So I wrapped up my weekend in Boston by interviewing at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. It was pretty standard, except there was a huge emphasis on describing the course schedule, almost to a point of wordiness. I must have heard about the courses for a good 2+ hours, which was a bit exhausting. The school itself is a mix of old an new. The much-lauded upstairs facilities are about to be used. Too bad it will mainly be for the post-grad specialization students and not the DMD students, which was NOT what I wanted to hear. The original floors below that expansion were alright. Pretty standard mid-80's clinics with no natural light, but what can you do? In that regard, the faculty are old-school, in stark contrast to the green initiatives and swanky stuff they have added to the school. BU told me they would be old school and I was not surprised. If you haven't heard, Tufts sent out a HUGE packet of any info you could ever want about their school and they spent most of the "pitch" going over this monster and a couple of our own questions. Like BU, Tufts is costly, in excess of $90k a year. Its alot, but I'm finding that cost is becoming less of a priority as I go on.
I was very confused on the school's take on their involvement with medicine
1. One person told me the school was a completely seperate building from the hospital (which in some regards it is)
2. Another person told me the building is integrated by skybridges (which it is, but who cares?)
3. Tufts students take 1 class w/ Med students, gross anatomy... not that many
4. Dean Mark something said that taking their own seperate medicine classes is important to be able to converse w/ medical colleagues.
So let me ask you, Tufts... if medical integration is so important to you, then why don't your students spend more time learning WITH med school students? It seems like the best way to build bonds, but I guess discussing renal failure complications is a better solution. The conflicting views I was given by multiple people during the day leads me to believe that their medicine classes are only in place to make their graduation surveys of "comfort discussing w/ medical colleagues" a little bit better. Give your students a bunch of rotations.
That being said, I could see myself going to Tufts for a dental education, despite the cost. It is in a decent area of Chinatown, so I could definitely occupy myself with some great food. With regards to the new expansion, it was hinted that the clinical groups of 12 could be decreased to 8 with the extra space available, which is nice. Overall, I think my trip up to Boston was very enlightening, despite the cold, wet weather. I got to see two schools and my view of them completely changed in a matter of hours. It just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its' cover. You really need to visit dental schools before you judge them based on pictures and statistics. Just a little advice for you pre-dental kids out there. Its good to finally have this stage of my life behind me. Now I can work off the travel expenses I've incurred and have a relaxing Thanksgiving with my family. Hey, December 1st is next Tuesday so hopefully all that turkey will take my mind of of that.
Peace out,
Bjorn
No comments:
Post a Comment