Whats wrong w/ UCLA?

[chomper]

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I've heard nothing but great things about UCLA. But sometimes during interviews things seem much better then they really are.

Are there any students out there who can share some negatives aspects about UCLA's dental program? I'm asking so that I can form a comprehensive opinion on the school. Thanks.

 

[bruinpredent]

I've heard nothing but great things about UCLA. But sometimes during interviews things seem much better then they really are.

Are there any students out there who can share some negatives aspects about UCLA's dental program? I'm asking so that I can form a comprehensive opinion on the school. Thanks.

from what i hear the lack of patients seems to be a setback, as well as the fact that UCLA students tend to be seriously stressed out, but in the end all the positives seem to seriously outweigh those factors.

then again, thats just what i've heard

 

[drhobie7]

from what i hear the lack of patients seems to be a setback, as well as the fact that UCLA students tend to be seriously stressed out, but in the end all the positives seem to seriously outweigh those factors.

then again, thats just what i've heard

It seems the "lack of patients" rumor will never die. Ask any 3rd or 4th year and you'll almost certainly find they have an adequate if not oppressive number of patients to care for. Regardless, you will quickly learn when you enter clinic that it's not the number of patients that is important, but rather the treatments each one requires. We have a lot of very complex cases. Frankly, many of them probably should be treated by grad pros, but they are overloaded as it is. Common sense should convince you: Los Angeles is one of the biggest cities in the US, only has 2 dental schools, and UCLA's fees are less than half that of a private practice. It would be impossible to have a shortage of patients.

Yes you will be stressed if you come to UCLA. More stressed than any other dental school? Maybe. No way of knowing.

As for negatives: There are a few people I don't like talking to in the administration. Classes seem excessive and irrelevant at times. Tuition went up a lot since I was a 1st year. Now it's around $25K a year.

 

[bruinpredent]

It seems the "lack of patients" rumor will never die. Ask any 3rd or 4th year and you'll almost certainly find they have an adequate if not oppressive number of patients to care for. Regardless, you will quickly learn when you enter clinic that it's not the number of patients that is important, but rather the treatments each one requires. We have a lot of very complex cases. Frankly, many of them probably should be treated by grad pros, but they are overloaded as it is. Common sense should convince you: Los Angeles is one of the biggest cities in the US, only has 2 dental schools, and UCLA's fees are less than half that of a private practice. It would be impossible to have a shortage of patients.

Yes you will be stressed if you come to UCLA. More stressed than any other dental school? Maybe. No way of knowing.

As for negatives: There are a few people I don't like talking to in the administration. Classes seem excessive and irrelevant at times. Tuition went up a lot since I was a 1st year. Now it's around $25K a year.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the insight drhobie, and for the record i UCLA...

 

[Denticized]

Ok UCLA undergrad here. I love the school and I think the only drawback is the patient pool. Everytime I visited the school students were sitting down idly in the clinic saying that they were waiting for patients. UCLA neighborhood is probably the kind of neighborhood you want to live in as a dentist but not necessarily practice in. It's one of the most expensive areas. I mean houses there start at 3 mil. and up. So those poor patients with bad dental caries that all the students love you will not get at UCLA. But everything else is absolutely perfect. It's Los Angeles baby nobody leaves.

 

[Envision]

Ok UCLA undergrad here. I love the school and I think the only drawback is the patient pool. Everytime I visited the school students were sitting down idly in the clinic saying that they were waiting for patients. UCLA neighborhood is probably the kind of neighborhood you want to live in as a dentist but not necessarily practice in. It's one of the most expensive areas. I mean houses there start at 3 mil. and up. So those poor patients with bad dental caries that all the students love you will not get at UCLA. But everything else is absolutely perfect. It's Los Angeles baby nobody leaves.

Did you not read Drhobie's post?

 

[Denticized]

yes I did and yet I stated my opinion. It's called the First Amendment.

 

[dat_student]

Ok UCLA undergrad here. I love the school and I think the only drawback is the patient pool...

#1) I believe UCLA has clinics outside westwood. #2) UCLA students also satisfy ADA requirements before they graduate. Regarding stress: striving for perfection can sometimes be stressful. We don't have to be perfect. We don't have to get 100% for every single exam to become good dentists. Study, do your best and enjoy life. Don't worry about anything else. Honestly, overall UCLA is a great school. I am super happy.
P.S. Dr. Bibb is awesome.

 

[drhobie7]

Ok UCLA undergrad here. I love the school and I think the only drawback is the patient pool. Everytime I visited the school students were sitting down idly in the clinic saying that they were waiting for patients. UCLA neighborhood is probably the kind of neighborhood you want to live in as a dentist but not necessarily practice in. It's one of the most expensive areas. I mean houses there start at 3 mil. and up. So those poor patients with bad dental caries that all the students love you will not get at UCLA. But everything else is absolutely perfect. It's Los Angeles baby nobody leaves.

There is a difference between having a late patient and not having any patients. Some students are better than others at reinforcing the importance of punctuality with patients. Regardless, at every dental school there will be late patients and no-shows. When you have 100 people treating patients each day it's inevitable that 10-15 are going to be late. I guarantee you didn't see 100 dental students in the lobby at 9:30 am or 2:30 pm saying they were waiting for their patients. I've had to wait several times for patients. You will all wait whatever dental school you go to. You will have patients totally flake on you and no-show. It's part of clinical care.

Yes, Westwood is a wealthy area. However, none of my (oppressive number of) patients is from Westwood. They are typically lower or middle class people who drive, like everyone in LA. Even poor people have cars here. Or they get rides. Consider this: UCLA has hundreds of employees in the lower socioeconomic bracket, and they all somehow get to work each morning despite not living in Westwood.

That being said, you don't want a patient pool comprised of 100% lower socioeconomic class patients because they won't be able to afford anything other than amalgams. You'll never do gold or ceramic inlays, veneers, lava crowns, or even composites on people without the means to pay for them or who rely on Dentical. It'll be extract or amalgam.

Location does not dictate the socioeconomic class of patients. If that were true all our patients would be wealthy. Not so. Furthermore, it is not necessarily the case that poor people need more dental treatment than middle class people. I frequently see bad oral conditions in both groups.

To sum up, we see every kind of patient here.

 

[GRAD]

I heard that dent students at UCLA study more than the med students. also, i heard some negatives about the curriculum, but i dont know if that's been resolved

 

[chomper]

Is it true that UCLA students are in class 8-5, M-F? and i'm guessing the rest of the day is spent in the library or in sim-lab? are there summer breaks?

UOP is also 8-5m, M-F, but its only 3 yrs. What additional info do UCLA students learn that they have to be in class so much??

do any of you UCLA students wish you went to UOP instead and got it over with in 3 yrs?

 

[Pilot Mike]

Is it true that UCLA students are in class 8-5, M-F? and i'm guessing the rest of the day is spent in the library or in sim-lab? are there summer breaks?

UOP is also 8-5m, M-F, but its only 3 yrs. What additional info do UCLA students learn that they have to be in class so much??

do any of you UCLA students wish you went to UOP instead and got it over with in 3 yrs?

I got accepted to some good schools, UOP and UCLA being my top choices. I even got the $30k scholarship at UOP, but I have no regrets with my decision to go to UCLA. It was a really hard choice to make since they are both great schools, and after talking to students from UOP and UCLA it made it even harder since they were all really happy about their schools. I want to practice in LA, I see UCLA as a top notch school with great opportunities if I wanted to specialize, the students really love it there, and if dental school is tough as hell I'm happy to be going through it in such an awesome city. Look at predents.com and check out this years stats. From what I checked out on there, so far UCLA has the highest percentage of accepted students attending.

 

[rasheedwallace]

You know, I think it's pretty ridiculous how people always question UCLA's patient pool and tough curriculum (trust me, I'm at fault here too). I feel bad for people like dr hobie and dat_student, who are constantly having to repeat themselves. So far, the UCLA students have all said their school is top notch, and so why should we not believe them? What would they gain by giving us false information? I have friends who attend other dent schools in SoCal, and everyone of them speak praises about the CLINICAL work they've seen done by UCLA. Just the other day, my friend at another SoCal school said they get a ton more patients than UCLA, but they are all very simple procedures that dont necessarily improve their skills. He told me it's all about the TYPE of patients you get.....hmmmmmmm......sounds like I've heard that from dr hobie a thousand times before. So let's stop making dr hobie and all those other UCLA students defend their school ok?

 

[Pilot Mike]

it only makes sense that the other dental school in socal has a bigger patient pool to accomodate for the larger class size, which is almost 60 students more per class than UCLA has.

 

[CaliDDS]

100% true

I heard that dent students at UCLA study more than the med students.

 

['11]

...

 

[sgdorfl90]

you don't even go to ucla dental....you don't get first summer off, and you have no idea what you are talking about. There is a lot of help available if you are in trouble. I got this info not from just countless students, but also dr. bibb. Stop scaring people especially when you don't present credible info.

hi chomper!

it is 8-5 here at UCLA School of Dentistry Mon-Thu but friday is kinda less hours of lecture but more quizes and tests
no dent sim lab at ucla. i mean not yet!
yes, if you go to Biomedical library at ucla, you will see only dental students there. (may be one or two medical students but mostly dental students study around the clock)
no summer break for your second year (you will have classes plus you will be studying on your own for the national boards) but your first summer is off (unless you fail your classes, which is not very possible for you b/c I know you are a smart guy)

and last but not the least: i know couple of students here (this is their second year at ucla). they told me that they called other dental schools to transfer b/c they felt like they couldnt handle the academic load.

 

[Envision]

you don't even go to ucla dental....you don't get first summer off, and you have no idea what you are talking about. There is a lot of help available if you are in trouble. I got this info not from just countless students, but also dr. bibb. Stop scaring people especially when you don't present credible info.

Agreed, according to many credible ucla students, UCLA only has 2 3 week breaks during june and september. Is this what you were referring too as summer? also, dental students can transfer between different dental schools? i was under the impression that this was not possible...

 

[drhobie7]

I really don't mind repeating myself.

As for classes, I've never heard of a student flunking out of UCLA. They select people who can handle the workload. The only way someone would flunk out is if they stopped trying.

Classes and lab are typically 8-5 Monday-Friday with one half day in there. Anyone who's interested can access our academic calendar from the dental school website. It's very simple. You're not in class 35 hours a week because about 8 hours of that is lab time. So maybe 27 hours of class per week and 8 hours of lab. Lab is a nice break from class. You can chat with friends and be active.

Regarding the comment on UOP's 3 year 8-5 curriculum and UCLA's 4 year 8-5 curriculum...There are aspects of our didactic education that are not covered by UOP if we're on the same schedule but do 1 more year.

 

[Revellian]

hi chomper!

it is 8-5 here at UCLA School of Dentistry Mon-Thu but friday is kinda less hours of lecture but more quizes and tests
no dent sim lab at ucla. i mean not yet!
yes, if you go to Biomedical library at ucla, you will see only dental students there. (may be one or two medical students but mostly dental students study around the clock)
no summer break for your second year (you will have classes plus you will be studying on your own for the national boards) but your first summer is off (unless you fail your classes, which is not very possible for you b/c I know you are a smart guy)

and last but not the least: i know couple of students here (this is their second year at ucla). they told me that they called other dental schools to
transfer b/c they felt like they couldnt handle the academic load.

Just to correct some of the misinformation:

1) The first two years of school, depending on the quarter, you'll spend approximately 30-35 hours a week in lecture and lab. Third and fourth year is spent mostly in clinic with a few sporadic classes. Friday is not a designated 'quiz day.'

2) There is a sim lab at UCLA. You'll use it in your second and third year to practice operative and fixed. I think it opened when I was a second year, so we were the lucky class that got to break it in.

3) You will not get any summers off. Summer quarter has a much lighter courseload during both first and second year compared with other quarters, but you will still be in school.

As for some of the other statements that were made, it's hard for me to dispute whether or not a conversation actually happened. I can only speak to my own experience and that of the classmates I associate with. The courseload is heavy, but I was never overwhelmed. Dental school is hard, but it's actually not as tough as I was led to believe. I thought I was going to be in class 8 hours a day, and studying 5 hours a day. I actually only needed to study a week before midterms and a week before finals (with the exception of anatomy). Depending on how well you retain information, you'll have to adjust your independant study time accordingly, but you get the idea.

 

[PFM]

I heard that dent students at UCLA study more than the med students. also, i heard some negatives about the curriculum, but i dont know if that's been resolved

YES this is true. But you have to understand that UCLA dents (or dentists in general) must learn almost everything that the meddies learn in addition to the dental materials that they dont learn. You can almost say that dentistry is a specialty in medicine, which, for all intent and purposes it is (or was). 100 years ago you needed an MD to do DDS. But, enough with the history lesson, bottom line is each one of you are going to become DOCTORS, do you really want your schooling to be a breeze; if so your future patients are in trouble. On the negative end, UCLA does have a tendency to repeat information (I mean I get it you have to get a medical history before you do anything), but I guess practice makes perfect and repetition forces the material to stick.

PS: patient quality outweight quantity

 

[dat_student]

...On the negative end, UCLA does have a tendency to repeat information ...

I like repetition. In fact, that may be one of the reasons UCLA students get very high board scores.

 

[PFM]

I like repetition. In fact, that may be one of the reasons UCLA students get very high board scores.

thats why i said "...but I guess practice makes perfect and repetition forces the material to stick.)

 

[lifeisgood]

Agreed, according to many credible ucla students, UCLA only has 2 3 week breaks during june and september. Is this what you were referring too as summer? also, dental students can transfer between different dental schools? i was under the impression that this was not possible...

Just enough time to skip off to Indo for some surf.

 

[drhobie7]

Agreed, according to many credible ucla students, UCLA only has 2 3 week breaks during june and september. Is this what you were referring too as summer? also, dental students can transfer between different dental schools? i was under the impression that this was not possible...

You get a 2 week vacation in June and a 3 week vacation in September. FYI, A lot of dental schools run through the summer.

Here's the link to our class schedule. Just select 'curriculum' and then the dental student year in school and month/year you want to view to see what classes they take:
http://uclasod.dent.ucla.edu/scripts/publish/webevent.pl

And here's the link to our calendar:
http://www.dent.ucla.edu/Curriculum/class.asp?id=292

 

[icepinkish]

I really don't mind repeating myself.

As for classes, I've never heard of a student flunking out of UCLA. They select people who can handle the workload. The only way someone would flunk out is if they stopped trying.

Classes and lab are typically 8-5 Monday-Friday with one half day in there. Anyone who's interested can access our academic calendar from the dental school website. It's very simple. You're not in class 35 hours a week because about 8 hours of that is lab time. So maybe 27 hours of class per week and 8 hours of lab. Lab is a nice break from class. You can chat with friends and be active.

Regarding the comment on UOP's 3 year 8-5 curriculum and UCLA's 4 year 8-5 curriculum...There are aspects of our didactic education that are not covered by UOP if we're on the same schedule but do 1 more year.

One half-day every week really?!

 

[dat_student]

One half-day every week really?!

more than that (at least the 1st two quarters)

 

[icepinkish]

more than that (at least the 1st two quarters)

wow, sounds as good as the ISO time at UCSF.

 

[ziptree]

Haha. What can you do in those few hours in between classes? Study? Boo.

The half days are nice, though.

 

[icepinkish]

Haha. What can you do in those few hours in between classes? Study? Boo.

The half days are nice, though.

NAP

Wait, so do ucla students get half days or few hours in between classes?

 

[drhobie7]

sometimes both. check out our curriculum calendar online! all will be answered.

 

[1predent]

this thread just had more than one thousand viewers
i wonder how many people are applying to ucla???

 

[PFM]

this thread just had more than one thousand viewers
i wonder how many people are applying to ucla???

exactly 1152