I don't know much about columbia since I did not apply there. However, from my observation, columbia seems like an excellent school if you are interested in specializing (plus it's an ivy league school - I am aware that school name matters little but still the school's highly regarded!
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Personally, I am choosing NYU for the following reasons. At first, I heard some negative comments about NYUCD here on SDN. Then, I visited the school and I just fell in love with the school, city, people and everything!
1. NYU is in the heart of manhattan! Seriously, the city is filled with so much energy, diversity & culture. I know it costs $$$ but if you are looking to have some fun, it's worth every penny. It's a once in a lifetime experience.
2. Big class size - I know this turns off some people but I personally like it. It forces you to become someone who would knock on the door rather than someone who would wait others to open the door for you. I think it's important you learn to be independent b/c it prepares you well for the real world dentistry. Nobody is going to hold your hands once you graduate.
3. amazing facilities, faculties and resources - as a result of big class size, the school has many faculties & vast research or outreach opportunities. Their facilities are amazing - you will believe me once you visit the school and realize that they have the entire 11 floor building for dental school plus top-notch research center.
3. proven curriculum - like others mentioned, nyu's curriculum is clinically based, so it prepares you well for general dentistry. I would rather take the courses that are specifically designed for dental students rather than courses that are designed for medical students. Also, you don't have to do the cadaver disection! trust me, this will relieve some of your stress. when I did the cat dissection in my vertebrate morphology class, life was miserable and I smelt like a dead fish.
4. patient pool - you will get to interact with and treat a wide range of patients - from homeless patients, to fasion models, to business men. I think many people overlook this but it's really important that you get an experience of dealing with people of all kinds of backgrounds/cultures.
the rumors about kicking out dental students are not true. they had such problems years ago, but after recognizing this issue, the school now does its best to help students graduate. after talking to several students there, it's very unlikely that you will get kicked out unless you force yourself to do so.
I think nyucd is going into a right direction. their efforts to improve are evidently observable if you visit the school and talk to the students/faculties. plus, their admission staff was recently changed, and it's no longer considered as a "safety school". just look at the recent threads about nyu acceptance/waitlist/rejections.
theses are just my opinion! so please take them as a grain of salt.
I'm sure columbia or any other dental school in the us will provide you a solid education! so really, it's a win-win situation for ya.
best of luck to everyone!
dentalist
) curve. And, because we have the same classes, the med students have opened up their website to all the dental students so we can mooch off of their notes and transcripts for free--we don't have to help them to make or write up the notes, but they're gracious enough to let us use them (they understand that we're busier than they are). There are a few med students who are asswipes and "look down" on dental students, but of the 150ish med students I've met only 2-3 fit that description while the rest are totally cool. On the other hand, their are definitely 2-3 kids in my class of 75 who are definite asswipes. There are rude people everywhere no matter where you look, it's not because "they are med students."
