Unlv vs western

[jkb53433]

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I really need some advice ..can someone shed some light on both schools please...I have my own list but just want advice from current students or even pre-dental students interested in either school. Thanks a ton guys 🙂

 

[dantemac]

It'd be nice to know what you think of each school, if you have a preference on where you want to live, and what you know about the cost of each school (probably similar). We can't just blindly say which school is better.

 

[destinedsirius]

I interviewed at both places and I'd definitely go with UNLV if it was between those two schools.

Western is still very new and they have a lot to prove. The students don't even know the ins and outs of their own building. And, I wasn't impressed with their buildings because I personally like windows and the lab didn't have any. It felt very closed off and it's hard to spend long days without windows. The school and the area is very dead and boring. You learn biomed sciences with other health sciences so it isn't catered to dentistry alone.

UNLV has had a couple of graduating classes. The curriculum is already pretty solid for a relatively new school. I would have seriously considered going there if I didn't get into my top choice school.

 

[jkb53433]

It'd be nice to know what you think of each school, if you have a preference on where you want to live, and what you know about the cost of each school (probably similar). We can't just blindly say which school is better.

No i understand. Well proximity to family and friends is much better for me at western since in from socal. Even though i know unlv isnt that far either...

next i know western starts u off in the sim lab within the first few weeks ...i cant remember how long it takes for unlv. I keep reading about posts here of how much students attending unlv are not satisfied with their choice and how unhappy they sound. that is a major concern so i wanted unlv students to speak up and tell me their take.

cost of living...i know vegas is much cheaper to live in...i would love to spend less money each month...my head is all over the place as you can see. =/

 

[jkb53433]

I interviewed at both places and I'd definitely go with UNLV if it was between those two schools.

Western is still very new and they have a lot to prove. The students don't even know the ins and outs of their own building. And, I wasn't impressed with their buildings because I personally like windows and the lab didn't have any. It felt very closed off and it's hard to spend long days without windows. The school and the area is very dead and boring. You learn biomed sciences with other health sciences so it isn't catered to dentistry alone.

UNLV has had a couple of graduating classes. The curriculum is already pretty solid for a relatively new school. I would have seriously considered going there if I didn't get into my top choice school.

i feel like the area for unlv isnt all that great either. on my interview i didnt see the actual sim lab or where they would be seeing patients at unlv so that disappointed me a bit. I also didnt see the clinic at western so again i was disappointed (clinic was closed on sat...ummm they should really consider opening it for a tour i dont understand the big deal)

How many classes has unlv graduated..do you know? also when do they take their 1st boards?

the asthetics of a building dont make me worry as much as the program itself. I want to pick the best program given the two choices. you know =/ thank you for your advice tho i truly appreciate it.

 

[teddyllama]

I lived in Vegas for a few years and spent quite a bit of time at UNLV and the dental school. If it were me, I would choose UNLV. I withdrew my app from Western after my interview I was so disappointed with the school. Every school is going to have hiccups, but UNLV has very nice facilities and a great atmosphere (pretty entertaining professors too). There are nice, cost effective places to live in Vegas (within 20 min of school) where I couldn't fathom living in Pomona. Best of luck in your decision, never an easy one, but ultimately you have to do whats best for you.

 

[fujindesu]

i feel like the area for unlv isnt all that great either. on my interview i didnt see the actual sim lab or where they would be seeing patients at unlv so that disappointed me a bit. I also didnt see the clinic at western so again i was disappointed (clinic was closed on sat...ummm they should really consider opening it for a tour i dont understand the big deal)

How many classes has unlv graduated..do you know? also when do they take their 1st boards?

the asthetics of a building dont make me worry as much as the program itself. I want to pick the best program given the two choices. you know =/ thank you for your advice tho i truly appreciate it.

I interviewed at UNLV a few weeks back. Their sim lab and clinic is state of the art, the clinic is a bit nicer than the sim lab. They take their boards after the 2nd year. UNLV posts the pictures of their graduating class in the office, I believe there were at least 5 graduating classes. I think only 3 or 4 students didn't get matched into a specialty program from their last graduating class, 20 something students did.

Overall I'm very impressed. I guess if you wanna do pedo or ortho UNLV is good to go to, apparently they're pretty engaged in research as well.

 

[dantemac]

Well, do you want to stay in SoCal or move to Vegas? Both schools are new, expensive, and have differing accounts of how good the education is. I don't think you could go wrong either way.

I would give UNLV a slight edge, just because it is more established and has a good name in the dental community. Western is more of a wild card. When I was there, however, I really liked it. I picked up the vibe that you are treated as a Doctor from day one, you are upheld to high professional standards (i.e. the dress code/humanistic ideals/cadaver ceremony), and you get early clinical exposure.

The D3 students loved working in the clinics. Right now, since they are building a clientelle, the attending doctors and student doctors are both taking patients. How cool would that be that your teacher just doesn't sit at his desk with a newspaper (every other dental school) waiting for you to ask for help, he's actually taking cases with you and can bounce advice back and fourth.

The D4 year, which currently is planned (D3 is the highest year), plans to be rotations kinda like ASDOH. The sites they were saying you get to go to are really neat. Also, if you have the military scholarship, the student interviewing me said you can go to additional external sites because they have lots of bases and clinics in SoCal. That sounded like a really good experience to me.

In my opinion, rotations are key. You see 10+ patients a day, not 2 like a dental student would. For that reason I think Western would be exciting.

 

[lekso]

to be honest, I didn't get the best vibe of Western when I interviewed in February but now that I am a student here I can tell you that it is a great school and faculty here know what they are doing. I think you should definitely talk to students at both Western and UNLV because only they know how it is to be a student at either school.

I can't tell you much about UNLV because I'm not a student there and don't really know a lot about their program. I did get the chance to meet a dentist that graduated from there, a former instructors, and a few students that I talked to during a UNLV tour. They definitely have nice facilities with a nice sim lab and clinic. The dentist that I know is a great dentist but he told me he did not enjoy the time he spent at UNLV. He graduated a couple of years back so it might be different now. Students did not seem very happy either but those were only the couple of students that I talked to. I don't know about everybody else.

At WesternU, so far I have enjoyed my first semester. I have my last final in about 4 hours (talk about procrastination). Faculty are very nice and my classmates also seem happy. That may be only my impression so hopefully some other WesternU students can provide you with their opinion. Yes we do take basic science classes with Med/Podiatry/Optometry students during the first year because those are classes that they have to take also. I like that because we get to know students other than your classmates. We are gonna be spending the next four years together, it's nice to be able to make friends with students from other programs as well. The curriculum starting the second half of the second semester and until graduation is all dental. We take the same system classes other programs take but these are now being taught by dental faculty.
We start in sim lab the first few weeks of school. At the end of my first semester I am able to prepare and restore class I, II, and V amalgam, composite and GI restorations (at least on plastic teeth lol). We also learned how to take and interpret panoramic x-rays. We were told we would start assisting in clinic next semester which is something to look forward to.
We take our boards after second year. The third years got a 96% rate I believe (only one person failed).

Pomona is definitely not the nicest area but drive 10 minutes each direction and you will find a nice place to live. I live 15 minutes away in a nice and very safe neighborhood. My rent is not too bad either.

Hopefully you can get some insight from more students from both schools. Best of luck deciding.

 

[snikki]

I LOVED UNLV. Would definitely go there if I didn't get into my state schools. The faculty at UNLV seem extremely passionate about the school. Students seem to love the school. Living in Vegas is cheap. Our tour guide said his classmate is paying $250 a month for his MORTGAGE. Sim clinic is nice, TVs at every station that show what the teacher is doing.Also the vertical team system they have going seems to give the students great clinical experience.

When I interviewed at Western I wasn't very impressed. You take a lot of classes with students in the other health schools (don't know whether that's good or not). Current students just seem like they were there just because that was the only school they got into, or because they just wanted to be in CA. Pros: spanking new equipment.

 

[jkb53433]

All great advice and experiences shared. Thank you guys you truly helped me out a lot! =) I will take everything stated here into consideration. I wish a UNLV student shared his/her experience too but thank you everyone

 

[shaiboy]

UNLV has nice facilities, and people there seemed quite happy. Just be careful of their increasing tuition rates due to lack of state funding--the school is no longer the bargain it used to be.

 

[trut24]

Good luck with your decision. Also, dont believe everything you hear. Make your own decision, form your experience interviewing at the school. You cant judge a book by its cover. If you choose UNLV, which i absolutely didnt like ( it was not the school for me for many reasons), unless your from Nevada the tuition will be extrememly expensive = 100K+ a year. Also Nevada is going through a crysis and it may not be the best place to go to school now or in the future. But good luck with your decision.