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Umich board rates
- Thread starter Uneek1234
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I'm not a dental student, but I have heard the same thing. I found it strange, b/c I thought UofM was suppose to be didactically excellent.
I'm not sure what board exams consist of though. Are there also clinically based questions?
I feel dumb asking actually, because it seems like there kind of has to be. At least for the second round of boards right?
Is it the second boards that they supposedly have problems with?
Edit: Actually I still have my UofM packet in my bag. Apparently their national board pass rates are at (although not below) the national average. It varies, but seems to be around 80%.
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yeah, but only by 0.5%. It was 0.3% higher than average the year before. So pretty much average.
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OK...... but It was the two years before that that they had low pass rates. So if you're looking at like a five year average the boards look bad.
I was wondering if anyone knew the averages for Umich for the boards. I have been accepted to both UDM and Umich, as a resident of michigan Umich is clearly cheaper, but I know that when I went to the interview at UDM I was shown rates/scores for the past couple of years and they were strong, and naturally UDM also provides a greater clinical experience. I am so confused, why couldnt detroit be "cheap" as Umich too.
UDM is a private institution, so it is more expensive.
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Those low board rates kind of scare me. What happened in 2009/2010 when they had 15% failing rate for Part II??
I'm wondering if the fact that they don't give students time to study for it (year round schedule) contributes to this weakness in board scores. I'm going there next fall, and this was a concern for me. When I asked the first group of year round students about it (who hadn't taken boards yet) they kind of shrugged their shoulders and basically said they had to take it during school, which sounds like a big disadvantage to me. Any current students had any experience with that? Also I think they take it after 2nd year which seems later than a lot of schools I interviewed at.
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i think if you're a good student, you'll be fine passing the boards. I don't see it as being that big of a problem. Boards have become pass/no pass, so just pass!
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As I mentioned the board scores have been within a percentage point or two of 80. I don't recall the exact numbers.
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So I'm currently a D1 here and as many of you on this thread know Michigan has gone through a curriculum change which I heard was to address the low board score epidemic over the past couple of years. Anyway, our Assistant Academic Dean told us basically that at Michigan "we're held to a higher standard" and that we're not taught "towards" boards(as to say maybe and don't quote me on this, other schools that do so or so I have heard). A lot of the changes to our curriculum have so resulted in a lot of upper classmen even commenting on not knowing a lot of the stuff we're learning in their first 2 years of dental school and I guess to be a little more board friendly. Funny enough, our instructors are highlighting key points in their lectures that are not just relevant to the class but as well for boards. We've gotten some dental anatomy board exams from years previous(late 90s) that gave us an idea of what to expect for that portion(had a little H&N too)
Our head and neck anatomy professor who teaches at the medical school did his didactics in dentistry(and for some reason, I'm not sure if he finished or not). Anyway, he took the boards and has been able to see the boards from 6 years ago I think(I don't think they allow faculty to see the boards anymore, etc, not sure what that is all about). He held a review for us 2 weeks ago on what books to get and when (which is now) as well as when approximately when to start studying.
I'm not sure what many of would like to get of your dentistry career, but if it's possibly specialization(which many of you I swear will reconsider when you start feeling the heat of dental school/gunners depending on where you go possibly), for those of you who interviewed at Michigan probably noticed that a lot of people still matched in their specialties with maybe 2 people missing out on Ortho and like OMFS (atleast from what I remember). Why may that be? Mainly to do because Michigan is a brand name. 4 year model, research, the dental museum, past ADA presidents, the founding of the dental fraternities here, football powerhouse, elitist attitudes towards outsiders, blah blah blah, the list goes on. Now I swear I'm not on my high horse nor am I trying to be when I say all that(granted that I have lived in AA all my life and went to undergrad at Mich, HS, middle school and elementary school here). You'll have people who will complain about something or another wherever you go, no school is perfect. Suck it up because this is what you signed up for. Dental school is what you make it out to be and obviously I haven't felt the crux of it yet nor do I know my fate on boards. I believe however that I'm not going to be hoping that I will be teaspooned the material that is relevant to one exam and does not translate to my career in dentistry. I would like to do well on boards obviously but I know I will have to put in the effort along with my classes just like many of you did for the DAT, which didn't have me draw out the each step of the mechanisms for SN2, SN1, alpha/beta linkage reactions like undergrad at Mich made me do instead of just recognizing the steps itself. I'm not saying schools who give time off for boards or have say more clinical experience are "weak", but at the same time there are going to be times in your life where you're doing 9 things at once and you don't even have time to think. Also if a complex case/rare case of Non-Herlitz Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa is presented to you in clinic, I think you'll have to extract a tiny bit more information out of that head of yours that you may have not learned towards boards. Sure you may say that may not be a frequent occurence, but that's still a patient you may see or possibly a person with Frontonasal Dysplasia. In the case you fail boards, I'm pretty sure Michigan understands the investment(aka your money) you made in them and will do everything possible to bring you up to speed so you graduate.
This whole clinical experience thing that people give us a bad rap about it is hilarious because personally I believe it is more on what you make of it and whether you're willing to put in work. So if that means you're spending a little more time on that Class 4 restoration on number 9, its better that you're doing it now with meticulous skill versus trying to rush it in the beginning of learning it and hoping to be set for clinic all of a sudden while praying for an influx of them. Personally over the winter breaks instead of just sitting at home and doing nothing, being from AA allowed me to go to the hospital and assist the OMFSs and GPRs when they needed help as to learn more clinical stuff. This was just a stepping stone and I hope to be more involved in my school later on when the opportunities present itself. I don't believe we have a shortage of patients and its almost laughable when people think that just because Ann Arbor is "semi wealthy", we're somehow not getting patients from less wealthy areas of Ann Arbor and the likes of Ypsilanti, Dexter, Flint, Grand Rapids(3 hours away), and around other parts of Michigan. Many of you don't know that Ann Arbor isn't what it used to be ever since Pfizer shut down its headquarters here, people have not been having it so easy. Albeit we're better off then most areas in the state, the city has taken a hit. Know the area first before talking about the demographics of it. We do have rotations off site at the prisons, in rural areas, up north, the hospital, and other places I believe and the school is continuing to add more. As D1's we've been able to assist in clinic as apart of one of classes that addresses "clinical experience".
You all will make decisions that are best for you and you're at no disadvantage at whatever school you may end up. If you set your sights high and are willing to put in the work just like your classmates, you'll get where you want. You'll learn that excuses don't magically end up in results.
Our head and neck anatomy professor who teaches at the medical school did his didactics in dentistry(and for some reason, I'm not sure if he finished or not). Anyway, he took the boards and has been able to see the boards from 6 years ago I think(I don't think they allow faculty to see the boards anymore, etc, not sure what that is all about). He held a review for us 2 weeks ago on what books to get and when (which is now) as well as when approximately when to start studying.
I'm not sure what many of would like to get of your dentistry career, but if it's possibly specialization(which many of you I swear will reconsider when you start feeling the heat of dental school/gunners depending on where you go possibly), for those of you who interviewed at Michigan probably noticed that a lot of people still matched in their specialties with maybe 2 people missing out on Ortho and like OMFS (atleast from what I remember). Why may that be? Mainly to do because Michigan is a brand name. 4 year model, research, the dental museum, past ADA presidents, the founding of the dental fraternities here, football powerhouse, elitist attitudes towards outsiders, blah blah blah, the list goes on. Now I swear I'm not on my high horse nor am I trying to be when I say all that(granted that I have lived in AA all my life and went to undergrad at Mich, HS, middle school and elementary school here). You'll have people who will complain about something or another wherever you go, no school is perfect. Suck it up because this is what you signed up for. Dental school is what you make it out to be and obviously I haven't felt the crux of it yet nor do I know my fate on boards. I believe however that I'm not going to be hoping that I will be teaspooned the material that is relevant to one exam and does not translate to my career in dentistry. I would like to do well on boards obviously but I know I will have to put in the effort along with my classes just like many of you did for the DAT, which didn't have me draw out the each step of the mechanisms for SN2, SN1, alpha/beta linkage reactions like undergrad at Mich made me do instead of just recognizing the steps itself. I'm not saying schools who give time off for boards or have say more clinical experience are "weak", but at the same time there are going to be times in your life where you're doing 9 things at once and you don't even have time to think. Also if a complex case/rare case of Non-Herlitz Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa is presented to you in clinic, I think you'll have to extract a tiny bit more information out of that head of yours that you may have not learned towards boards. Sure you may say that may not be a frequent occurence, but that's still a patient you may see or possibly a person with Frontonasal Dysplasia. In the case you fail boards, I'm pretty sure Michigan understands the investment(aka your money) you made in them and will do everything possible to bring you up to speed so you graduate.
This whole clinical experience thing that people give us a bad rap about it is hilarious because personally I believe it is more on what you make of it and whether you're willing to put in work. So if that means you're spending a little more time on that Class 4 restoration on number 9, its better that you're doing it now with meticulous skill versus trying to rush it in the beginning of learning it and hoping to be set for clinic all of a sudden while praying for an influx of them. Personally over the winter breaks instead of just sitting at home and doing nothing, being from AA allowed me to go to the hospital and assist the OMFSs and GPRs when they needed help as to learn more clinical stuff. This was just a stepping stone and I hope to be more involved in my school later on when the opportunities present itself. I don't believe we have a shortage of patients and its almost laughable when people think that just because Ann Arbor is "semi wealthy", we're somehow not getting patients from less wealthy areas of Ann Arbor and the likes of Ypsilanti, Dexter, Flint, Grand Rapids(3 hours away), and around other parts of Michigan. Many of you don't know that Ann Arbor isn't what it used to be ever since Pfizer shut down its headquarters here, people have not been having it so easy. Albeit we're better off then most areas in the state, the city has taken a hit. Know the area first before talking about the demographics of it. We do have rotations off site at the prisons, in rural areas, up north, the hospital, and other places I believe and the school is continuing to add more. As D1's we've been able to assist in clinic as apart of one of classes that addresses "clinical experience".
You all will make decisions that are best for you and you're at no disadvantage at whatever school you may end up. If you set your sights high and are willing to put in the work just like your classmates, you'll get where you want. You'll learn that excuses don't magically end up in results.
I am really interested in how Umich adapts to the past board rates I hope you can keep us posted on how the new curic has impacted the rate, my brother went to UMich so he tells me quite a bit about it. Ann Arbor has not been hit like the D by job losses, the University will always be its backbone.
hifive- What does your brother think of Umich Dental? What were his biggest complaints? Did he go there as undergrad, as well?
Hey, well from the last time I talked to him he was comparing Umich to UDM students and saying how new grads from UDM are more adept then the ones he has seen from Umich, and that this consistent from what his friends and other dental colleagues have seen from new grads at their practices. Although this was a while ago he did complain how some of the stuff they were learning did not focus on the boards. Someone mentioned that the curic is focusing more on the boards so I guess this has changed? Personally I think my bro is a great dentist and I think Umich played a good part in that, but he is a work horse and did study like a hardcore nerd 24/7 lol. He did not go there as an undergrad. I will ask him more the next time I get to talk to him.
