Is Columbia clinical that bad? Need the truth

[ilove75]

I had the interview today with Columbia. I like faculty and the school. But what shock me is the honesty of 3rd and 4th year students who are saying that they make a mistake choosing this school.
They told us that:
1/ they focus too much on med curriculum that a lot of things that are unrelated to dentistry and that instead of studying the excess, the school should increase clinically.
2/ the first year students that i talk to are all happy, enthusiastic. D4 students, however, are clinically depressed. Most of D4 students that i talk to enter GPR. They told us that do not come here UNLESS you are 99.9% sure that you will specialize. Otherwise, it took 5 years to get a DDS (4 years DDS+1 year GPR)

I like the school so far but when i enter the preclinical lab and clinic, all i heard are bad things.

Can anybody have further information on this that Columbia does not train you to become a dentist, but instead a specialist?

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[DSpagnoli]

I had the interview today with Columbia. I like faculty and the school. But what shock me is the honesty of 3rd and 4th year students who are saying that they make a mistake choosing this school.
They told us that:
1/ they focus too much on med curriculum that a lot of things that are unrelated to dentistry and that instead of studying the excess, the school should increase clinically.
2/ the first year students that i talk to are all happy, enthusiastic. D4 students, however, are clinically depressed. Most of D4 students that i talk to enter GPR. They told us that do not come here UNLESS you are 99.9% sure that you will specialize. Otherwise, it took 5 years to get a DDS (4 years DDS+1 year GPR)

I like the school so far but when i enter the preclinical lab and clinic, all i heard are bad things.

Can anybody have further information on this that Columbia does not train you to become a dentist, but instead a specialist?

It's kind of what you get when you go to some of the high-liner schools. Penn, columbia, harvard - they teach from a medical model, which most schools are turning to these days. Even at the clinical based schools, you will get a large degree of systemic medicine and pathology. This is the direction dentistry is going, while it's not a bad thing -- it makes learning practical everyday dental knowledge harder.

If clinical experience is what you want, you should look for a school that maintains a good balance between these two disciplines. I think you will find it more one sided at schools like Columbia. It's a much more competitive atmosphere, and if I were shooting for general practice only - I would look elsewhere. These schools are highly regarded in academic arenas, and would be an excellent choice for someone looking to specialize.

 

[pinetar321]

I interviewed there earlier this month and Dr. M told us that their new curriculum basically condenses all the med school classes into a smaller time frame so that the incoming class will be able to start clinical earlier in second year. He was very honest and optimistic, as I am. Take every bit of advice with a grain of salt.

 

[KitKat09]

that might be some problem there. Tailoring med classes to dental students is always more problem as creating curriculum specifically for dentists.
Dentistry is not an extension of medicine, it is highly specialized part of medicine. There is distinct difference in the approach.
It is similar like a car built as 2 wheel drive and added 4 wheel drive as afterthough to improve marketability as opposed to the car that was designed and created to be 4 wheel drive only. Once you drive both cars you will figure out difference soon enough....

 

[Zubnaya Feya]

that might be some problem there. Tailoring med classes to dental students is always more problem as creating curriculum specifically for dentists.
Dentistry is not an extension of medicine, it is highly specialized part of medicine. There is distinct difference in the approach.
It is similar like a car built as 2 wheel drive and added 4 wheel drive as afterthough to improve marketability as opposed to the car that was designed and created to be 4 wheel drive only. Once you drive both cars you will figure out difference soon enough....

I don't understand this, can you explain more? Highly specialized part of medicine? Not an extension of medicine? Difference in approach?
You still heal people, right?
Thanks.

 

[Streetwolf]

GPR is always a good idea.

Also to work in NY you need to either specialize or do a 1 year residency program (GPR or AEGD). Or work out of state for a couple years.

 

[Zubnaya Feya]

I had the interview today with Columbia. I like faculty and the school. But what shock me is the honesty of 3rd and 4th year students who are saying that they make a mistake choosing this school.
They told us that:
1/ they focus too much on med curriculum that a lot of things that are unrelated to dentistry and that instead of studying the excess, the school should increase clinically.
2/ the first year students that i talk to are all happy, enthusiastic. D4 students, however, are clinically depressed. Most of D4 students that i talk to enter GPR. They told us that do not come here UNLESS you are 99.9% sure that you will specialize. Otherwise, it took 5 years to get a DDS (4 years DDS+1 year GPR)

I like the school so far but when i enter the preclinical lab and clinic, all i heard are bad things.

Can anybody have further information on this that Columbia does not train you to become a dentist, but instead a specialist?

You know, there are beneifts of this program to a student.

Benefits from having integrated med school curriculum and focus on research: specialization is quite possible, this gives you more opportunities in future. If you choose to specialize - you will have a great chance in getting into a specialty. I highly doubt there are many (if any) pre-dents who are 100% sure in specializing. How can you know if you want to specialize when you have never done a procedure??

If you don't choose to specialize, then when you complete your GPR, your starting earning potential will be greater than right out of d school (because of experience). You will also have more clinical experience when starting an associateship or private practice, meaning there is a smaller chance of you screwing up something. Just the addition of experience during GPR will make your life in private practice SO MUCH easier and less stressful.


Also, the education you get is what you make of it. If you try really hard, you'll get the needed clinical experience in any dental school, I think.

 

[preOMFS]

You know, there are beneifts of this program to a student.

Benefits from having integrated med school curriculum and focus on research: specialization is quite possible, this gives you more opportunities in future. If you choose to specialize - you will have a great chance in getting into a specialty. I highly doubt there are many (if any) pre-dents who are 100% sure in specializing. How can you know if you want to specialize when you have never done a procedure??

Working for an oral surgeon the past year has given me a pretty good idea about what OMFS is all about.

 

[ilove75]

You know, there are beneifts of this program to a student.

Benefits from having integrated med school curriculum and focus on research: specialization is quite possible, this gives you more opportunities in future. If you choose to specialize - you will have a great chance in getting into a specialty. I highly doubt there are many (if any) pre-dents who are 100% sure in specializing. How can you know if you want to specialize when you have never done a procedure??

If you don't choose to specialize, then when you complete your GPR, your starting earning potential will be greater than right out of d school (because of experience). You will also have more clinical experience when starting an associateship or private practice, meaning there is a smaller chance of you screwing up something. Just the addition of experience during GPR will make your life in private practice SO MUCH easier and less stressful.


Also, the education you get is what you make of it. If you try really hard, you'll get the needed clinical experience in any dental school, I think.

That is exactly what i ask students that if i try hard, can i do more procedures?They said that you do not have time since you have to study and that scheduling patients is the pain in the *****,and that faculty did not help you in clinically aspect.

I am from New York, so i only apply to 3 schools in New York (Columbia, Buffalo, SB) since i think my grade and DAT will at least get me into these schools and Columbia has been my top choice. I should have applying to more schools

 

[Zubnaya Feya]

That is exactly what i ask students that if i try hard, can i do more procedures?They said that you do not have time since you have to study and that scheduling patients is the pain in the *****,and that faculty did not help you in clinically aspect.

I am from New York, so i only apply to 3 schools in New York (Columbia, Buffalo, SB) since i think my grade and DAT will at least get me into these schools and Columbia has been my top choice. I should have applying to more schools

Scheduling patients is normal. Patients don't just appear magically in your chair when you are out practicing. Although you have the help of receptionist in private practice, you have the help of receptionist in school as well, although your responsibility of contacting patients in school is greater. But hey, it is a good experience to have, imho.

Faculty don't help in clinical aspect? I would think there is at least some help from faculty, otherwise how would you learn? Maybe it is a little bit less than in some other schools, but look at other positive things I have mentioned before. Hard to say for me, I haven't been to Columbia... so it's all just my opinions in general.

 

[Zubnaya Feya]

Working for an oral surgeon the past year has given me a pretty good idea about what OMFS is all about.

Yea, no doubt you might have had great experience there. But you might not like what you see in d school (faculty way of teaching, cases, general atmosphere... there are many many reasons) and that will make you go other direction. I still think there is no way you could be totally, completely set on any specialty before dental school.

 

[yuppers]

Yea, no doubt you might have had great experience there. But you might not like what you see in d school (faculty way of teaching, cases, general atmosphere... there are many many reasons) and that will make you go other direction. I still think there is no way you could be totally, completely set on any specialty before dental school.

Yeah, I agree. Until you actually go through the various procedures and rotations, I think it would be unwise to just close the doors all other options.

 

[Innulja]

I think everyone wants to get good clinical experience, if you want to be a good dentist. After all we will be using our hand skills and knowledge, not the anatomy terms and definitions.
As far as Columbia goes, they are not clinical school, you pretty much have to do residency or else 4 years of tuition money would be wasted.

 

[sajjy]

Can you specialize from any dental school? Absolutely! And this is possible because you work hard to specialize.

Similarly can you be a highly skilled in clinical procedures at any school? Absolutely! If you work hard, you can be a highly skilled clinician right after the D school.
It always depends on what you want out of a dental school.

As far as Columbia is concerned, their D3 and D4 made it A LOT easier for the OP to think about the school- Choose Columbia only if you want to specialize otherwise choose a clinical based school.
I find it amusing that SDNers have a hard time understanding the philosophies of every school. Some schools (eg UoP) focus more on training their students in clinical skills whereas some schools (eg Harvard/Columbia) focus on preparing their students for further education aka specialization, research, PhD or MPH/MPP.
How hard is this to comprehend?

 

[Mr Hands]

sorry for somewhat hijacking the thread but which schools are considered clinical schools in addition to UoP?

 

[Kneecoal]

i'm not sure if this has been said already because i was too lazy to read every reply word for word, but in case you weren't aware, every dental school in ny requires a one-year gpr residency.

 

[FutureDent020]

i'm not sure if this has been said already because i was too lazy to read every reply word for word, but in case you weren't aware, every dental school in ny requires a one-year gpr residency.

What about if you enroll in a military program??

 

[Zubnaya Feya]

i'm not sure if this has been said already because i was too lazy to read every reply word for word, but in case you weren't aware, every dental school in ny requires a one-year gpr residency.

It's not dental schools that require it. It is the state that requires it in order for a person to practice in NY state. One can graduate from NYU and go practice in Hawaii right out of school, as I understand it.

 

[lazybummy]

It's not dental schools that require it. It is the state that requires it in order for a person to practice in NY state. One can graduate from NYU and go practice in Hawaii right out of school, as I understand it.

+1, that's how I understood it too. If u want to practice in NY.. you have to do the 1 yr GPR regardless of where you went to school

 

[Kneecoal]

my bad. i was thinking just on the ny mindtrack

 

[klutzy1987]

The answer to the topic question is yes, they are every bit as bad as their reputation, probably even worse. When a student graduates Columbia, he or she does not possess the skills to practice dentistry. The are so deficient clinically that several residency directors i have spoken to are very reluctant to admit columbia students, even though they frequently score extremely high on the boards. Sure they boast a high residency admission rate, thats just because most of their students practice in ny and need to do a gpr before they can practice. The bulk of their residency acceptances are gpr. If you want to go into academia columbia is probably an awesome school but if you want to practice dentistry, columbia is one of the worst.

 

[pejuky]

hm... ok

 

[klutzy1987]

I was wondering about this too and reading all your responses
It seems worse than i thought
i dont know how clinic works but
cant you have more clinic experience as long as you dont slack and work harder?

Not if you are always in didactic classes and you arent booked clinic time. I think Columbia has clinic twice a week in third year (or maybe it was fourth year) while most othewr schools have clinic every day besides for one.

 

[Svart Aske]

Not if you are always in didactic classes and you arent booked clinic time. I think Columbia has clinic twice a week in third year (or maybe it was fourth year) while most othewr schools have clinic every day besides for one.

Do you know students at Columbia who told you this? Or is this the impression you got from visiting? Columbia isn't anywhere near the top of my list of prospective schools but I would still like to know.

 

[dentister]

The answer to the topic question is yes, they are every bit as bad as their reputation, probably even worse. When a student graduates Columbia, he or she does not possess the skills to practice dentistry. The are so deficient clinically that several residency directors i have spoken to are very reluctant to admit columbia students, even though they frequently score extremely high on the boards. Sure they boast a high residency admission rate, thats just because most of their students practice in ny and need to do a gpr before they can practice. The bulk of their residency acceptances are gpr. If you want to go into academia columbia is probably an awesome school but if you want to practice dentistry, columbia is one of the worst.

Sounds like another Columbia reject's bitter comment. I went to stony brook for a PG interview two weeks ago, and honestly I wasn't too impressed with what I saw.

Last year 40 or so people specialized into various specialties (17 os, 13 peds...) that's the majority of the class (size of 75). This year again with 13 os, 20 peds, 11 ortho, 5 perio, 3 prostho and 3 endo. As far as clinical training goes, most people choose to do GPR because they wanna keep their option open to practice in NYC in the future.

Everywhere I went on PG interviews, both applicants and interviewers showed great respect to Columbia's reputation. In sum, Columbia is a great school, and if I had to do it all over again I would definitely choose the same.

 

[dentister]

Not if you are always in didactic classes and you arent booked clinic time. I think Columbia has clinic twice a week in third year (or maybe it was fourth year) while most othewr schools have clinic every day besides for one.

You need to stop misleading folks with your bogus information. We have clinic three times a week in third year. Fourth year is as many days as you want (due to hospital rotation, usually people do 4 days plus 2 night clinics ) because most of the time there are chairs available.

 

[xhamburgersamx]

You need to stop misleading folks with your bogus information. We have clinic three times a week in third year. Fourth year is as many days as you want (due to hospital rotation, usually people do 4 days plus 2 night clinics ) because most of the time there are chairs available.

Well the whole myth of the DMD focusing more on medicine is not true if Columbia uses a "medical" model and still awards the DDS..

Anyway, what's the pre-clinical situation like in the 1st two years of school? As long as the 3rd/4th years are completing requirements that are at least average of all the other schools then why wouldn't their new grads be any less competent than others?

 

[angelnyc89]

The answer to the topic question is yes, they are every bit as bad as their reputation, probably even worse. When a student graduates Columbia, he or she does not possess the skills to practice dentistry. The are so deficient clinically that several residency directors i have spoken to are very reluctant to admit columbia students, even though they frequently score extremely high on the boards. Sure they boast a high residency admission rate, thats just because most of their students practice in ny and need to do a gpr before they can practice. The bulk of their residency acceptances are gpr. If you want to go into academia columbia is probably an awesome school but if you want to practice dentistry, columbia is one of the worst.

Good thread.
Wow, you just changed my mind about Columbia.

 

[The Anhedonia]

Good thread.
Wow, you just changed my mind about Columbia.

you're really going to tell me that you are basing your entire decision about a school based on 1 person's opinion?

 

[dentister]

Well the whole myth of the DMD focusing more on medicine is not true if Columbia uses a "medical" model and still awards the DDS..

Anyway, what's the pre-clinical situation like in the 1st two years of school? As long as the 3rd/4th years are completing requirements that are at least average of all the other schools then why wouldn't their new grads be any less competent than others?

Columbia was recently accredited at the highest level by the national dental accreditation team. That should give folks some idea about the level of didactic and clinical training we get here. People can be bitter all they want. To all of those that have doubts about a certain school, first get accepted to that school then open your mouth.

 

[sajjy]

Columbia was recently accredited at the highest level by the national dental accreditation team. That should give folks some idea about the level of didactic and clinical training we get here. People can be bitter all they want. To all of those that have doubts about a certain school, first get accepted to that school then open your mouth.

And do not judge a school without even attending the school for a day!!

 

[klutzy1987]

Sounds like another Columbia reject's bitter comment. I went to stony brook for a PG interview two weeks ago, and honestly I wasn't too impressed with what I saw.

Last year 40 or so people specialized into various specialties (17 os, 13 peds...) that's the majority of the class (size of 75). This year again with 13 os, 20 peds, 11 ortho, 5 perio, 3 prostho and 3 endo. As far as clinical training goes, most people choose to do GPR because they wanna keep their option open to practice in NYC in the future.

Everywhere I went on PG interviews, both applicants and interviewers showed great respect to Columbia's reputation. In sum, Columbia is a great school, and if I had to do it all over again I would definitely choose the same.

LOL i was accepted to Columbia. I had no interest. Heck i got like 3 personal letters form the dean of admission and a couple of other dudes telling me i was accepted and how they would love to have me. Good to see that you take pride in your school though.

As for clinic maybe the changed it since you were in third year but i have a buddy who says that he only has 2 days of clinic a week in thrid year (im not sure about fourth year). Most schools start seing patients in beginning to middle of second year but columbia marginally has clinic even in third year. If you want to say they are ok in clinic i could argue with you but if you are gonna say they have a great clinic you are delusional and you are just refusing to be honest with yourself.

 

[Streetwolf]

Hey I'll back you up a lot since you're with me in SB but as far as I know most schools start clinic near the END of 2nd year, summer between, or in 3rd year.

 

[klutzy1987]

Hey I'll back you up a lot since you're with me in SB but as far as I know most schools start clinic near the END of 2nd year, summer between, or in 3rd year.

I meant that most schools start during 2nd year, not particularly in the middle. I was exaggerating a lil trying to stress the fact that they dont step into clinic until 3rd year at Columbia.

 

[sajjy]

Can you specialize from any dental school? Absolutely! And this is possible because you work hard to specialize.

Similarly can you be a highly skilled in clinical procedures at any school? Absolutely! If you work hard, you can be a highly skilled clinician right after the D school.
It always depends on what you want out of a dental school.

As far as Columbia is concerned, their D3 and D4 made it A LOT easier for the OP to think about the school- Choose Columbia only if you want to specialize otherwise choose a clinical based school.
I find it amusing that SDNers have a hard time understanding the philosophies of every school. Some schools (eg UoP) focus more on training their students in clinical skills whereas some schools (eg Harvard/Columbia) focus on preparing their students for further education aka specialization, research, PhD or MPH/MPP.
How hard is this to comprehend?

I meant that most schools start during 2nd year, not particularly in the middle. I was exaggerating a lil trying to stress the fact that they dont step into clinic until 3rd year at Columbia.

If you are questioning an accredited dental school then you are questioning the ADA which also gives accreditation to your school.
Please read my post (the bolded part) and try to differentiate between schools.
No school is good or bad, a school that meets one's goals is the best school for that individual. So, all those pre-dents waiting for acceptances, please select a school that fits your requirements and not from hearsay.

 

[DentalQT]

Why do these posts come up all the time? And for some reason it's always Columbia or Harvard. Nobody can really say if they are prepared clinically any less than other schools. However if you are basing your choice on becoming a GP I would base my decision on how many procedures you will get to do. Some schools may only do 5 crowns while others will do 25. How many days are you seeing patients? I've talked with SOME ppl from Columbia and EVERY person is different. Some ppl are great clinically and others are not. I know talking with someone at Columbia it's not so much the amount of procedures you do but completing entire cases. I would FEEL that you may miss out on learning in some areas but I don't think it's a bad school at all. They do seem to have more knowledge in the "why" and the concepts and to me that is more important. In the end we will all pick up the skills. So if you go to columbia and don't feel all that prepared clinically you will learn it eventually. Relax PEOPLE respect others schools especially if it's just what you've heard. Talk to the actual students that are there because we at SDN are very opinionated. Even me...

 

[dentister]

LOL i was accepted to Columbia. I had no interest. Heck i got like 3 personal letters form the dean of admission and a couple of other dudes telling me i was accepted and how they would love to have me. Good to see that you take pride in your school though.

As for clinic maybe the changed it since you were in third year but i have a buddy who says that he only has 2 days of clinic a week in thrid year (im not sure about fourth year). Most schools start seing patients in beginning to middle of second year but columbia marginally has clinic even in third year. If you want to say they are ok in clinic i could argue with you but if you are gonna say they have a great clinic you are delusional and you are just refusing to be honest with yourself.

Just based on your completely biased attack on my school, I don't believe a single word you said. As a matter of fact, at least a dozen of my classmates were accepted at stony brook, but ultimately decided against the idea of isolating themselves for 4 years at a suburb to get "superior" clinical training. Goodbye and good luck on all your future endeavor.

 

[lphiewok]

one lesson i learned from SDN: Do not believe everything people say here on SDN, especially if it's coming from someone that does not attend that school..

to OP, i think you should try to decide this by thinking about what you have heard/learned from actual students during your interview (since they are current students who can provide current problems and issues with school) and also by contacting those students who are here on SDN (e.g. dentister) and PM them and get their opinion. it could be that you were just talking to a student who wasn't having a good experience with the school whereas other students at Columbia might disagree with them.
But one thing to think about is that usually during interview, lots of students are proud of their school and tell you only good things. so if there were students who were telling you not to attend the school that they are attending, it should be something to think about..

i only heard good things about columbia and althoug i didn't even apply there (knowing that my stats are not competitive enough for them) i would love to attend the school if i had the choice..

 

[glk2101]

I meant that most schools start during 2nd year, not particularly in the middle. I was exaggerating a lil trying to stress the fact that they dont step into clinic until 3rd year at Columbia.

this is completely wrong..they changed our curriculum so we get into the clinic at the middle of the second year, the same time as you.
and columbia has a far far greater specialization rate than stony brook, and im not talking about gpr. you pay less for what you get buddy

 

[hsia2]

I had the interview today with Columbia. I like faculty and the school. But what shock me is the honesty of 3rd and 4th year students who are saying that they make a mistake choosing this school.
They told us that:
1/ they focus too much on med curriculum that a lot of things that are unrelated to dentistry and that instead of studying the excess, the school should increase clinically.
2/ the first year students that i talk to are all happy, enthusiastic. D4 students, however, are clinically depressed. Most of D4 students that i talk to enter GPR. They told us that do not come here UNLESS you are 99.9% sure that you will specialize. Otherwise, it took 5 years to get a DDS (4 years DDS+1 year GPR)

I like the school so far but when i enter the preclinical lab and clinic, all i heard are bad things.

Can anybody have further information on this that Columbia does not train you to become a dentist, but instead a specialist?

Hey, I think you really have to judge this one by yourself
I was with you during that interview
and I have heard 3rd/ 4th students say good things about Columbia
I mean, after all, the school cannot satisfy everyone, and that goes for every school
You really should think over what program is best for you
Best wishes to you

 

[dentstd]

Buy a textbook in fixed pros and in operative dentistry. It'll tell you everything you need to know and more. Take your handpiece and plastic teeth and go learn how to cut. Be your own man and get the job done without someone spoonfeeding you. Welcome to the professional life.

 

[angelnyc89]

you're really going to tell me that you are basing your entire decision about a school based on 1 person's opinion?

i

No, he/she had asked me about why Columbia was my first choice in another thread. I am gonna have to think about Columbia, since a majority of people are saying their clinical is bad.

 

[angelnyc89]

I think I am going to actually visit Columbia & speak to dental students.

 

[Homing Swan]

I recently was interviewed at Columbia and I loved the school. The curriculum is different for the class that entered this year than it was last year and it will be this new curriculum when we matriculate. You start clinics in the middle of the second year. If a 4th year student reports that they feel under-prepared you have to remember that they did a different curriculum than you will do. Also Dr. Davis the associate dean reported that Columbia performs more clinical procedures than the national average. I applied to Columbia because the president of my undergrad school told us that we should at least apply to one school that we feel we are not qualified for but we would like to go to, kind of a shoot for the starts kind of thing. But the interview day convinced me that it is an amazing school that I would really like to attend. They are professionals, they treat you like you are a professional. The students are being challenged and are honest enough to tell you what you think. When I was interviewed at UNLV I asked the student that interviewed me if he felt prepared enough to go into private practice upon graduation and he told me no way. He said you don't get enough clinical time to move directly into private practice. The D4 that I spoke with at Columbia told me the same thing. Regardless of where you go you are going to be slow, you are not going to have sufficient hands-on practice to be completely successful on your own. Choose were you want to go based on where you will be successful. If a heavy medical preparation is what you want so you can educate patients and treat dentistry as though the mouth connected to the body choose a program that fulfills that description. If you want to go to a trade-school type program that treats dentistry in a civil war-esque amputatory manner then choose that school. Personally I think that the didactic preparation is equally important and you will not be successful as a dentist if you do not fully understand the science.

 

[The Anhedonia]

I applied to Columbia because the president of my undergrad school told us that we should at least apply to one school that we feel we are not qualified for but we would like to go to, kind of a shoot for the starts kind of thing.

you are not qualified for this school? my friend, with your stats, you certainly are.

if you're not qualified based on numbers alone then i don't know who is!

 

[FutureDent020]

I recently was interviewed at Columbia and I loved the school. The curriculum is different for the class that entered this year than it was last year and it will be this new curriculum when we matriculate. You start clinics in the middle of the second year. If a 4th year student reports that they feel under-prepared you have to remember that they did a different curriculum than you will do. Also Dr. Davis the associate dean reported that Columbia performs more clinical procedures than the national average. I applied to Columbia because the president of my undergrad school told us that we should at least apply to one school that we feel we are not qualified for but we would like to go to, kind of a shoot for the starts kind of thing. But the interview day convinced me that it is an amazing school that I would really like to attend. They are professionals, they treat you like you are a professional. The students are being challenged and are honest enough to tell you what you think. When I was interviewed at UNLV I asked the student that interviewed me if he felt prepared enough to go into private practice upon graduation and he told me no way. He said you don't get enough clinical time to move directly into private practice. The D4 that I spoke with at Columbia told me the same thing. Regardless of where you go you are going to be slow, you are not going to have sufficient hands-on practice to be completely successful on your own. Choose were you want to go based on where you will be successful. If a heavy medical preparation is what you want so you can educate patients and treat dentistry as though the mouth connected to the body choose a program that fulfills that description. If you want to go to a trade-school type program that treats dentistry in a civil war-esque amputatory manner then choose that school. Personally I think that the didactic preparation is equally important and you will not be successful as a dentist if you do not fully understand the science.

Nice analysis

 

[sajjy]

I recently was interviewed at Columbia and I loved the school. The curriculum is different for the class that entered this year than it was last year and it will be this new curriculum when we matriculate. You start clinics in the middle of the second year. If a 4th year student reports that they feel under-prepared you have to remember that they did a different curriculum than you will do. Also Dr. Davis the associate dean reported that Columbia performs more clinical procedures than the national average. I applied to Columbia because the president of my undergrad school told us that we should at least apply to one school that we feel we are not qualified for but we would like to go to, kind of a shoot for the starts kind of thing. But the interview day convinced me that it is an amazing school that I would really like to attend. They are professionals, they treat you like you are a professional. The students are being challenged and are honest enough to tell you what you think. When I was interviewed at UNLV I asked the student that interviewed me if he felt prepared enough to go into private practice upon graduation and he told me no way. He said you don't get enough clinical time to move directly into private practice. The D4 that I spoke with at Columbia told me the same thing. Regardless of where you go you are going to be slow, you are not going to have sufficient hands-on practice to be completely successful on your own. Choose were you want to go based on where you will be successful. If a heavy medical preparation is what you want so you can educate patients and treat dentistry as though the mouth connected to the body choose a program that fulfills that description. If you want to go to a trade-school type program that treats dentistry in a civil war-esque amputatory manner then choose that school. Personally I think that the didactic preparation is equally important and you will not be successful as a dentist if you do not fully understand the science.

Thank you for pointing that out. Harvard/Columbia/UConn are schools that produce Oral Physicians and not "just" dentist. There is a difference.

 

[ucla2134]

Thank you for pointing that out. Harvard/Columbia/UConn are schools that produce Oral Physicians and not "just" dentist. There is a difference.

hmmmmmmmmm.

To the OP, i think i know who you are hahaha. You are the one that keep bugging me asking if i want to specialize or notI mean i know you don't want to specialize right now but you have to know that you should keep an open minded. When you go through the clinical rotations, you will expose to different fields, what if you like certain fields and if you decide there, then Columbia will help you. If not, then just become General Dentist. New York requires 1 year residence anyway.
Good luck to you, with 24 AA you know you get in anywhere

 

[sarah_bellum]

Thank you for pointing that out. Harvard/Columbia/UConn are schools that produce Oral Physicians and not "just" dentist. There is a difference.

Actually, there's not, other than the added pretension. We all study the same stuff, take the same boards, etc. I'm pretty sure the UConn degree doesn't say a darn thing about being an "Oral Physician."

 

[mueladeljuicio]

...sigh...