which school is better for specializing? rank if possible!

[Dr. Kulkarni]

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temple. michigan, maryland, or u of pacific?

 

[DesiDentist]

in my opinion

Temple > Michigan > Maryland > UOP

Temple is great.

DesiDentist

 

[tinker bell]

uop will be good if you want to specialize in business.🙄

 

[acrunner]

i'll probably receive some criticism for this comment but i think most of the folks on this forum place too much emphasis on prestige and rankings. i mean really, who asks where there doc went to school these days. i think it is more about the kind of person you are and the reputation you establish in your practice. a long time ago i placed too much emphasis on the undergrad school i went to. i thought that was how i would get into a professional school later on. ended up not really comfortable there and transfered to a run of the mill state school and got good grades. i've been accepted to 3 schools ( the only 3 i applied to) and am not concerned about temple penn columbia and a host of other schools that are talked about on a daily baisis on this page. bottom line is what you make of it and your personality. if people don't like you, it doesn't matter where you went to school.

 

[DesiDentist]

acrunner,

I totally agree with you about personality and irrelavance to the school you go to. However, the question is concerned with which school would be better if you wanted to specialize. In ranking terms Temple would undeniably be a better choice, not because of its name, but because of the patient pool. A student at temple is proficient in ALL aspects of dentistry. A colleague of mine went to U.Washington for undergrad and then went onto Temple dental school now he is doing his Orthodontics residency at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. For this reason Temple would be the best for the above question, not because of name but because of the excellent clinical education.

I am more fond of PENN recently due to the fact that at my Temple interview i was told by Mark Lombard: "If you want to do research DO NOT come to Temple."

Research is important to me. I think that PENN definately focuses on all aspects of dentistry. The name of the school is just a perk, but it is a very focused and challenging school which has an impressive track record for getting people into specialties, academics, leadership, and beyond.

However, like you stated without an amicable and sympathetic personality that attracts people and patients you will have a hard time becoming a successful dentist.

DesiDentist

 

[ItsGavinC]

acrunner,

I just posed extremely similar comments on the "Anybody receive anything..." forum.

All this talk about specializing, prestige, and education is (for the most part) pre-dental rubbage. It's mostly stuff we invent to make us feel better about ourselves.

The question "Which school is best for specializing?" is actually quite a ridiculous question.

Each schools is GREAT for specializing. Some schools prepare students better for general dentistry, but that doesn't mean people who graduate from those schools aren't easily accepted into specialty programs.

Besides, if you are a bum in dental school, it won't really matter where you graduate from -- you won't be able to specialize. It mostly boils down to your own personal work ethic.

 

[acrunner]

Gman,
i agree with you 100%. if a school has a residency program they are probably great at training their residents. i would like to point out that i believe a great clinical experience can be found at most schools. it comes back to that work ethic idea and what you make of your situation. there aren't many schools out there that are lacking patients. however, i will say that not all schools can give you a good research background. there are places that just don't have the $'s from the gov, nor the faculty that are willing to put the time and effort into getting those $.

 

[Dr. Kulkarni]

GavinC,

What are YOU talking about? How is the question ridiculous? There are obviously schools that give individuals a better chance of specializing than others. I just asked a simple question requesting an opinion of which one of the above schools would give one a better chance. Some schools gear you to do better on your boards and some don't. After visiting these schools, they all said that "We do very well on the boards" in order to sell their school. This only causes more confusion for myself on what school to go to as I don't know where to get a hold of published dental board scores.

And your statement: 'All this talk about specializing, prestige, and education is (for the most part) pre-dental rubbage. It's mostly stuff we invent to make us feel better about ourselves.' Talk for yourself. There's nothing wrong about talking about the three topics that you stated. There are ALL very important to some degree as you will see in four years.



- kulkarni

 

[acrunner]

Doc,
my wife is an ms III. i remember those long nights when she would come home from a day sitting on the student side of the admissions committee saying, "drab, drab, another prospective student came in wanting to know what kind of board scores students get here." not really relevant to a hard working student that is willing to put in the time and effort to learn their profession. if you have that little confidence in yourself how on earth do you expect to treat a patient on the spot?

 

[Dr. Kulkarni]

What does confidence have to do with this question? All i'm saying is that some schools prepare you better than others (better teachers, more resources, etc.) for the boards, which we all know are very important if you want to specialize. True, one can learn the info on their own but if you get into a school that provides all of those resources for you, why wouldn't you go there - the reason for my original question.

I do appreciate your opinions though (esp. you Desidentist). Good luck.

- kulkarni

 

[DesiDentist]

Dr. Kulkarni has a point there guys. If you are investing so much money and time why not go to a school that delivers more quality. Why do people choose Energizer batteries over "batt-pak 200" because it delivers. All schools are accredited, meaning that they meet the minimum requirements that ADA gives them. So do the batteries...but why settle for anything when you know some batteries deliver more bang for the buck.

DesiDentist

PS: On another note. When I was observing at PENN I went and talked to Corky and I asked her why they were opening the new Schattner Center. She said, "other schools are opening newer building and we need to keep up. Students look at our resources and what we can deliver them."

this is very true.

 

[Brand]

Here are Michigan's stats:

AGED and/or GPR: 31 of 32
Endodontics: 3 of 3
Oral Surgery: 1 of 2
Orthodontics: 7 of 9
Pediatric Dentistry: 4 of 7
Periodontics: 3 of 4
Prosthodontics: 2 of 2
Ph.D. Program: 1 of 1

This means half of the class went on to Graduate Programs. It is important which school you go to if you want to specialize. I know that Michigan encourages its student to specialize. Part of my interview was "what do you want to specialize in?" I was shocked and spit out "Orthodontics". I was then led to the head of the Ortho department where she gave me tips on how to be accepted into the program.

If a school encourages you so much it is more likely that you will succeed. I don't think that any specialty programs care what school you go to, they just care that you are a good candidate. Research is almost a requirement nowadays if you want to get accepted. Most importanly your board score determine if you are accepted. Find a school that you think will help you in this area. I know that Michigan has an excellent curriculum, but students usually don't perform that well clinically. However, U of M does have summer programs that will help on clinical skills. Some schools focus on clinic and suffer in other areas. You need to find the school that you will perform the best at.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[gryffindor]

"All i'm saying is that some schools prepare you better than others (better teachers, more resources, etc.) for the boards, which we all know are very important if you want to specialize."

Here's what I think:
specializing: important only if that's what you want
prestige: very little importance in dentistry
education: it's what you make of it because you can do awesome at ANY dental school if you put the effort in.

Dr.Kulkarni, if you want to specialize, it is all about how much effort you put in at any one of those four schools you mentioned. Except for maybe the cost and time crunch at UOP, I can't think of any reason to pick one over the other. Your above statement doesn't hold true - my class is a good example. We are a class of 90, and I can think of at least 3 students who got part I board scores higher than 90 but would probably not be seriously considered if they applied to specialize in endo or ortho. Why? Because they all have class ranks somewhere between 30 and 70. That's right - it's possible to get a class rank of 70 and still get a 90+ on your boards. Why? Because our school prepares us really well - we take our basic science classes in the med school so even to pass them with a C, you have to put in quite a bit of effort. This effort pays off when we take the boards because at that point we are reviewing and not learning everything for the first time. (also, having 5 weeks off before the boards DEFINITELY helps.)

So then what do you do? Basically, if you want to specialize, it's not about the school you attend. It's about YOUR EFFORT at the school you attend. For example, if your school didn't offer any research opportunities and you knew that a commitment to research was important for applying to your specialty - what do you do? Try to explain in your application that your school doesn't offer research? Wrong - put that application in the reject pile. You have to go out there and find your own research opportunity elsewhere then - the med school, the pharmacy school, the local hospital, NIH, whatever! Even the schools who traditionally have the "highest" placements into specialties don't just hand out the acceptances with the diplomas at the end of 4 years. Each student has to earn it.

I have to agree with the posters who find this question silly - only because I have now met several students in the classes below me during their orientations who all talk about how they are going to be Oral Surgeons. Yeah right. It's now the end of first semester and many of these same freshmen are borderline failing BOTH Histo and Gross and the sophomores have given up trying and decided to pass all the classes and go for general dentistry instead. You won't know if you have what it takes to specialize until your first semester of dental school grades come out because believe me, taking all those courses at the same time and doing well in all of them is NOT easy.

So, if you are still trying to decide based solely on board scores/specialty placements then do this. Go back to these schools and ask the third and fourth years what they thought about the board preparation at those schools and the specialty placements/specialty emphasis. They'll probably give you a more honest answer than the administration.