Seeking desperate advice...

[FutureNSXDent]

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Ok, so here is the dilemma. I am a Cali resident and wish to eventually practice in Cali. I have been accepted to a school in the east coast as well as USC. Even though the PBL program does not appeal to me at all (I personally cannot learn in that kind of program), but after talking to several dentist and students, they all said that it would be to my advantage to go to a school in cali if i wish to practice here after graduation. So here is my questions:

1) If I go to dental school in the east coast, will I have to take the NERB or can I take California license exam without taking NERB?

2) For those of you who struggled with the similar problem in the past (being from Ca and went to dental school elsewhere, but decide to practice in cali), was it hard for you to find an associateship/partnership after returrning to cali? Because I assume you have to start from scratch, ie, finding patients and re-establish the network. What would you suggest if you can do it over again?

3) And lastly, obviously the subject tested on NERB and CA license exam are different, but to what extent are they different? Meaning, will I have to learn the new concept or will it just be slightly different that we can adjust to, ie, carving the shape of tooth (round vs. square, etc)

The dentist I talked to also said that which school you go to doesn't matter when you start practicing. Some methods you learn in school won't be used, ie, for amalgam filling, he said the way it was taught in his dental school is to take a big rubber and place it over the mouth, with a hole into the mouth. More importantly, it's your clinical skills that will attract the patients, not which school you graduated from. With that said, I know USC has a decent clinical program, but I am little rusted on their PBL program.

I need to make my deposit into USC by 5/8, so please please shed some light on this issue if you have any suggestions or opinion on this, I would sincerely appreciate it.

NSXDent

 

[Itsmoney]

OK BUDDY, HERE WE GO:

Let me tell you a story. You do not have to take the NERB, when NERB time comes during your 4th year, you can prepare to take the california board. Now here is the advantages and disadvantages of your issues:

Advantages to go to east coast:
-Better program
-Better education (??)
-Becoming a better dentist due to a better program ??

Disadvantages:
-Must move to east cost
-Must adapt to east cost
-Must move back to California in 4 years
-Must find patients to take the board in California (Big pain while not being in California, even may have to fly your patients to take the Cali board from east ===> Stress and $$$) (If your a student at USC you can use your local patients as board patients w/o a lot of cost of transpotation, and housing for the 2-3 days.

I were you I would stay in California dude...To be honest I don't think a specific school's program effects your outcome to become a dentist all that much differntly, every school has requirements for you to get done therefore you will have experience to do the basic dentistry standards set by boards.
By the way NERB and Cali boards are very similar.
Itsmoney!

 

[FutureNSXDent]

First off, thanks for your helpful reply itsmoney, i really appreciate it!

You are right about program not making difference by the time you graduate from dental school because afterall, you will be a dentist and what distinguishes you from other dentist is your enthusiasm and mainly your clinical skills, how effective you are. The problem here is that as much as I want to stay in cali and go to usc, the fact that it's pbl makes it difficult for various reasons.

1) I am not suitable for pbl, and I know if I go to USC, I won't be happy with their program (as a matter of fact, I know few friends) who are there now just because that was the only cali school they got in, and for cali's sake, they matriculated at sc.

2) I am not motivated enough to start the research myself, I'd rather be told what to study for and know what is tested. The fact that USC only has class mon, wed, and fri and no class on tues and thurs (for self-research and motivation) is a turn-off for me. Sure it's relaxing, you're paying the $$ for an easy life style, but i'd rather be studying my a$$ off and paying lower tuition.

3) I want to come back to Cali upon graduation from dental school, so it would be to my favor to go to USC. But as you can see, for the various reasons I listed above, those reasons halts me. So I am at a dead end now and must consider other possibilities to help me decide.

ps-if you know any of your friend who had similar experience as my, could you share it with me? THanks!

NSXDent

 

[DrMom]

closing. same thread posted in pre-dental has more replies...feel free to respond there.