Is Columbia not the best school if you want to become a GP?

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shyboy

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I have heard that the dental curriculum at Columiba is realatively didactic (as they take the same classes with med school students) and that more than half of the students go in to specialities.

So considering the not-so clinically focused curriculum at Columbia, should one, if s/he wants to be a GP for certain, choose other schools with more clinically-focused curricula over Columbia?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
i'm a student here at Columbia so i think i have relevant insight into the curriculum here.

yes, columbia's curriculum has a heavy didactic load, we pretty much take the entire med school curriculum the first 1.5 years with dental classes piled on top of that. columbia refined their curriculum about 2 years ago so you are thrown into preclinic from day 1 (just like any other school). the preclinic expectations are petty high as far as procedures/preps/projects you have to complete every semester.

honestly, i don't think you can say precisely what specialty you want to do (if any) until you get direct hands-on exposure, and that only happens in dental school (so it's a pretty silly assertion to make before you're even in dental school). if, when the time comes, i choose to become a GP, i feel like i will be adequately prepared coming from Columbia.

pm me if you have any questions.
 
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I have heard that the dental curriculum at Columiba is realatively didactic (as they take the same classes with med school students) and that more than half of the students go in to specialities.

So considering the not-so clinically focused curriculum at Columbia, should one, if s/he wants to be a GP for certain, choose other schools with more clinically-focused curricula over Columbia?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Remember also if your planning on getting licensed/working in NY you'll have to do a GPR/AEGD. Whatever you're lacking from dental school you'll definitely learn it well in a GPR/AEGD...
 
the best school for GPs is the cheapest one you get into. we are taking didactic way too far in dental education, can't imagine how someone can learn dentistry from powerpoint slides alone.
 
the best school for GPs is the cheapest one you get into. we are taking didactic way too far in dental education, can't imagine how someone can learn dentistry from powerpoint slides alone.

you, good sir, are connecting two unrelated topics: price and didactics.

first off, i agree - go to the cheapest school. a DDS/DMD is a DDS/DMD anywhere you go.

however, iLuvDat is insinuating that (a) Columbia focuses too strongly on didactics and (b) Columbia teaches dentistry using powerpoints exclusively.
Regarding (a), there's nothing wrong with the philosophy of heavy didactics so long as it's coupled with equally strong clinical skills. Regarding (b): not only does every single school teach via powerpoint for both didactic AND clinical courses, but the statement implies that we lack a sufficient clinical, which is uninformed and mildly rude 😉
 
The idea that columbia is weak in the preclinic or clinically is completely BS with the new curriculum.

i am a current first year, who just started and we all ready spend every friday in preclinic. We have done multiple crown preps and wax ups so far. We have also taken impressions and drilled access for root canals. You don't want more than that anyway since you need the time to study.

Yes we have a very heavy med school curriculum here, but it has a strong focus on relevance to diseases and there are certain diseases that you can diagnose as a dentist, for instance bleeding disorders. Wouldn't it be cool if you manage to catch something before it becomes a problem for one of you patients even if its just once?

the med curriculum is only the first 3 semesters. 4th semester we are in intensive core skills and then 3rd and 4th year we are in clinic just like anywhere else.

Even if we were weak clinically, its more important to get a strong educational foundation. In the first few months after graduation your going to do more then you did in all of dental school. Whats more important than the number of teeth you pulled is the quality of the education and what you have learnt. your going to be slow no matter what.

As to the idea that columbia isnt good for GPs since so many people specialize, i think its not that its not good for GPs, its just that more people have the opportunity to specialize and so choose to for obvious lifestyle, financial, and interest reasons. If you want to be a GP go get into a GPR which will be no problem and learn some more procedures so you can take the easy ones and refer the hard ones.


just to not come across as too much of a fanboy, the downside of the new curriculum is that its new and so they are still working out the kinks. However they ask for alot of feed back from the students so each year its getting better. Much better all ready for my year then the year ahead.
 
Even if we were weak clinically, its more important to get a strong educational foundation. In the first few months after graduation your going to do more then you did in all of dental school. Whats more important than the number of teeth you pulled is the quality of the education and what you have learnt.
I suspect your patients, if you polled them, might have a different view of the importance of extensive and rigorous clinical training.
 
To answer the OP's question, its pretty much required that you do some sort of post-doc training here at Columbia, whether it be a GPR or specialty training. The admissions office will try to wow you and say like 95% of students go on to "post-doc training." In reality, about 1/2 go on to gpr/aegd and the other half go to specialty. Its pretty ridiculously high, but not as high as they would lead you to believe.

I'm currently a 1st year student and experiencing the DAO class early as part of the new curriculum. Its pretty intense for an intro course. They expect a lot of you and require that you pick up and retain a lot of brand new terminology. Also, the classes with the med students are tough, but im getting off topic.

If it were me, I wouldn't come to Columbia if you were DEAD-SET on GP. Although from what I've heard, Columbia's clinical scores are above the national average, there is still a heavy emphasis on didactic/academics of dentistry. They're looking for faculty and also to make lots of rich specialists who can donate down the line 🙂 but seriously, its a great program and I feel that I will be more than prepared, like flapatron, to do GP after 4 years and most likely a residency (which I wanted to do anyway). Hope that helped!
 
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