UMaryland vs. UPenn

[SpringHaze]

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I apologize in advance for cluttering up the dental forum with pre-dental shtuff, and for those who have already seen this in the pre-dental forum, but I just gotta ask, hehe, this being the next four years of my life we're talking about.

So I cannot for the life of me decide between going to UPenn or UMaryland next year. I've looked through everything I can get my hands on about both schools and they seem to be very similar- not looking at price or location as factors. But it doesn't seem like there are many UMaryland people on the forums, and all I hear is all this great stuff about UPenn. So I have some questions still:

Is the 70 hours community service required at UPenn kind of a pain to complete?

Is having the freedom of selectives at UPenn that much better than the classes I would have at Maryland?

Will not having a brand new building at Maryland until my second year be detrimental compared to the state of the art facilities already at Penn?

Is it true that UMaryland's clinical program is better than UPenns (I'm not looking to specialize)?

Do UMaryland students have a good clinical faculty-student ratio comparable to UPenns (I couldn't find any info on this on my own)?

Are UMaryland students as happy at their school as UPenn students are?

Or if there's anything else I should take into consideration about either school (besides price and location) , I'd really love to know. Any and all opinions would be welcome!!

 

[Rovert]

I am a first year student at Umaryland... I have been here for less than one semester, but I'll still attempt to answer your questions to the best of my abilities.


Is having the freedom of selectives at UPenn that much better than the classes I would have at Maryland?

I'm not sure exactly what "selectives" are, but I imagine that for the most part everyone at every dental school learns the same basics. We all take the same part one of the boards afterall. Maryland has opportunities for externships or traveling abroad and other things of that nature while you are in the clinic years.

Will not having a brand new building at Maryland until my second year be detrimental compared to the state of the art facilities already at Penn?

For the first couple years you don't do that many things in the clinic. I imagine having the state-of-the-art clinic will be very benificial for the third and fourth year students. For you, since you would have only the first year in our current building it wouldn't make that much of a difference where you were. True, there are few windows, our lounge is kinda small, and the automatic sliding doors at the front of the building seem to break every other day... but overall, I don't have anything extremely negative to say about our current building.

Is it true that UMaryland's clinical program is better than UPenns (I'm not looking to specialize)?

I honestly don't know anything about the clinical program at UPenn, but before applying to dental school, I talked to several practicing dentists, and a vast majority told me that maryland was, without a doubt, the best clinical school in the region. Additionally, the faculty here seem to think that we have an excellent clinical program. Some have told us we have one of the best clinical educations in the world, but who knows how much of that boasting is due to hurbris. I only have a few clinical experiences here so far, so I can't tell you more than that.

Do UMaryland students have a good clinical faculty-student ratio comparable to UPenns (I couldn't find any info on this on my own)?

I have no idea... good question.

Are UMaryland students as happy at their school as UPenn students are?

I think when we first started school, the people in my class were stressed out like crazy. At least, I know I was. This is probably true at any dental school. The transition from undergrad to dental school is pretty hard to get used to at first for some people. After awhile though, we all calmed down and now dental school is getting relatively enjoyable. I think the falculty members here are going out of their way to try and make our experience as positive as possible. In fact, just today, our class had an hour and half meeting with the dean where we were asked to be candid and say whatever we wanted that we felt needed to be improved about the school. I honestly feel like he really valued our opinions and is going to make a concerted effort to impliment some changes we felt needed to be made (nothing major... just changing when classes start and how e-lectures are done, etc).

Or if there's anything else I should take into consideration about either school (besides price and location) , I'd really love to know. Any and all opinions would be welcome!!

I am really happy so far with my decision to come to maryland. One thing that a student stated at the meeting today was that everyone on the faculty is really nice and really wants us to learn. Even though there are 105 people in our class I feel like professors go out of their way to make sure each one of us is succesful. You can goto anyone's office and feel comfortable asking anything. Some faculty members actively seek feedback on the way things are taught and ask for help improving the courses or improving our experience at the school.

 

[scandalouslj]

Hey Springhaze,
I cant answer most of theses questions since I go to Upenn and dont know anything about Maryland, but I can help with 2.

Is having the freedom of selectives at UPenn that much better than the classes I would have at Maryland?

I dont think it will be better than the classes you will have at Maryland, but its nice becuase it allows you flexibilty. It allows you to choose and further investigate where your intrests lie. How many times have you taken a class and hated it becase you werent interested in it, or probably wont use it? Thats why I like the selectives program, I am interested in ortho, I can take more classes pertaining to that, orperhaps you are interested in medical law, etc.

Will not having a brand new building at Maryland until my second year be detrimental compared to the state of the art facilities already at Penn?

I dont think it will be determental in any way. Regardless of any schools clinics, you will be using the same technology and doing the same procedures. For like Rovert said you really dont do much in main clinic till 2nd semester second year. The only thing nice about having a new building is its nicer to practice in, since you will be spending 2 years in clinic, and might be easier also ( X-ray machines in most of the patient rooms, instead of having to take a patient to another room, etc) The other thing about Maryland's clinics opening up in a few years is since it will be a new building they might be behind on constuction ( I know Penn was), and they are going to have to go through a lot of new problems they probably hadn't anticipated. Im sure Penn went through them too, but luckily the building has been open for over a year now.

 

[Rovert]

I actually asked the dean today if the new (maryland dental school) building would be finished on time and he gave me an emphatic "yes!" He added that they will completely shift over to the new building and not use the old building at all upon completion. He also stated that faculty members are already being trained on using the new technologies in the new building, so that there will be a minumun of difficulties in transitioning to the new building. Also, he added that they were not bringing anything over from the old school. That means that all the equipment, and everything else will be completely brand new, so that the transition will be made easily during summer break. That means that my class (class of 2007) will start their 3rd year clinics in the new building, and the class of 2008 will start their 2nd year in the new building.

 

[scandalouslj]

Thats very nice, i just looked at the website and that new building looks gorgeous. It is a hard decision because you guys will def have the nicest facilities when it comes to dental schools.

 

[NC2PA]

SpringHaze,

I was actually in a similar predicament last year at this time. I also had narrowed my choices down to UMd and Penn. In the end I chose Penn, although, I am interested in pursuing a specialty.

As far as your questions, they seem more directed to MD students, but I'll see if I can answer your questions based on what helped me make my decision.

70 hours of community service are not very difficult to complete at all. Over the course of 4 years, you'll have numerous opportunities for education and outreach. In speaking with friends as I was making my decision, I was interested in the fact that during the spring semester of our 1st year, we are involved in community outreach programming to provide hygiene education to underserved members of west philadelphia.

Freedom of selectives are a nice option to allow you to pursue individual interests. As far as your first 2 years, however, as Rovert mentioned, you'll be mainly taking core science and pre-clinical courses. But since you plan to do GP, you may decide that you'd like to pursue a deeper interest in aesthetics and cosmetic dentistry, or some other related topic. Additionally, since I had a course conflict in undergrad that prevented me from studying abroad, I was excited about the international externship program here.

As far as facilities are concerned...since you'll be either locked away in a classroom or a library for your first couple of years, you should go with the total environment that you'll feel most comfortable with. Although we have newer facilities with the Schattner Center for now, we still attend classes in the older part of the building. So in both respects, you'll probably be in a similar situation. I know that most people feel that attending an Ivy League school won't make a difference in the end, but I was excited to place my self in this type of academic environment. We are given frequent opportunities to interact with students in other top programs (i.e. med, law, wharton, etc.). However, i don't want to come off as selling you one particular school. Baltimore has many great schools and is a great city, but i don't know what type of interaction they have with other programs.

Although Penn has historically been regarded as a "research" institution, they've produced many successful GPs. We have recently acquired a new dean (Marjorie Jeffcoat) this year, and as a result the clinical requirements for c/o 2007 have been increased. Additionally, we started cutting preps on the DentSim units the first day of classes.

The rest of your questions seem to be directed specifically to MD students, so i'll skip those. But I am very happy with my decision, although I know i'd be just as happy at MD. I just wanted to finally go to dental school.

Personally, I made the final decision to come to Penn because I ultimately am seeking to specialize, and Penn has great match rates. Nevertheless, i'd say about half of our class is planning on going straight to GP. But also, I really liked the sense of freedom in the curriculum as well as the opportunity to begin networking myself as a future professional with other students in the area. (philadelphia is home to 16 or so colleges)

I'm sure i've said too much and probably just reiterated things you already know, but the best way to decide is to think about where you feel you'll personally fit in the best. In the end you'll be a dentist, but the happier you are with your decision, the more successful and, perhaps just as importantly, the less stressed you'll be as you progress through school.

Either way, you're choosing between two great schools. Good luck with your decision.

 

[SpringHaze]

Hey thanks guys! I really appreciate the honest feedback I've been getting. I think I really have to revisit the schools at this point (luckily i'm right in b'more though), but you've been giving me some things to think about.