Ivy League vs. UofT

[Gsman]

so, i have been thinking but cant seem to figure out an answer.

 

would you guys rather go to a US ivy league dental school such as columbia, PENN, or Harvard or stay where you live and go to UofT?

 

US schools are double the price of UofT (so u save 200,000$ over 4 years)

 

The facilties, fame and education at ivy leagues are better than canadian schools according to what i saw when i visited.

 

 

So, who thinks location, family, friends and 200,000$ trumps prestige and a better education?

[Visceral]

I'd go to a Canadian school (UofT, UWO, McGill etc.) over the Ivy league. I like the cities, family, friends and cost. Not to mention lack of immigration woes.

 

My current dentist was educated in Eastern Europe and she does an absolutely amazing job. Institution doesn't generally matter in my opinion, since everyone writes the same licensing exams. Until recently out of curiosity, I have never looked into where any of my dentists or specialists have been educated either so the school was never a factor in my decision to go to a particular one.

 

If you plan to specialize, then perhaps I could see where it would matter since you have to jump through more bureaucratic educational hurdles. But personally, I don't have enough exposure to any of the dental specialties to enter dental school with pre-conceived desires to specialize.

[Gsman]

but would u think a better school will train a better dentist over other schools if the students all had the same motivation?

 

a better dentist is what attracts more pts, and perhaps better dentists are trained by more famous schools.

 

like i mean, theres GOT to be SOMETHING to back up the fame right?

[Visceral]

I am just an undergraduate student, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. It may seem a tad cynical, but I think people choose and recommend a dentist based on location, lack of pain, cost and ease of insurance processing.

 

If a dentist accomodates all of those, then he retains a patient, builds his base and is deemed successful.

 

I don't really think one school produces significantly better clinicians than others. All have to meet certain criteria, be accredited and have their students pass boards.

 

I think the name could help in certain situations like specializations/resarch, but for the general dentist, I don't know.

[1T0_Dents]

I am just an undergraduate student, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. It may seem a tad cynical, but I think people choose and recommend a dentist based on location, lack of pain, cost and ease of insurance processing.

 

If a dentist accomodates all of those, then he retains a patient, builds his base and is deemed successful.

 

I don't really think one school produces significantly better clinicians than others. All have to meet certain criteria, be accredited and have their students pass boards.

 

I think the name could help in certain situations like specializations/resarch, but for the general dentist, I don't know.

 

 

Although you are an undergrad, you certainly have a preety good idea about what dentistry is about. Right on, if a dentist can keep the patient happy, it doesn't matter if you graduate from schools X Y or Z. You will be a much more succesful dentist (and your wallet will be thicker) than a dentist who grads from SUPER name brand SCHOOLS he doesn't have the slighest clue on what patient care is about. And with regards to ivy league schools as mentioned i.e. as columbia, PENN, or Harvard, with the exception of harvard all other U.S schools are 10 times easier to get into then UofT. As with training of each program, you can rest assure that you will be a competent dentist once you finish the 4 years. So NO! it is not wise to spend 200K extra if you don't need to. The only reason why you would do that is if you don't get in at home.

 

As with regards to specialties, yes there may be a slight advantage in going to a research based school where you are exposed to all the discipline vs a school that's mainly focused on general dentistry. But at the end of the day, if you can kill the board exams and have a kick ass GPA you will be given the same opportunity as grads from anywhere. Hope that helps.

 

Cheers,

 

[Gsman]

Although you are an undergrad, you certainly have a preety good idea about what dentistry is about. Right on, if a dentist can keep the patient happy, it doesn't matter if you graduate from schools X Y or Z. You will be a much more succesful dentist (and your wallet will be thicker) than a dentist who grads from SUPER name brand SCHOOLS he doesn't have the slighest clue on what patient care is about. And with regards to ivy league schools as mentioned i.e. as columbia, PENN, or Harvard, with the exception of harvard all other U.S schools are 10 times easier to get into then UofT. As with training of each program, you can rest assure that you will be a competent dentist once you finish the 4 years. So NO! it is not wise to spend 200K extra if you don't need to. The only reason why you would do that is if you don't get in at home.

 

As with regards to specialties, yes there may be a slight advantage in going to a research based school where you are exposed to all the discipline vs a school that's mainly focused on general dentistry. But at the end of the day, if you can kill the board exams and have a kick ass GPA you will be given the same opportunity as grads from anywhere. Hope that helps.

 

Cheers,

 

 

but you are comparing a competent student from UofT vs a incompetent student from an ivy league school...which doesnt seem far. clearly, if u have proper will power and motivation, u can be successful coming from ANY dental school. Let's for arguments sake that the core knowledge attained from dental school is the same everywhere (since a dental education teaches you very basic stuff and the majority of learning happens when you start practicing). What benefits does prestige bring you? Looking at stats, there is a significant difference in the percentage of people getting into specialties. Looking at the last 5 years, PENN put 30-50 students out of a class of 119 into speciality programs. so i guess that is an advantage for a "brand name" school.

 

What about clientel? would your client base be different? Would you get more and better associate job offers as a ivy leauge grad in Canada? Also, I think an ivy education does provide some benefits if one day you choose to work outside of canada.

 

I guess it boils down to what you value. if you love the school and you think ivy leauge teaching philosophies are right for you then it may justify an extra 200,000k.

 

i dont know man....got a UofT interview coming up so i hope ill get in so i can make a tough decision. lol