UCLA Ortho Scandal (and others)

[gryffindor]

So how much money did UCLA bring in today...errrr...how was match day?

UCLA conveniently dropped out of the match last year.

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[FMrehab]

Someone just matched at USC with an 85 on boards, no research, no leadership positions, a subpar score on the GRE (less than 1200). You might wonder how this happened? Daddy is faculty in the ortho program and Grandaddy is ortho alumni. Another spot being wasted on a well deserving applicant.

 

[EyeAmCommi]

Agreed. We all need to have some standards. UCLA is an abomination and makes us all look bad.

Lol. Okay.

 

[Firm]

Someone just matched at USC with an 85 on boards, no research, no leadership positions, a subpar score on the GRE (less than 1200). You might wonder how this happened? Daddy is faculty in the ortho program and Grandaddy is ortho alumni. Another spot being wasted on a well deserving applicant.

Maybe he was just an outstanding young man.

 

[DaTruth]

Someone just matched at USC with an 85 on boards, no research, no leadership positions, a subpar score on the GRE (less than 1200). You might wonder how this happened? Daddy is faculty in the ortho program and Grandaddy is ortho alumni. Another spot being wasted on a well deserving applicant.

Whoa! thats completely crazy. i bet that in private schools this is very common. But 85 is by far the lowest score I have ever heard of to be admitted. Im shocked, no other redeeming factors. I knew some guy that got in with a 88 with some leadership activities. I am sure this happens at private schools like USC a lot. I have heard and seen a lot of nepotism there, they just cover it up better. I totally agree, wasted spot. The prosth guy at UCLA makes me mad as hell too. Very similar situation. Dude, why would you go back and take a spot (using your clout and connections) when you are already a specialist and nearing the end of your career. Especially when you are a sup par applicant. Hmmm. Wonder if USC got any $ for that 85?!!

 

[armorshell]

Whoa! thats completely crazy. i bet that in private schools this is very common. But 85 is by far the lowest score I have ever heard of to be admitted. Im shocked, no other redeeming factors. I knew some guy that got in with a 88 with some leadership activities. I am sure this happens at private schools like USC a lot. I have heard and seen a lot of nepotism there, they just cover it up better. I totally agree, wasted spot. The prosth guy at UCLA makes me mad as hell too. Very similar situation. Dude, why would you go back and take a spot (using your clout and connections) when you are already a specialist and nearing the end of your career. Especially when you are a sup par applicant. Hmmm. Wonder if USC got any $ for that 85?!!

Technically, private institutions can recruit students using whatever criteria they want, including nepotism, seat whoring for donations, etc... It's just frowned upon. What happened at UCLA was unethical simply because it's an institution funded by taxpayers dollars

 

[1992Corolla]

seat whoring

This is exactly how I got in. I think the dental term is called 'post and core'

 

[sevodes]

Is anyone really surprised by this? It's been going on forever. I have seen it.

Totally agree. Gee what a f@#kin shocker. This happens in almost every specialty in dentistry. Someone said "What a disgrace"???? Give me a break. Are people really that naive?????? I actually know some of these people and truthfully they probably would have been admitted somewhere anyway.......I think.

 

[truthseeker1]

The "old guy" discussed is much younger than described--he has at least 30 very viable years left to practice and probably more. He has 12+ years of research and DID NOT have the help of faculty to attain admission. He will be another Orthodontist with duel specialty--I think we all know several Ortho/Perio specialists so I see no reason not to welcome a very qualified Pros/Ortho specialist--yes his grades years ago were excellent as well as class ranking. Sorry for spelling error--you know how you forget when you age.

 

[DR USC]

I think either Datruth or Truthseeker is Kent Ochiai. I was curious about this guy so I did a pubmed search for Kent Ochiai. "12+ yrs of research" experience you say? A pubmed search produces only 7 results and Dr Ochiai is only first author in 3 of 7 of them. 7 publications in 12+ yrs is unimpressive. Maybe an exaggeration??? Anyone who has done research also knows that anyone other than the first author and PI can have little to do with the research and still have his name published. Readers of this forum should be objective because apparently, anyone can post whatever they want here to make themselves look great. I'm curious, what were Dr. Ochiai's "excellent" grades and class ranking?​

 

[DaTruth]

I think either Datruth or Truthseeker is Kent Ochiai. I was curious about this guy so I did a pubmed search for Kent Ochiai. "12+ yrs of research" experience you say? A pubmed search produces only 7 results and Dr Ochiai is only first author in 3 of 7 of them. 7 publications in 12+ yrs is unimpressive. Maybe an exaggeration??? Anyone who has done research also knows that anyone other than the first author and PI can have little to do with the research and still have his name published. Readers of this forum should be objective because apparently, anyone can post whatever they want here to make themselves look great. I'm curious, what were Dr. Ochiai's "excellent" grades and class ranking?​

Ok, Ok you got me, nice detective work.

LOL!!! Silly rabbit, I am not Ochiai!! But, I do know of many people that know of him and have worked with him personally. Many of my friends have told me things about him and others have confirmed it.
He has a practice somewhere in orange county, and is not liked by his staff. I have heard from numerous people that he was definitely sub par (too put it lightly) on his boards. He is not a standout applicant or student. IF he practices 30 years he will be 80 and I dont think he can even see the brackets at that point. In general, many admissions committees for ortho DO NOT take applicants that have been out in practice for a long time or are older. Ortho residents have told me that Dr. Sinclair (previous chair at USC) used to give talks and advice to dental students who wanna do ortho. He said when someone has been out for a while it lowers their chances dramatically. ortho is usually done right out of school (except AEGD/GPR) and most good programs dont take people with more than 5 years out.

He is good buddies with Dr. Beumer at UCLA and has high ranked faculty friends at both USC and UCLA. In fact, he is golfing buddies with Beumer. Those at UCLA know Beumer has been there forever and is extremely influential. It was become of Beumer's pressure that he got his spot. Then he told Beumer of the donation thingy and Beumer took it from there and cracked the story.

I would love to see Ochiai's "excellent" standout stats and to dispute the connection he has with Beumer. I doubt he can do either, though. I dont want to say, but dont rule out that a few dead presidents were not involved.
Lets just leave it at that.

Truthseeker: An obvious smurf account. if you are who i think you are, you matched last year. Btw, you can stop defending your buddy now. Many people know of him, he is not who he told you he is.

As for me, I know many people at USC and UCLA and do know and hear an awful lot. I just want people to see the WHOLE story. I feel bad for those who worked hard with no connections of any kind who slip through the cracks. Good luck to these people.

 

[nug]

most good programs dont take people with more than 5 years out.

That's a load of crap. I know many "good" programs that take applicants who have been out more than 5 years.

 

[pwine2]

most good programs dont take people with more than 5 years out.

Agreed, most unfounded comment I have heard on here. That couldn't be farther from the truth.

 

[almosthere]

and most good programs dont take people with more than 5 years out.

Some programs may prefer applicants straight out of school and others might prefer folks with more experience. To say that most "good" programs don't take people more than five years out is a stretch. I'll be 9 years out when I start ortho next year and matched at my #1 program choice. Please be nice to us 30-something year "old" folks, we'll be your colleagues, too!

 

[Ligature]

So.... I am prepared to be flamed upon for the following since this has become more of a forum for flaming than discussion. However, I have decided to post anyway because I have been thinking about some things. Maybe I'm a bit of an idealist, but my friends and I were discussing...... So apparently (arguably) there ARE some inaccuracies in the article published by the Bruin (I still don't think things are way off base). If some things are inaccurate, why can't more things be inaccurate? It really shouldn't be the burden of the accused to divulge their personal information in order to PROVE their innocence and appease us.

Anything that anyone has posted on this forum in defense of those involved has been virtually assaulted. People's reputations are being destroyed and ethics brought into question when we really don't have all the facts. I, for one, am upset at the IDEA that seats in a program could be bought. I don't think that orthodontics (or really any profession for that matter) should be a profession only for the sons and daughters of orthodontists or the well off.

So, hypothetical question....Should one with GREAT board scores and good qualifications NOT have the opportunity to attend a great program because they OR their parents are well off? I mean, people could assume that they were getting offered the spot over someone else because their parents MIGHT make a donation. Secondly, should parents who DO care about education and want to support the institution their children attend NOT make donations because it would look suspicious?

Let's be honest. We don't know ALL that goes into making decisions about who's in and who's out. We can't simply assume that the reason people were not fortunate enough to match is because they didn't have money or "connections." Now admittedly, I think some of that stuff DOES go on, but we can't assume the whole system is corrupt. This is a VERY competitive process. As a result.... some good people are GOING to get left out (unfortunately), because there are a lot of OTHER good people out there.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. To all of you that did not match, hang in there!
God bless!

 

[Ligature]

Double post

 

[dayfu17]

I was just recently accepted to UCLA's DDS program. Right now my goal is to specialize. Do you think that these "alleged" scandals (both the ortho and boards cheating) would hurt my chances of specializing from UCLA? I know that I wouldn't be applying for a couple of more years, but do you think that this is going to hurt UCLA's reputation?

 

[capisce?]

I was just recently accepted to UCLA's DDS program. Right now my goal is to specialize. Do you think that these "alleged" scandals (both the ortho and boards cheating) would hurt my chances of specializing from UCLA? I know that I wouldn't be applying for a couple of more years, but do you think that this is going to hurt UCLA's reputation?

no it will have no impact

 

[SFortho]

This thread has been dormant for a while. I am curious, any news or updates out there about this scandal? Was it ever resolved? Anyone from that department reprimanded?

 

[umkcdds]

this type of thing isn't isolated to any one school or program.

umkc sells positions in the endo and ortho residencies.

 

[SFortho]

YIKES!! UMKC too?

 

[Silent Cool]

this type of thing isn't isolated to any one school or program.

umkc sells positions in the endo and ortho residencies.

• The residents receive a stipend of 33% of collections from the patients they treat during their training.

http://dentistry.umkc.edu/Patient_Information/orthdentorthopedics.shtml

Sounds like a good deal to me!!

 

[ortho lurker]

this type of thing isn't isolated to any one school or program.

umkc sells positions in the endo and ortho residencies.

This type of thing isn't isolated to academics either, it happens in private practice also. It teaches ortho applicants how to kickback for referrals.