Tuition, specialty matching rates, location are all important, but the main point of any dental school is to produce quality practitioners (and let's be honest it should be general practitioners).

But how can I fairly and accurately assess a school's quality?

Just thinking out loud here, but it is a strange feeling paying hundreds of thousands dollars for a service whose quality I can't gauge until after I've bought it.

This also kind of applied to undergrad and I don't think there is a set answer. Like I said, just thinking out loud.

Tuition, specialty matching rates, location are all important, but the main point of any dental school is to produce quality practitioners (and let's be honest it should be general practitioners).

But how can I fairly and accurately assess a school's quality?

Just thinking out loud here, but it is a strange feeling paying hundreds of thousands dollars for a service whose quality I can't gauge until after I've bought it.

This also kind of applied to undergrad and I don't think there is a set answer. Like I said, just thinking out loud.

If the goal is to become a dentist then all the schools in the country produce dentists that are able to pass the national boards. When you talk of quality, I think that all the dental schools are able to produce graduates with great skills, but it is up to student to want and improve their skills in order to produce quality work. Dental school will make you competant, but it is up to you to always look for ways to improve your skills as you practice in order to provide a quality service.

That's true. That's a good way to look at it.

A school's "quality" just depends on so many factors, many of which different people prioritize differently. The good thing is, every school is accredited (initially at least), and will give you a dental degree. I think any school that is accredited will make one a competent dentist upon graduation. Will some schools have less bumps along the way? Sure, but you're right, it's impossible to know. It's partly a good thing it's so competitive so many of us don't have to go crazy in choosing between tons of different schools. However, some have a choice between a few, so in my opinion these are my priorities.

1. State school=cheap. Pray to the heavens to get accepted.
2. Private school location/quality of life. This is where personal factors come in.
3. Try talking to students to gain a better feel. Make a decision and go for it, welcome to the world of debt.

But how can I fairly and accurately assess a school's quality?

Well besides the things that you mentioned previously, i think there is a lot that you can look at. As far as measuring a schools clinical capabilities, i posted this in a previous thread:

I think certain things could play a significant factor in clinical strength:

1. Average number of procedures (from talking to a dstudents)
2. Size of patient pool
3. Location of school (usually ghetto is a good thing)
4. If you have to schedule your own patients or not
5. Number of chairs in clinic vs. number of students
6. When your start in the pre-clinic/sim clinic? D1, D2? How many times a week?
7. # of available off site rotations
8. Availability of specialty programs (could be good or bad)
9. # of students who proceed with a GPR/AEGD after graduation
10. # of difficult procedures and the frequency in which they are seen
11. General reputation amongst dental community

Again, many of these things are anecdotal, but can still factor into the overall "clinical strength". Just my 2 cents.

Those are all great points. I am particularly interested in going into the pre-clinic as early as possible.

So follow up questions: Which schools start you in the pre-clinic/sim clinic at D1, D2?

I would think that early exposure to clinic is best and not just doing textbook work for two years.