic year, but only 3rd academic year, let me clarify the situation to you, rather than listen to these people who only answer based on what they've heard. The following is the school's policy:
If you fail a class during the academic year, you will be eligible for remediation in the summer.
If you fail 4 or more classes (out of ~ 45--classes are staggered, and average around 4 wks length) in a year, you are kicked out of school.
If you fail less than 4 classes, you are probably eligible for remediation of those classes. If you fail remediation of any of these classes, you are either forced to repeat the year, or kicked out of school.
If you are forced to repeat the year, you do so at your own expense (i.e. it costs an extra year's tuition). Also, you cannot fail ANY class, even if you received an "A" in that class the first time around. If you do, you are kicked out of school (no chance for summer remediation; BTW, it may seem easy to pass a class that you've taken the year before, but it most certainly is not; for one, the classes often change professors--and thus, course curriculum--from year to year; for another, you have so many classes in dental school that you pretty much HAVE to "cram" for each test, and thus, you don't really remember anything a few WEEKS after the exam, much less an entire year)
Thus, you can get an "A" in 44 classes, but if you fail that 45th class, and then fail it again in the summertime, you are kicked out of school.
I was accepted at NYUCD in 2003, and was originally in the class of 2007. They accepted 280 non-international students that year. By the start of the 2nd year, 35 of those students were no longer at the school. Another 10 were made to repeat the 1st year. I don't have exact stats on how many of those students CHOSE to leave school versus how many were FORCED to leave school, but I do know that of the 8 that I have since spoken with, all 8 of those people fell into the latter category. After 2nd year, there were another 4 that failed out, as well as another 11 that were forced to repeat the year.
I fell into this latter category (those who had to repeat). I had failed Complex Restorations I, and it was the first class I had ever failed. I did NOT fail because of the academic portion of the class (I don't think I've ever gotten anything less than an 82 on any test), I failed on one of the clinical evaluations. The thing is, the clinical evaluations are subjective. I obviously can't prove that my failing evaluation on this ONE clinical exam was due to the professor not liking me, but I can tell you that myself and any classmates I spoke with said that my provisional crown (what I got a failing grade for) looked better than many other provisionals that received passing grades. I can also tell you that it was no secret that I was definitely NOT the professor's favorite student. On my final attempt to pass this exam in the summertime, I screwed in the plastic tooth used to make the provisional crown into my typodont (i.e. fake mouth) too hard, and the tooth broke. As a result, when went to take the provisional crown off, the tooth came with it, and I was failed on the spot. My best friend also was forced to repeat the year. He received a 69.5% on his final exam in remediation, but the professor for that class wouldn't curve his score up to the 70% required to pass.
I am fortunate enough to say that I overcame having to repeat the year, and am now about to start my 4th academic year. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about many of the others that were forced to repeat the year. Indeed, my best friend, after finally passing his D2 year, now may end up failing his D3 year because he hasn't completed all the clinical requirements (not his own fault, as the school is not responsible for getting you the patients you need in order to fill a requirement; thus, if none of your patients requires a root canal, you get an incomplete for that requirement; four incompletes, and you have to repeat the year, or get kicked out of school). Thus, my friend may end up having to repeat ANOTHER academic year, and will have the possibility of STILL failing out, despite paying for FIVE total year's worth of tuition.
I tell you guys these things not to scare you, but to get you to realize that NYUCD is not as forthright and just as you may assume. They really DON'T care if a student fails out, only if they get their money. This, of course, is true with many schools, but never have i seen such blatant examples as with NYUCD. I would guess that about 90% of NYUCD juniors or seniors are unhappy with NYUCD--a much, much higher percentage than you will find anywhere else. If you have the choice of going anywhere else, I STRONGLY encourage you to do that--the risk of being $450,000 in debt (i.e. $90,000/year x 5 years) and wasting 5 years of your life, and STILL not getting a degree is just not worth any so-called benefits of living in "the greatest city in the world".
