Guest Not2Clever Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 Hi people, Just wanted to see what kinda opinion you guys had in comparing UofA Dent to UofManitoba Dent. I just got offered a spot at UofA off the waitlist and I'm considering it even though I'm accepted at UofM already. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest apical meristems Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 Hey Not2Clever, Where are you from? In-province? OOP? Later, ap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest epzi Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 Both are good schools, UofA goes into the summer so you get about half of the summer break as UofM. We just finished at UofA on the 15th, pretty easy first summer, but next year sounds pretty killer from what the second years say. Some people say that UofM prepares you better for dentistry since it doesn't have a med/dent mix, so you do more dentistry. Myself, I liked the med/dent mix since you meet more people and more people you'll be going out with, so if your a social person you'll like this. Both cities are pretty good, but i prefer edmonton (since its closer to calgary) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 UM is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dentforsure Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 Go for UM...cuz it has a really good program. Longest summer among all canadian dental schools. Dentistry starting 1st day. Clinic is relatively new. Lotsa patients. I heard they even ship in bus loads of kids to do pediatric dentistry. It's a good school. Also, it's the 2nd cheapest dental school. I also got accepted to UM first and then to UA off the waitlist and I turned down UA right away cuz i like winnipeg more than edmonton. Well...now i chose McGill cuz of the city life there and cheaper tuition. Otherwise, academically, UM wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Not2Clever Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 Well, I'm from Edmonton originally as well, which makes the choice even tougher cuz I wouldn't mind moving out to a different city, but at the same time I could stay home where everything/body is. How relevant do you find the med stuff Epzi? Does it really make life tougher having to do everything the meds do as well (schoolwise I mean). I agree that UofM is a way better dental school because 1) its cheaper (not by much though if you take out living expenses) 2) its a pure dental program and 3) the facilities are a lot nicer/newer (sim lab). However, some of my friends at UA say they don't mind the med stuff since it better prepares them for patients that are medically compromised in other ways and they actually like it, but I sure hope they're not just sticking up for their school blah blah pride and what not *sigh*... 2 days to make a choice... either way, 1 spot opening up somewhere for someone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Qwigley Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 I'm sure that at UofM they'll also teach you the medical info that is relevant to your future dental patients. If you're interested in only getting the relevant stuff, UofM might be a better choice. UofA gives you all the relevant stuff but will give you a lot of irrelevant medical lectures too. If you were previously interested in Med, then UofA can statisfy this interest and reassure you that you've made the right choice by choosing Dent. I chose UofA (over schools where the programs aren't fused) because I like being with the Meds and find it interesting. UofA also uses the pass fail system, so that lets you focus your studying on the relevant stuff if you'd like to put in less effort when exam time comes. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the UofA clinic will be expanding and upgrading into a new building in 2008. I'm not sure what improvements will be made with this new building. This could give you experience in two very different clinics. Also, at UofA there will be a transition to a new system (?the POD system?) so students won't have to book their own patients (and if you talk to dental students you'll find out this is a serious hassle). After having said all this good stuff about UofA, to be fair and look at the other side of the coin, I've heard a lot of good stuff about UofM. UofM students do start using their handpieces earlier that those at UofA and as a result of doing less Med stuff, they get longer summer holidays. Also (but I'm not sure if it's true) I've heard that UofM grad programs favour UofM grads for admission and no other Canadian schools do this. This last point could be a huge bonus if you're set on specializing. (Perhaps people from UofM could confirm what I've written in this last paragraph). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Justanotherkeener Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 Hey, Noone has mentioned that Manitoba has the BSc Dentistry program. This will give you the chance to do some really good summer research if you want (does this help for specializing?). Manitoba also has loads of outreach programs from what I've seen, they even have annual trips to Bolivia to help the indigenous people. However, I do know that Alberta also has trips up north to practice dentistry in the rural areas. I don't think you can go wrong with either program. Here is a link to UM dent's annual report, it has loads of good info in it, in case you haven't read it yet. Manitoba annual report I'm still leaning towards choosing Alberta (if given the option next year), but Manitoba just seems so awesome as well. I don't envy your decision:p Keener Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest epzi Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 Not2Clever: The med stuff isn't always relavent but as Qwigley said, alot of it is interesting stuff. Someone should also mention that even at Manitoba you have to do med stuff, but your learning it from people in the department of dentistry, rather than from people who are actually in the field, so by going to UM your still going to get med stuff (not to the same caliber as the UofA people though), this may interest you if you've ever thought about the GPR program (one of the guys who just finished his residency said that the UA program really helped him prepare for the emerg). In terms of difficulty doing the med stuff with the dent, its pass/fail as Qwigley said, so, no, its pretty easy. If your going to compare cost, its actually not to different, especially if your from alberta since you can get a governement loan to cover everything anyways (and if you hit the 95000 lifetime max you get a pretty sweet remission...last year it was 25000 off the top). And just as a side note, two of my friends going into 3rd year dent at manitoba (who really like the program) have mentioned that they have never used the simulation labs or been in them since first year when they got the tour. Qwigley is right, the pods system should make the clinic much more organized as well. If i was you i'd base it on the city, the education really not so different, think about where you'd like to live for 4 years Just noticed your from edmonton, in my experience dental school definitely wouldn't have been the same if i'd been living at home, living on your own is definitely a good experience. One last thing, my cousin graduated from UM last year, he pretty much told me that by going to UA I made a huge mistake since they start dent at UM earlier (he didn't get into UA, and ended up in Manitoba), but, from UA grads I hear that everyone is on the same playing field once your done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Justanotherkeener Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 Epzi, I sent you a pm Keener Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nasaje Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 The simulation labs at UM look nice but they apparently are not in use and apparently have never really worked. The BSc. Dent at UM is a selling point, but only if you happen to be one of the limited number of students accepted to the BSc Dent program. Both schools have outreach programs and should provide ample experience. Other than cost, what's left but to compare the cities: they are both cold but Edmonton is quite a bit bigger with more to do. It's also close to Calgary and the mountains. Winnipeg is smaller, less to do, and isolated; no other cities are even remotely closeby. Where would you prefer to live for 4 years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Not2Clever Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 Hey guys, thanks for the information. I guess in the end this shoulda been a easier decision than I made it out to be:p It hit me when I was sleeping... Winnipeg?? honestly?? Deadmonton it is for me!! But being paranoid about super-mutated strains of Hep B and TB I'll wait till after my test results to donate $500 deposit money to UM, giving... say.. 1.5/2 weeks for someone to get ready for school. Lotsa time:rollin Afterthought: I wonder if I can get my name into that annual report under the $500+ donation list. Thanks for the link Keener Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dentforsure Posted July 27, 2005 Report Share Posted July 27, 2005 Hey...wasn't hte deposit due on July 4th? My $500 went down the drain already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.