To current Upenn students or graduates

[Munchy]

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Hello everyone.
I am a predent who applied to Upenn dentistry for 2011 entrance. I picked Upenn despite its crazy tuition b/c I have only heard good things about it. But of course, hearing something and experiencing it can be different. So how's the life in the city of Philadelphia and the school itself?

Upenn is pretty famous for its NIH grants but is access to dental research readily available? (I plan to pursue a PhD. after graduating) Are the facilities as good as they say it is?

I guess my question is, are/were you happy what Upenn has provided you with?

 

[whlee84]

After spending some time in Philly and the UPenn area, I love it so far. Yes, the school is ridiculously expensive, but it's also not the most expensive dental school (I know 5 schools that are more expensive than UPenn off the top of my head). By the time you enter in 2011, the estimated total cost to attend UPenn will be around 93K per year with the current trend, so if money is an issue you should strongly consider your state school.

The philly area is awesome itself, with a lot of restaurants, bars, clubs, sports, museums, shows, etc. and if you ever bored, there's NYC 1.5 hours away and washington DC 2 hours away. Just hop on the Bolt bus and you're there.

The post-graduate facilities are top-notch, and we just got a $17.3 mil donation to our oral surgery department, and our perio, ortho, endo clinic facilities are top notch. However, the undergrad facilities are NOT up to par as most of the other schools I visited during my interview process. The lecture rooms and preclinic labs are located in the "dungeon", where you will spend the first 2 years of dental school. The preclinic labs I've heard hasn't changed much since the 1970's lol. However, we have been getting a lot of change recently thanks to our new dean who's very proactive, so we now have completely integrated electronic records at every chair in the clinic, and new digital radiograph machines...so by the time you get here in 2011, there might be further changes.

Lastly, if you want to get into research, UPenn is the place to be. There are tons of opportunities to get involved with research (both clinical and science) and you can start as early as your first year. The faculty here always have research going on, so they always welcome student researchers. Furthermore, if you want a ph.D, there are plenty of options for you here, as all 12 graduate schools are located on one unified beautiful campus.

hope that helps, and good luck!