Please help me decide between schools for pre-dentistry, only have a week left! :/

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mintysparkle

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So I need to transfer schools in order to pursue my chosen major and it also gives the benefit of a faster graduation. I would be pursuing a BS in Neuroscience. The 2 schools I am choosing between is IUPUI in Indianapolis, Indiana and IU in Bloomington, Indiana. Every way I slice & dice it, the two schools end up being equivalent to me in terms of pros/cons, resources, tuition, etc. I am supposed to be a senior but due to transfers/major changes I would be a junior at both locations. Both locations have the exact amount of classes and credit hours left for me to graduate.

I was originally choosing IUPUI since it's a bit closer to home but when I looked up IU School of Dentistry I saw the stats that said 25 people in the class were from IUB and 11 were from IUPUI. I know that those stats don't mean anything unless I know how many of people applied from each and other info. but I thought I would post on SDN since there is always insight given here that I never thought of before.

I'll list my pros/cons of each school
IUB
Pros:
-very large psychology department
-Hoosierdentist program (works with dentists for pre-dentistry students to volunteer)
-Health professions office which includes a LOR service
-appears to have more resources regarding advisors, programs, clubs
Cons:
-very far from home
-parents are uncomfortable with distance
-some classes may be too large for comfort
-large possibility of being a small fish in a big pond and not using resources but getting drowned out
IUPUI Pros:
-closer to home
-parents comfortable with distance
-can repeat a calculus course I previously failed @ Purdue since it is the exact same course
-housing is very convenient
Cons:
-not as much of a community feel since it is a commuter campus (I'm currently attending a commuter campus and enjoy it but it may be harder to transition to when living there)
-repeat of classes I have already taken
-inefficient pre-dentistry club
-not as many resources as a large school

The pros/cons don't mean as much to me as some of them outweigh the others for me but I thought I would list it to give as much information as possible. My main concern with the differences of the schools are I do not enjoy or do well in extremely large classes and IU has that but the main classes I need for prereqs for Dentistry is just as large at IUPUI. It might be easier to shadow in a city like Indianapolis where there would be a lot of dentists however the Hoosier dentistry program at IUB seems to make everything easy and manageable.

I honestly am having the hardest time making this decision. I am told to take other factors into consideration such as how I would feel at the campus etc. but I am mainly concerned about my academics. The last time I went away to school it did not end well and one of my parents got very ill. I am just terrified of ending in a bad situation again and being pushed even further behind in school.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated and I am terribly sorry for the length of this post.
Thank you in advance!

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IUB because you want to go to a school that is cheaper and has the resources available for you to succeed. I wouldn't go to a school if they are making me retake classes anyways.
 
IUB because you want to go to a school that is cheaper and has the resources available for you to succeed. I wouldn't go to a school if they are making me retake classes anyways.

Thanks for your response but the tuition is the same so it's not cheaper and IUPUI is not making me retake the classes, that is an option that is ideal to pursue for me so it will average the grades and slightly help my science GPA.
 
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You should go where you think you will benefit the most. I have never really heard of your schools. I think you already know the answer to this question.
 
I would go to the school that you know you will do better in academically to get into dental school. The Hoosier dentist program doesn't really matter to me since you can always find time and dentists to shadow. I am planning to transfer schools as well and I won't have car so I'll be using the bus to volunteer and shadow other dentists.
 
Thanks for your response but the tuition is the same so it's not cheaper and IUPUI is not making me retake the classes, that is an option that is ideal to pursue for me so it will average the grades and slightly help my science GPA.
Isn't it cheaper because you're closer to home? Commuter schools usually have less expensive housing around the area
 
Isn't it cheaper because you're closer to home? Commuter schools usually have less expensive housing around the area
They do but the way scholarships worked out, it made the tuition of both schools almost identical. It worked out weirdly.
 
I would go to the school that you know you will do better in academically to get into dental school. The Hoosier dentist program doesn't really matter to me since you can always find time and dentists to shadow. I am planning to transfer schools as well and I won't have car so I'll be using the bus to volunteer and shadow other dentists.
Hey, you have amazing will power. Good luck with the transfer. :) The only thing I don't know is which one I think I will do better in academically. I've asked people from both schools and have received mixed reviews on quality of education, professors, etc. I guess I won't know until I actually go there myself but that just makes it harder for me to decide.
 
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