What are the best things about attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine?

You’ll hear it thrown around a lot on the interview days at different programs, but I think it rings especially true about PDM – community. The admissions staff does a great job of picking a unique and well-rounded class. We have all different kinds of people in our class, each who possessing different interests, both career-wise as well as personality-wise. The class size is great in the sense that you know who everyone is by name, but you do not feel pressured to be part of a certain friend group, as there are many. In terms of class morale, there are a couple “gunners,” but again, that is true of most schools. Overall, I feel as though there are always people I can go to to study with and ask for help.

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What are the worst things about attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine?

Penn Dental is a very academically rigorous school. The curriculum that we take is heavily med-based, so we learn a lot of extra information and have a lot of exams. On the flip-side, our lab here is pass-fail (which for some students takes the pressure off, but other students feel like it allows them to slack). The med-based curriculum is beneficial to some as they can learn more about the body as a whole and systemic health. The systems based approach in second year also helps when you are studying for boards. But, like I said, the classes and exams can be very difficult, though I imagine this is the same at most dental schools. You definitely can get exhausted and burnt out, especially towards the end of second year.

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What do students need to know/what do you wish you knew before attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine?

The most important thing to know about Penn Dental at this moment is that it is undergoing a vast array of changes that coincide with our new dean coming in. Some people like the new changes and others don’t. The most notable change is a new set up of our clinic, which includes new ways to group students, new professors and new hours. The goal of it all is to get Penn students more clinic hours. These changes have not been fully implemented yet, but would be good to know as you come into the school. There will be changes and probably some associated growing pains, but the end result should be a positive.

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