UCSF or Columbia? Please help!

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angelg5

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Hi everyone! I have offers of admission from UCSF and Columbia, but I do not know where to start in terms of deciding. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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angelg5 said:
Hi everyone! I have offers of admission from UCSF and Columbia, but I do not know where to start in terms of deciding. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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They are both great schools though I have heard better things about UCSF. I'm not sure what the cost difference would be but it comes to where you want to live for the next 4 years. Personally I'd go with UCSF but thats just me.
 
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Why is UCSF the easy choice?
 
Does anyone know about their specialization rates? It is an important consideration for me.
 
cheaper, more clinical, more research, dental curriculum,.......jb!:)
 
UCSF all the way, baby. :cool:
 
i too would say ucsf
 
wherever you felt more comfortable. Price, location, family is all a factor!!! If you're not a CA resident, things may be different for you than others. Just go where your heart tells you to go =)
 
you get CA residency after 1yr, so it's only an extra $12K compared to current CA residents.

hah, i thought i was going to have the same problem as you. i was accepted into UCSF and all but told by my interviewer that i got into Columbia. but i still haven't heard from the latter.. i'd follow up but it'd kind of look bad to do so and still turn them down.

i'm excited about UCSF! i think it'll be a better fit for my personality type, my interviewer at Columbia kept stressing how much their students their students have to go through, that it was unfair on the school's part. i know at UCSF it'll still be lots of work, but he made it sound like they were getting killed at Columbia.
 
when did u have an interview with UCSF? n how did they notify the acceptance?
 
Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I know that Columbia's location is not ideal, but NYC is awesome. Though I have heard that Columbia is hard work, isn't dental school hard work in general? Also, I think there is something to be said about the medical emphasis of the dental curriculum...their board scores are supposed to be really high!

Does anyone know how UCSF's board scores are??

Thank you again for your help.
 
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My UCSF interview was in October, notification was via snail mail
 
angelg5 said:
My UCSF interview was in October, notification was via snail mail
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when the ucsf sent the the acceptance letter?...i am waiting my admission decision. and had an interview about 2wks ago...:(
 
lnsip9reg said:
you get CA residency after 1yr, so it's only an extra $12K compared to current CA residents.

hah, i thought i was going to have the same problem as you. i was accepted into UCSF and all but told by my interviewer that i got into Columbia. but i still haven't heard from the latter.. i'd follow up but it'd kind of look bad to do so and still turn them down.

i'm excited about UCSF! i think it'll be a better fit for my personality type, my interviewer at Columbia kept stressing how much their students their students have to go through, that it was unfair on the school's part. i know at UCSF it'll still be lots of work, but he made it sound like they were getting killed at Columbia.
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You really have to talk to some current Columbia students that find you likable to find out the real deal. Sometimes when we see people that we dont feel are suitable for the incoming Columbia CDM class, we make things sound more difficult than they really are to make them choose somewhere else. Same thing goes with the faculty.

If you choose UCSF over Columbia you need to get your head examined!! That whole UCSF campus and the town are boring as hell.
 
greenday said:
You really have to talk to some current Columbia students that find you likable to find out the real deal. Sometimes when we see people that we dont feel are suitable for the incoming Columbia CDM class, we make things sound more difficult than they really are to make them choose somewhere else. Same thing goes with the faculty.

If you choose UCSF over Columbia you need to get your head examined!! That whole UCSF campus and the town are boring as hell.
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honestly maybe columbia isn't suitable for me. but in no way was i "off" on my interview. my interviewer at columbia was an older gentleman, who "wanted to give it to me straight" as he put it. the first half of the interview i felt he was trying to scare me with how hard the curriculum at Columbia is supposed to be, but then he told me i'd be admitted since he'd pull for me (he liked the fact that we had an HYP connection going), and spent the second half of the interview telling me why i should go. feeling confident, i didn't make much of an effort afterwards to talk with Dr. McManus, so i'm thinking i may have shot myself in the foot there. but like i said, i had already gotten into my first choice and was there to make certain i had made the right one (i had withdrawn all my other apps before that interview to be fair to others).

the main reasons why i am glad i'm going to UCSF is the great clinical training that i'll have after four years (and Columbia is great w/ their add'l fifth which is needed anyway in NY state), the fact that i don't want to learn extraneous medical material, and that i've lived on the east coast all my life and want to explore CA. i've lived in NYC proper (that's Manhattan below 116th, not Washington Heights) and Boston several years each, to the point where i know them like the back of my hand. but something about NorCal is drawing me there :oops:
 
San Francisco is a lot of things but it is absolutely not boring.......
 
Does anyone know what Columbia's average board scores are?
 
greenday said:
You really have to talk to some current Columbia students that find you likable to find out the real deal. Sometimes when we see people that we dont feel are suitable for the incoming Columbia CDM class, we make things sound more difficult than they really are to make them choose somewhere else. Same thing goes with the faculty.

If you choose UCSF over Columbia you need to get your head examined!! That whole UCSF campus and the town are boring as hell.
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What the hell?!?! You can't tell people to NOT go to your school if they want to... How do you know the "Columbia" type after a semester of going there?

I would pick UCSF... better clinical (not a fan of GPR), hella more opportunties (#2 in research, #1 is below) and cheaper but the medical curriculum at Columbia might be useful with complex patients... If you (the OP) are not sure still, make a pro/con list.
 
Columbia is a great school!!! and getting to UCSF is statistically less stressful than going to Columbia...
 
In before "it was 8000 in the original."
 
ddsjymaeng said:
Columbia is a great school!!! and getting to UCSF is statistically less stressful than going to Columbia...
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Columbia wasn't as incredibly hard (or over 9000) to get into as I first thought. I would think a top public school would be harder to get into statistically because of the state quotas. Columbia is a great school (it was my #1(b) choice), just stating the pros and cons of the school.
 
my impression is that if you are looking to specialize, columbia is the better choice. I have definitely heard that Columbia lacks in clinical exposure, though. The students that I have spoken to there seem to love it.
 
greenday said:
If you choose UCSF over Columbia you need to get your head examined!! That whole UCSF campus and the town are boring as hell.
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Didn't you have to choose Columbia because you couldn't get off UCSF's alternate list? :thumbdown: :smuggrin:

OP: A few things I like about UCSF: P/F system, balanced between research and clinic, cheap, summer after first year. Most of our science profs also teach med school. So, that's also a plus for us. As for Part I, I think we were number 4 last year.

I'm sure Columbia is a great school, but I don't know much about it. So I don't have any comments. Good luck!
 
i think they are both great schools but i chose columbia over ucsf mainly because of location. i thought i would like sf better but there is no good public transport system in sf and i honestly felt safer in nyc (there were cops everywhere). i stayed in sf in a relatively good area (near union square) but it was crowded with bums many of which seemed mentally ill. (i went out with a friend and one of the bums tried to hit us with his crutch). i know harlem is not the best place but at least places in nyc where i would go out at night would be safe which was not the case with sf.
 
shamrock84 said:
(i went out with a friend and one of the bums tried to hit us with his crutch). i know harlem is not the best place but at least places in nyc where i would go out at night would be safe which was not the case with sf.
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Psh, if you haven't been bum rushed then you haven't lived!
 
armorshell said:
Psh, if you haven't been bum rushed then you haven't lived!
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My favorites are vagrants with knives. And by favorites, I mean they actually scare the hell out of me the most. :eek:
 
in her drawer said:
My favorites are vagrants with knives. And by favorites, I mean they actually scare the hell out of me the most. :eek:
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Almost all of my volunteer work was working with the homeless in Portland. Bums can be cool, you just have to get to know them.

You also accumulate some neat stories when you hang out with bums. Like when I bought my skateboard from a street kid named Booger for 18 bucks and half a cheese sandwich. Or when some buddies and I bought a 5 gallon bucket full of doughnuts for the bums standing outside 3rd st. :laugh:
 
Columbia The BEST! :thumbup:

Seriously,, where would you feel more comfortable or .. which one did you like more when u went for interviews? think deeply and you will get to one point.

It is a hard decision, and you won't go wrong either way.
Its like Mercedez VS BMW? or both? well. since you cannot go to both schools at the same time, pick one that you like more :D
 
Hi everyone, thanks again for your thoughts...At the end of this whole process, part of my decision will just have to come from within.
 
A lot should go into the decision. Both are excellent schools, one being the Mercedes and one being the BMW (nice Revelde!). What it comes down to is where you feel comfortable. Both are around the same size (Columbia = 75 and UCSF = 80). Both have strong Part I Board scores. The big factor for me was student body. At UCSF, a vast majority of students are going to be from California (most likely UCLA, UC-Berkeley and Stanford). If you are not from CA, this can be intimidating. I go to an undergrad where >90% are in-state residents. 5% are international, so that leaves 4% out-of-state. Being in that 4%, it is a little hard breaking into some social cliques. I know this is undergrad, but I am sure that all the UCLA pre-dents will be sitting together on day one because they know each other from pre-dental club. Columbia has a more diverse student body. I believe 33% are from NY, but the rest are from around the country. So it basically comes down to where you personally felt comfortable. Both will grant you the same DDS degree and you can take boards to practice anywhere. Columbia does have a very high # of GPR students, but that is because the GPR is required to practice in NY and grants you exemption from the NERB.
 
Mach band said:
OP: A few things I like about UCSF: P/F system, balanced between research and clinic, cheap, summer after first year. Most of our science profs also teach med school. So, that's also a plus for us. As for Part I, I think we were number 4 last year.
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Columbia is P/F, but also has honors to give distinction to those who do really well. I assume this is similar to the "letter" given to the top 5% of students in each dental course at UCSF. So in reality, UCSF is not strictly P/F because the gunners will be trying to obtain the "letter" in their courses.

I believe UCSF does give more clinical exposure than Columbia

Columbia and UCSF both have a free summer after D1

Columbia takes joint med/dent classes, so professors are both MD (for core didactic classes) and DDS (for core dental classes). UCSF offers classes solely for dental students where MD professors who come from the medical school to teach the dental students.

UCSF claims to be #4 in Part I scores. I believe Columbia claims to be #2 or #3. I think the top 4 consistently are Harvard, Columbia, UConn and UCSF.

As for research, UCSF is a very highly funded dental school. On the other hand, I believe Columbia dental students have full access to the medical and dental school, giving them a large amount of research to participate in. We all know the direct links between oral and systemic health, so it is unique that Columbia offers students this opportunity. I am unsure if UCSF students can research beyond the SOD.

Basically, these are 2 VERY comprable schools. It is a very hard decision to make, but the beauty is that you cannot go wrong. Flip a coin, or decide if you like pizza or rice-a-roni better.
 
Wow, that was a very thorough response. Thank you very much. You basically put in bullet points a lot of things that have been going through in my head. The two schools are very similar and then there are subtle differences. I am definitely attracted to Columbia for its combined med student / dental student classes. Having spoken to some dental students, they do not find this to be a problem. Though, I am also pretty certain that columbia students had decided beforehand that this teaching approach would not be problematic.

Another question: Are there any other questions that I
should be asking you in order to make the best decision? Please let me
know if there's anything else I should be thinking about that you
believe would be critical in making the best choice.
 
Columbia is near spanish harlem and about a 40-60 minute ride on the subway to times square. SF has a great public transportation system just like new york. BART and MUNI are great.
 
Snahster said:
Columbia is near spanish harlem and about a 40-60 minute ride on the subway to times square... .
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Not really, you can come down to 93rd st then take express lines like #2 or #3. it will take 20~30 mins.
 
Columbia: Ivy + New York City + High specialty rates = are you friggin crazy, go to Columbia
 
Mach band said:
Didn't you have to choose Columbia because you couldn't get off UCSF's alternate list? :thumbdown: :smuggrin:

OP: A few things I like about UCSF: P/F system, balanced between research and clinic, cheap, summer after first year. Most of our science profs also teach med school. So, that's also a plus for us. As for Part I, I think we were number 4 last year.

I'm sure Columbia is a great school, but I don't know much about it. So I don't have any comments. Good luck!
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Ha, why did u have to bust my balls buddy!?
lol, just kidding.
I didn't really think Im suitable for UCSF after interviewed there, so wouldn't go regardless of the outcome, in fact, I'd probably choose Penn over UCSF. My personal reasons are stupid, 1. dont like the whole hippy city 2. disgusted in downtown 3. too many of my own kind at UCSF, even more so than Columbia 4. Specialty rate's low, most people end up GPing 5. not a big fan of community service, Im evil
 
Revelde said:
Not really, you can come down to 93rd st then take express lines like #2 or #3. it will take 20~30 mins.
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Express A to 42nd takes 20 - 25 mins.
 
Are you crazy?
COLUMBIA

10 years from now, you're going to want to say you went to COLUMBIA, not ucsf. Why? NAME BRAND. Your patients will know Columbia, but guaranteed a significant percentage will not know about ucsf.

COLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIA
 
ThisAndDAT said:
Are you crazy?
COLUMBIA

10 years from now, you're going to want to say you went to COLUMBIA, not ucsf. Why? NAME BRAND. Your patients will know Columbia, but guaranteed a significant percentage will not know about ucsf.

COLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIA
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most patients don't care where you went as long as you get the job done quickly, painlessly, and affordably.

i'd still suggest ucsf.
 
ThisAndDAT said:
Are you crazy?
COLUMBIA

10 years from now, you're going to want to say you went to COLUMBIA, not ucsf. Why? NAME BRAND. Your patients will know Columbia, but guaranteed a significant percentage will not know about ucsf.

COLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIACOLUMBIA
Click to expand...

You're a fool. Some people are able to turn down big name schools. More than that, however, nobody cares where you go to school. If you choose an "Ivy," it serves no purpose other than to stroke your ego.
 
well, i think it is fine to choose an "Ivy" if you have good reasons for going.
 
COLUMBIA!! Are you crazy!!! When I got accepted there, I cancelled my UCSF interview, cause there's no comparison!!!! COLUMBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont be stupid!
 
in her drawer said:
You're a fool. Some people are able to turn down big name schools. More than that, however, nobody cares where you go to school. If you choose an "Ivy," it serves no purpose other than to stroke your ego.
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Hey its your own fault you didnt pick harvard! You're crazy!!! I woulda went there...
 
dntlnerd said:
Hey its your own fault you didnt pick harvard! You're crazy!!! I woulda went there...
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Wow, you must think everyone who turns down an Ivy is on crack or something. And its a good thing to be able to consider turning down an Ivy. I figured you decided on Columbia after seeing the amount of students in a postgraduate program... "over 90%" according to my acceptance letter.
 
dntlnerd said:
COLUMBIA!! Are you crazy!!! When I got accepted there, I cancelled my UCSF interview, cause there's no comparison!!!! COLUMBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont be stupid!
Click to expand...

I did the same.
Edit. not because there's no comparison but I just liked columbia more and it was my first choice.
 
in her drawer said:
You're a fool. Some people are able to turn down big name schools. More than that, however, nobody cares where you go to school. If you choose an "Ivy," it serves no purpose other than to stroke your ego.
Click to expand...

i like to stroke my ego;)
 
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