***The Official UPenn Class of 2023 Interview/Acceptance Thread***

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tweezy said:
Is there a resource to use to see how much debt we will be accumulating / how much time it might take for us to pay it off?
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The general rule is, you'll be paying back at least twice for every dollar you borrow from loan. Remember it's compound interest as well, there are bunch of calculators you can use to calculate.


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Aletheiaq said:
Hi everyone. I just got an interview from Penn Dental and I'm literally panicking in school right now about the airline/airport situation, where I'm suppose to stay for one night in Philadelphia, etc. I know I should probably go through the threads and scavenge info but I have a full day of classes and research and I would really appreciate if any of you can offer some useful advice about the travel situation. Thank you! (typing furiously before class is about to start)
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I traveled w/ Spirit to most of my interviews to save $ and in Philly the major airport is PHL. I always got to the destination the morning before the day of the interview and returned in the late afternoon after the interview. For Penn I stayed at an Airbnb near the school. There are many cheap options, just gotta look a the reviews.
 
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Also received post-dec interview, declining cause already accepting PITT, hope mine goes to a deserving candidate!
 
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Boise State Bronco said:
Does anyone know for Christmas, spring and summer, how much time off classes is there?

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Winter break is about 9 days. You have spring break the first two years (one week). Summer first year lasts from middle of June to the last week of August. Second year, you get one month.
 
I have officially decided to deposit to Penn with my scholarship, unless I hear anything from UNC. I am excited to join and hope to see many of you there :)


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For a post December (December 13) interview, How long do you guys think it will take for them to notify us if we have gotten in?
 
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Would a current D3 or D4 update this for Penn? :)

Standard Format:

1) Name of Your Dental School

2) What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?

3) What is the hardest class? Why?

4) What is the easiest class? Why?

5) Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabatoge each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?

6) Are the class notes based primarily on textbooks? or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?

7) Are there any classes taken with medical students? If so, which ones?

8) What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?

9) Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?

10) Is class attendance mandatory?

11) In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?

12) Is there a big brother/big sister program that pairs you with an upperclassman or professor who "mentors" you?

13) What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score?

14) When do you take the NDBE? 1st year or second year? (I guess this wouldn't apply for us since we're taking the combined boards!!)

15) Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?

16) Do most people study in the University Library? Or does the place clear out right after school and everybody studies on their own?

17) Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in?

18) Is it a hassle to get a chair once you get patients in? In your opinion, does your school have enough chairs?

19) What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult?

20) Are there opportunities for different off-site dental clinic rotations? If so, what are they?

21) Are there opportunites for outreach trips to underserved areas or countries? If so, what are they and for how long?

22) Is there sufficent preparation for practice management? What career placement opportunites does your school offer?

23) What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
 
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Not sure that a D3/D4 will even see this, so I'll answer what I can.
youngsushi said:
Would a current D3 or D4 update this for Penn? I'm planning on OMFS so thank you! :)

Standard Format:

1) Name of Your Dental School

Penn

2) What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?

1 exam a week (we don't have "finals"), although D2 year sometimes theres a quiz and an exam.

3) What is the hardest class? Why?

Haven't taken enough to know.

4) What is the easiest class? Why?

Intro to patient (lol).

5) Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabatoge each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?

Everyone is extremely collaborative. We have a google drive where we share study guides, and a class groupme that everyone can ask and answer each other's questions.

6) Are the class notes based primarily on textbooks? or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?

Almost exclusively power points.

7) Are there any classes taken with medical students? If so, which ones?

Nope.

8) What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?

Lab classes are H/P/F. All didactic courses are graded.

9) Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?

All lecture are recorded, and they're usually uploaded the same day. As for an official note taking service, we don't really have one. However, each class can form their own transcription group where 1 person will transcribe the lecture for that day. I think we have roughly 80 people in our transcription group, so we end up only having to transcribe 1 lecture a semester.

10) Is class attendance mandatory?

Not really. If hardly anyone shows up, sometimes the professors might get mad and they'll bust out the occasional attendance sheet, but that's only happened once. I'm not much of a class person, and everything has been fine so far.

11) In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?

I'd say professors are very approachable and they do a good job answering questions sent to them through email. The dean for academic affairs, who teaches a lot of our classes, is also really approachable and you can stop by his office if you ever need to chat.

12) Is there a big brother/big sister program that pairs you with an upperclassman or professor who "mentors" you?

Yup. Incoming D1s get paired with D2s.

13) What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score?

Not sure the %, but basically everyone passes.

14) When do you take the NDBE? 1st year or second year? (I guess this wouldn't apply for us since we're taking the combined boards!!)

Usually between D2 and D3. We get a 1 month summer break between D2 and D3 and people take it then. Our class will be the last one allowed to take part 1 and part 2 boards separately, so I'm not sure when the class of 2023+ will take theirs.

15) Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?

^^^

16) Do most people study in the University Library? Or does the place clear out right after school and everybody studies on their own?

It's a mix. We have access to all the Penn libraries so some people study in the law or undergrad libraries or Wharton. Some people study at home and others study in the dental school.

17) Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in?

Can't answer this, but it doesn't seem like D3/D4s are struggling to find patients.

18) Is it a hassle to get a chair once you get patients in? In your opinion, does your school have enough chairs?

Again, can't answer this but it really doesn't seem like a problem.

19) What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult?

Not sure.

20) Are there opportunities for different off-site dental clinic rotations? If so, what are they?

Yeah we are required to do an externship at another program our 4th year. It used to be a 4 week externship but I think that got cut down to 2 weeks.

21) Are there opportunities for outreach trips to underserved areas or countries? If so, what are they and for how long?

Yes, the new Dean is setting up a bunch of out reach programs. Don't really know the specifics yet because they haven't been implemented.

22) Is there sufficient preparation for practice management? What career placement opportunities does your school offer?

Not sure.

23) What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?

There really isn't a requirement. D1s end up wearing whatever. D2s-D4s are normally in scrubs because they have lab/clinic almost everyday.
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Life of Pablo said:
Not sure that a D3/D4 will even see this, so I'll answer what I can.
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"20) Are there opportunities for different off-site dental clinic rotations? If so, what are they?
Yeah we are required to do an externship at another program our 4th year. It used to be a 4 week externship but I think that got cut down to 2 weeks. "

*Triggered*
 
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Aletheiaq said:
Hi everyone. I just got an interview from Penn Dental and I'm literally panicking in school right now about the airline/airport situation, where I'm suppose to stay for one night in Philadelphia, etc. I know I should probably go through the threads and scavenge info but I have a full day of classes and research and I would really appreciate if any of you can offer some useful advice about the travel situation. Thank you! (typing furiously before class is about to start)
Click to expand...

Hopefully I am not too late. Flying with Frontier is fairly cheap as well! I think they are having some sort of sale constantly (sometimes up to 90% off the flight fair). As for housing, I stayed at an airbnb and saved money by renting just a room instead of a whole apartment/place!
 
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Badgers2 said:
"20) Are there opportunities for different off-site dental clinic rotations? If so, what are they?
Yeah we are required to do an externship at another program our 4th year. It used to be a 4 week externship but I think that got cut down to 2 weeks. "

*Triggered*
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Anyone considering Penn without a strong desire to specialize? I am still keeping doors open but as of right now I'm not sure.
 
blueandorange2019 said:
Anyone considering Penn without a strong desire to specialize? I am still keeping doors open but as of right now I'm not sure.
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There is nothing wrong with going to Penn with a mindset of not going to specialize (and as should for any dental school, since we are equipped with the knowledge to become competent GPs). IMHO, the debt for coming out will be difficult to pay back as a GP, estimated at least 20 years if not even more. What I like Penn the most is that it opens the door to everything! I've thought about it a lot these couple weeks and I think my mindset should be more open-minded than before since you never know what could change over the course of next four years. I used to have the mindset of going straight to OMFS but I think that's not healthy for me during dental school (even though this coming semester I will be shadowing MD-OMFS residents once or twice every month, but just to get more experience into this field). I'm now trying to keep all my options such as ortho, perio, and peds, which I've all shadowed before (I didn't like endo lol).

Aletheiaq said:
Is there a writing portion to the interview(s)?
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Relax, no.


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My status changed from application complete to under review, is that a good sign?


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I received an invite December 18th and scheduled my interview for January 18th. The 10th, 11th, and 17th were already booked.
 
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eldmd_32 said:
Winter break is about 9 days. You have spring break the first two years (one week). Summer first year lasts from middle of June to the last week of August. Second year, you get one month.
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For the summer before D3, do you participate in 1 of the 2 summer clinic sessions (is that the month off you mentioned?). And for the summer before D4 do you work both summer clinic sessions or just 1 of 2?
 
Does anyone know when the second round of scholarship offers are usually sent?
 
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I was accepted without scholarship to UPenn, and I really want to attend. However, I can't justify attending over my cheaper options. Does anyone know if reaching out to admissions and leveraging my other offers would do any good? Or do they just send out the rest of the scholarship money as it becomes available? I don't want to bother putting $500 down for a deposit if there's not much chance I'd get a decent amount of money from them at this point...
 
.dentgal said:
I was accepted without scholarship to UPenn, and I really want to attend. However, I can't justify attending over my cheaper options. Does anyone know if reaching out to admissions and leveraging my other offers would do any good? Or do they just send out the rest of the scholarship money as it becomes available? I don't want to bother putting $500 down for a deposit if there's not much chance I'd get a decent amount of money from them at this point...
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Sounds like you have nothing to lose if you ask. Might as well do it.
 
For those who recently got an interview, did you guys send them a letter of interest?
 
Hi everyone! I'm super excited to be attending Penn in the fall! I'm in the market for a new laptop, since my current one isn't functioning properly. Ms. Cacas told me we can get any computer brand as there is no technology requirement. I currently have a MacBook Air and am used to the way they work, but I don't take notes on my computer in undergrad... I usually print out the lecture slides and handwrite notes during class. However, this probably isn't too doable in dental school, because we take so many more classes. For any current dental students, do you think it'd be best to buy a laptop that is touchscreen where I can handwrite notes on it via a surface pen and also type on it (but have to learn a new operating system, i.e. Microsoft), or to buy an Apple pen and take notes on the iPads they give us (although I'm not sure how large those iPads are or if that's allowed).

Hopefully that made sense! Thank you :)
 
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Dentist To Be123 said:
Hi everyone! I'm super excited to be attending Penn in the fall! I'm in the market for a new laptop, since my current one isn't functioning properly. Ms. Cacas told me we can get any computer brand as there is no technology requirement. I currently have a MacBook Air and am used to the way they work, but I don't take notes on my computer in undergrad... I usually print out the lecture slides and handwrite notes during class. However, this probably isn't too doable in dental school, because we take so many more classes. For any current dental students, do you think it'd be best to buy a laptop that is touchscreen where I can handwrite notes on it via a surface pen and also type on it (but have to learn a new operating system, i.e. Microsoft), or to buy an Apple pen and take notes on the iPads they give us (although I'm not sure how large those iPads are or if that's allowed).

Hopefully that made sense! Thank you :)
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You get an iPad so most classmates got the Apple Pencil. Most people (like 90%) use their iPad to take notes in class so there’s no need to buy a whole separate touchscreen laptop. If you want to buy a laptop just get the MacBook because that’s what the rest use to take notes for the most part. They work great together and that’s what most people have. Obvi there are people that use non Apple products but that’s like 2% of the class.
 
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