Pacific – The great or so it is called.Very very very friendly! Very stress free though that day wasn’t good for me … you know one of those days where everything goes wrong! But they still made every effort to make it nice for me. The first day is orientation .. dress up like you are going to attend a fashion show... they are all so well dressed. Second/ Third day is your interview. Your time slot is given according to alphabetical order of your last name .. so if your last name is in S or V or so on expect it to be on the third day. The last day was the practical exam. They had as usual the Class II on lower molar and a PFM on a central incisor. The articulator was not equilibrated.. so don’t panic .. if you want you can tell them or write a note on the card they give you. But I didn’t. don’t think it was necessary especially when they give you the liberty to take the maxillary and mandibular typodonts separate when you work…. Again it’s your call.
Pros -
Friendly school
Everyone seems to be happy
Great/ huge alumni .. networking
Their mission – to make you the best general practioner you can
be .. and they work on it
They too offer dual degree programs .. correct me if I am wrong
State of the art technology
If ADA has accredited their regular dental program to be completed
in three years that means there is something commendable about
them.
They mentor you towards the Regional licensing exam you want to
take .. if its Wreb they will help you prepare for that. If it NERB
they will help you prepare towards that
Cons -
Expensive (most expensive second to NYU)
Not very high specialization rate
Not a lot of research opportunities…
Can’t really find anything wrong about this school… I think its more because their mission is to make their students to be wonderful GPs and they work on that! They don’t promise what they cannot do.
Edit - Some extra information from one of the students attending Pacific-
Well, about the clinical experience at Pacific ... I just don't know what to say. It truly is overwhelming. I mean just an example, my seniors have been in the clinic for only about 9 months now, and on average have been assigned 50-60 patients each ... so far ... they still have about 7 more months to go before they graduate.To get to your point, the clinical experience has been just amazing so far.
Faculty faculty faculty. They really make all the difference.
As for competency based learning, it is true that it is for the pre-clinical courses, but it extends into the clinic as well. No evaluation is based mostly on the competency feedback/assessment you receive. You have to "graduate" from one procedure in order to do the next, until you finally graduate. It is nothing too complicated really, just a more thorough evaluation approach. As a more simplistic example, you can not proceed to a Class II preparation on a patient before you have mastered a Class I. Makes sense ... and so on and so forth.
Clinical requirements are very demanding. I do not have specific numbers, but I am told that they are more than a hand (and mouth) full. If you are not in lectures, you will be in the clinic. If you are not in the clinic, you will be in the lab (doing your own lab work - aesthetic wax-ups, partial and complete dentures, mounting study models, ...). If you are not in any of the above ones, you are probably in bed recharging for the following day. They really eat, breath and dream about clinical work, deadlines and requirements.
As you mentioned also, Ortho and Maxillofacial being the only specialties, the students get to do the rest of the specialty work. Even the Maxillofacial guys are not even in the same building as us. They spend most of their time in the hospital miles away from us.
If you want to do impacted molar extractions, they will guide you. If you want to do perio surgery, they will guide you. Endo molars, implants ... it all boils down to how much you can handle !
USC – The interview was two days. The first day was three case based questions .. something along the lines .. your patient comes to the clinic with this problem. He desire esthetics and minimal tooth reduction or an amalgam restoration or so on. Determine the appropriate indirect/ direct restoration you could do and prepare the tooth accordingly. There were three questions and 6 hours!! That’s a lot of time! Second day was a PBL interview where they give you a case history in pieces of information (totally 4). Its not the answer they are looking for. It is how you get to the process of the answer. So forget the answer. Don’t ask me or anyone what it was, because if you do so you will end up in made up thoughts and that’s not what you want. It is obvious to the proctors whether you have the answers with you or not. So work your way through. Its nice .. it almost like you are a detective trying to find the culprit in team work.. and that’s really fun to do .. I would call it the dentistry version of the program HOUSE .. Hugh Laurie ( He is HOT!!! ).Pros -
Friendly school
Everyone seems to be happy
Great/ huge alumni .. networking
Their mission – to make you the best general practioner you can
be .. and they work on it
They too offer dual degree programs .. correct me if I am wrong
State of the art technology
If ADA has accredited their regular dental program to be completed
in three years that means there is something commendable about
them.
They mentor you towards the Regional licensing exam you want to
take .. if its Wreb they will help you prepare for that. If it NERB
they will help you prepare towards that
Cons -
Expensive (most expensive second to NYU)
Not very high specialization rate
Not a lot of research opportunities…
Can’t really find anything wrong about this school… I think its more because their mission is to make their students to be wonderful GPs and they work on that! They don’t promise what they cannot do.
Edit - Some extra information from one of the students attending Pacific-
Well, about the clinical experience at Pacific ... I just don't know what to say. It truly is overwhelming. I mean just an example, my seniors have been in the clinic for only about 9 months now, and on average have been assigned 50-60 patients each ... so far ... they still have about 7 more months to go before they graduate.To get to your point, the clinical experience has been just amazing so far.
Faculty faculty faculty. They really make all the difference.
As for competency based learning, it is true that it is for the pre-clinical courses, but it extends into the clinic as well. No evaluation is based mostly on the competency feedback/assessment you receive. You have to "graduate" from one procedure in order to do the next, until you finally graduate. It is nothing too complicated really, just a more thorough evaluation approach. As a more simplistic example, you can not proceed to a Class II preparation on a patient before you have mastered a Class I. Makes sense ... and so on and so forth.
Clinical requirements are very demanding. I do not have specific numbers, but I am told that they are more than a hand (and mouth) full. If you are not in lectures, you will be in the clinic. If you are not in the clinic, you will be in the lab (doing your own lab work - aesthetic wax-ups, partial and complete dentures, mounting study models, ...). If you are not in any of the above ones, you are probably in bed recharging for the following day. They really eat, breath and dream about clinical work, deadlines and requirements.
As you mentioned also, Ortho and Maxillofacial being the only specialties, the students get to do the rest of the specialty work. Even the Maxillofacial guys are not even in the same building as us. They spend most of their time in the hospital miles away from us.
If you want to do impacted molar extractions, they will guide you. If you want to do perio surgery, they will guide you. Endo molars, implants ... it all boils down to how much you can handle !
Pros - Good school… simply love the PBL system. We all know our theory .. atleast most of us .. what we have got to know is how to solve a case. I think the PBL curriculum is very intriguing (maybe not the right word). I can’t say a lot about this school. Two reasons… I was too tired by the time I got to this interview and two I couldn’t talk to anyone really about this school. I am still doing my research on this school. As I find more I will tell you guys.
Cons –
From the interview I realized there was zero personalization (maybe not the right word again).
Also, heard some cheating was going on there with the proctors helping the applicants during the practical exam. I don’t know how much that would help but still gives a hand over someone not being helped… which I think is unfair.
All the best folks...
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