Why Western?

[mld]

Out of curiosity, why would you choose Western if you are accepted to mutiple well established Dental Schools?

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[Tommy43087]

Great staff, brand new building, good curriculum(depending on what you like)

Down side is they haven't graduated a class yet and its in Pomona.

 

[mld]

Great staff, brand new building, good curriculum(depending on what you like)

Down side is they haven't graduated a class yet and its in Pomona.

True. But what if you want to specialize, does it lower your chances for getting into a good residency if you go to Western?

 

[New2Philly]

I interviewed with Western, and I realized that they really went out of their way to get great staff from other established schools and they went out of their way to show off that staff during the interview.

They gave an impression that they are doing everything right, and it will be a well respected, established school in the future.

The only thing that I thought was weird was they have a class which is PBL like. I think it is during the 2nd year that they put all of the medical disciplines together (dent, DO, pharm, even vet) to learn how to collaborate with patients. I think that this is a good idea if it is true that medicine is going to be more collaborative in the future, but vet? I don't know when a dentist is ever going to collaborate with a vet about a patient, or vice versa. I mean how many people are willing to shell out a thousand dollars for a doggie-root canal? Also the anatomy is not the same... I guess you have to think about the other disciplines also. The vet might get some good idea from the pharm student or something.

 

[peerless218]

Western say they're one of the very few schools that tries to have a good balance between didactic and clinical curriculum, which makes them one of the HARDEST dental school in the country. Most of their didactic courses are being taught by the medical school professors anyway, so they're in good hands to start off with. Although I know some of you would disagree with me on that cause I don't know why, some people just don't think D.O. medical schools are good enough.

The only things that still need to be answered are how well they will perform on the clinical portion of their education and how the patient flow will be for the school. I don't doubt it's gonna be a good program when it graduates its first class. I have a few friends that go there and they all say they're getting good educations there. So ya, good luck to Western!!!

 

[mms0039]

I just want to add couple of things on what Western is doing. Well.. yes, we have PBL (very minimum though)... where we come together once a week for 2 hrs with other 8 different professions to solve a case. We just finished our second case. I mean, to be completely honest, it will not help you understand basic science better but it will help you understand what (DO, OD, Pharm, Vet, etc etc) are doing and will make friends with them. Good outlet from studying. haha. Its hard to talk to people when you are in class for quite a massive amount of time. Dentist has nothing to do with vet but its good to make friend with them because you never know when you need them, right (esp if you have a pet), we have hospital right on campus and if you know someone inside, it will help you. haha.

I dont know how Anatomy is different because I dont know how other dental schools teach them. We have two portions (gross, and head and neck). We took a step back during lower extremities (just dont need to dissect but need to know everything). Anatomy was tough and yes we need to learn every little part of it cuz we are in the same class with DO but it works for you. I thought that the tests were hard because most of them are clinical questions and they are not very straight forward.

Our dental faculty put together cumulative test for us at the end of gross and head and neck. They said that they pull those questions from board exam and it seems to me that the questions were easier than what we normally see on our regular test. Everyone felt the same and they did pretty good on those. Unfortunately, Anatomy was hard but it was the easiest class. It seems like it gets just a little bit harder every test.

Hope that help.

 

[mld]

I just want to add couple of things on what Western is doing. Well.. yes, we have PBL (very minimum though)... where we come together once a week for 2 hrs with other 8 different professions to solve a case. We just finished our second case. I mean, to be completely honest, it will not help you understand basic science better but it will help you understand what (DO, OD, Pharm, Vet, etc etc) are doing and will make friends with them. Good outlet from studying. haha. Its hard to talk to people when you are in class for quite a massive amount of time. Dentist has nothing to do with vet but its good to make friend with them because you never know when you need them, right (esp if you have a pet), we have hospital right on campus and if you know someone inside, it will help you. haha.

I dont know how Anatomy is different because I dont know how other dental schools teach them. We have two portions (gross, and head and neck). We took a step back during lower extremities (just dont need to dissect but need to know everything). Anatomy was tough and yes we need to learn every little part of it cuz we are in the same class with DO but it works for you. I thought that the tests were hard because most of them are clinical questions and they are not very straight forward.

Our dental faculty put together cumulative test for us at the end of gross and head and neck. They said that they pull those questions from board exam and it seems to me that the questions were easier than what we normally see on our regular test. Everyone felt the same and they did pretty good on those. Unfortunately, Anatomy was hard but it was the easiest class. It seems like it gets just a little bit harder every test.

Hope that help.

Thanks for your inputs everyone.mms, could you tell us a little about how much loan they give dental students? With a credit score of 720, do I need a co-signer to get Grad Plus and Private loans? Do they give us enough money to live a good life (renting a room on your own without a roomate, having fun, going to restuarants with friends, clubbing, etc.) Thanks.

 

[mms0039]

Thanks for your inputs everyone.mms, could you tell us a little about how much loan they give dental students? With a credit score of 720, do I need a co-signer to get Grad Plus and Private loans? Do they give us enough money to live a good life (renting a room on your own without a roomate, having fun, going to restuarants with friends, clubbing, etc.) Thanks.

The school will offer you with pretty decent amount of loan. They will give you enough money to survive on your own (of course with grad plus loan). It will depend on people but I think you can take about 30-40 K per year on top of government loan. I might be wrong but thats how much they offer me. Here is a little bit of break down..

1 bedroom apartment - approx $1200 (x12) = $24000
(but if you have roomate, you can cut that to almost half)
House Utilities - approx $150 (x12) = $1800

So, you have about 10K to spend year round.

Well this is just approx. breakdown. Its really different for everyone.

PS. if I were you, I will not pull Private loans.

 

[xhamburgersamx]

The school will offer you with pretty decent amount of loan. They will give you enough money to survive on your own (of course with grad plus loan). It will depend on people but I think you can take about 30-40 K per year on top of government loan. I might be wrong but thats how much they offer me. Here is a little bit of break down..

1 bedroom apartment - approx $1200 (x12) = $24000
(but if you have roomate, you can cut that to almost half)
House Utilities - approx $150 (x12) = $1800

So, you have about 10K to spend year round.

Well this is just approx. breakdown. Its really different for everyone.

PS. if I were you, I will not pull Private loans.

$1200 x 12 is not $24,000

What's the pre-clinical training like for 1st year and what is like as you transition into summer semester and 2nd year? Is the new sim lab built?

 

[mld]

The school will offer you with pretty decent amount of loan. They will give you enough money to survive on your own (of course with grad plus loan). It will depend on people but I think you can take about 30-40 K per year on top of government loan. I might be wrong but thats how much they offer me. Here is a little bit of break down..

1 bedroom apartment - approx $1200 (x12) = $24000
(but if you have roomate, you can cut that to almost half)
House Utilities - approx $150 (x12) = $1800

So, you have about 10K to spend year round.

Well this is just approx. breakdown. Its really different for everyone.

PS. if I were you, I will not pull Private loans.

Thanks for the info. Which loans do you suggest I take out? When should I start looking for a room? Does the school offer any on campus housing? Also, If I get a roommate, does it effect the amount of loans school offers me? By the way, do you by any chance know if Western offers any scholarships or not? If it does, how are we supposed to apply for it? How much are the scholarships? Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

 

[spud daddy]

You should probably contact the school and get their recommendations.

 

[mld]

You should probably contact the school and get their recommendations.

Good idea!

 

[Just Peachy]

$1200 x 12 is not $24,000

What's the pre-clinical training like for 1st year and what is like as you transition into summer semester and 2nd year? Is the new sim lab built?

The sim clinic is part of our new building, which opened in January. It is fabulous. New equipment, flat screen tvs at every station that has either the directions for the day or a video demonstration from the faculty, tons of space, etc. It's great. We've learned how to do class 1, 2, and 5 preps so far and will be learning more before the year is up. We have the first summer off, then will have a similar schedule 2nd year as we do now, just with new dental things to learn and more patient encounters.

 

[mld]

The sim clinic is part of our new building, which opened in January. It is fabulous. New equipment, flat screen tvs at every station that has either the directions for the day or a video demonstration from the faculty, tons of space, etc. It's great. We've learned how to do class 1, 2, and 5 preps so far and will be learning more before the year is up. We have the first summer off, then will have a similar schedule 2nd year as we do now, just with new dental things to learn and more patient encounters.

When do you guys take the Board exams? Do they give you a summer off to study for it?
By the way, does western give out any scholarships? Thanks

 

[mms0039]

$1200 x 12 is not $24,000

What's the pre-clinical training like for 1st year and what is like as you transition into summer semester and 2nd year? Is the new sim lab built?

haha sorry about that math problem. I was typing it while I was studying those cancer drugs...

well you get the ideas. its a lot cheaper to live with roomates.

Yes, it would be the best to contact school about scholarship. As far as I understand, your loan money does not depend on whether you have roomate or not. I dont know about the scholarship though.

 

[xhamburgersamx]

The sim clinic is part of our new building, which opened in January. It is fabulous. New equipment, flat screen tvs at every station that has either the directions for the day or a video demonstration from the faculty, tons of space, etc. It's great. We've learned how to do class 1, 2, and 5 preps so far and will be learning more before the year is up. We have the first summer off, then will have a similar schedule 2nd year as we do now, just with new dental things to learn and more patient encounters.

Cool! Are you doing just the preps or filling in as well? Also, do you guys take dental anatomy/morphology or occlusion course 1st year or is most of the dental teaching 2nd year on?

 

[Just Peachy]

Cool! Are you doing just the preps or filling in as well? Also, do you guys take dental anatomy/morphology or occlusion course 1st year or is most of the dental teaching 2nd year on?

Drilling and filling (both amalgam and composite). We've been doing dental anatomy/development this term and will do pathology in May, I think. I'm sure it will pick up more next year, and 3rd year for sure.

We don't get the summer off to study for boards, but I understand that the course load is lighter the last term of 2nd year to help and we'll have a review course as well. A lot of people already have review books and are going to start studying this summer since we have 6 weeks off.

Talk to financial aid and they should be able to answer all of your questions better than we can. I would say to try to stay away from private loans if you can help it. Despite the high interest rate, my financial advisor said the Grad Plus loan is overall a better bet than a private loan.