Penn vs Tufts

[Piranha21]

Hi all-
I have read all the past forums on the subject and am still going back and forth between these two schools. I was wondering if anyone got the feeling that the students are generally more happy at one or the other or if one is more cut throat than the other. I realize that tufts is known for its clinical work, but is it far superior to that of Penn?
The costs are roughly the same, so that really isn't the issue at hand for me.
I would love feedback from any current students!!
Thanks!!

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[dentaldawg32]

dental school is gonna suck anywhere you go. Just ask yourself this question: would you rather 4 sucky years of your life be spent in boston or philly?

 

[Charmm]

dental school is gonna suck anywhere you go. Just ask yourself this question: would you rather 4 sucky years of your life be spent in boston or philly?

true dat, true dat

 

[Daurang]

If price is the similar, take Tufts. I have never met an unhappy student from Tufts and the school is very nice. Boston is a lively city with a student population of around 300K, a great place to spend your youth before reality sets in.

 

[EdwardKim]

.

 

[EdwardKim]

Penn... Tufts doesn't come close to Penn in terms of reputation, they are both similarly priced, Penn just went through vast changes in curriculum and my friends who are already in Penn are saying that it's gonna improve greatly.

I don't see one thing that Tufts has on Penn, no offense...

Reputation: Penn > Tufts (although it doesn't really matter, why not go to ivy league if the price is similar?)

Clinical training : Penn = Tufts (I know Tufts is good, but Penn's new dean Dr. Sheridan is very big on making clinical training better)

Specialization: Penn has more externships available than Tufts, it has more connections with more hospitals..

Research: If you possibly want to go into academia in the future, the ivy league name of Penn will carry you a lot further.

Networking: You will network with big name school students and faculties at Penn, more so than when you are at Tufts (Columbia, Harvard, etc)

I am a little bit biased because I am interested in entering academia. But if you are completely not into research and academia, then whatever school will be great.

 

[DrDDSman]

The cost difference after 4 years is actually 50k, so they're not necessarily equal, but the difference isn't negligible either. I lived in Boston for a while and I can say its definitely a great place to live, young population and good clinical education from Tufts.

 

[EdwardKim]

The cost difference after 4 years is actually 50k, so they're not necessarily equal, but the difference isn't negligible either. I lived in Boston for a while and I can say its definitely a great place to live, young population and good clinical education from Tufts.

50K is a lot of difference.. haha

 

[flapaTron]

Penn... Tufts doesn't come close to Penn in terms of reputation, they are both similarly priced, Penn just went through vast changes in curriculum and my friends who are already in Penn are saying that it's gonna improve greatly.

I don't see one thing that Tufts has on Penn, no offense...

Reputation: Penn > Tufts (although it doesn't really matter, why not go to ivy league if the price is similar?)

Clinical training : Penn = Tufts (I know Tufts is good, but Penn's new dean Dr. Sheridan is very big on making clinical training better)

Specialization: Penn has more externships available than Tufts, it has more connections with more hospitals..

Research: If you possibly want to go into academia in the future, the ivy league name of Penn will carry you a lot further.

Networking: You will network with big name school students and faculties at Penn, more so than when you are at Tufts (Columbia, Harvard, etc)

I am a little bit biased because I am interested in entering academia. But if you are completely not into research and academia, then whatever school will be great.

prepare to be flamed

 

[Charmm]

prepare to be flamed

can of worms, been there done that

 

[Piranha21]

Which school costs an extra 50k? I have done the calculations and they seem to be nearly the same when cost of living is taken into account...

 

[DrDDSman]

Which school costs an extra 50k? I have done the calculations and they seem to be nearly the same when cost of living is taken into account...

Tufts is 50k cheaper. http://dental.tufts.edu/1186496760264/TUSDM-Page-dental2w_1186496760474.html

versus Penn: http://www.dental.upenn.edu/academic_programs_admissions/dmd_program/tuition_fees

 

[Piranha21]

I wish it was still the 2007-8 price. Here is the updated cost of attendance.

http://dental.tufts.edu/1206352803734/TUSDM-Page-dental2w_1186496760474.html

 

[DrDDSman]

I wish it was still the 2007-8 price. Here is the updated cost of attendance.

http://dental.tufts.edu/1206352803734/TUSDM-Page-dental2w_1186496760474.html

Oh, my bad. I when i searched Tufts dental tuition on google, it returned the old link first. That sucks how tuition goes up about 10 k every 2 years.

 

[cybermech]

Choose the better location. YOUR clinical work is in your own hands... thus you determine your own quality level. Penn has more stress because people are gunning for the top 10% which is ranked. Obviously if you're >10%, it doesn't matter because they don't rank them.

At the price range, price really doesn't matter.

Hi all-
I have read all the past forums on the subject and am still going back and forth between these two schools. I was wondering if anyone got the feeling that the students are generally more happy at one or the other or if one is more cut throat than the other. I realize that tufts is known for its clinical work, but is it far superior to that of Penn?
The costs are roughly the same, so that really isn't the issue at hand for me.
I would love feedback from any current students!!
Thanks!!

 

[Ething]

Penn... Tufts doesn't come close to Penn in terms of reputation, they are both similarly priced, Penn just went through vast changes in curriculum and my friends who are already in Penn are saying that it's gonna improve greatly.

I don't see one thing that Tufts has on Penn, no offense...

Reputation: Penn > Tufts (although it doesn't really matter, why not go to ivy league if the price is similar?)

Clinical training : Penn = Tufts (I know Tufts is good, but Penn's new dean Dr. Sheridan is very big on making clinical training better)

Specialization: Penn has more externships available than Tufts, it has more connections with more hospitals..

Research: If you possibly want to go into academia in the future, the ivy league name of Penn will carry you a lot further.

Networking: You will network with big name school students and faculties at Penn, more so than when you are at Tufts (Columbia, Harvard, etc)

I am a little bit biased because I am interested in entering academia. But if you are completely not into research and academia, then whatever school will be great.

Ummmmmmmm...the first 2 yrs of penn offer a great education. The second 2 yrs are a complete disaster. Clinic is a mess, students step on each others throats and do horrible, unethical things and they are covered up. The clinical environment here breeds dishonesty and hostility. They made a lot of changes, maybe too quickly, but there is a lot more that needs to change. The distribution of procedures is so unbalanced and random that some people have been finished for months and keep working when other people are just about 50% done and need to get out in 3 months! Who is this Dean Sheridan that you mention? Last time I checked she was an instructor in a group and not a dean. Externships....yes we are required to do 4 weeks. The only thing you seem to have gotten right is the name. That is pretty much all that is worth mentioning besides for the academics. Clinic has a lot of requirements and the randomness is just not fair for some of the students and the pressure it causes is almost unbearable. I know I have stood behind Penn in the past on SDN but enough is enough (and maybe Ill go ahead and delete this post if they finally do something). Students are paying a lot of money and are doing everything they can to do things properly and get things done. Thus far, the school and faculty has not stepped up to the plate to help out and do their part...but who knows, maybe things will change in the next 3 months. ....At the end of the day here, people are nice but business comes first, students come second. When you shell out over $300,000 you deserve better.

 

[Ething]

Choose the better location. YOUR clinical work is in your own hands... thus you determine your own quality level. Penn has more stress because people are gunning for the top 10% which is ranked. Obviously if you're >10%, it doesn't matter because they don't rank them.

At the price range, price really doesn't matter.

People arent gunning for the top 10 besides for the people who are top 10. Almost everyone who applies to specialty gets in. OMFS was 12/11 (yes 11, out of 11 applied and an additional student got in after for unique circumstances) Compare that to Temple which i think was 4/10. I think ortho was 11/13 here...not bad. So you dont have to be top 10 here, it doesnt mean anything. you can be 50 60 or 70 percentile and specialize. Again, i think name goes a long way....more than people on SDN think, but i am biased.

 

[cybermech]

I actually suspected that things were like this from talking to people. But the thing is that grads rarely like to bash their school. And people in the program usually try not to say too many bad things b/c it just looks bad. LOL. But, it's nice to get an honest perspective.

Having said that though, I hear all sorts of "horrible and unethical things" going on all over the place across all schools... it's the nature of dental education because we're not treating "patients" so much as we are fulfilling "requirements." Hence, you can bring 50 people to clinical health, but if you don't get your endo done, you're not gonna graduate.

Ummmmmmmm...the first 2 yrs of penn offer a great education. The second 2 yrs are a complete disaster. Clinic is a mess, students step on each others throats and do horrible, unethical things and they are covered up. The clinical environment here breeds dishonesty and hostility. They made a lot of changes, maybe too quickly, but there is a lot more that needs to change. The distribution of procedures is so unbalanced and random that some people have been finished for months and keep working when other people are just about 50% done and need to get out in 3 months! Who is this Dean Sheridan that you mention? Last time I checked she was an instructor in a group and not a dean. Externships....yes we are required to do 4 weeks. The only thing you seem to have gotten right is the name. That is pretty much all that is worth mentioning besides for the academics. Clinic has a lot of requirements and the randomness is just not fair for some of the students and the pressure it causes is almost unbearable. I know I have stood behind Penn in the past on SDN but enough is enough (and maybe Ill go ahead and delete this post if they finally do something). Students are paying a lot of money and are doing everything they can to do things properly and get things done. Thus far, the school and faculty has not stepped up to the plate to help out and do their part...but who knows, maybe things will change in the next 3 months. ....At the end of the day here, people are nice but business comes first, students come second. When you shell out over $300,000 you deserve better.

 

[cybermech]

LOL, I think you may be right about the rep... but I think board scores also go a long way. And I guarantee that everyone who got into a res program got the necessary board scores.

People arent gunning for the top 10 besides for the people who are top 10. Almost everyone who applies to specialty gets in. OMFS was 12/11 (yes 11, out of 11 applied and an additional student got in after for unique circumstances) Compare that to Temple which i think was 4/10. I think ortho was 11/13 here...not bad. So you dont have to be top 10 here, it doesnt mean anything. you can be 50 60 or 70 percentile and specialize. Again, i think name goes a long way....more than people on SDN think, but i am biased.

 

[Ething]

I do feel a little bad about my rant before about Penn. I think I am just frustrated right now with the situation in clinic and I think changes are being made for the better. It always sucks when you are the guinea pig and my class was the guinea pig for an incredible amount of changes (switched over to digital xrays, charting, peds clinic restructured, countless rule changes and policy changes at any given point in time) So, I will say this. Perhaps by the time you go here and get into clinic things will different and more organized, but if you were dropped into our clinic right now, as a 4th year student, you might have a huge nightmare to deal with. The faculty and staff for the most part are super nice and will listen and be encouraging but in the end im not so sure that the students have a say in much that occurs here.