Where should I go? USN, UNLC, CASE, or UoP

[study girl]

Hey I was wondering if I could get any input about these schools. I was recently accepted at the four, and I can't really decide where to go. Here my reasoning for each... but please any input would be amazing if you know things any of the schools

USN: this will be it's first year and it is the most expensive out of the batch. However, it is close to home so I will have more family and support while in school as well as be in a familiar environment.

UNLV: I don't like how much the price has been fluctuating. I like the housing options, but I also am not sure how good of school this is.

UoP: The only thing that I don't like is the cost of living and distance from home.

Case: I liked the school and the students seemed to be happy. I don't really like Cleveland and the distance from home.

I also hope to eventually specialize in Pediatric dentistry. Please any input would be very helpful since my deadlines are coming soon.

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[DrDDSman]

Hey I was wondering if I could get any input about these schools. I was recently accepted at the four, and I can't really decide where to go. Here my reasoning for each... but please any input would be amazing if you know things any of the schools

USN: this will be it's first year and it is the most expensive out of the batch. However, it is close to home so I will have more family and support while in school as well as be in a familiar environment.

UNLV: I don't like how much the price has been fluctuating. I like the housing options, but I also am not sure how good of school this is.

UoP: The only thing that I don't like is the cost of living and distance from home.

Case: I liked the school and the students seemed to be happy. I don't really like Cleveland and the distance from home.

I also hope to eventually specialize in Pediatric dentistry. Please any input would be very helpful since my deadlines are coming soon.

Given the information you just mentioned, I think you should decide between UoP and USN. UoP has a higher specialization rate, plus the 3 year curriculum (although pricey) means you will finish all of your training one year ahead. Instead of being away from your family for 4 years, you will be away for 3 years. San Fran is a much better place than Cleveland too.

USN puts you at a tough spot since its close to home and thats something you would ideally want. If you are willing to take the chance to be a part of a pilot class, then you should attend USN. I think if you work hard, and do well on the national exams you will still be able to pursue your goals of specialization. I dont know the exact tuition cost, but you mentioned its the most expensive option, so it probably will be on the highest end of dental education. Don't forget though, expense is a huge factor in choosing programs.

You're in both a great and confusing position at the same time. Good luck to you!

 

[Blarelli]

USN was the closest to home for me as well (20 minutes), but I didn't think it was worth it. Yes being close to the family would be great, but I just felt like I would get a better education elsewhere and that education is what I have been working for for the past 3 years.

 

[Osity]

J

Hey I was wondering if I could get any input about these schools. I was recently accepted at the four, and I can't really decide where to go. Here my reasoning for each... but please any input would be amazing if you know things any of the schools

USN: this will be it's first year and it is the most expensive out of the batch. However, it is close to home so I will have more family and support while in school as well as be in a familiar environment.

UNLV: I don't like how much the price has been fluctuating. I like the housing options, but I also am not sure how good of school this is.

UoP: The only thing that I don't like is the cost of living and distance from home.

Case: I liked the school and the students seemed to be happy. I don't really like Cleveland and the distance from home.

I also hope to eventually specialize in Pediatric dentistry. Please any input would be very helpful since my deadlines are coming soon.

I completely understand your dilemma. But for me, I would be going to UoP. Although it's farther from home for you and a little bit expensively, you will get a top-notch clinical education and be done in just three years. They have a great reputation, and I have heard that San Francisco is a great place to live.

For USN, I think they'll have a great program, but it'll take a couple years obviously. They will have an awesome clinic and everything will be state of the art, they just don't yet have a reputation, which was definitely a factor for me in choosing a school. Dr. Harmon seems awesome and I'll think he'll do a great job there.

For UNLV, their tuition has been climbing a lot. I thought their students were awesome and they have very nice facilities. I got accepted there Dec. 1, but declined because I was worried about rising tuition (rising faster than other schools) as well as some of their students telling me to go elsewhere if I had the choice. I also loved Dr. Brownstein, so it was hard telling him I was going elsewhere.

I don't know much about Case, other than I've heard it's a great school, but that Cleveland sucks to live in.

Good luck with your decision! Any of those schools will provided you with a great education!

 

[peerless218]

I don't know about the other schools but you can't go wrong with UOP. It's an intense and yet great program.I am having a great time working in the pre-clinical lab and I already feel that I am capable of treating patient next year. Well of course, working on typodont is one thing and seeing actual patient is another.

As far as specializing, I understand that armorshell WILL tell me that it's manageble and advise me to stop wording to others of how difficult it is to specialize at Pacific. Yes it is definitely possible to specialize at Pacific, but to be honest with you...the top 10%-20% students in my class, I wish I have their brains and their abilities to retain all these information with the amount of time we have here during the 1st year.

 

[blinktonheim]

go to USN, stay close to home. 4 years is a long time

 

[armorshell]

As far as specializing, I understand that armorshell WILL tell me that it's manageble and advise me to stop wording to others of how difficult it is to specialize at Pacific. Yes it is definitely possible to specialize at Pacific, but to be honest with you...the top 10%-20% students in my class, I wish I have their brains and their abilities to retain all these information with the amount of time we have here during the 1st year.

Do you think you would have faired better at another school? You have to understand, the competition level would be exactly the same if not more. Yes, you might have some more time to study, along with everyone else in the class.

Also, you don't have to be in the top 20% or whatever to specialize, especially for pedo.

 

[FLOSS UR TEETH]

Get out and see what else the US has to offer – I would go to UoP.. great school, get to graduate early, and you will be in Cali! It's up to you of course, but in my opinion, the more places you visit the more you learn.. Congrats on your acceptances and good luck to you.

 

[peerless218]

Armor, this is just my personal experience of what I inform on this site and I do remind other users here that it's just my experience alone from time to time.

I am sure a good number of 4 yr schools will offer a more challenging didactic portion of the curriculum. Yet, again, there are some schools that are relatively more relaxing during their 1st year, as I was assured by my undergrad peers who are now at various dental schools.

I am positive that you will agree with me upon the difficulty that Pacific offers is due to the combination of the 1st and 2nd year curriculum into 1st year. That means didactic plus the handskill lab classes. My biggest hump at Pacific really is the inability to dig out extra energy and convert my focus and concentration towards the book AFTER the excessive hours I spend in the simb lab even on the weekends. Many of us are simply drained during the afterhours. Do I try to study on the weekdays? Yes I do but at a very slow and ineffecient pace due to the lack of energy by the time I arrive home around 8 - 9:30. Even on the weekends where I would spend a good 4-5 hours on Sats sometimes during Sundays at my sim lab station. If I could find a way to reduce my 18-20 hours in the sim lab per week and focus in book, I believe many of us would do better on the exams even with a tougher diadactic portion of the curriculum. Again, this is coming from someone who belongs in the bottom half of the class when it comes to ranking so just offering a different opinion and perspective. Many of us were thinking about specializing when we first got here. However, after 1 quarter, we realize the fast and intense pace here at Pacific is not a place where everyone can excel. You obviously is one of those brillient individual who had a very smooth transition onto the next level so naturally you strongly believe that specializing is not as hard as people tend to believe. Now being here at Pacific, I really show strong respect and admiration for indivudals such as yourself. That's just my 2 cents.