UoP, SHOULD I APPLY?

[shoeler]

What does everyone know about UoP? I have heard from a lot of friends a STRONG variety of opinons mostly telling me not to apply and that its not a good school because the quality of education in those 3 years isn't as good as any other 4 year school.

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[bruinpredent]

What does everyone know about UoP? I have heard from a lot of friends a STRONG variety of opinons mostly telling me not to apply and that its not a good school because the quality of education in those 3 years isn't as good as any other 4 year school.

yes, please don't apply

usually those who have a problem with UoP are those who didn't get in...UoP is very competitive to get into, and many would argue that it is perhaps one of the best schools (or atleast one of the most popular schools) in the US.

i'm sure you will get a ton of very defensive replies to this post, haha...so brace yourself

 

[armorshell]

Have you ever met someone who finished undergrad in 3 years? Usually, these persons complete additional credit hours every semester, or take additional clases during summer sessions to achieve the 120 credits required to graduate in 3 years.

This is exactly what they do at UoP. The quality of education is certainly not the worst in the country, and some would regard it as top tier. The best I can do for you is cite the 18 commendations UoP received during it's last accreditation visit. Note that UCSF, a 4 year school considered by most to be one of the best in the country, a school with double the number of graduate programs in dentistry, received 17.

 

[armorshell]

yes, please don't apply

usually those who have a problem with UoP are those who didn't get in...UoP is very competitive to get into, and many would argue that it is perhaps one of the best schools (or atleast one of the most popular schools) in the US.

i'm sure you will get a ton of very defensive replies to this post, haha...so brace yourself

There's really no need for anyone to get defensive. I can understand why some people might view a shorter program as somehow inferior, but I think the evidence, and the analogy of the motivated undergrad student should be enough to disprove that misnomer.

 

[SoCalDent]

I just got back from a sort of preliminary interview type deal at Pacific. I was extremely impressed by the facilities and the students. Like one of the dental students there said, if you put the top 30 students accepted to Pacific against the class at Harvard (which is 30 students), UOP's will beat them (so far as statistics, experience, etc.). You can do this with any school in the country. Pacific is definitely top notch. I have heard it referred to as the "Disneyland of Dental Schools." From my experience, I certainly agree.

 

[xdianaax]

I'm glad someone brought up UoP, I'm really interested in the school, but do they have the same speciality rate?

 

[SugarNaCl]

If I could graduate with a DDS degree in 3 years, I'd be all about it! Unfortunately, I think being a country away from my family would depress me. I have heard great things about UoP.

Funny thing is because they don't really rank dental schools, many go by stats alone in determining quality. It is an inaccurate gauge. Almost every dental school website I have gone onto says "X (insert their name here) school is one of the top dental schools in the country." Yeah, there are 50 some top dental schools in the country I would imagine.

 

[CTDent]

Does anyone know the rate of students that need to finish coursework after the 3 year period. Even for 4 year schools there are small numbers of students that don't finish in the required time. I'm wondering if the rate is higher for UoP because of the accelerated program?

 

[CTDent]

I just got back from a sort of preliminary interview type deal at Pacific. I was extremely impressed by the facilities and the students. Like one of the dental students there said, if you put the top 30 students accepted to Pacific against the class at Harvard (which is 30 students), UOP's will beat them (so far as statistics, experience, etc.). You can do this with any school in the country. Pacific is definitely top notch. I have heard it referred to as the "Disneyland of Dental Schools." From my experience, I certainly agree.

Did he/she have any specific evidence or statistics that you can link to us to show this, or was this just the students general opinion?

 

[SoCalDent]

Yeah, I am sure that it was just their opinion. However, I believed him due to the fact that the class at UOP is 140 students, and their average AA was a 21 last year while Harvard had an AA of what 23/24, but their class is only 30 people. That was enough for me to believe it. I might be more naiive than you though?

 

[SugarNaCl]

Did he/she have any specific evidence or statistics that you can link to us to show this, or was this just the students general opinion?

Come on, you have high GPAs at every school. The highest GPA in Harvard's entering class probably has a match at many if not most or even all dental schools. Some people look for proximity or cost. You end up with a DDS or DMD degree either way. Your patients often won't know or care how good any dental school is as long as YOU are a good dentist.

 

[marscole]

fortunately, i follow a DDS who grad from UOP. his undergrad major was molecular bio in ucsd. he told me that 1st year in uop was the toughest year in his edu life. since they squeeze all sci subjects in one year.

basically, 1st year: NO LIFE, & 24/7 study!!! on the other hand, he could make it, why not you?

go to apply!!!

 

[lnsip9reg]

if you're going to apply, do so early! i couldn't take my DAT until late-august last year, and i think it was too late for Pacific by then.

also, could we call them Pacific instead of UoP? maybe it's rumour, but i heard that the school prefers that since University of Phoenix is taking over the "UoP" label much to the former's chagrin.

.. i also think Pacific sounds way cooler

 

[pacbum]

if you're going to apply, do so early! i couldn't take my DAT until late-august last year, and i think it was too late for Pacific by then.

also, could we call them Pacific instead of UoP? maybe it's rumour, but i heard that the school prefers that since University of Phoenix is taking over the "UoP" label much to the former's chagrin.

.. i also think Pacific sounds way cooler

yes! they really try to fill their class by dec 1st, so the earlier you apply, the better. imo, it is one of the best schools out there. i know many people that went, and are going this upcoming year, and all their students are very happy. faculty is great...dr. yarborough is also an awesome associate dean. people that graduat from uop really love their school, and it's rare that i hear any complaints about it at all. plus location in sf is great too.

 

[armorshell]

I'm glad someone brought up UoP, I'm really interested in the school, but do they have the same speciality rate?

Here's a quote from the current student body president:

this year 39 students from PACIFIC are going into specialty programs, this does not include AEGD's and GPR's everyone that applied to endo programs from our school got in. Just thought I'd post this since PACIFIC is usually known as a place you avoid for specialty when in fact almost everyone who wanted to specialize from our school got in. The difference is over half of our students have no desire to specialize and come here for our superior clinical education.

I'd have to agree that if you work hard it can be done from anywhere.

Another thing you may want to consider is if the school you attend does not have that specialty you want to go into you will likely be able to gain much more hands on experience while in the pre doc program - there's no one else to do it but you!

Here are the exact stats:

For all you soon to be gunners, I wrote down numbers from the posting they put up at school the other day of all the students who are doing residencies next year. Class size is roughly 135 for c/o '07.

AEGD - 10
GPR - 13

Endo - 4
OS - 3
Ortho - 9
Pedo - 7
Perio - 2
Pros - 1

So not counting AEGD/GPRs, about 20% of the class is specializing. I don't know the numbers for how many applied for each though. There are also a bunch alums in addition to the graduating class that matched this year.

 

[pacbum]

btw, did you guys know that pete carroll went to uop? kinda interesting.

 

[armorshell]

Yeah, I am sure that it was just their opinion. However, I believed him due to the fact that the class at UOP is 140 students, and their average AA was a 21 last year while Harvard had an AA of what 23/24, but their class is only 30 people. That was enough for me to believe it. I might be more naiive than you though?

I was thinking about this last night, and you can probably say this of most of the large schools. I'm inclined to say the same is probably true of Columbia, UPenn, NYU, BU, etc...

 

[armorshell]

btw, did you guys know that pete carroll went to uop? kinda interesting.

So did Bridget Marquardt, one of Hef's current girlfriends on "The Girl Next Door"

 

[SoCalDent]

The fact that Pete "the freaking man" Carroll went there makes me have chills. Too bad they don't have a football team anymore. Petey was a defensive back for them. Better coach than player. LOL.

 

[pacbum]

So did Bridget Marquardt, one of Hef's current girlfriends on "The Girl Next Door"

hahaha, quite the selection of alumni.

 

[djeffreyt]

Did he/she have any specific evidence or statistics that you can link to us to show this, or was this just the students general opinion?

I think the student was getting his information from something one of the deans said. Art Dugoni, in talking about the current 1st year class there at an alumni reception last year said almost the exact same thing. Take the top incoming 30 students' statistics from UCSF and Harvard and compare it with Pacific and Pacific outranks them in both GPA and DAT scores is what Dugoni said at the reception.

Dugoni could have been lying I suppose...but I can't see why. It's not really in character for him.

 

[djeffreyt]

yes! they really try to fill their class by dec 1st, so the earlier you apply, the better. imo, it is one of the best schools out there. i know many people that went, and are going this upcoming year, and all their students are very happy. faculty is great...dr. yarborough is also an awesome associate dean. people that graduat from uop really love their school, and it's rare that i hear any complaints about it at all. plus location in sf is great too.

Plus, I'm going there, and I'm Super Awesome #1 Okay. So it is a great school.

 

[armorshell]

yes! they really try to fill their class by dec 1st, so the earlier you apply, the better. imo, it is one of the best schools out there. i know many people that went, and are going this upcoming year, and all their students are very happy. faculty is great...dr. yarborough is also an awesome associate dean. people that graduat from uop really love their school, and it's rare that i hear any complaints about it at all. plus location in sf is great too.

Yeah, if you're applying to Pacfic, apply early or don't bother.

Also, Dr. Yarborough is one of the shining stars of Pacific. He was the only person from any school I went to who I felt wasn't giving me the "party line." He was absolutely straitforward and honest about everything the school had to offer, and I really appreciated that.

 

[CTDent]

I think the student was getting his information from something one of the deans said. Art Dugoni, in talking about the current 1st year class there at an alumni reception last year said almost the exact same thing. Take the top incoming 30 students' statistics from UCSF and Harvard and compare it with Pacific and Pacific outranks them in both GPA and DAT scores is what Dugoni said at the reception.

Dugoni could have been lying I suppose...but I can't see why. It's not really in character for him.

I'm sure he wasn't lying, I'd just like to see a specific comparison because data can often be interpreted many different ways depending on who's doing the interpreting. Plus it will help anyone interested in UoP (like me) solidify our interest; so if you can link anything concrete in this thread, please do.

 

[shoeler]

yes! they really try to fill their class by dec 1st, so the earlier you apply, the better. imo, it is one of the best schools out there. i know many people that went, and are going this upcoming year, and all their students are very happy. faculty is great...dr. yarborough is also an awesome associate dean. people that graduat from uop really love their school, and it's rare that i hear any complaints about it at all. plus location in sf is great too.

I am allready applied and waiting to hear from them... I just took the DAT last week and hopefully those scores get there asap...