nova or penn for specializing?

[jdm789]

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I know a lot of people say it doesn't matter where you go to dental school, you can specialize anywhere, and yes I know Penn has very high specialty rates. However, is it advantageous to go to Nova (where many students are not planning on specializing and may not be complete gunners) with hopes of standing out in the top 10% of the class, or to Penn (where many students matriculate with the intention of specializing, and may be gunning for straight A's) where it may be more difficult to get into the top 10% or so of the class. I'm not looking for the easiest path through dental school by any means and am not saying one school is better than the other at all. I'm just stressing here lol and looking for the best route to take with hopes of specializing....

Any advice would be appreciated.... gracias

 

[ResidentPersian]

Let me put it like this: at Penn, about 1 out of 3 students in each class (out of 117) specializes right off the bat, while a good number of others specialize within 1-3 years of graduation. At Penn, you do NOT have to be in the top 10% of the class to specialize. They don't even rank their students outside the top 10%.

 

[Ryltar]

Penn...

 

[tizom]

not even a competition

 

[Kneecoal]

yikes, you're not even considering stony brook and you're a ny resident?? you're crazy! wouldn't that be kindof comparable to penn for a fraction of the cost?

 

[Doctor PJ]

no competition here...its Penn

 

[jdm789]

yikes, you're not even considering stony brook and you're a ny resident?? you're crazy! wouldn't that be kindof comparable to penn for a fraction of the cost?

its a nice school, its just too small for me

 

[sw4gger]

To OP: like you said, you can pretty much launch into a specialty from any school. Just because 1/3 of penn students end up in a specialty doesn't necessarily mean it's light years ahead in academics. A part of it might be that a higher percent of the student body applies to a specialty. Same thing when trying to apply to d-school in the first place. I'm from cali and many UC students apply to d-school and a good portion of them get in. CSU students don't send too many people to d-school because generally CSU students aren't interested to apply in the first place. I was a CSU student and got in, and I know a handful of people from CSUs who did the work and got in.

So at the end, if you're a good student at either place you'll get into the program you want later on.

If you're concerned about name of the school that follows you, city, weather, tuition, and etc. then that's another thing.

 

[UltimateChiller]

I know a lot of people say it doesn't matter where you go to dental school, you can specialize anywhere, and yes I know Penn has very high specialty rates. However, is it advantageous to go to Nova (where many students are not planning on specializing and may not be complete gunners) with hopes of standing out in the top 10% of the class, or to Penn (where many students matriculate with the intention of specializing, and may be gunning for straight A's) where it may be more difficult to get into the top 10% or so of the class. I'm not looking for the easiest path through dental school by any means and am not saying one school is better than the other at all. I'm just stressing here lol and looking for the best route to take with hopes of specializing....

Any advice would be appreciated.... gracias

Best advice from a practicing dentist...the last thing you will be thinking of after a couple of years of d school is more school....

 

[jmac44]

As a current D4 at Nova I can't really compare us to anyone else but if it helps...

5 of 6 people matched for Ortho
3 people have accepted non-match Pedo postions
At least 3 people are specializing in Perio
At least 1 is doing Endo
1 has been accepted into OMFS for the Army
and about 7 or so are waiting for match in Pedo and OMFS
There are 128 in my class.
So I guess were looking at about 10-15% specializing.

Of course I don't know everyone's plans, but that's what I've been hearing.