This is on UoP's facebook discussions... Hope it helps!
Post #1
Hey everyone,
I need a little help. I've been accepted at both UCSF and UOP (yay), and I can't decide between the two. Can anyone enlighten me? Thanks ahead of time!
Post #2
Well in my non-biased view. Pacific is way better...hands down. Plus, if you go to UCSF you will lose the ultimate frisbee game that has been challenged by a Pacific student. Plus, do you still want to be a scientist or a dentist in 3 yrs?
Congrats though!! (Both excellent places)
Post #3
First of all congratualtions on your acceptances! It's important for you to know that you can't go wrong either way, Pacific and UCSF are both great schools, but each has very different programs.
So really it all depends on you. At UCSF you're going to get what may be the best didactic education in the country (rivaled only by schools like Columbia and Harvard) and a good clinical experience to boot. UCSF is P/F and has a great track record of putting their students into competitive specialties. UCSFs research is *unmatched*, and their reputation in the field (and in many other fields!) is stellar.
At UoP your going to get one of the best general dentistry educations in the country, and you're going to get it in 3 years. The humanistic environment is something you're not going to see at any other school and I've never met a student who wasn't very pleased with their choice. Pacific is expensive, but I understand they have one of the lowest student loan default rates in the country, and the practice management curriculum is excellent. At Pacific you'll have both grades and a 4 year curriculum compressed into 3 so it takes a special type of person to manage to be successful enough to crack into some of the harder specialties, but that may be you all over.
With that little synopsis about what each school represents, my best piece of advice would be to talk to some current students as opposed to pre-dents. Even with all the research we've done, we haven't gone and done it yet. They're the people who can reallytell you what it's like.
Post #5
Go and talk to the students at both schools. You probably have most of the facts about the schools by now, but if you're still torn, like I was, go see them again.
Since you're in the Bay Area, it should be no problem hopping on BART and spending a day or two in SF =). I'll tell you, it's a totally different perspective when you go there as a provisional admit vs. an interviewee. You'll be able to ask those nitty gritty questions that you didn't ask when you were interviewed.
You'll be able to get the real picture from the current students. I'm pretty open-minded about specializing, and I've learned from talking to many dental students that it's still totally doable at UOP. You've just got to want it and be willing to work for it.
I'm working on a 9-page feasibility study comparing both UCSF and UOP dental schools for an business writing class. If you, or anyone for that matter, are interested, I can send it your way =).
Post #6
Here it is.
http://rapidshare.com/files/17520879/UCSF_vs_UOP_feasibility_study.doc