ramenloverli Posted October 26, 2018 Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 Hello, I've recently been accepted into both programs and am trying to decide between the two. I was really leaning towards Melbourne, but it's a harder decision the more I know. I already accepted Sydney's offer because of their deadline, but I know if I decide to switch over to Melbourne, I can get most of it refunded. I know there was another thread comparing between the two programs before, but it's from over 5 years ago and thought that it might be useful to hear an update from others in the program or in a similar situation. So this is the current comparison I have so far:Melbourne Tuition: $368k Cheaper average cost of living No interview - only GPA and DAT score were considered in selection (personally) - but I think the better city to live in overall (better public transport, cafes, restaurants, etc.) More "dental-focused" curriculum Not as PBL?Sydney Tuition: $312k More expensive average cost of living Had an interview in their selection process ... has beaches? Merges classes with med school curriculum PBL curriculum But in terms of actual program comparisons, I'm not too sure! It seems like Sydney has a lot more classes merged with the med school, which to me is a minus because I'd rather a more personalized curriculum to dentistry. Not sure which one has more clinical practice built into the curriculum. Both seem to have equal rural placements in upper years, and both have a research component. Sydney looks to be PBL which I'm not a fan of tbh since I've had profs try to do that in other courses and it was a disaster imo. SO I'm really stuck. Any insight would be great! I lived in Melbourne for 6 months before and I loved it, and Sydney to me seems to be more businessy when I visited and not as fun of a city. But Melbourne's increased tuition cost and lack of interview are the factors turning me a bit away. Any experiences or insight would be super helpful! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yampotato Posted October 26, 2018 Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 HI there, are you from Canada? Is there a reason for why you applied oversea? Based on the information that you said, I think you like Melbourne more and it would be a better choice. The higher tuition cost in Melbourne is not that bad since the cost of living is cheaper and you would most likely spend your money on food and housing etc. Im not sure whats PBL?? I think if you choose Sydney, you might regret it one day becuase it seems like you like the city of Melbourne overall more. I had to live in a city that I dont like a lot for 4 years and its just saddddddd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramenloverli Posted October 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 2 hours ago, yampotato said: HI there, are you from Canada? Is there a reason for why you applied oversea? Based on the information that you said, I think you like Melbourne more and it would be a better choice. The higher tuition cost in Melbourne is not that bad since the cost of living is cheaper and you would most likely spend your money on food and housing etc. Im not sure whats PBL?? I think if you choose Sydney, you might regret it one day becuase it seems like you like the city of Melbourne overall more. I had to live in a city that I dont like a lot for 4 years and its just saddddddd Hey! Yeah I'm from Canada! I just wasn't super confident in my abilities so I was planning on applying to both Canada and Australia, but Australia just got back to me first and I just decided to go there given it's also a 4 year program. PBL is peer based learning, so it's where the students teach the lectures. In the course I had where they tried that, they assigned each student a topic of the curriculum, and then they design and teach the lecture. But the problem is that students are teaching topics they don't know or understand too well. The idea is that if you have to teach a topic, it makes you understand it on a deeper level. Which is true... But the problem is that people just ended up trying to explain things they don't understand which ended up confusing everyone. Then there's no real notes with accurate information, so everybody just ends up self-learning everything. Thanks for your input with the cities! You make a good point. I think in the end, with the programs being so similar, I should pick the city I like more... which is Melbourne I guess!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McMarauder Posted October 26, 2018 Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 4 hours ago, ramenloverli said: Hello, I've recently been accepted into both programs and am trying to decide between the two. I was really leaning towards Melbourne, but it's a harder decision the more I know. I already accepted Sydney's offer because of their deadline, but I know if I decide to switch over to Melbourne, I can get most of it refunded. I know there was another thread comparing between the two programs before, but it's from over 5 years ago and thought that it might be useful to hear an update from others in the program or in a similar situation. So this is the current comparison I have so far:Melbourne Tuition: $368k Cheaper average cost of living No interview - only GPA and DAT score were considered in selection (personally) - but I think the better city to live in overall (better public transport, cafes, restaurants, etc.) More "dental-focused" curriculum Not as PBL?Sydney Tuition: $312k More expensive average cost of living Had an interview in their selection process ... has beaches? Merges classes with med school curriculum PBL curriculum But in terms of actual program comparisons, I'm not too sure! It seems like Sydney has a lot more classes merged with the med school, which to me is a minus because I'd rather a more personalized curriculum to dentistry. Not sure which one has more clinical practice built into the curriculum. Both seem to have equal rural placements in upper years, and both have a research component. Sydney looks to be PBL which I'm not a fan of tbh since I've had profs try to do that in other courses and it was a disaster imo. SO I'm really stuck. Any insight would be great! I lived in Melbourne for 6 months before and I loved it, and Sydney to me seems to be more businessy when I visited and not as fun of a city. But Melbourne's increased tuition cost and lack of interview are the factors turning me a bit away. Any experiences or insight would be super helpful! Thanks! I worked in Australia for 2 years - my Melbourne classmates and I have been told at numerous interviews that Sydney grads aren't popular choices. Sydney has quotas on procedures - Melbourne doesn't. However, students at Melbourne end up doing about the same, if not more than the Sydney quotas (this is from my discussions with Sydney grads). Also, our rotations in community clinics trained us well in seeing multiple patients in a day. From what I gather, that's not the case in Sydney. Ultimately, most of your learning is done on the job. I too like Melbourne more than Sydney as a city, especially after working in sydney for 6 months. The difference in tuition is likely due to the fact that melbourne is still paying off it's new(er) facilities, which was nice to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yampotato Posted October 27, 2018 Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 2 hours ago, ramenloverli said: Hey! Yeah I'm from Canada! I just wasn't super confident in my abilities so I was planning on applying to both Canada and Australia, but Australia just got back to me first and I just decided to go there given it's also a 4 year program. PBL is peer based learning, so it's where the students teach the lectures. In the course I had where they tried that, they assigned each student a topic of the curriculum, and then they design and teach the lecture. But the problem is that students are teaching topics they don't know or understand too well. The idea is that if you have to teach a topic, it makes you understand it on a deeper level. Which is true... But the problem is that people just ended up trying to explain things they don't understand which ended up confusing everyone. Then there's no real notes with accurate information, so everybody just ends up self-learning everything. Thanks for your input with the cities! You make a good point. I think in the end, with the programs being so similar, I should pick the city I like more... which is Melbourne I guess!! oh god, I would definitely stay away from PBL, that sounds horrible!!!!!!! sometimes I cant even understand the material from the prof, I cant imagine learning many important topics from students!!!!! also, I think since you are spending so much either way (300K +), spending an extra 20K or so to go to Melbourne wouldnt be that bad as you could always make the money back....eventually......lol I am a picky eater, so I dont think I will survive if there are no good food around. and better public transit makes it so much better to travel to school, which means you could find places that are a bit farther and cheaper but could still get to school easily (like dont have to switch busses or trains) I thought about going to AUS for dentistry, but it costs so much and I heard that its hard to come back to Canada and be a dentist?? What GPA and DAT scores did you apply with to Melbourne? I like the idea how they dont require interview. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McMarauder Posted October 27, 2018 Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 27 minutes ago, yampotato said: I heard that its hard to come back to Canada and be a dentist? i'm back. it was a pretty straight forward process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yampotato Posted October 27, 2018 Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 43 minutes ago, McMarauder said: i'm back. it was a pretty straight forward process. what did you have to do to come back other than 4 years dentistry education? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
member_225 Posted October 27, 2018 Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 12 minutes ago, yampotato said: what did you have to do to come back other than 4 years dentistry education? Pass the NDEB exam just like the Canadian graduates Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McMarauder Posted October 27, 2018 Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 https://ndeb-bned.ca/en/accredited Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramenloverli Posted October 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2018 On 10/26/2018 at 8:14 PM, McMarauder said: i'm back. it was a pretty straight forward process. Did you have any issues getting hired? I.e. is there anything against foreign trained dentists among employers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z3u2 Posted October 28, 2018 Report Share Posted October 28, 2018 I studied in Sydney and came back to Canada about 5-6 years ago and have been working full time in private practice since. Over the years I have worked with colleagues that graduated from various Canadian/American dental schools. Slowly over this period, I felt we learned better than many (not all) North American graduates. I didn't feel this way during my studying nor right after I graduated. I only observed it after a few years of working with other colleagues. It is hard to compare which specific discipline is taught better, because it is way too broad of a discussion. Sydney has its weak spots/curriculum that can be taught better, but overall I think we received more solid fundamental knowledge comparing to some Canadian/American dental school graduates. I cannot speak of Melbourne program because I have actually never met any graduates from the school. I can speak that PBL isn't an issue of learning. Back then we called it problem based learning, maybe now it's called peer based learning? The lectures are still lecture based, not PBL style. PBL only applies to small group studies where you are given a series of "problem" each week and you learn from "solving" this problem by studying the lectures for that week. It helps you formulate solutions, essentially what you will be doing when you start working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z3u2 Posted October 28, 2018 Report Share Posted October 28, 2018 On 10/26/2018 at 12:10 PM, ramenloverli said: Hello, Sydney has great weather, better weather than probably any Canadian cities.. There's not a lot of Ramen in the city, and the sushi qualities are poor.....there is a lot of Thai food though.... I don't see why lack of interview is a problem for you, as you have been accepted to both programs anyway. I think if you already like Melbourne the city then it should be an easier choice for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McMarauder Posted October 28, 2018 Report Share Posted October 28, 2018 14 hours ago, ramenloverli said: Did you have any issues getting hired? I.e. is there anything against foreign trained dentists among employers? there was job postings that said "Canadian grads only". but generally, I didin't have any trouble getting interviews and getting hired. In fact, some practices who have hired Australian grads in the past were happy to take me on after having a positive experience with them. Some even preferred US/Aus grads over local grads. Me and graduates from Australia/US working in Canada can echo what z3u2 has said regarding our learning experiences abroad. In the long run, I doubt that this matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauls Posted October 30, 2018 Report Share Posted October 30, 2018 Both schools are sooo expensive! find a cheaper school. Cost of living is super expensive in Australia and its even worst in Sydney and Melbourne. You are gonna end up with a 600k bill to get your dental degree and its gonna take you many many years to pay back. find the cheapest school in Australia and go there or try to get your Australian PR and save money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zinan06 Posted November 1, 2018 Report Share Posted November 1, 2018 On 10/26/2018 at 7:58 PM, yampotato said: what did you have to do to come back other than 4 years dentistry education? All Australian dental programs are accredited by CDAC. You just need to pass the NDEB like all other Canadian/American graduates then you can apply for provincial licensing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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