Pittsburgh OR Buffalo (@ same COA) - Is more rigor worth it? (Lots of Info Inside)

[alexk058]

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Dear fellow SDN'ers,

I was fortunate to be accepted to both schools this cycle, and the financials for both schools are exactly the same over four years (Pitt may even be cheaper). I'm having a hard time deciding whether the extra rigor of the Pitt program is going to be a blessing or a curse.

The Curriculums:
Pitt has way more credits over four years than UB (240+ vs 180+). It seems as though they take classes on topics that UB students don't touch. Pitt does the basic sciences in one year and then take the boards, vs Buffalo in two. Pitt offers an optional special program for future dentistry professors in D3D4, and has mandatory research. I dont know if the extra topics will be helpful for exams such as the CBSE.

Facilities:
Pitt has better facilities now, but UB is renovating this summer and will have "brand new preclinic by my second year" and "brand new clinics by my third year" (according to a UB management/faculty member). So thats a draw. Pitt located right next to Pharm School and Med School. UB Med School moving Downtown. Both take the Anatomy lab with Med students. Pitt has an urban campus, Buff is more suburban.

Clinical Exposure: Buffalo has marginally more patients 36k vs Pitt 30k, but Pitt saw more new patients last year 1100 vs UB 1000 and according to faculty is increasing the number of patients due to student complaints. Seems on par.

Specialization:
Pitt has more specialties on premises. They match more people into the competitive specialties and into more "prestigious" hospitals, etc.

Time Off:
Pitt has less. A month in the summer vs 6 weeks UB, two weeks in the winter vs 4 weeks at UB, no Spring Break. Gotta make room for those credits somewhere! This bothers me the most. I work hard and need detox every now and again.

Funding/"Prestige"
UB is Public, Pitt is Private, with the conclusions that presents. Pitt is #7 in terms of NIH grants, Buff is #13 (appx), which is amazing for a Public Institution, I think. However, Buff pays students more for things like tutoring and research.

Cities:
Both are cool and have what I need. Buffalo is more spread out, Pitt is more concentrated. Neither has Southern California or Miami weather, so thats a draw. People seem nice in both cities.

In sum, I'm completely torn. I realize Dschool is going to be stressful regardless, but will it be worth it to stress oneself out even more at Pitt for the marginal potential benefits of a richer curriculum and "more opportunities". I generally liked to be challenged, but is more always better? Am I missing anything???
Can any current student chime in?

 

[laserzpewpew]

Disclosure: I'm currently at Pitt.

My responses in bold below:

Dear fellow SDN'ers,

I was fortunate to be accepted to both schools this cycle, and the financials for both schools are exactly the same over four years (Pitt may even be cheaper). I'm having a hard time deciding whether the extra rigor of the Pitt program is going to be a blessing or a curse.

The Curriculums:
Pitt has way more credits over four years than UB (240+ vs 180+). It seems as though they take classes on topics that UB students don't touch. Pitt does the basic sciences in one year and then take the boards, vs Buffalo in two. Pitt offers an optional special program for future dentistry professors in D3D4, and has mandatory research. I dont know if the extra topics will be helpful for exams such as the CBSE.

Although we've been conditioned in undergrad to view one credit being equivalent to another, this is not really the case. It may seem as though Pitt is just piling on additional work, but there is only a finite amount of time in each day, and concessions have to be made elsewhere in the curriculum. The difference essentially boils down to what each school places more emphasis on; UB you'll find is more clinically-oriented, while Pitt tends to place a stronger emphasis on didactics compared to UB. When I was interviewing way back in the day, I was thoroughly more impressed by Pitt compared to UB, although this may have changed by now. Even now though, UB spends way too much time on irrelevant clinical skills in my opinion. It would behoove you to look at the way dental practice is evolving and determine whether the rudimentary clinical skills UB teaches will actually be of use to you when you enter practice. This is partially why UB students take an additional year to learn the basic sciences. If you're interested in pursuing OS, I would strongly advise you to attend Pitt for the conclusion you yourself have drawn; comparing the two curricula, Pitt's will better prepare you for the CBSE.

Facilities:
Pitt has better facilities now, but UB is renovating this summer and will have "brand new preclinic by my second year" and "brand new clinics by my third year" (according to a UB management/faculty member). So thats a draw. Pitt located right next to Pharm School and Med School. UB Med School moving Downtown. Both take the Anatomy lab with Med students. Pitt has an urban campus, Buff is more suburban.

This was not a very important factor when I was deciding between schools; some of the best dental schools have crap facilities. Whether you'd like to live in the city versus the suburbs is a different story however and is a personal choice. I would recommend an urban environment where there are more options for recreation when you need to unwind.

Clinical Exposure: Buffalo has marginally more patients 36k vs Pitt 30k, but Pitt saw more new patients last year 1100 vs UB 1000 and according to faculty is increasing the number of patients due to student complaints. Seems on par.

This is important and having spoken to a colleague of mine at UB, I foresee the size of Pitt's patient pool catching up to (if not surpassing) UB's within the next few years. What's also important to consider is the diversity of exposure; at Pitt, we guarantee you'll see a good breadth of cases. To my knowledge, it's unlikely that you'll match this diversity at UB.

Specialization:
Pitt has more specialties on premises. They match more people into the competitive specialties and into more "prestigious" hospitals, etc.

This alludes to my earlier point and is a rationale for why you'll see a larger variety of cases at Pitt compared to UB. As to the latter point, you need to be careful when you use words like "competitive" and "prestigious". Again, a lot of these results boil down to what each schools emphasizes. Pitt is an academic and research powerhouse and nurtures an environment where students are encouraged to challenge themselves, participate in research, enter academia, etc. This ultimately translates into students being conditioned to specialize or end up at similar "prestigious" institutions post-graduation. UB tends to encourage its students to become excellent GPs and the opportunities it provides its students similarly reflect that.

Time Off:
Pitt has less. A month in the summer vs 6 weeks UB, two weeks in the winter vs 4 weeks at UB, no Spring Break. Gotta make room for those credits somewhere! This bothers me the most. I work hard and need detox every now and again.

You may want to double check the time off during winter at UB - my sister who is currently there gets 2 weeks. Regardless, there really isn't an impactful difference here. You really only need a couple of weeks twice a year to detox and I'd advise against going on 4-6 week long vacations while you're in school.

Funding/"Prestige"
UB is Public, Pitt is Private, with the conclusions that presents. Pitt is #7 in terms of NIH grants, Buff is #13 (appx), which is amazing for a Public Institution, I think. However, Buff pays students more for things like tutoring and research.

I alluded to this earlier; simply put, yes, Pitt is a very well respected academic institution, which pays off when you're applying for post-graduate training or academic positions. Another thing to consider is how the DENTAL schools compare to one another in terms of NIH grants and funding. I'll say with some confidence that our dental school's research output/footprint is larger than that of UB's dental school. This is important if you're hoping to publish, etc., because you'll find excellent mentorship here to help you achieve those objectives.

Cities:
Both are cool and have what I need. Buffalo is more spread out, Pitt is more concentrated. Neither has Southern California or Miami weather, so thats a draw. People seem nice in both cities.

Yes, I've spoken about this above as well, but I'll emphasize it again. Pitt is more of a college town and there are advantages to that: recreational options, grocery stores, etc. being close by is one of them.

In sum, I'm completely torn. I realize Dschool is going to be stressful regardless, but will it be worth it to stress oneself out even more at Pitt for the marginal potential benefits of a richer curriculum and "more opportunities". I generally liked to be challenged, but is more always better? Am I missing anything???
Can any current student chime in?

In conclusion, here's my advice: although you may perceive Pitt to be more stressful due to the difference in credits, I caution against using credits as a metric for determining the degree to which you will be challenged. Instead, I'd ask you to more carefully re-evaluate how "marginal" the benefits of Pitt's richer curriculum and additional opportunities really are. You'll see that for those seeking post-graduate training in something like OS for instance, more is indeed better as it will better prepare you for the CBSE (something which my sister says OS hopefuls in her class frequently stress about) and provide you with more opportunities for research, publications, etc.

There's my $0.02 and if I missed anything, feel free to ask. Good luck with your decision.