Maryland is an awesome school, with tons of new technology. The sim lab is incredible. But, does new technology really make a more competent dentist? Is the quality of the sim lab something to consider when choosing a dental school or does it not even matter? I personally feel that having my own personal monitor at my station in the sim lab, showing me exactly how to do the procedure would be far more helpful than having one instructor try to each the entire class. Do you agree? I guess my question is, is the sim lab an important part of dental education and should the quality, or lack thereof, determine choice of dental school?
I agree with most of the comments. While technology is great and can augment your education, don't put too much weight on it. You said:
"I personally feel that having my own personal monitor at my station in the sim lab, showing me exactly how to do the procedure would be far more helpful"
It's not really like that, at least not when I was at UDMSD. The monitor was used for lecture purposes only. Once the lecture was done, it served no purpose in helping students learn how to do a procedure.
The point, don't put too much weight on technology. You will become a competent clinician no matter where you graduate and no matter how much technology they integrate into learning.
I would more look into the quality of the learning environment and the learning experience and specifically how well current students like the learning environment and atmosphere. IMO, that is more important.
I have stated it before, I will say it again, my decision on which school to attend if I had it to do over again would be first based on location and cost and then I would narrow it down from there based on which school has the best learning atmosphere and environment.
Technology would have no bearing on where I would go to school. Technology along with clinical reputation, patient base, how nice the clinic seems, how nice the faculty seem, etc. That all may be a facade of an otherwise crappy school.