UCLA vs UoP

[lfty003]

Hey everyone,
So I dont know if anyone is faced with this same decision, but I got an acceptance from UCLA, and also UoP with 30K scholarship. I had my mind set on UCLA for a while, but the scholarship from UoP makes the decision harder. Can anyone tell me why they would choose one school over the other? I like UCLA because I'm pretty sure I want to specialize, so the school could keep my options open. But I also like UoP because everyone I know raves about it, and the 3 years...my questions: is UoP is more geared for general dentists? And is it really that much easier to get into specialty program coming UCLA rather than UoP? Somebody help me, gonna have to send 1K to one of these schools soon.

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[armorshell]

(Adapted from a PM)

I'm a strong believer that it's a student that specializes more than a school, and that the most important thing is that you go somewhere you're comfortable you can succeed, and naturally success will follow. It's also my opinion that specialization rates that schools like to talk about are secondary to the fact that schools with ultra high rates tend only to accept top students who are highly motivated to specialize in the first place.

So at a school like Pacific, which is regarded as a "GP school", that motivation doesn't really exist. All the same opportunities are here as at "specialty schools" (Good research, good advising, opportunities to work with your specialty of choice), the majority of the class just doesn't utilize them.

This also related to boards performance. As I'm sure you know, the average on part 1 for the whole class is an unimpressive 84. What they don't mention at the interview for some reason, is that well over 1/3 gets 90+, but the average gets dragged down by the other 90 or so who are just cruising through to get their DDS. In my opinion (as someone who studies for Part 1 every morning), the didactics here are underrated, and I've yet to see a question that hasn't been covered in class, in detail.

However, there are some disadvantages. Being in a 3 year program means you have to make a lot of time to do the additional work required to specialize. A school like UCLA will work for you on that point, whereas here you're on your own. As I mentioned before, I spend mornings of my first year studying for boards because of the time crunch, I work on research projects during lunch and weekends and I sacrifice time in the sim lab to go to oral surgery rounds.

Similar to the above, you're not going to get a ton of support from your classmates at UoP, because there aren't many seriously interested in specializing. I'm sure the ortho study club at UCLA is full of students and has lots of faculty support, but the one here can barely draw 30 people when Dugoni is speaking and at least 5 of us were just there for the speaker .

As you know we have grades and ranking here, which can be a disadvantage if you're not up to par in a clinical class (I have a 4.0 in the didactic classes, but I'm not a top performer in the sim lab leaving barely within the the acceptable range for specializing).

So, I'm going to hazard a guess that overall, UCLA will probably make it a little easier on you in terms of time if you're dead set on specializing, but if you're smart enough to get accepted to both schools I doubt much is going to hold you back. I'm even willing to say UoP might do a little batter at putting people into specialties that the average school just because of the clinical experience you can get within that specialty, since we only have ortho on campus so you pretty much do everything (But we do get invisalign certified 3rd year, not sure if that actually helps for ortho though).

 

[armorshell]

Also, are you a Ca resident?

 

[Pilot Mike]

Hey everyone,
So I dont know if anyone is faced with this same decision, but I got an acceptance from UCLA, and also UoP with 30K scholarship. I had my mind set on UCLA for a while, but the scholarship from UoP makes the decision harder. Can anyone tell me why they would choose one school over the other? I like UCLA because I'm pretty sure I want to specialize, so the school could keep my options open. But I also like UoP because everyone I know raves about it, and the 3 years...my questions: is UoP is more geared for general dentists? And is it really that much easier to get into specialty program coming UCLA rather than UoP? Somebody help me, gonna have to send 1K to one of these schools soon.

I was faced with the same decision last year also, and it was probably the hardest decision I had to make. I think they are both outstanding schools and no matter which school you pick, you will have chosen a great school to be at. The scholarship at UOP was nice to get, but overall UCLA is cheaper from what I calculated. The location of UCLA vs. UOP, even though UOP is in a great part of town, but it felt really isolated from any other place. I like the fact that being at UCLA doesn't feel like we're so isolated since we're around a lot of the different schools here like the med and law school, undergrads, and being a few miles from the beach and hollywood and lots of other places. I knew some 3rd and 4th years that really loved UCLA and their classmates, professors, and the education they received, so that made the choice a little easier. I think if you want to specialize that depends on yourself and not necessarily the school you go to, but I can see how the education we get here is top notch. Good luck with your decision, and congrats on either school you pick. If you decide on UCLA, hope to see you around for orientation week. If you have any specific questions PM me.

 

[lfty003]

well thanks guys for the lengthy responses. ya im a cali resident, i live only about an hour away from san fran....so UoP is closer to home, but I've always wanted to go to UCLA...so as a CA resident goin to UCLA would be about 70K cheaper (on tuition), that also factors into my decision. I guess im having a hard time cuz I would probably would love both schools, so sad that i have say "no thanks" to one of them.

 

[harjay]

This is one of the big decisions facing me as well. I still haven't interviewed at UoP, but since the beginning it was one of the major schools I was leaning towards. I was accepted to UCLA and UCSF, and UCLA is at the top of my list right now. In the even I do interview and get accepted to UoP, I would be really torn

I won't try to say one school is better than the other in some areas, but they have different goals. People usually go to Pacific because the school is very good at training GPs. I have basically decided it is what I want to do, but after a long talk with my pre-dent advisor (a periodontist), he highly recommended that I go to a school that has specialties available. He didn't know that he wanted to specialize either while in d-school, but the rotations with the residents were what truly turned him on to perio. If nothing esle, having the opportunity to assist or observe advanced surgeries, root canals et cetera gave him a feel for what he wanted to do.

If I could make up my mind 100% that I will only do GP, I would want to go to UoP. I think thats what I want to do, but I haven't done any dental work and I don't know if there's something that I will enjoy more. a school like UCLA will give me a better chance to explore various specialties to decide if that's what I want to do.

That being said, I still don't have to make that decision because UoP refuses to call and invite me for an interview

 

[armorshell]

I won't try to say one school is better than the other in some areas, but they have different goals. People usually go to Pacific because the school is very good at training GPs. I have basically decided it is what I want to do, but after a long talk with my pre-dent advisor (a periodontist), he highly recommended that I go to a school that has specialties available. He didn't know that he wanted to specialize either while in d-school, but the rotations with the residents were what truly turned him on to perio. If nothing esle, having the opportunity to assist or observe advanced surgeries, root canals et cetera gave him a feel for what he wanted to do.

If I could make up my mind 100% that I will only do GP, I would want to go to UoP. I think thats what I want to do, but I haven't done any dental work and I don't know if there's something that I will enjoy more. a school like UCLA will give me a better chance to explore various specialties to decide if that's what I want to do.

Just a quick comment on this. Remember, at UoP we don't have specialty programs, we do have specialty clinics. The only difference is, instead of giving up those advanced surgeries to residents and assisting or observing them, you'll actually be doing the surgeries. Same goes for endo, OS, prosth, pedo etc...

 

[Smills91]

This is one of the big decisions facing me as well. I still haven't interviewed at UoP, but since the beginning it was one of the major schools I was leaning towards. I was accepted to UCLA and UCSF, and UCLA is at the top of my list right now. In the even I do interview and get accepted to UoP, I would be really torn

I won't try to say one school is better than the other in some areas, but they have different goals. People usually go to Pacific because the school is very good at training GPs. I have basically decided it is what I want to do, but after a long talk with my pre-dent advisor (a periodontist), he highly recommended that I go to a school that has specialties available. He didn't know that he wanted to specialize either while in d-school, but the rotations with the residents were what truly turned him on to perio. If nothing esle, having the opportunity to assist or observe advanced surgeries, root canals et cetera gave him a feel for what he wanted to do.

If I could make up my mind 100% that I will only do GP, I would want to go to UoP. I think thats what I want to do, but I haven't done any dental work and I don't know if there's something that I will enjoy more. a school like UCLA will give me a better chance to explore various specialties to decide if that's what I want to do.

That being said, I still don't have to make that decision because UoP refuses to call and invite me for an interview

Is that even POSSIBLE????

 

[armorshell]

well thanks guys for the lengthy responses. ya im a cali resident, i live only about an hour away from san fran....so UoP is closer to home, but I've always wanted to go to UCLA...so as a CA resident goin to UCLA would be about 70K cheaper (on tuition), that also factors into my decision. I guess im having a hard time cuz I would probably would love both schools, so sad that i have say "no thanks" to one of them.

Yeah, according to my calculations after considering everything including capitalization, the difference between the UC's and UoP (with scholarship) is 40k (Interest is a b*tch). So what you have to figure out is whether that extra year is worth that amount.

 

[winlin]

UCLA is a good school if you want to specialize but even if you want to be a GP as well. The clinics here run very smoothly and I haven't heard of people in the recent classes that are having any troubles with patients or fulfilling requirements. They are upping requirements to graduate actually because all lot of the current 4th years are going to be done really early.

As far as the didactic quality of classes UCLA is among the best but its also among the hardest as well. For you're first 2 years you'll likely know just as much or more than most medical students. You'll take classes here that you won't take at UOP , which is good for classes that interest you, but bad for classes that don't interest you. Quarter system goes really fast. A midterms week about the 5th week and a finals week at the 11th week. On average you'll have about 10 exams (not including practical exams) on those given weeks (sometimes more sometimes less, actually usually more). I know that UOP goes year round and is 3 years, but so does UCLA and we are 4 years long. If you want to finish in 3, UOP is a great school, but don't think they are spreading things out at UCLA at all.

Pass fail grading is great. Everyone here is really helpful and all materials are shared amongst the class. I think it puts you in a great position to succeed. Most people don't care about getting honors in courses (UCLASOD will be the only postgrad program that will actually see it).

I would think about what city you want to be in as well and how you want your experience to be. UOP is a great dental school hands down, but UCLA is a great school in general. How much of UCLA you want to experience is up to you but at least the option is there. If you like sports at all come here for sure. I like UCLASOD a lot, but pretty much wherever you go, it's gonna be a rough 3-4 years.

 

[hattrack04]

UCLA is a good school if you want to specialize but even if you want to be a GP as well. The clinics here run very smoothly and I haven't heard of people in the recent classes that are having any troubles with patients or fulfilling requirements. They are upping requirements to graduate actually because all lot of the current 4th years are going to be done really early.

As far as the didactic quality of classes UCLA is among the best but its also among the hardest as well. For you're first 2 years you'll likely know just as much or more than most medical students. You'll take classes here that you won't take at UOP , which is good for classes that interest you, but bad for classes that don't interest you. Quarter system goes really fast. A midterms week about the 5th week and a finals week at the 11th week. On average you'll have about 10 exams (not including practical exams) on those given weeks (sometimes more sometimes less, actually usually more). I know that UOP goes year round and is 3 years, but so does UCLA and we are 4 years long. If you want to finish in 3, UOP is a great school, but don't think they are spreading things out at UCLA at all.

Pass fail grading is great. Everyone here is really helpful and all materials are shared amongst the class. I think it puts you in a great position to succeed. Most people don't care about getting honors in courses (UCLASOD will be the only postgrad program that will actually see it).

I would think about what city you want to be in as well and how you want your experience to be. UOP is a great dental school hands down, but UCLA is a great school in general. How much of UCLA you want to experience is up to you but at least the option is there. If you like sports at all come here for sure. I like UCLASOD a lot, but pretty much wherever you go, it's gonna be a rough 3-4 years.

Do you have class during the summer after your 1st year at UCLA? Because I know a lot of schools will have classes during the summer after 2nd and 3rd year, but not after 1st....

 

[winlin]

Do you have class during the summer after your 1st year at UCLA? Because I know a lot of schools will have classes during the summer after 2nd and 3rd year, but not after 1st....

After the spring quarter of 1st year, you get about 2.5 weeks of "summer" then you go for a full summer term then you get about 2.5 more weeks of "summer". The total break is actually enough after having no break at all.

 

[juggamynugga]

Do you know which speciality you are interested yet? I know that is a difficult thing to know before you come but if you are interested in endo PACIFIC is an especially great place to go to specialize in that field. Multiple endo grad programs have a spot for a pacific grad every year and this year only 7 of us applied (all accepted).

Like armor said, my personal opinion is that if you are unsure which area you want to go into you are going to be able to make the best decision by actually performing the procedures. I mentioned in a different post that at PACIFIC you are able to do full mouth reconstruction cases (27 crowns on one patient) warm vertical condensation for endo, perio surgeries, etc. After travelling across the US and meeting many other students this very rare.

I agree with the UCLA kids though that it is cheaper there and I am sure their didactics and schedule allows them to perform better on boards. If you have any questions let me know. I actually got into UCLA and PACIFIC on Dec. 1st just like you and then cancelled all my other interviews because they were my top two choices.

 

[Fonz]

UCLA is a good school if you want to specialize but even if you want to be a GP as well. The clinics here run very smoothly and I haven't heard of people in the recent classes that are having any troubles with patients or fulfilling requirements. They are upping requirements to graduate actually because all lot of the current 4th years are going to be done really early.

As far as the didactic quality of classes UCLA is among the best but its also among the hardest as well. For you're first 2 years you'll likely know just as much or more than most medical students. You'll take classes here that you won't take at UOP , which is good for classes that interest you, but bad for classes that don't interest you. Quarter system goes really fast. A midterms week about the 5th week and a finals week at the 11th week. On average you'll have about 10 exams (not including practical exams) on those given weeks (sometimes more sometimes less, actually usually more). I know that UOP goes year round and is 3 years, but so does UCLA and we are 4 years long. If you want to finish in 3, UOP is a great school, but don't think they are spreading things out at UCLA at all.

Pass fail grading is great. Everyone here is really helpful and all materials are shared amongst the class. I think it puts you in a great position to succeed. Most people don't care about getting honors in courses (UCLASOD will be the only postgrad program that will actually see it).

I would think about what city you want to be in as well and how you want your experience to be. UOP is a great dental school hands down, but UCLA is a great school in general. How much of UCLA you want to experience is up to you but at least the option is there. If you like sports at all come here for sure. I like UCLASOD a lot, but pretty much wherever you go, it's gonna be a rough 3-4 years.

what do you mean by this?



oh and what year are u? thanks

 

[winlin]

UOP is known mostly for their Dental School and maybe even their pharmacy school. But UCLA is a great university in general all in the same location. We have a great undergrad, great graduate and professional programs in every field, top notch athletics (football will be soon), and a wonderful culture and sense of pride about the school. I'm biased because I was here for my undergrad as well, but most people who come here for anything have a great experience. Of course, I know some who haven't liked it that much, but that's normal anywhere you go.

Granted, most of your time in dental school will be doing dental related things, and as a dental student I would make your choice first on those dental related things and probably location. The other things I mentioned are just a bonus. Oh, and you can't beat the weather here...unless you don't like 75 and sunny.

 

[Fonz]

what year are u? sorry. helps to know

 

[winlin]

what year are u? sorry. helps to know

sorry for the late response fonz, 2nd year finals at UCLA are no joke...so...
2nd year