Anyone who has visited any of these schools and know a little something about their program? I'm a California resident so aside from their websites, I don't really know much about these schools. Also according to my research, these are relatively OOS-friendly? Correct me if I'm wrong!
UoMaryland, VCU, Marquette, UoKentucky, UoLouisville, UNE
- Thread starter DragoBlue
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2014
- Messages
- 113
- Reaction score
- 178
Marquette has beautiful facilities which are set up to make their patients feel like they're in a regular dental office. It's out of state friendly. When I visited, the students all seemed to be happy with the school. Only thing is that the campus is in a pretty rough part of Milwaukee. That can be seen as a positive and a negative though. Positive because you'd have the opportunity to make a difference in the surrounding community. Negative because of the dangers associated with living in the area. I've never personally lived in Milwaukee though so take my assessment with a grain of salt.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2017
- Messages
- 99
- Reaction score
- 71
You can search this thread for what current students say about the school, program, etc:
Can You Answer These Questions About Your Dental School? (Part 2)
Can You Answer These Questions About Your Dental School? (Part 2)
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 475
- Reaction score
- 507
I'm a d3 at Maryland. What do you want to know?
How's life like in Baltimore? How confident do students feel in regards to their clinical skills upon graduation? How is the patient pool like? Thank you !
Hey ncide! Guess my questions go to all the schools!
How's life like in Richmond? How confident do students feel in regards to their clinical skills upon graduation? How is the patient pool like?
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 1,386
- Reaction score
- 1,513
Hey ncide! Guess my questions go to all the schools!
How's life like in Richmond? How confident do students feel in regards to their clinical skills upon graduation? How is the patient pool like?
Life's pretty good in Richmond. The weather is nice, lots of restaurants and microbreweries, as well as some fantastic museums and options for nightlife. It's pretty affordable to live here too.
The pre-clinical coursework here is pretty good. You pick up a handpiece early on and start honing your skills. I remember that we started having our first operative practicals in the first second or third week of class, and you continue from there all year long. You do rotations with upperclassmen, and help with their cases.
As far as confidence, it seems that everyone I've worked with seems satisfied with their education and patient pool. There's a mix of students going straight into private practice and residencies.
Does your school prepare you for specializing? Or is it geared more for GP?
More specifically, do you know (on average) how many students go on to specialize?
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 1,386
- Reaction score
- 1,513
I don't know the numbers from outside the specialty that I am interested in, but our school has many different specialties and interest clubs for dental students to help them get into a specialty. At the school we have endo, gpr, omfs, ortho, peds, perio, and advanced education in dental anesthesia. What that means is that you can get involved with faculty in those departments, build rapport, and engage in research in the field of interest.
With regards to OMFS, there are weekly meetings that you can attend where you sit in and listen to residents present their cases. You can volunteer in the oral surgery department, and also scrub in to watch more involved cases. Also, you can work with faculty in conducting research. Last year we sent around 10 residents into OMFS.
The school is also pretty invested in outreach programs, doing things like the MOM project where you go to communities and do dental work on needy patients, as well as a yearly Jamaica trip where you go with your colleagues on a humanitarian trip in that country. Pretty rad experiences all around.
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 475
- Reaction score
- 507
They prepare us to be dentists. I have no idea how many students go on to specialize. Maybe 20 or so out of 130 would be a decent guess.
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 475
- Reaction score
- 507
Baltimore sucks pretty hard. It's a depressing city. The school is close to nice areas but closer to worse areas. Baltimore is very block by block, meaning that one block is great, the next is ok, and the one after that is horrible. I really don't know how confident students feel in regard to actually practicing after they graduate. However, dental schools really only scratch the surface of dentistry in the first four years and show you the basics. The patient pool is a mixture of all types of people. Some astute and some not, while some have not been to a dentist for over 20 years due to finances or lack of appreciation for their teeth. Regardless, this is not unique to Maryland as a school, but is typically found in many other dental schools.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2015
- Messages
- 1,148
- Reaction score
- 859
thx! that's interesting
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 1,386
- Reaction score
- 1,513
I'm going up this weekend to explore the city. My brother goes to JHU and the places around there are pretty bad as you say, with a bunch of boarded up homes and dilapidated buildings with their roofs caved in like Detroit. Other parts look beautiful.
- Joined
- May 19, 2017
- Messages
- 202
- Reaction score
- 135
I live around an hour from Marquette. I've visited it a few times. Although it isn't in the best part of Milwaukee, the students there say that it's about a 5 minute uber ride to get Downtown, and the night life there is great. The vibe of the school is really laid back and it doesn't seem too competitive. I loved the clinic there. They are making a huge difference to an area that needs it. Great school.
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 475
- Reaction score
- 507
What I said is certainly not unique to Maryland, but is common in most schools.
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2015
- Messages
- 1,028
- Reaction score
- 1,308
Richmond (VCU's location) is pretty nice in my opinion. Relatively cheap living, river makes for some great places to explore (I'm a nature person), lots of great restaurants, and a very laid back vibe relative to most northeastern cities. Just like any city, there are some parts that are gorgeous, others not so much, but Richmond is certainly less run-down than Baltimore is.
With every city, you just gotta be smart
With every city, you just gotta be smart
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 1,386
- Reaction score
- 1,513
Just got back from my trip to Baltimore. I absolutely loved the city.
It's a fantastic place with great food and wonderful people. First night there I stayed at a buddies new place. He bought the place for $550K, originally built before the first world war, three stories tall with a patio that could easily entertain 50 people on it. Over 5,000 square feet total. He's a bachelor, so of course he's got 3 kegs piped up from the basement into his own bar room on the first floor and a maserati sitting in his garage. You'd get a 1,500 square foot home in Seattle for that price.
The next day I went to the base where the star spangled banner was written. Generations later, Francis Scott Key's nephew was rounded up by US marshals and placed into jail on that base, as well as any journalist thought to be sympathetic towards the south. The VCU dental school is built right across the street from the old white house of the confederacy, and you see that monument each day you walk to class.
That day I also went to one of the oldest bars in the US. Actually, this place is older than the US, having opened up 224 years ago in 1775. After moving from Richmond, Edgar Allen Poe hit this place up frequently. You can visit his birth home in Richmond and visit his adult home in Baltimore. Later that night I visited the Washington monument. The oldest statue of George Washington stands in Richmond, but seeing this towering monument was another experience. Reminded me of Indianapolis, which has grandiose monuments everywhere.
The city is home to the oldest dental school in the world, as many of you know, and the dental school looks great. Much more impressive than the 7 or so dental schools I interviewed at, and much more impressive than VCU's or UW's.
I went back near to where 'The Horse' is and hit up another place for dinner the next day, and had my picking of antelope, kangaroo, water buffalo and camel burgers. Afterwards we went to The Sandlot, a restaurant and sand bar on the harbor. We played bocce ball and watched some volleyball. The place has imported sand which makes it feel like you are on a beach in California, and in a few years, the sand bar will no longer be there. Check out the Sandlot before it's gone in 5 or 7 years. After I bought tickets for a hole in the wall place to watch a no-name jazz group perform.
It was odd going back to East Baltimore where my brother lives and seeing row houses with roofs caving in, broken windows, attached to buildings that people still lived in. These areas are distinctly segregated, much like parts of Chicago. But you know what? These folks are just wonderful folks to talk to and to get to know. I'd love to go back and maybe even open up a practice in the city. Who knows. I'm off to West Virginia for a friend's party in a few days. Maybe I'll like WV.
It's a fantastic place with great food and wonderful people. First night there I stayed at a buddies new place. He bought the place for $550K, originally built before the first world war, three stories tall with a patio that could easily entertain 50 people on it. Over 5,000 square feet total. He's a bachelor, so of course he's got 3 kegs piped up from the basement into his own bar room on the first floor and a maserati sitting in his garage. You'd get a 1,500 square foot home in Seattle for that price.
The next day I went to the base where the star spangled banner was written. Generations later, Francis Scott Key's nephew was rounded up by US marshals and placed into jail on that base, as well as any journalist thought to be sympathetic towards the south. The VCU dental school is built right across the street from the old white house of the confederacy, and you see that monument each day you walk to class.
That day I also went to one of the oldest bars in the US. Actually, this place is older than the US, having opened up 224 years ago in 1775. After moving from Richmond, Edgar Allen Poe hit this place up frequently. You can visit his birth home in Richmond and visit his adult home in Baltimore. Later that night I visited the Washington monument. The oldest statue of George Washington stands in Richmond, but seeing this towering monument was another experience. Reminded me of Indianapolis, which has grandiose monuments everywhere.
The city is home to the oldest dental school in the world, as many of you know, and the dental school looks great. Much more impressive than the 7 or so dental schools I interviewed at, and much more impressive than VCU's or UW's.
I went back near to where 'The Horse' is and hit up another place for dinner the next day, and had my picking of antelope, kangaroo, water buffalo and camel burgers. Afterwards we went to The Sandlot, a restaurant and sand bar on the harbor. We played bocce ball and watched some volleyball. The place has imported sand which makes it feel like you are on a beach in California, and in a few years, the sand bar will no longer be there. Check out the Sandlot before it's gone in 5 or 7 years. After I bought tickets for a hole in the wall place to watch a no-name jazz group perform.
It was odd going back to East Baltimore where my brother lives and seeing row houses with roofs caving in, broken windows, attached to buildings that people still lived in. These areas are distinctly segregated, much like parts of Chicago. But you know what? These folks are just wonderful folks to talk to and to get to know. I'd love to go back and maybe even open up a practice in the city. Who knows. I'm off to West Virginia for a friend's party in a few days. Maybe I'll like WV.
Last edited:
