UCONN vs Pitt

[ppgun]

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Hey guys,
Fortunately, I was able to get into two of the amazing programs. However, I am struggling to pick between these two as each school has both pros and cons. I really love UCONN's pass and fail and their residency placement rate. However, I also know Pitt has a great placement rate and it's location is also better. I am also confused about if UCONN has such good placement rates and high pass rates for boards, why is it ranked at 18 compared to other dental schools? I would like to get your guys opinions.

 

[sgv]

UConn is the better school especially if you're interested in OMFS. There are no real rankings for dental school. Rankings are stupid. Like wtf are they even measuring? The rankings out there are by some guy sitting at a computer with no clue about anything dentistry. People who rely on ranking don't have the due diligence to figure out what they want out of a dental school and what dental schools have to offer and can't make a decision on their own. Just choose the cheapest school which is UConn. P/F is amazing. Medical school curriculum is top notch compared to the weak medical education given by most dental schools. Part 1 and 2 boards are easy. No idea what clinical pass rate is but it shouldn't matter as long as you put in the time to practice on your own throughout your 4 years. The biggest factor should be cost for almost anyone.

 

[blablabla1]

UConn

 

[Roy Williams]

@Incis0r

 

[Incis0r]

Thanks for the mention @Roy Williams . I was looking for something to procrastinate studying for finals with xD.

Fortunately, I was able to get into two of the amazing programs.

Hey there! Congrats on getting into some amazing schools. I was in your position last year and chose Pitt. Before making my decision, I spoke extensively with students and admissions officers at both schools.

Here are some differences between both schools:

• Part 1 NBDE: Both schools have excellent passing rates. At Pitt you'll take Part 1 after D1. 100% passing rate on first try last year with average 12-15 days of studying. I'm confident UConn has that too, though at UConn you take Part 1 after D2.

• Class Size: UConn is mid-40s. Pitt is 80. I felt more comfortable with 80 personally. Seems like just the right size.

• One big thing to consider: Ask about the student to faculty ratio. Pitt has it at 10:1 in waxing lab and sim lab. Several other schools have less students to faculty (like 5:1 or 6:1) which can mean more 1 on 1 time. However, I've always found several faculty and classmates and upperclassmen here approachable so I'm personally fine with 10:1.

• Breaks: Pitt - 4 weeks off in the summer after D1, and that's when you take Part 1 NBDE. UConn gives you 8 weeks off in the summer after D1 and no need to take Part 1 then. That's pretty cool. I wanted to get Part 1 over and done with. Not sure how much this applies to you though since the INBDE is being rolled out and could be the exam used for your year.

• Dental stuff: I have a D2 friend at UConn and whenever we chat, he tells me I at Pitt have done more dental-related stuff than him. First term at Pitt and we've gotten used to Axium, rotated through nearly every department (emergency, perio, general dentistry modules, etc. etc.). We've drilled endo access on extracted molars, practiced drilling preps on plastic ivorine blocks as well as on typodont teeth, placing rubber dam, and cutting convergent/divergent/parallel walls. It goes on and on.

• Basic sciences: This is HUGE and is probably what swayed my decision the second most. UConn has gone PBL on basic sciences. Self-directed study coupled with meeting your team to take quizzes. My year would have been the second year doing it and I talked to several UConn D1s, a few of whom loved it, a few of whom hated it, and a few who had mixed feelings about it. Personally, I knew I wanted lectures that could be recorded so I could view them online later. And Pitt offered exactly that (in most classes - some professors here do not record). Either way, I'm happy with this curriculum set-up.

• Environment: This is the biggest reason I chose Pitt. I felt more comfortable at Pitt. Very affordable, city life. I've gone kayaking on the rivers, attended a Steelers game (yes I'm still a Pats fan), taken advantage of several museums here, and really enjoyed the street food and one million different food options on campus. There's a dental crew team as well (Incis-oars) if you're interested. Being right on the undergrad campus gives me a ton of opportunities like fitness classes (did a bootcamp one this term).

Best of luck - you've got an excellent and tough decision to make. Can't go wrong at either school. If you do come to Pitt Second Look day, hit me up and maybe I can show you around!

why is it ranked at 18 compared to other dental schools?

Don't rely on rankings from some random source - as far as I'm aware, there are no official rankings to schools.

 

[ppgun]

Thanks for the mention @Roy Williams . I was looking for something to procrastinate studying for finals with xD.



Hey there! Congrats on getting into some amazing schools. I was in your position last year and chose Pitt. Before making my decision, I spoke extensively with students and admissions officers at both schools.

Here are some differences between both schools:

• Part 1 NBDE: Both schools have excellent passing rates. At Pitt you'll take Part 1 after D1. 100% passing rate on first try last year with average 12-15 days of studying. I'm confident UConn has that too, though at UConn you take Part 1 after D2.

• Class Size: UConn is mid-40s. Pitt is 80. I felt more comfortable with 80 personally. Seems like just the right size.

• One big thing to consider: Ask about the student to faculty ratio. Pitt has it at 10:1 in waxing lab and sim lab. Several other schools have less students to faculty (like 5:1 or 6:1) which can mean more 1 on 1 time. However, I've always found several faculty and classmates and upperclassmen here approachable so I'm personally fine with 10:1.

• Breaks: Pitt - 4 weeks off in the summer after D1, and that's when you take Part 1 NBDE. UConn gives you 8 weeks off in the summer after D1 and no need to take Part 1 then. That's pretty cool. I wanted to get Part 1 over and done with. Not sure how much this applies to you though since the INBDE is being rolled out and could be the exam used for your year.

• Dental stuff: I have a D2 friend at UConn and whenever we chat, he tells me I at Pitt have done more dental-related stuff than him. First term at Pitt and we've gotten used to Axium, rotated through nearly every department (emergency, perio, general dentistry modules, etc. etc.). We've drilled endo access on extracted molars, practiced drilling preps on plastic ivorine blocks as well as on typodont teeth, placing rubber dam, and cutting convergent/divergent/parallel walls. It goes on and on.

• Basic sciences: This is HUGE and is probably what swayed my decision the second most. UConn has gone PBL on basic sciences. Self-directed study coupled with meeting your team to take quizzes. My year would have been the second year doing it and I talked to several UConn D1s, a few of whom loved it, a few of whom hated it, and a few who had mixed feelings about it. Personally, I knew I wanted lectures that could be recorded so I could view them online later. And Pitt offered exactly that (in most classes - some professors here do not record). Either way, I'm happy with this curriculum set-up.

• Environment: This is the biggest reason I chose Pitt. I felt more comfortable at Pitt. Very affordable, city life. I've gone kayaking on the rivers, attended a Steelers game (yes I'm still a Pats fan), taken advantage of several museums here, and really enjoyed the street food and one million different food options on campus. There's a dental crew team as well (Incis-oars) if you're interested. Being right on the undergrad campus gives me a ton of opportunities like fitness classes (did a bootcamp one this term).

Best of luck - you've got an excellent and tough decision to make. Can't go wrong at either school. If you do come to Pitt Second Look day, hit me up and maybe I can show you around!



Don't rely on rankings from some random source - as far as I'm aware, there are no official rankings to schools.

Thank you so much!!! This is super helpful. Now it made it harder for me to decide but definitely useful information. I will let you know if I choose Pitt, I will contact you so that we can meet up on jan 12th for second look day!

 

[UCONNREP]

Yeah congrats on the acceptances!

Obviously, I am going to be biased here since I go to UConn but I will say Pitt is an excellent school and you will become a great dentist training at that program. I have met several Pitt students along the interview trail and they all talk highly of it.

I would not trust that startclass.com website personally if that were where you read the #18 from. It says UConn’s mean GPA for admitted students is 3.2, which is totally not true. I believe when boards went pass/fail several years ago they stopped officially ranking dental schools. UConn was always ranked in the top five and was number 1 for several years in a row. Regardless it was based on factors like board scores and NIH funding, which I am not sure how much it correlates with making good dentists anyway.

@Incis0r made several good points and I liked his format so I will try to mirror it. Most of it is more generic and less of a direct comparison to Pitt but just to other dental schools in general. I cannot compare directly against Pitt because I think it would be unfair to base on word of mouth and no one experiences two dental schools.

• NBDE: I would not worry about NBDE Part 1 or 2. I believe as of right now your class (class of 2022) will not be taking Part 1 and Part 2 but instead will be taking a single integrated test (INBDE) so the previous pass rates at both schools are irrelevant. I took the test run today actually and had a more than passing grade with only half-paying attention. I guarantee you will be fine regardless of if it is Part 1 & 2 or INBDE coming from either Pitt of UConn. The integrated test actually is majority case/patient based questions, which is why UConn’s curriculum is in the TBL case-based approach. (It’s the trend that medical education is going)

• Class Size: UConn is just about 50 students. I personally liked having the medical students the first two years so it feels like a class of 150 and then 50 students the last two years. Dental school is very hands-on, having individual attention is important.

• Student to faculty ratio: As @Incis0r pointed out this is huge regardless of the dental school you attend. I would say our sim lab is somewhere between 6:1 to 10:1 depending on the lab. Clinic is never more than 8:1 but is usually closer to 6:1. In more complex procedures such as endo or OMFS its 2:1. Individual faculty attention is probably UConn’s biggest strength.

• Breaks: The schedule varies but usually between D1 to D2 you get 10 weeks break where many students do a research project but it is not required. I think D2 to D3 is a 4-week break and D3 to D4 is a two-week break. Two weeks are given off for winter break and another 1-week for spring break.

• Dental stuff: This is probably where the differences start and I prefer the way UConn is set up buts it is not for everyone. Our “dental” education is back heavy and there is a reason for it. The first year and a half is your medical foundation, which is huge. The BMS curriculum is extensive and much more difficult than at other schools and we are very proud of that. During that time, you do not have many dental classes. I remember when we did have 1 day a week of operative I was annoyed because it took away time to study medicine. Honestly, anyone can be taught how to drill a class II prep on a typodont or an endo access prep, not everyone can handle a medical school curriculum. We have this teacher that always says “be a doctor, not a shoemaker.” Dentists are not technicians who just drill and fill, you need to learn how to treat and manage disease. The current second years have had some of the basics like dental morphology/operative. Now that the BMS curriculum is finishing up, they are being submerged in the rest of the dental classes so they will be ready for clinic at the end of the D2 academic year. It is true that at other schools, they have students assisting and shadowing in clinic or spending more time in sim lab earlier on and maybe they have good justification for it. My take is that you do not get as much out of shadowing/assisting until you have a good foundation. I felt like I had more than enough time in Sim lab before seeing patients. I don’t think you need to do something 1000 times to be competent personally.

• Basic sciences: This is definitely the deciding factor for most people and I could not agree with @Incis0r more, you need to decide what is best for you. UConn is now completely TBL for the BMS curriculum. Most people who do not like it have not given it a chance. I would also argue not to listen that closely to any D1s about how they feel about their school’s curriculum. If you asked me in first year I would tell you I hated the curriculum and I did not have TBL. First year everything is new and everything is stressful but you make it through and look back and realize it wasn’t that bad. As a fourth year now I could not be more appreciative of my BMS foundation and I guarantee you if you ask the current D1s in a few years from now what they think about TBL, 99% will say it made them retain more information than they thought was possible. What is ironic is the current D2 class used to complain the most about TBL and when they started having traditional lecture in dental classes they asked to have less lecture. Having a strong BMS curriculum is extremely helpful in the real world. If you plan to go into OMFS you will have a huge advantage on the CBSE. If you decide to take the ADAT for any other specialty, you will do extremely well. In addition, the pass/fail makes life so much better. I never realized how good I had it until a buddy of mine told me he got a D- in Endo that semester because his endo patients kept canceling (he does not go to Pitt).

• Environment: Its funny this is the biggest reason I chose UConn. I felt more comfortable on my interview day at this program. I love my classmates, the faculty, and the environment of the university as a whole. I actually like living in Connecticut and it has been perfect for me. With that being said, location is really important and if you think you would be happier living in Pittsburg then you should go there. Farmington is not a city but there is plenty to do and you will keep yourself entertained.

• Cost: I am going to add this section just because you really should at least consider it. I guarantee you if you graduate from Pitt or UConn you will be a competent beginning general dentist. The difference is going to be what your monthly payments will be for your loans. Dental school is going to be the greatest investment you ever make. You want the biggest value while still making sure you will be happy.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask anything or message me. I am not trying to persuade anyone to go to UConn; I would only want people to matriculate who would be happy here. I personally could not be more happy with my education and I knew UConn would get me where I needed to go. I just finished up interviewing for OMFS and at several places, the first thing the interviewers said to me was “well you are coming from UConn so you already have a leg up on everyone else.” UConn grades have consistently made excellent residents and program directors know that. They know what they are getting when they take a UConn student and for me, that is more important than any style of curriculum or location but everyone has different priorities and that is okay. This year UConn matched 1/1 endo, 5/5 ortho, 6/6 pros (no one applied to perio this year) and I have no doubts that when Phase II Match happens in January OMFS, Peds, and GPR/AEGD will have 100% match rates.

I know it’s a tough decision but you really can't go wrong with either choice!