Temple vs. Stony Brook ??

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SBdent33

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Hey guys.. I need help…
I know it is ridiculous…. but I cant decide one between temple and stony. 😕

I’m leaning toward temple because;

  • offer scholarships for their students who keep good academic performance. (do stony offer that kind of scholarships?)
  • has a little easier didactic courses than stony.. (heard it from a current temple student. It does not mean temple is easy though..) but has a strong clinic program.

BUT!
Stony has;
  • great facilities..(temple’s are old..)
  • better neighbor...
  • better reputation? ( true?)
  • better board score..

Plz give me your two cents~~~~~~~~~~~~!
(Please ignore tuition and living cost... Expense budgets for both schools are about same for me..)
 
the quality of education is not even close..... when at temple the students said they rarely study and pretty much only learn the basic things needed to pass the boards.
 
Stonybrook is less expensive so not having scholarships is not a killer.
 
Yeah seriously, especially if you are a NY state resident. It will be about 40k per year TOTAL (after room/board). What will it be for Temple? Will it be that low even after scholarships? Plus you make it sound like you get a scholarship *after* 1st year. And don't forget that you might not even get one.

If you are out of state then you pay 60k the first year and 40k the last 3 years. Still awesome.
 
Streetwolf said:
Plus you make it sound like you get a scholarship *after* 1st year. And don't forget that you might not even get one.

If you are out of state then you pay 60k the first year and 40k the last 3 years. Still awesome.
Click to expand...

I say there are scholoarship opportunities at temple.. appologize if it sound like that..

Anyway, I am out of state. How could I obtain NY residency? rent an apartment is enough? or buying a property(too much..)?
 
lollipop999 said:
the quality of education is not even close..... when at temple the students said they rarely study and pretty much only learn the basic things needed to pass the boards.
Click to expand...

really???

but I heard temple is one of the top clinic schools...
 
I'm a PA resident going to Buffalo next year. If cost is part of the concern, in state tuition for Temple is like 125,000, and at Buffalo which is a SUNY school just like Stony Brook and the exact same cost too, you can get in state after first year so total for 4 years tuition is about 75,000. I would think it would be the same for Stony so you should check that out....though, I'm not sure how the living expenses compare.
 
SBdent33 said:
really???

but I heard temple is one of the top clinic schools...
Click to expand...

It is. She is just ill informed, and most likely biased. People like to do that on this website.

Seriously though, Temple has an excellent reputation. Clinical education is top notch, and on par with the best in the country. Stonybrook is also a great school - but two totally different programs. You will see far more patients at Temple, and clinical requirements are some of the highest out of any dental schools.

Most dentists I talk to about Temple say that it has one of the best, simply because you will come out being an extremely well rounded clinician. As far as academic stuff, it is not a walk in the park as this person puts it. Again, heresay.
 
I vote Stony.
 
lollipop999 said:
the quality of education is not even close..... when at temple the students said they rarely study and pretty much only learn the basic things needed to pass the boards.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is not what they told me....and I interviewed at both 🙄
 
lollipop999 said:
the quality of education is not even close..... when at temple the students said they rarely study and pretty much only learn the basic things needed to pass the boards.
Click to expand...

What a joke.."not even close". I just love BS statements like this. :laugh:
 
Personally, I think it is hard to beat Temple as a school overall. If nothing else mattered, I think Temple will prepare you to be a dentist as well if not better than any other school. BUT when you throw in the difference in cost, any school will teach you to be a dentist, especially if you are willing to work hard to excel, so go to the cheaper school.
 
lollipop999 said:
the quality of education is not even close..... when at temple the students said they rarely study and pretty much only learn the basic things needed to pass the boards.
Click to expand...

Says the guy that hasn't even started dental school yet. I am a sophomore at Temple right now, and the class average so far in our Pharm class is 88%. Not bad for a class that doesn't study at all. Imagine what the average would if we actually studied. It is a good thing we don't study, or you dumb pre-dents would have no shot at specializing. 🙄
 
Think about studying in that area for all four years of dental school. Some people could care less about what type of area a school is in but some are really affected by it. Both are great programs but are in two completely different climates.

Isn't it the Kornberg school of dentistry now? I hear they are going through major renovations over the next few years.
 
DSpagnoli said:
What a joke.."not even close". I just love BS statements like this. :laugh:
Click to expand...

There's no need to jump on lollipop999 like this, they were just offering what they had heard. I happen to disagree with it (I decided just a few days ago to go to temple myself and eagerly look forward to it), but this thread was started by someone asking for different points of view and all lollipop999 did was report the heresay that they had heard from Temple students. If you want to dispute it then do so, but don't just call it BS
 
will9631 said:
There's no need to jump on lollipop999 like this, they were just offering what they had heard. I happen to disagree with it (I decided just a few days ago to go to temple myself and eagerly look forward to it), but this thread was started by someone asking for different points of view and all lollipop999 did was report the heresay that they had heard from Temple students. If you want to dispute it then do so, but don't just call it BS
Click to expand...

Saying that "the quality of education is not even close" is transcending heresay...

I think he was just saying that is it BS how someone who has not yet attended either school can compare them in terms of quality of education. No need to dispute it.
 
TheWiredNerv said:
Isn't it the Kornberg school of dentistry now? I hear they are going through major renovations over the next few years.
Click to expand...

Yes it is. But it is still a part of Temple.
It is good to hear about the renovations 🙂. I will check that out before my decision.
 
will9631 said:
There's no need to jump on lollipop999 like this, they were just offering what they had heard. I happen to disagree with it (I decided just a few days ago to go to temple myself and eagerly look forward to it), but this thread was started by someone asking for different points of view and all lollipop999 did was report the heresay that they had heard from Temple students. If you want to dispute it then do so, but don't just call it BS
Click to expand...

Sorry for the "rash" comment. My point of view is that even based on heresay you cannot make "matter of fact" comparisons about the quality of education between two dental schools. I'll leave this thread alone 👍
 
Stony all the way. If only Columbia had 35 students in their class...you seriously can't beat that!
 
id pick stony.. to the OP if you dont mind me asking.. when did you recieve you're acceptance letter.. just wondering because of the rumor on SDN about them being overbooked.
 
didactic is a waste of time and "dental medicine" is just a fancy term to justify our $500 hour rate. personally i would go wherever i get to study minimum.
 
Go to Stony Brook, great great school.
 
I'm not going to influence your decision, but I have a great resource on temple dental.

www.DMDstudent.com

A blog about a guy who goes to Temple and loves it. His work is really stupendous too...:wink😎
 
my interviewer told me that SB actually sees the most patients per students, actually. don't have the numbers and it's been awhile, but i'm just putting that out there.

it really depends on what kind of program do you want. Smaller? Classes with the med students? Trucking around your cart? Where do you want to live? Etc. Make a pro/con list and go from there.
 
Of course what I said was just repeated from what I heard at my Temple interview.... The general aura was dull, the students did not look eager to study and learn, there is pretty much no chance of going on to ortho or anything from temple.... the average GPA and DAT scores from both schools can be compared and the quality of students can be easily compared. At temple all I was told.. OVER>...and OVER>..and oVER....

1) THIS IS A GP school, if you do not want to be a GP do not come here
2) "CLINICAL SCHOOL" - WHAT does this even mean!!! MY opinion is that when a school reps clinical they are saying they are producing TECH's not DOCTORS!!!. Every school has clinical things..... i want to learn everything from a broad spectrum, i am not worried about clinical..... If I need help in something I can always go out and do more dentures/extract more teeth.
3) I was also told by students that everyone leaves campus at 5 pm for 2 reasons. It is unsafe and also there is nothing to do since people just study at home and stuff.
4) THis statement I am about to say has been heard by many people other than me. At my temple interview
" If you want academics, go to UPENN. Study with the UPENN students and take the temple tests."
5) THe three oral surgeons I have worked for and 2 dentists ( 2 Penn grads, 1 NYU grad, 1 New jersey grad, 1 buffalo) all said to stay away from temple... I asked why.... and they said... don't worry about it

Thats the kind of school I want to spend 250K on...... yea right ( i have to be known as the lesser school in Phili)

So, do not say my comments have no factual information behind them.
 
DSpagnoli said:
Sorry for the "rash" comment. My point of view is that even based on heresay you cannot make "matter of fact" comparisons about the quality of education between two dental schools. I'll leave this thread alone 👍
Click to expand...


ANd yes you can make a matter of fact....

Compare board scores.... and see what students you would want operating on you
 
If it were me, I'd pick Stony Brook.

I have heard many good things about Temple:
Good Clinical School
Good basketball team

But I've also heard more bad things:
Bad Location in Philly
Students are in charge of billing their own patients


There's more I just can't remember it off the top of my head. I know Stony Brook is a really good school with it's act together and it sounds like tuition is about the Same. I'd rather live in Buffalo than Philadelphia personally, and that's the main reason I'd pick Stony Brook over Temple.
 
I had the same decision, and I chose Stony pretty easily. Temple is a solid school, but Stony beats it across the board IMHO.

The clinical experience is the only aspect that I thought could compare, and even then Stony has it beat. Fewer students means the opportunity to take on more complex and interesting cases. Brand new clinics, everything is digital. Temple allowed you to do lots of procedures, but they're all basic and there's not much variety. Do I really need to do 200 extractions before I graduate? I don't think so. And the facilities left something to be desired... that's just my opinion.
 
lollipop999 said:
ANd yes you can make a matter of fact....

Compare board scores.... and see what students you would want operating on you
Click to expand...

I have yet to find a reputable source that ranks dental schools based on their board scores consistently over the years. I was unaware that such thing existed. I would really like to see how schools compare in this way or rank, so if you find anything like that let me know 👍
 
DSpagnoli said:
I have yet to find a reputable source that ranks dental schools based on their board scores consistently over the years. I was unaware that such thing existed. I would really like to see how schools compare in this way or rank, so if you find anything like that let me know 👍
Click to expand...

pretty much all the schools I interviewed at had a kid that would ask "how are the boards" when and what is the average... I would never ask because I knew somebody would always ask. Uconn, Penn, Stony from what I remember had very high scores... the passing rates were almost 100% and when I was at temple the students said they knew kids would failed and the 5 kids I asked got 81,83, 79, 84.... if you had those scores at stony or at uconn you would have to have 5 97's to keep the average around 90..... i

I do not think they publish the stats anymore... but I do know that most schools will tell you the scores.... At tufts they gave us a huge packet with all the scores and rankings of tufts students from 02-07.... the scores are out there just have to go find them
 
I'd go for Stony Brook. Less expensive. Smaller class size(maybe too small to my liking but its fine). Then on top of that you are not in the middle of a big city(distractions and traffic jams).
 
NismoDDS said:
id pick stony.. to the OP if you dont mind me asking.. when did you recieve you're acceptance letter.. just wondering because of the rumor on SDN about them being overbooked.
Click to expand...

I got accepted on nov 30 and sent my deposit already. @_@
 
From what I recall, at Temple you have to do all of your labwork for your patients including waxing and casting their crowns. This means a lot of time and headache doing lab tech procedures (a lot of these lab steps are not clinically relevant) and that is time away from your couch/tv/family/bar stool etc. 1992Corolla could tell us if they still require students to do all patient labwork. students. At Stonybrook, there is labwork but by comparison, it is much less. They get a very good clinical education at Stonybrook. I worked with a Stonybrook grad at my GPR and he was very prepared in doing clinical procedures and much more knowledgeable about clinical dentistry than the grads from those other NY downstate schools.
 
Thank you guys for all your responses and information-!!!!
 
lollipop999 said:
pretty much all the schools I interviewed at had a kid that would ask "how are the boards" when and what is the average... I would never ask because I knew somebody would always ask. Uconn, Penn, Stony from what I remember had very high scores... the passing rates were almost 100% and when I was at temple the students said they knew kids would failed and the 5 kids I asked got 81,83, 79, 84.... if you had those scores at stony or at uconn you would have to have 5 97's to keep the average around 90..... i

I do not think they publish the stats anymore... but I do know that most schools will tell you the scores.... At tufts they gave us a huge packet with all the scores and rankings of tufts students from 02-07.... the scores are out there just have to go find them
Click to expand...


Even then, that's not a reliable source. NO school would ever shoot themselves down.

To the OP:
If you want to learn more beyond the scope of means given by the school, then you will find a way. It's not like Temple's a crappy school because it's got crappy teachers and crappy students. If it seemed that way to you, then don't go. I personally disliked NYU when I saw it, and no matter how I could convince myself that it was fine, it still wasn't. Go to Stony, you seem convinced even before you defended your original argument. There's not point of any of us convincing you when you've already had it settled.
 
gryffindor said:
From what I recall, at Temple you have to do all of your labwork for your patients including waxing and casting their crowns. This means a lot of time and headache doing lab tech procedures (a lot of these lab steps are not clinically relevant) and that is time away from your couch/tv/family/bar stool etc.
Click to expand...

Considering the baby-boom generation will require prosthetics, I'd probably take it to my advantage to learn more about pre-clinic.
 
SBdent33 said:
Hey guys.. I need help…
I know it is ridiculous…. but I cant decide one between temple and stony. 😕

I’m leaning toward temple because;
  • offer scholarships for their students who keep good academic performance. (do stony offer that kind of scholarships?)
  • has a little easier didactic courses than stony.. (heard it from a current temple student. It does not mean temple is easy though..) but has a strong clinic program.
BUT!
Stony has;
  • great facilities..(temple’s are old..)
  • better neighbor...
  • better reputation? ( true?)
  • better board score..
Plz give me your two cents~~~~~~~~~~~~!
(Please ignore tuition and living cost... Expense budgets for both schools are about same for me..)
Click to expand...

I vote for Temple😍
 
bluejellybelly said:
Even then, that's not a reliable source. NO school would ever shoot themselves down.

To the OP:
If you want to learn more beyond the scope of means given by the school, then you will find a way. It's not like Temple's a crappy school because it's got crappy teachers and crappy students. If it seemed that way to you, then don't go. I personally disliked NYU when I saw it, and no matter how I could convince myself that it was fine, it still wasn't. Go to Stony, you seem convinced even before you defended your original argument. There's not point of any of us convincing you when you've already had it settled.
Click to expand...


I am going to stop myself from name calling. " No school would ever shoot themselves down"... UMM... YES.... THEY did... and I was not the only one to hear those things..... I just live to make up crap and repeat it.... NO... This is exactly what I have heard, asked people if they have heard the same things and they all did. SO comments like" no school.. never" is wrong because it has happened already.
 
lollipop999 said:
Of course what I said was just repeated from what I heard at my Temple interview.... The general aura was dull, the students did not look eager to study and learn, there is pretty much no chance of going on to ortho or anything from temple.... the average GPA and DAT scores from both schools can be compared and the quality of students can be easily compared. At temple all I was told.. OVER>...and OVER>..and oVER....

1) THIS IS A GP school, if you do not want to be a GP do not come here
2) "CLINICAL SCHOOL" - WHAT does this even mean!!! MY opinion is that when a school reps clinical they are saying they are producing TECH's not DOCTORS!!!. Every school has clinical things..... i want to learn everything from a broad spectrum, i am not worried about clinical..... If I need help in something I can always go out and do more dentures/extract more teeth.
3) I was also told by students that everyone leaves campus at 5 pm for 2 reasons. It is unsafe and also there is nothing to do since people just study at home and stuff.
4) THis statement I am about to say has been heard by many people other than me. At my temple interview
" If you want academics, go to UPENN. Study with the UPENN students and take the temple tests."
5) THe three oral surgeons I have worked for and 2 dentists ( 2 Penn grads, 1 NYU grad, 1 New jersey grad, 1 buffalo) all said to stay away from temple... I asked why.... and they said... don't worry about it

Thats the kind of school I want to spend 250K on...... yea right ( i have to be known as the lesser school in Phili)

So, do not say my comments have no factual information behind them.
Click to expand...
Are you kidding me with this post? How is anyone supposed to take anything you say seriously after making comments like this? Perhaps I, a lowly Temple student, can try to teach someone as smart as you a thing or two. First, when a school is referenced as a clinical school it generally means that they tend to have many clinical requirements; it shouldn’t be that difficult to figure this one out. This does not mean that any other school will not teach you just as well but perhaps the clinical schools have more clinical requirements than other schools. Second, how can you say the quality of the students can be compared? Many of my classmates got multiple acceptances to many schools, including some of the others you suggested as superior. Does that mean that all of a sudden they are less talented because they choose to go to Temple? I don't know anything about schools general test scores but I would imagine that they are not that different. And if a small handful of students lowers the scores a few points, that does not give you permission to cast a derogatory blanket statement like that. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, what you stated in this post, despite what you think, is not factual. A smart Stony Brook student like you should have learned what constitutes factual information by now.
Oh yea, you also said: "aura ", LOL!
 
I have friends who have graduated from both Temple and Stony so I'll put my two cents down here. Stonybrook is a wonderful school for the low pricetag and if I could go back I would probably have gone there because of that (student loan repayments are exhausting). With that said, I can honestly say that Stony's clinical program isn't one of the stronger ones in terms of experience. I've known a few Stony grads who have told me they didn't feel prepared to practice in private practice right out of school and felt they had to do a GPR to feel more prepared. An observation about Stony grads has been that they are very "by the book" in their clinical approach. Nothing wrong with that, but that's what i've seen and heard. On the other hand, the Temple grads I know have all been pretty well prepared and excellent clinicians. These are just my opinions and observations so please don't take offense to anything I have said.
 
Ebull said:
Are you kidding me with this post? How is anyone supposed to take anything you say seriously after making comments like this? Perhaps I, a lowly Temple student, can try to teach someone as smart as you a thing or two. First, when a school is referenced as a clinical school it generally means that they tend to have many clinical requirements; it shouldn't be that difficult to figure this one out. This does not mean that any other school will not teach you just as well but perhaps the clinical schools have more clinical requirements than other schools. Second, how can you say the quality of the students can be compared? Many of my classmates got multiple acceptances to many schools, including some of the others you suggested as superior. Does that mean that all of a sudden they are less talented because they choose to go to Temple? I don't know anything about schools general test scores but I would imagine that they are not that different. And if a small handful of students lowers the scores a few points, that does not give you permission to cast a derogatory blanket statement like that. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, what you stated in this post, despite what you think, is not factual. A smart Stony Brook student like you should have learned what constitutes factual information by now.
Oh yea, you also said: "aura ", LOL!
Click to expand...

1) first of all, everything that I put in that thread was just exactly what I heard and saw. The point of this thread was for people to get different backgrounds about schools and what other people think about them...
I just spit back all the information that I heard and typed it. Do not get mad at the messenger. Maybe you should get mad at fellow students who say these things.
2) And why could one not compare? If you gave me school A board vs school B board you could make a conclusion of who knows the material better/who was taught well.
3) Yes you are right about the clinical part, I personally do not agree with it which is fine. I do not care if I am not clinically ready. I want to practice in NY so I have to do a GPR or I could go ortho/oral/pedo... whatever....
4) FOR ME, I feel the actual classes in dental school will be much harder than the lab portions. I am a handy person and have tons of dental experience. SO for me, when I hear a school say "clinical" over and over 5-7 times in one day I was not very impressed.
 
And by the way, when I used the word "factual" I may have used it incorrectly. I meant to say that they were direct quotes from students at the school. Of course every school is going to have unhappy students but why would they be the ones giving tours. Those people are supposed to be extra fake and love everything about the school.
 
Come one, Stony Brook is the better school.

Especially, the students are much smarter in SB. Temple has the lowest DAT average among the private schools.
 
lollipop999 said:
Of course what I said was just repeated from what I heard at my Temple interview.... The general aura was dull, the students did not look eager to study and learn, there is pretty much no chance of going on to ortho or anything from temple.... the average GPA and DAT scores from both schools can be compared and the quality of students can be easily compared. At temple all I was told.. OVER>...and OVER>..and oVER....

1) THIS IS A GP school, if you do not want to be a GP do not come here
2) "CLINICAL SCHOOL" - WHAT does this even mean!!! MY opinion is that when a school reps clinical they are saying they are producing TECH's not DOCTORS!!!. Every school has clinical things..... i want to learn everything from a broad spectrum, i am not worried about clinical..... If I need help in something I can always go out and do more dentures/extract more teeth.
3) I was also told by students that everyone leaves campus at 5 pm for 2 reasons. It is unsafe and also there is nothing to do since people just study at home and stuff.
4) THis statement I am about to say has been heard by many people other than me. At my temple interview
" If you want academics, go to UPENN. Study with the UPENN students and take the temple tests."
5) THe three oral surgeons I have worked for and 2 dentists ( 2 Penn grads, 1 NYU grad, 1 New jersey grad, 1 buffalo) all said to stay away from temple... I asked why.... and they said... don't worry about it

Thats the kind of school I want to spend 250K on...... yea right ( i have to be known as the lesser school in Phili)

So, do not say my comments have no factual information behind them.
Click to expand...


I have interviewed at Temple too, and I have felt exactly the same as lollipop
 
denniss1 said:
Come one, Stony Brook is the better school.

Especially, the students are much smarter in SB. Temple has the lowest DAT average among the private schools.
Click to expand...

Coming from the same guy that started the thread: "Which dental school works best to impress women at bars." 🙄

Sorry pal, but I know plenty of kids who scored a higher DAT than me and you cannot claim that they are "smarter". People are smarter in different ways if you have not figured that out. I could argue that I am smarter than you, simply because I do not intend to use my dental school as a means to impress women.

There are some people who were very bright academically, but may not have the hands/common sense/social skills to be a good clinician. I think your generalization AND your previous thread reflects the nature of your thinking..

If you think you can claim "A school is better than B school", I would love to see your sources for such a claim, other than your own limited personal knowledge and heresay.
 
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