Anyone know the pros and cons of University of Illinois Chicago and Southern Illinois Univ?
I'm from Indiana but would like to practice in Illinois, so I figure the two schools would be a good choice... but they don't seem to be nationally well known.
Jone,
I will be attending SIU-SDM this fall. You are correct, they are not nationally very well known. SIU-SDM, however, has an excellent reputation for performing very well on the national boards. In 1999, they placed second in the nation. In 2002, they placed fourth in the nation. I'm very excited about attending SIU. I was impressed with the campus and I like the small class size (50 students admitted each year). I will let you know though, that admission to either UIC or SIU is extremely difficult for out of state applicants.
Actually, this can be seen as a plus. In schools with lots of specialty programs, the pre-doctoral students often get short-changed on the opportunity to see the more-complex cases; these cases will always be shipped off to the residents.
And I don't think most specialty programs give any sort of preference to graduates of their school, anyway. Chances are that if you specialize, you will match into a program somewhere other than your alma-mater.
I suppose Illinois schools could be an exception, though. I kinda brushed over those when looking at schools I was interested in. 😀
SIU-SDM is located in Alton, IL near St. Louis...not all that far from Springfield. I am in state...from Rockford, IL. SIU has specialty programs in general dentistry, endodontics, periodontics and a fellowship in implant dentistry. I, myself, am not conerned with specialty programs because I don't plan on specializing. I like SIU's rural setting. I have absolutely no interest in living or going to school in downtown Chicago.
Calling it "a remarkable and noteworthy achievement," Ann Boyle, acting dean of the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine, has announced that for the third time in the past five years, students of the dental school have ranked as one of the top five U.S. dental schools in test scores on their National Board Dental Exams Part II. For the second consecutive year, the SIU/SDM students have ranked fourth nationally.
Jone,
From my understanding, they have an excellent patient base. They have a clinic on campus as well as one in East St. Louis. I talked to several students and they said there isn't a problem with patients breaking appointments and not showing up for treatment. The dental school is one of very few places in the St. Louis area where low income patients can receive treatment at a reduced cost.
Does anyone have hard info on how dental schools rank for the 1st licensing exam as well as for the 2nd exam? Obviously, the 1st one is more important since it is used to determine specialty placement.
