UCSF: What should you know?

[UCDental]

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I'm a D4 at UCSF and want to share some facts with the pre-dent students who are interested in our school.

Choosing UCSF over others wasn't easy for me and I'm quite happy that I made the decision to come here. However, due to the recent budgetary cut, many things have changed and/or will change the dental program here at UC. I think it is fair for the pre-dent students to know or be aware about these changes.

The most critical change that will affect the program in future is the fact that the school has decided to lay off faculties. Although students don't know the exact criteria on how the faculties were selected, one can see that the school is being geared into a different direction. The school encourages students to submit course evaluations but their selection does not reflect what students feel about their professors. The school tends to keep the faculties that are involved in researches and let go the others regardless how experienced, devoted, helpful some faculties are. So far, in one way or another the following faculties have been affected: Dr. Graham, Dr. Parisi, Dr. Bauer, Dr. Lacy, Dr. Savage, Dr. Harrington, Dr. Ragadio, Dr. Kahl... If someone graduated from UCSF, he/she can easily tell the direction the school is being geared into. Some if not all of these faculties devoted their lives here at UC and are truly great clinicians/professors.

Secondly, as you may already know, Dentical for adults will cease this coming June. Most of our patients are Dentical which means that you most likely will not have enough patients to treat. The school claims that they have a new contract with Delta Dental that will potentially increase the patient pool. This may be true, but the percentage of insured patients is very low at our school.

Combine the two together, it is obvious that if you want to learn general dentistry, most likely you will not find it here at UC.

I hope you find my post useful. Good luck with your future!

 

[xhamburgersamx]

I knew Dr. Ragadio - he was such a nice and humble person.

 

[Royaltee]

I knew Dr. Ragadio - he was such a nice and humble person.

yeah, he interviewed me....very sweet man. But i didn't get in.

 

[playa2652]

So are u saying that all those professors are being laid off? Dr. Ragadio interviewed me and I really think he was a really nice and caring person. It would be really sad to see great professors leave the school that I looked forward to working with.

 

[dentstd]

And what direction is this? Dentical affects the entire state of California. Schools don't have much power to change what the state legislation decided. All California schools will feel the sting of dentical.

They very well may have decided to keep researchers over professors, but there's a fairly obvious reason. Researcher salaries are funded by grants, many of which came from the NIH (ie. federal funding). Their salaries are unaffected by state budget cuts.

Most institutions in the country are trying to survive these next few years. Doesn't come without sacrifices. We have to make due with the limited resources given to us. Learn from each patient. Master skills within a few patients, not a multitude. This pertains to every student in the country, as the recession's affecting the entire country.

UCSF is and will continue to be a major player for dentistry. It's just unfortunate that a few of their students don't understand how businesses are run. No one wants to lay off good employees, but you can't run a major institution without funding.

 

[PDizzle]

And what direction is this? Dentical affects the entire state of California. Schools don't have much power to change what the state legislation decided. All California schools will feel the sting of dentical.

They very well may have decided to keep researchers over professors, but there's a fairly obvious reason. Researcher salaries are funded by grants, many of which came from the NIH. No need to lay off people unaffected by the budget cut.

Most institutions in the country are trying to survive these next few years. Doesn't come without sacrifices. We have to make due with the limited resources given to us. Learn from each patient. Master skills within a few patients, not a multitude.

<off topic>
Hey Dentstd, I've seen your predents.com profile and read the comment that my website won't let you make a 2007 account. You don't need a separate account for different cycles. Just switch the website cycle to 2007(drop down list at top) then enter all the schools you applied to. Also, guess on the interview dates so they will show up then don't forget to delete all your 2009 apps. Finally, choose the school you are attending. If this is too much trouble for you or you just don't care, you can delete your account.
</off topic>

Peace out

 

[Riley1]

These are temporary issues and if economy gets better they definitely hire back their staff and faculty members. In my undergrad school there were couple of faculty members who left because of tight budget but the dean told us that as soon as funding becomes available they asked them to come back to school. I am sure UC schools like UCSF and UCLA have enough articulate leaders to make the best decision for the school. They are great schools and they will find a way to fight with budget issues and help students to have enough resources to work their way out. There are also plenty of choices for dental graduates to pick up more skills like GPR. Still going to UC is a huge advantage since students pay state tuition and it is less costly than many private schools in the nation. Private schools like USC and NYU also increase their tuition by 10% this year and it is scary to digest all these big numbers. I wish I could go to state school rather than going to private school.

 

[mega hog]

some guy/girl is named Dr. Savage? that is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what were u saying bout ucsf?

 

[PDizzle]

some guy/girl is named Dr. Savage? that is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what were u saying bout ucsf?

Well, both Dr. Savage and Dr. Harrington were in clinic today. Harrington was my row instructor. So, I guess the faculty lay offs weren't that bad.

I also saw Dr. Graham (the young one, not his father) in clinic as well.

 

[GiTsticker]

Sounds like the OP really liked those professors that got cut and is ranting (understandably) but is incorrectly implying that since the school is laying off professors according to some other criteria than seniority or dedication, that the school will be a sub-par education in general dentistry.

I don't think the OP will be back to refute what I say, therefore I speak the truth.

 

[doc3232]

Great first post. Maybe the OP is just trying open spots in UCSF for himself/herself (and is not a D4) or for friends and family. I don't like these types of threads.