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Uwo Vs U Of T


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Both schools are great, I'm sure others can explain why they think each school is better or worse in their personal opinion, but be cautious and take everything said with a grain of salt. For example someone who is on the waitlist for U of T might try to make UWO sound like the better choice to influence people's opinion on the forum. I'm sure that goes both ways and I personally don't think you can go wrong with either school but just make sure you keep that in mind. 

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Some points to consider: 

 

+ smaller class size = tight-knit community-like feeling

+ lower living cost

+ easier to do well and get really high grades (trust me on this one) if you are planning on specializing later down the road.

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One point I will make about u of t is that we are a very tight knit community:) I feel like our class is one big family, and I am happy to say I have gotten to know each and every one of my classmates quite well. Also, being that u of t dentistry is off main campus and in its own building, I think we are even more connected. I've enjoyed this because it allowed me to meet a ton of upper years who are all very supportive. that's just my two cents though, of course pick the school that is best for you -- :)

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As many people have commented on previous posts: It's impossible for anyone to say which school is better than the other because no one went to both schools. And even if someone did, their opinion is exactly that: an opinion.

 

I have heard opposing opinions from different people (i.e Western's clinical experience is better than Toronto from one person, and vice versa from another).

 

At the end of the day, choose whatever your gut feeling tells you to go for because that's about as accurate as asking anyone else's opinion. It doesn't matter at all because unless you are going to an American school, you have the same learning curve after graduating from any school in Canada.

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Some points to consider: 

 

+ smaller close size = tight-knit community-like feeling

+ lower living cost

+ easier to do well and get really high grades (trust me on this one) if you are planning on specializing later down the road.

 

 

^This sums it up nicely.

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Some points to consider:

 

+ smaller class size = tight-knit community-like feeling

+ lower living cost

+ easier to do well and get really high grades (trust me on this one) if you are planning on specializing later down the road.

I disagree with most of this.

+ UofT is a very tightly knit community and because there are more students, you are more likely to find a group of people that you share a lot of common interests.

+ true cost of living is more expensive in Toronto, but you're also living in Toronto vs London (personal preference but I've heard Toronto is a livelier and more well known city)

+ Check some stats on this one. UofT also offers more specially programs so said specialists will be coming to UofT in the end... PS everyone goes in wanting to specialize but in the end, a very small fraction do

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Reality is no one actually graduating or newly graduated from either school is going to be honest about the real lack of clinical experience available (at least relative to US schools but unknown relative to each other). Everyone's credibility in their job hunt is hinging on the claim that they've had plenty of experience. The reality is that broadly speaking, the number of cases actually completed in recent years in one of the schools (won't say which), is significantly lower than say 10 - 15 years ago. Unfortunately impossible to get a true read on whether this is the same in both of the two or not. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you get frustrated with learning things that you'll never need to know (i.e. histology of the uterus) you're probably not going to like any Canadian dental school. I just graduated from UofT and I'm sure they underprepared me just as poorly as Western does with its graduates. Graduating from a Canadian dental school will teach you how to not kill your patients and basic restorative dentistry. You go to school to get the piece of paper that says you can practice dentistry, the rest is really up to you to learn. I wish this wasn't the reality but it is in my opinion.

If I were to do it over again I would still choose UofT over Western. I would MUCH rather live in Toronto than London. I didn't think I'd like Toronto before but it's been a great time. The social experience at UofT dentistry is probably the top 3 in the world hah. I've had so much fun with my class. I know everyone's name. People share notes on facebook and help each other out.

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Hey lacoocoo,

 

Would you say that UofT teaches a significant amount of med? That's one thing that really turns me away from uofa. I hear it's a LOT of useless med, and can be annoying

I can't comment on every course, but I have heard rumors that Western's anatomy course deals solely with head and neck content (correct me if I'm wrong). At U of T, you learn head and neck, alongside the entire body, which is quite useless in my opinion. But then again, they do say you are treating the whole person and not just their mouths, so I guess it depends on how you think of it :)

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Hey lacoocoo,

 

Would you say that UofT teaches a significant amount of med? That's one thing that really turns me away from uofa. I hear it's a LOT of useless med, and can be annoying

 Yeah they teach quite a bit. There is gen path, medicine, oral diagnosis, and bbohd. Personally I think all of these courses could have been condensed into one course. Over 4 years you do about 7 crowns, 100 surfaces (~40 fillings), 5 root canals (some coming from manikins), one complete denture, 3 cast partial dentures, and 1 acrylic denture. I'm more of a pragmatic person and got really frustrated when we would learn totally irrelevant information when dentistry is such a hands-on profession. But like I said, most Canadian schools are going to give you a limited clinical experience, so I would recommend basing your decision on location. I have no regrets choosing UofT because all the schools are probably the same.

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Oh alright. I guess that's something I'll have to deal with. Do you know how competitive GPR and orthodontics are? What kind of grades do you need to maintain to get into those programs?

Yeah just try to stay positive. I'm doing a residency next year and my average was low 80's. I think as long as you have high 70's/80's you're good. Ortho and OS are the most competitive - I can't really comment on the gpa but you need to do a lot of extra-curricular/externships.

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Yeah just try to stay positive. I'm doing a residency next year and my average was low 80's. I think as long as you have high 70's/80's you're good. Ortho and OS are the most competitive - I can't really comment on the gpa but you need to do a lot of extra-curricular/externships.

My brother graduated from UofT and got into ortho at Manitoba with a 83%. He did have tons of experience through doing externships in the US and travelling abroad with global health teams so ECs are a must!

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I know it sounds cool to be doing dissections at UofT, but realistically most of the time you're just scrapping nasty fat off of dead bodies. You learn a lot more efficiently with prosections - when someone has done all the work for you.

I strongly disagree with you on this. I found doing the dissections on the head and neck very useful. You get to go through each layer of the neck and learn all the structures on your own. It is a much more useful practice than just looking at a prosected specimen.

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Actually my friends at U of T told me about this and they found it to be just extra work, I hope it was optional at U of T so that students could choose to do it or not. I personally think during the dental school that students are busy with so many stuff to do, its just an extra effort, however, I havent been there so its just my opinion

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Is there anyone who accepted U of T in previous years that now wishes they chose UWO? 

 

It depends on what you are looking for in a school. I am WL for both U of T and western, and if I get in to both, I will choose western. I have friends both at U of T and UWO, those at U of T do more traditional type of work since there are all sorts of residencies at U of T and more up to date techniques are thought in residency (eg doing root canals with microscope). However, since western does not have that many residencies, DDS students learn more advanced techniques in their program. In general, putting few factors together and seeing my friends both at U of T and UWO makes me to lean more toward UWO. However, it is really my opinion and a decision that I made, Hopefully that waitlist move fast!

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