UPENN vs. UCLA

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UCLA or UPenn?

  • UPenn

    Votes: 23 41.8%
  • UCLA

    Votes: 32 58.2%

  • Total voters
    55
  • Poll closed .

niceteeth

Niceteeth
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Hi guys, I’ve just received a letter from Sarah saying that I’ve been accepted to UCLA School of Dentistry. I got very excited and practically bounced off the walls out of sheer ecstasy for the last 5 minutes.

I’m pretty much calm now, but my new concern is choosing between my two top schools- UCLA and Penn. I’m having a hard time deciding since they are both top notch schools. If you guys could help me out and give me some input, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks in advance. 😀

PENN:
Pro - high specialty matching rate, super friendly staff, larger patient pool, selective program,

Con- freezing cold


UCLA:

Pro- good weather (I’m from So Cal.) , excellent clinical faculty, smaller class size, Pass/No Pass- less competitive,

Con- small patient pool
 
niceteeth said:
PENN:
Con- freezing cold

If you think Philadelphia is freezing cold, then you have never experienced a real winter. 😀
 
edkNARF said:
If you think Philadelphia is freezing cold, then you have never experienced a real winter. 😀

I'm not looking forward to that for sure! I was there when was it's up in the 40's and I was already dying. I think I'll be missing So Cal all year-round summer a lot if I chose Penn over UCLA.

btw, if anyone could add to the list, that'll be great!
 
basically UPENN is the best school for everything except for the weather. but it should not matter since we are going for Dental School, not whether or not we can wear shorts and sandals.
 
Go to penn, I was originally very excited to get into UCLA as well, Then I started thinking about what they told me on my interview. 30th out of 60 or so schools on the clinical boards, they keep having cuts to their programs, the cost keeps going up I don't know I feel like that schools reputation might be better than the actual education you get. To top that off my student interviewer told me that if she could do it again she probably would not have gone to UCLA because she didn't like it or the people very much. I've never heard anything but good things about PENN.

Nick
 
I have the same concern(money) when i was accepted last year.
Will it affect the quality of education?
As it turns out, we are doing alright, if not better. We are constantly improving. Many faculty are willing to have extra sessions during wkends to help out those who are a little behind. Basically, they want all of us to pass. I havent been doing stuff in the clinic yet, but from what I heard, our clinical instructors are awesome.

Detail-wise, we now have to make some copies for ourselves. And the projector sometimes break down and its quality aint perfect. The chairs in some lecture hall are kinda old. It makes minor noises when I move around. Though 7th floor lecture hall is so nice that everybody can fall into sleep there. We have a sim lab that D1 havent used it yet. O, we do have a new pair of bathrooms next to the 4th floor lab. O ya, our 4th floor lab is really nice, too.

i have been talking with people about ucsf and ucla.
it seems every year, many of us are choosing between the top schools in our country. Keep in mind that each of these schools would have pretty much the same level of quality. You maybe comparing a 98 vs a 99... Then you should look at other things.

It rained yesterday! It doesnt suppose to rain in LA. Let's hope the weekend is sunny. Without the smog and traffic(assuming they have acid rain in east coast and traffic in major cities), SoCAL's weather is the best.

We do have selective courses along with a bunch of other requirements in order to graduate. Next quarter, there will be a dental spanish class. it shall be fun.

Other detail: students dont care much about the Board II, like we havent taken enough tests. For those applying for specialty, they would have known placement already(most) or actually studied hard for that test(not majority), then there are those who wants to be GP. Your employers wont hire u even with extremely high board score alone. That kinda explains why we are not as hot as our board I. Do you know how we have been ranked for board I, the one that you have to submit when you apply for specialty?

very disorganized post.
but someone may find this helpful

p.s. i think people have beaten the cost issue down.
dont forget about the state license exam(even though the system is changing)
and alumni influence.
be sure to carefully analyze fact:
i would suggest you to request the annual report from each school and see what/how each school is doing.

juggamynugga said:
Go to penn, I was originally very excited to get into UCLA as well, Then I started thinking about what they told me on my interview. 30th out of 60 or so schools on the clinical boards, they keep having cuts to their programs, the cost keeps going up I don't know I feel like that schools reputation might be better than the actual education you get. To top that off my student interviewer told me that if she could do it again she probably would not have gone to UCLA because she didn't like it or the people very much. I've never heard anything but good things about PENN.

Nick
 
ecdoesit said:
I have the same concern(money) when i was accepted last year.
Will it affect the quality of education?
As it turns out, we are doing alright, if not better. We are constantly improving. Many faculty are willing to have extra sessions during wkends to help out those who are a little behind. Basically, they want all of us to pass. I havent been doing stuff in the clinic yet, but from what I heard, our clinical instructors are awesome.

Detail-wise, we now have to make some copies for ourselves. And the projector sometimes break down and its quality aint perfect. The chairs in some lecture hall are kinda old. It makes minor noises when I move around. Though 7th floor lecture hall is so nice that everybody can fall into sleep there. We have a sim lab that D1 havent used it yet. O, we do have a new pair of bathrooms next to the 4th floor lab. O ya, our 4th floor lab is really nice, too.

i have been talking with people about ucsf and ucla.
it seems every year, many of us are choosing between the top schools in our country. Keep in mind that each of these schools would have pretty much the same level of quality. You maybe comparing a 98 vs a 99... Then you should look at other things.

It rained yesterday! It doesnt suppose to rain in LA. Let's hope the weekend is sunny. Without the smog and traffic(assuming they have acid rain in east coast and traffic in major cities), SoCAL's weather is the best.

We do have selective courses along with a bunch of other requirements in order to graduate. Next quarter, there will be a dental spanish class. it shall be fun.

Other detail: students dont care much about the Board II, like we havent taken enough tests. For those applying for specialty, they would have known placement already(most) or actually studied hard for that test(not majority), then there are those who wants to be GP. Your employers wont hire u even with extremely high board score alone. That kinda explains why we are not as hot as our board I. Do you know how we have been ranked for board I, the one that you have to submit when you apply for specialty?

very disorganized post.
but someone may find this helpful

p.s. i think people have beaten the cost issue down.
dont forget about the state license exam(even though the system is changing)
and alumni influence.
be sure to carefully analyze fact:
i would suggest you to request the annual report from each school and see what/how each school is doing.

Hi ecdoesit,

Those are very helpful information. I heard from Dr. Bibb that UCLA students do exceptionally well on the NB I, some even in the 98 and 99. I have to quickly go now, but many thanks ecdoesit.. 😀
 
Go to Penn.

Penn: lots more clinical experience (compared to UCLA), nice faculty, lots of research (from what I gathered at my interview), nice city/area; harsh winters, pre-clinical lab isn't so nice.

UCLA: pre-clinical lab is nice, high board scores (latest NBDE Part I average was a 92%, 6 students scored 99%), good weather, nice city/area; not easy to get into a good research lab, very competitive (despite the P/NP system), lack of a decent patient pool.

The 3 cons of UCLA are pretty serious. =P

I can't anticipate your questions, so I don't know what else to write. If you want to know more, PM me and I'll call you or you can call me or whatever and have a chat.
 
ziptree said:
Go to Penn.

Penn: lots more clinical experience (compared to UCLA), nice faculty, lots of research (from what I gathered at my interview), nice city/area; harsh winters, pre-clinical lab isn't so nice.

UCLA: pre-clinical lab is nice, high board scores (latest NBDE Part I average was a 92%, 6 students scored 99%), good weather, nice city/area; not easy to get into a good research lab, very competitive (despite the P/NP system), lack of a decent patient pool.

The 3 cons of UCLA are pretty serious. =P

I can't anticipate your questions, so I don't know what else to write. If you want to know more, PM me and I'll call you or you can call me or whatever and have a chat.

Hi ziptree,

Do you think the patient pool will be any better by the time I'm in 3rd and 4th year? I heard that UCLA is initiating some outreach programs to increase the patient pool.
 
Thanks guys... all of your inputs were very helpful.
I've decided to go for UCLA. No regrets.. and very excited. 😀
 
How do I close this thread???
 
niceteeth said:
How do I close this thread???

Do you mind telling me your stats, like GPA, DAT scores, and extracurricular activities. I want to go to UCLA dental school too since I'm already an undergrad here. I really like the weather and don't want to be far away from my family.


Thanks!
 
niceteeth said:
Thanks guys... all of your inputs were very helpful.
I've decided to go for UCLA. No regrets.. and very excited. 😀

knew it. "I am so smart, I am so smart, S M R T...doh, I mean S M A R T"

anyone who can name that qoute will get a cookie
 
nothen2do said:
knew it. "I am so smart, I am so smart, S M R T...doh, I mean S M A R T"

anyone who can name that qoute will get a cookie

hahaha ... can i still get a cookie for laughing :laugh:
 
You made the right decision to go to UCLA, and you know it! And you know who I am.

I'll see you with Cassandra on Monday.
 
ziptree said:
UCLA: pre-clinical lab is nice, high board scores (latest NBDE Part I average was a 92%, 6 students scored 99%), good weather, nice city/area; not easy to get into a good research lab, very competitive (despite the P/NP system), lack of a decent patient pool.

The 3 cons of UCLA are pretty serious.

Ziptree is pre-clinical (1st or 2nd year) and doesn't know what our patient pool is really like. There is no lack of patients. I have a buttload of patients and some of them are really fricking complex (bone grafting, implants, endo, reverse occlusal plane, crossbite, extreme esthetic demands...in the same quadrant). Basically, I've got my hands full. On my plate right now are about 30 crowns, 10 implants, a bunch of operative, and a frickin RPD. I have no idea how hard it is to get into a "good" research lab because I haven't tried, but I can't imagine it's difficult. There is so much going on here. Everyone and their mother is doing research. Last, I don't think UCLA is competitive at all. Maybe there are 3 or 4 nutty gunners in my class. We share notes and review sheets for every class.

This was an old thread but I wanted to reply because someone interested in UCLA might dig it up later. I know nothing about UPenn, but I would never want to live there. I love the beach too much.
 
nothen2do said:
knew it. "I am so smart, I am so smart, S M R T...doh, I mean S M A R T"

anyone who can name that qoute will get a cookie


Homer, obviously 😀 I'll take my cookie with milk please 🙂
 
drhobie7 said:
Ziptree is pre-clinical (1st or 2nd year) and doesn't know what our patient pool is really like. There is no lack of patients. I have a buttload of patients and some of them are really fricking complex (bone grafting, implants, endo, reverse occlusal plane, crossbite, extreme esthetic demands...in the same quadrant). Basically, I've got my hands full. On my plate right now are about 30 crowns, 10 implants, a bunch of operative, and a frickin RPD. I have no idea how hard it is to get into a "good" research lab because I haven't tried, but I can't imagine it's difficult. There is so much going on here. Everyone and their mother is doing research. Last, I don't think UCLA is competitive at all. Maybe there are 3 or 4 nutty gunners in my class. We share notes and review sheets for every class.

This was an old thread but I wanted to reply because someone interested in UCLA might dig it up later. I know nothing about UPenn, but I would never want to live there. I love the beach too much.

Thanks for the info. UCLA is one of my top choices but I did hear bad things about the competition and the clinics. It's nice to hear something positive.
 
ziptree said:
UCLA: pre-clinical lab is nice, high board scores (latest NBDE Part I average was a 92%, 6 students scored 99%), good weather, nice city/area; not easy to get into a good research lab, very competitive (despite the P/NP system), lack of a decent patient pool.

The competition is definitely present. Mmmph. I wonder how that can be lessened? What do you think?

I think these are the cause. For one, school selects a group of students who have awesome test scores and GPAs. And to score such high scores implies that these people automatically innately competitive. For example, the average entrance DAT is probably 22 or something; that means a 96 percentile, that means higher score than 96 percent of the people who took the test. Does it take some pushing and shovling to get up there? I suggest yes.

So ziptree, I think there is high competition going on as well. You have any stories to share?
 
jk5177 said:
The competition is definitely present. Mmmph. I wonder how that can be lessened? What do you think?

I think these are the cause. For one, school selects a group of students who have awesome test scores and GPAs. And to score such high scores implies that these people automatically innately competitive. For example, the average entrance DAT is probably 22 or something; that means a 96 percentile, that means higher score than 96 percent of the people who took the test. Does it take some pushing and shovling to get up there? I suggest yes.

So ziptree, I think there is high competition going on as well. You have any stories to share?

Maybe it's just my class that's different. But I doubt it. I think you guys will mellow out soon. Same for the new 2nd years. Jeez, you guys haven't even been in class a month. People are probably just freaked out because they don't know how hard they have to study. "Did you study this weekend???" "How many hours did you study???" Your classmates are just trying to get into a comfort zone. People need to understand that competition isn't helping anyone. EPRs are meaningless. Nobody outside UCLA understands them. If I'm wrong and your class is super competitive, I suggest you run with a different crowd and just laugh at the gunners. Amuse yourself with their stress as they freak out on a daily basis. It cracks me up.
 
TO UCLA students:

I am wondering how many patients find their way in and out of the dental clinic. I visited the school a while ago and frankly I had to make 10 turns inside the building to get to the admissions office in the basement and every 2 min I had to ask for directions lol. I also had a hard time finding my way out. At several times I felt that I had to go through restricted areas to get in and out. Some areas looked like intensive care units. My guess is that patients must be so desperate to want to find their way through this maze.
 
Dr. Hobie.

Are you a 3rd or 4th year?
 
Niceteeth, You are completely nuts and out of your mind if you go to UCLA over Penn. I can tell you right now that UCLA is on a downturn and is not a good place to go. I am not talking blindly, trust me, I have very good sources at both schools. In addition, I know the deans.
 
ajpak23 said:
Niceteeth, You are completely nuts and out of your mind if you go to UCLA over Penn. I can tell you right now that UCLA is on a downturn and is not a good place to go. I am not talking blindly, trust me, I have very good sources at both schools. In addition, I know the deans.

:laugh:

I'm a third year at UCLA, so I'd love to hear about this downturn. Maybe I can get out while there's still time. Is UPENN taking transfers?
 
I am a 2nd year. I am very curious because these two schools are two of the best in the country. I know no single school is perfect. Please share your evidence with us. As students, we would like to know, so we could reflect that to our school to make appropriate adjustment.



ajpak23 said:
Niceteeth, You are completely nuts and out of your mind if you go to UCLA over Penn. I can tell you right now that UCLA is on a downturn and is not a good place to go. I am not talking blindly, trust me, I have very good sources at both schools. In addition, I know the deans.
 
ajpak23 said:
Niceteeth, You are completely nuts and out of your mind if you go to UCLA over Penn. I can tell you right now that UCLA is on a downturn and is not a good place to go. I am not talking blindly, trust me, I have very good sources at both schools. In addition, I know the deans.


On a downturn? :laugh: Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound? Each year our incoming students just get stronger. Our clinic is nicer than it has ever been. Our faculty are as outstanding as ever. And our patient pool has never been bigger. I'll tell you what's nuts: listening to a pre-dent about advice on what school to attend. But please continue since you obviously 'know' our Dean, who I'm sure has told you how he's steering us into a 'downturn'.
 
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