What are your pros and cons for both schools MWU an UOP ?
For now, I think you should hold on the MWU's offer and put down deposit for UOP whatever amount it is.
Thank you all for sharing your points of view! This has been a tough decision and I'm honored to be a candidate at both schools.
I find it striking how similar these two schools are:
Both really emphasize clinical dentistry. They both strive to have top-of-the-line technology. All of their faculty and staff seem really invested in the students. They both have a readily-available pool of patients. No shortages any time soon. Similar GPA/DAT score requirements. They're both really expensive.
MWU
-As I said, I am a resident of AZ, so all of my family is here. I am a really big family person, so having that support structure is an important factor for me. I've also been dating a guy for ~2 years now. I think it would be very difficult for me to move away from these important people.
-MWU is a brand new school, with brand new facilities, etc, etc.
-Integrated, systems based curriculum. UofP has just now converted to this system of teaching. MWU has 3 years of experience under their belt now with the integrated system. UofP admitted during my interview that they don't know how their students will do on the NB1 yet because the curriculum is so new
-The buddy system: When you start clinical at MWU you are assigned a "buddy" who you work closely with to perform all of your dental work. I think this is a really cool idea. I liked the Dean's emphasis on "show me" learning. Not only do you get to watch your professors do procedures, you get to watch your peers do them too.
-No residencies. I'll have opportunity to work on so many "specialty" procedures without the competition of residents
-Atmosphere: it was really nice to see the Dean give us a tour of the school and almost every student that was not with a patient said "what's up dean?" or "how's it going your deanship. Yeah, he makes us call him 'your deanship'
" etc. All of the students were really comfortable, it was a really casual environment. Many of the students seemed to really bond, especially with their "buddy"
-Quadrant dentistry: they really emphasize the 'real-life' clinical aspect of dentistry. If a patient has multiple problems in one area of the mouth, you don't just fix one tooth and let them go. I asked my UoP interviewer about quadrant dentistry and she responded "I wish I could teach more of it, but there just isn't enough time."
-Time: seems like MWU would be "less stressful" (ha, w/e I'll still be stressed) because it doesn't cram 4 years of dental school in 3 years. Who wants a 26 yr old dentist anyways, right?
-A new school: this is a pro and a con. The students really get to impact the curriculum here. Professors are really flexible and open to changes in scheduled exams, etc. At the same time, its a new school. The first class hasn't graduated. I can't say that there are reps from MWU in all the states like I can about UoP. I'm not sure what the networking opportunities are. There's no information about the rate of loan-defaults for students at MWU. There is an admitted 5% increase in tuition per yr. I can't be sure how "competitive" I will be for specialties, or even job opportunities after-the-fact. If someone looks at me and another dental applicant from UoP, will the choose the UoP applicant because of the prestige?
UofP
-Its in freaking San Francisco!!! What other time in my life am I going to move to a big city like that for 3 years and then be done with it? This is an opportunity to really branch out and shake up my life (since I've never left AZ)
-3 year program... need I say anything else?
-The staff, faculty, and students are all very professional. Rather than scrubs, the students here wear professional dress as it is a "professional school"
-Full body cadavers. This may be a weird point to bring up, but I am a physiology major so the human body fascinates me. At UofP groups of 6-7 dental students are assigned a cadaver and study everything from the groin up. At MWU the cadavers are shared with the Ophthalmology students so there is less-intensive dissection.
-The UofP patient demographic is more diverse because of its location. San Francisco is more... cultural than Phoenix.
-I've heard interesting things about the student:teacher ratio here... when I took a tour back in August they emphasized that there were very few students per teacher. But on my student interview, my student admitted that she has had to wait for teacher attention to get things approved as she is working on patients. She said that her classmates sometimes get more competitive/aggressive for teacher attention. I'm not sure about this situation at MWU
-There are amazing networking opportunities as a grad from UofP. Because of how old the school is there are a lot of dentists, including some soon-to-be-retired ones who are alum.
-Therefore, the school is more prestigious. I'll likely be more competetive as a graduate
-You don't get a dental assistant, you do all the work yourself. As opposed to the "buddy" model at MWU, UofP students do all the dental work themselves. They learn to be self-sufficient (as any dentist should be, since you never know what might happen to your assistant)
-3 year program. I have to bring this up again because of how amazing it would be to be 25 years old and $200k in debt as opposed to 26 years old. A year can make a big difference, especially if I end up having to take out interest-accruing loans. That's one-less year that my debt will be gaining interest while I'm in school and can do nothing about it.
-I unfortunately didn't get to observe a lot of student-student interaction at this interview. I wish I could have observed more of the classroom/break time interactions between students. At the clinics at MWU the students have their "buddy" so there seemed to be a lot more socialization, whereas the clinic at UofP everyone has their own chair and now buddy. But perhaps the clinic isn't the best place for "Socialization," so this point is debatable.
-I won't have the support system that I do in AZ. I don't have any friends or relatives in California, much less in San Fran
-They are changing a lot of their curricula this year. They are implementing and integrated-systems basic science model and are just now starting to combine areas of their clinic so that a patient can have a filling, crown, etc. done all from one chair rather than in separate areas of the clinic. These are all revolutionary ideas, and the way of the future for teaching, but since they are just starting this, they may not have all the kinks worked out.
-Quadrant dentistry isn't emphasized. I talked to UofP patients who said that its actually really difficult to be a patient at the UofP clinic. They bring you in one day, take your xray, send you home, bring you back a week later to give you a consultation, send you home, bring you back a week later, do a filling, send you home, etc. (Then again, I've never talked to any patients from MWU. Perhaps they have similar experiences)
These are just some of the things that I am keeping in mind. (As you all know, there are a million other things going on in your mind while making a decision like this). I really do appreciate all of the feedback you have all provided. Either school that I go to I KNOW I'll be happy with. Its just deciding which one is for me. I know for sure that if UofP doesn't accept me this year, I will be attending MWU in the fall as DMD c/o 2015.
Sorry for the essay...
