Tufts and Marquette

[othodiatros]

Hey

I have narrowed my decision down to either Tufts or Marquette and was wondering what you thoughts are on these 2 schools. Why would you choose one over the other? Also does anyone know where you can get the national board results for all schools or a ranking of schools by board avg? This may help me in my choice. I think both are pretty good clinically but at Tufts patients may be harder to come by because there are 3 dental schools in Boston. The graduation requirements at Tufts are very low (probably cause people weren't finishing them in time). Tufts also is in a better location but it is more expensive. I found an awesome apartment in Milwaukee for 750. Try to find that in downtown Boston without any mousetraps, lol. Tufts has a good name and is well known nation wide, while Marquette's name fades outside of the midwest. Is anyone else considering these schools? What do you think?

Thanasi

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[Big_Poppa DDS]

The graduation requirements are not that hard a marquette either, but now they switched from a point system to a case completion system, so I don't know about that. I know that we had to complete patient competencies, a class 2 amalgam, a class 3 resin, border molding, denture insertion, border molding a distal extension partion, a crown prep and custom provisional, a pfm and a bridge. If you pass all those on your first try you don't need to do another one, so there is no set number of things you need to do as long as you got all your points, or now case completions.

I was happy with marquette, but I heard tufts is a good school and I think you might get a better basic science education there, at marquette you take some courses with undergrads and PA's , but I don't know now with the new curriculum and new school.

 

[Viraj]

Hey Thanasi
I think Tufts is # 5 in NDB.

 

[Big_Poppa DDS]

Look, I don't mean to get upset but it doesn't matter what rank your school gets on the NDB. If you study the decks you will do fine. Its all on the individual. My class scored 2 points below the national ave for part 1 and at the national average for part 2. I studied the decks and scored well above the national average. I did not even look at old class notes once.

For that matter, it doesn't matter what school you go to for specializing. You heard what great stats marquette had from my class and next year from my class we have 1 oral surgery resident (1 applied) 3 pros residents, 3 ortho residents and a ton of GPR and AEGD residents. Everyone who applied for a specialty got in except for an Endo applicant and I heard you usually need experience before any program will accept you.

 

[othodiatros]

Thanks for the input guys. I am using the board scores as an indication of the difficulty of the curriculum and the competition level of the students. I know that at Columbia board scores are all that matter so their clinical skills are neglected. So it is a trade off sometimes. We have to live with our decision for 4 years so I want to make the right one. I will be visiting Boston again to get a better idea of housing. Has anyone been apartment shopping in Boston yet? What have you found out? Is there any reasonable apartments near the school?

 

[bklyn]

I was blessed with some great choices in this process and ended up selecting Tufts. The vibe just seemed right-- at Tufts two students actually told me "I LOVE it here. I am SO HAPPY." They were bubbling about their experience. This was the most enthusiastic I'd seen anyone at any school, beside Kentucky. Case in point: At Columbia students spoke of depression, feelings of inadequacy, and a general dread of every aspect of the program-- which they dealt with because of the "great reputation" and "opportunity for professional advancement." Hmmmmmm. Tufts seemed like the way to go for me. I hope it proves right.

 

[Deuce4321]

I went went around boston to find a place to stay and I also know a few people at Tufts Dental... from what I gathered it is going to be very very expensive for housing... many of the tufts students suggested living in the dorms first year because they said that it is close and you will need to be at anatomy lab for many hours... they also said that the neighborhood is terrible and the rooms are tiny and it is overpriced but its a tradeoff... also they said that if you live in the dorms it feels like you never leave the school... i hope i helped somewhat... i am stuck between dorms and apartment right now in boston??? let me know if you get any other info...