SUNY- Buffalo

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I will also be attending SUNY Buffalo, actually can't wait for school to start. Where are you from?
 
Hey kaede177

I noticed you started a Suny buffalo thread. I hope you get more responses than my Stony Brook thread! :laugh:

Tziri
 
I'm from California, how bout u?


Hi Tziri!
🙂
 
I'm from Long Island.

Buffalo is going to be cold compared to california
 
Adam,

since you're from LI, Ithought I would ask you - do you know anyone going to Stony Brook next year? I don't seem to be getting much of a response in the thread i posted. I know they have a really small class size, but still...
thanks,
Tziri
 
Sorry, I chose to attend Buffalo instead of Stony Brook. I don't know of anyone who will be going to Stony Brook next year.
 
heh, yes i've been getting the cold thing from everyone!
Is it just special for Buffalo or something? How bout the rest of New York?

Did u find a place to live yet? I hope i can get one of those university apartments or i gotta start lookin.
 
Hi all

Just wondering what is the main reason why you picked UB dental over whichever other schools you were accepted to?


thanks
 
kaede,
Buffalo is colder than the rest of NY, but in my opinion it is not much of a factor when chosing among schools all in cold climates. I was up in Buffalo two weeks ago and rented an apartment off campus.

I chose Buffalo over other schools due to the quality of education, cost of education and the positive aura given off by present students whom I spoke with. The facilities are top notch, even though they don't have any sim. clinics like some private schools. Another factor of my decision was the reputation of the school within the dental community due to my desire to specialize. Buffalo offers a top rate education which is well regarded by other dentists. The only negative with Buffalo is the difficulty of the curiculum. All present UB students which I have spoke with have all commented on the difficulty of getting high grades in the didactic courses. Overall I fell UB offers a great education at an affordable cost as well as the reasonable cost of living in Buffalo.l
 
Adam can you please elaborate on why buffalo would be a good school to goto if you want to specialize. Do you know of any stats of what percent of graduates go into specialization programs (not GPR or AEGD)?

thanks
 
As a former and future resident of Buffalo and member of the class of 2007 at UB SDM, I want to chime in about Buffalo's weather. Buffalo is not colder than the rest of Upstate NY (or the rest of the Upper Midwest or Northeast for that matter), as has been suggested. It just gets more snow (90-100") than everywhere but Syracuse, which is the snowiest metro area in the country (120"). Winter is good in Buffalo though because either you have no outdoor distractions from studying or you can take advantage of UB's killer ski club ($110 to ski every day/evening for the entire winter). I also wanted to second the comments made earlier about UB's reputation, laid-back feel, and the thorough approach to basic sciences and classroom dentistry. I have spoken to a lot of UB grads and current students. The UB grads LOVE the education they received and the current students, while many are feeling pretty low about the workload, seem to be satisfied with their experience so far. I cannot, however, address the issue of specialization as I don't plan on it.
 
Woohoo! i'm a snowboarder so i guess that might be a plus for me.

Anyhow, I decided to go to Buffalo because their curriculum seems very thorough and time-tested. I say time-tested mainly because one of my other serious choices were UNLV. While they had many promises of things to come for the adventurous, I was still worried because there were no statistics yet. Also the environment of Buffalo was very nice and living is convenient. Some schools like Temple U and maybe USC i think you have to commute.
One cool reason is their content on DVD's. I'm a techie......:clap:
 
My Aunt just graduated from there. She loved it, I think she also teaches some of the clinical/practice classes over there. I used to live in Buffalo, and spent a day on the job at UB with her once, it was pretty cool.
 
Wow, way to go Buffalo! It's so great to hear some positive comments from the freshmen-to-be. Sounds like you guys already have school spirit. I'm a junior at Buffalo right now, will be a senior in THREE WEEKS!!!!! May 9th! (Three VERY hellish weeks - too many practicals to take in clinic, way too many final exams). Feel free to ask any questions you have.

I am very satisfied with the education I have received, although I did have to study very hard. However, after reading about what the UCONN students have to go through for their basic science exams (see the thread on the Dental board), I assure you we didn't have it that bad. All of our exams are multiple choice. After a while, you learn how to straight up memorize and look for the right answers.

They are definitely integrating the computers into the curriculum more. Many exams are even given on computer now. There are still some kinks, but they are way better with it now than when we started with our dinosaur G3 Macs in Aug. 2000.

As far as specialization, you can always go to our website www.sdm.buffalo.edu and access the "Alumni" section. It'll tell you what programs the graduates attended right after they finished at UB. It's a good mix, but there are more general dentists than specialists. Although we usually place in the top 10 for Part I board scores, they definitely are preparing you in clinic to be an all-rounded general practitioner. But there are students determined to specialize in every class, and they do it.
 
Oh yeah, hey Adam my name is Mike Lu.
just curious when did you go interview at the school? Maybe we went there at the same time. I went in mid-december, 19th i think...
 
Kaede I sent you a PM
 
I will also be attending UB Dental next year. I have lived in Western NY all of my life so the weather is not a big deal for me. I chose UB because it offers a top notch education with a great clinical experience. I am looking forward to meeting everyone in a few months.
 
Hello, I am interested in applying to university at buffalo. That is my #1 choice and I am praying that they will accept me. I am going into my junior year as a pre med student and I was wondering, how many of you guys have a part time job, working on the weekends, while attending university at buffalo. I also would like to know if they have residential housing especially for dental students. I want to lease a car in my senior year of under grad, and I need to pay off my car note while I'm in dental school. ($330+insurance+gas=$650/month). Is it worth leasing a car or should I just stick to public transportation while in dental school. Will I be able to work part time on the weekends or does anyone do it? Thanks
 
I get this question every year from pre-dents who have never been to New York State outside of New York City. Do I need a car?

The short answer: YES!!!!

The long answer: Public transportation sucks in Buffalo (Urai can back me up on this one). I have lived here for a LONG time and have no clue how to get on the bus. I don't have any friends who have ever taken a bus. The subway/metro thing has only one line and only goes up and down Main Street (esentially, it goes nowhere of practical use for a dental student). Dental students take the subway once a year when we have to attend the Buffalo/Niagara dental meeting downtown. You theoretically could get by without a car if you live in the immediate area surrounding the dental school and walked to school. However, this is very impractical for a number of reasons.

1) Your friends will all be living in the suburbs and you will have no way of visiting/hanging out/studying with them if you can't drive to their apartments.
2) All of the malls and shopping centers (supermarkets, Target, Best Buy, etc) are in the suburbs and have gigantic parking lots, which should tell you something. There is scant bus service to the suburbs.
3) It is really cold from November through April. Cold enough that even the students who actually live in walking distance end up driving to school or getting a ride.
4) All of the out-of-towners in my class find Buffalo to be a great study environment because there is very little to do. Especially if you don't have a car. As a long time resident, I find myself getting bored on the weekends sometimes b/c I don't feel like going to the mall and it is too cold to go for a walk. Now some people will argue with me on this one saying there is great skiing (if you are into that), but you need a car to get to the ski resorts.
5) People just don't walk here. There is not good sidewalk coverage in many places and the sidewalks aren't always shoveled in the winter. Also, stuff is too far apart from each other to walk. If I see pedestrians, I usually think "Geez, did their car break down? What's wrong?" So if you want to depend on your friends for rides (which can get very irritating for your friends after a while) don't bring a car. Otherwise, buy a car, by whatever means you have to - it will be a lifesaver.

Note: 3 students from California in my class came here thinking they didn't need a car. After it got cold, they all caved and bought cars b/c they realized how impossible it is to live in Buffalo without one.

About the "Can I work" question. I would highly recommend NOT holding a job while in dental school. At least not for the first two years. I think maybe 5 or 6 students in my class held part-time jobs and a few of them were struggling to ensure they were passing their classes. If you can get some little baby-sitting job or watching a cat for a few hours saturday morning, go for it. But working hours by the clock for some store or dentist will be tricky because they can expect you to work when you have an exam the next day. And first year you have exams all the time. Even if you don't have an exam, you will be studying for the exams coming up. Second year you have lots of lab work all the time. As a third year, I found myself having lots of nights where I did nothing, but I am usually too tired when I go home after clinic. I am also involved in lots of school activities so that takes up quite a bit of my time.

troache - When you come to Buffalo, you can switch your insurance to your Buffalo address and it will probably go way down if you are coming from NYC. There are not "dental student only" housing places. There are really nice grad-student townhouses available on the North campus, but again, you will need a car if you live there b/c the bus service b/w North and South is not convenient for the dental school schedule. However, housing should be the least of your problems (if you don't have to live withing walking distance). It is really easy to find apartments around here anytime of the year. I had classmates show up to orientation and line up nice places to live with affordable rent by the next day. If you want a specific townhouse or apartment you may have to apply earlier.
 
I have found your information to be very valuable and I wanna say thanks. I have about two more years of undergrad, so I am definitely going to start saving my money. I don't want to have to struggle. I live in nyc where public transportation is my main way of getting where I need to go. And does it really get that cold in Buffalo. I hear everyone saying that. But thanks, you answered all of my questions thoroughly and I appreciate it. Thanks again.
 
Totally way off topic but for you present UBers, or future UBers, have you been watching the reality show on MTV Sorority Life and Fraternity Life. They're following Pledgers at some frat/sorority at UB.
 
man, that sucks i'm coming from california and i plan to walk everywhere. Maybe bike everywhere too.

So where is the suburbs compared to south campus? How bout the shopping places?
I'm going back to Buffalo in May to look for a room along winspear ave. or somewhere close by.
 
Quick geography lesson.

Buffalo and the surrounding suburbs are in Erie County. Erie County and 7 other counties make up what they call Western New York (WNY for short). You'll hear the term WNY a lot, basically it means Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and all the surrounding farmland.

The dental school is on the South Campus. The part of the campus located at the intersection of Bailey Ave. and Main St. is where Buffalo begins (where the dental school is). Amherst and Kenmore are two towns (suburbs) that also have their boundaries at this intersection. When I say students live in the suburbs, I am talking about living in Amherst or Kenmore. Amherst is way safer than living in the areas of Buffalo immediately surrounding the dental school (basically the walking distance areas).

Across the street from the dental school is a shopping plaza with Starbucks, some little stores, and Tops, one of the major supermarket chains in WNY. (We refer to this particular store as "Ghetto Tops." For good reason). A mere 5 minutes drive away is an International Tops and another supermarket, Wegmans. These stores are GIGANTIC. Everyone that come here from the New York City area (Long Island, Queens, etc) is very impressed and amazed at the size of these stores. My point is if you choose not to have a car, you are stuck shopping at ghetto Tops unless someone gives you a ride to the other stores. Near the International Tops and Wegmens are tons of other stores - Target, the Boulevard Mall, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, K-mart, Krispy Kreme, IHOP, movie theatres, you get the idea. These stores are all in Amherst, not Buffalo. You can't get to them without a car. Forget walking. They're too far away for that.

Bike? No way your bike is going to get you to these stores. Maybe in the summer. But people like me who have lived here forever are not used to seeing people on bikes when we are driving. It is not safe for you on the bike. Pedesstrians definitely do not have the right of way here (unlike NYC, Boston, etc). I'm not even sure where you'd put your bike - I've never noticed a bike rack at any store around here.

There are 2 dental students I can think of who bike to school often. However, they are married and their spouses keep the car during the day. So they do have access to a car, even if they don't bring it to campus everyday.

Does it really get that cold? Cold by itself wouldn't be so bad. But most days when I step outside, I am greeted by the nasty wind that makes a cold day feel 100 times worse. This wind chill effect is why people complain so much about the cold. It numbs your fingers (even with the gloves on) and blasts right through your scrubs leaving you feeling like a popsicle.

One other thing you guys might not realize. Your schedule at school is completely insane. First year classes are from 8 to 4 (approximately). However, you'll end up being at school much later because you'll want to study at the Gross lab or the Histo lab - stuff you can't study at home b/c you only have access to it at school. My first year I'd be at school till 4, go home to relax and eat dinner, and then head back to school at 6 to study till midnight, then go back home again. So you will be at school at unpredictable hours. I've had 2 all-nighters doing lab work in my 3 years so far.

Kaede, do yourself a huge favor and scrape together the money to get a car. You'll be thanking me later.
 
Well, I thought I'd join the club and drop a line. One more week of school, a nice relaxing summer vaca., then it's Dental School in the fall, well tail-end of summer. Good luck to anyone with finals. Man, the next four year is gonna be like pull'n teeth....sorry had to do it.
 
Hey everybody,

I got into SUNY UB Medical School and tried getting in touch with the med students and no one responded. I also want to get ahold of people in the other grad schools, aslo. We're all one happy family, eh?

Are there any good brownstones or cobblestone houses/apts for rent around the SUNY UB campus. I like them a lot, but if not, I'm just wondering where to grad students live usually. PM me or just email me at [email protected]. Later
 
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