USC vs. UMN

[doedoe]

Hello,

Could you give me some advice on choosing a dental school? I got accepted to the University of Minnesota and USC! I'm grateful to have a choice, but I'm also having difficulty making the choice. I did my undergrad at UMN and I have a network there now. In contrast, USC would be a new place to explore and a more novel environment. I'm a CA resident and would be paying out-of-state tuition at UMN. Over 4 years, USC is about 60K more; 36K from direct school costs and about 20-30K from living expenses. I grew up in Northern CA and almost all of my family live in CA. Any opinions about PBL? What factors should I be considering? I would appreciate any advice, thanks!

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[cmcner]

Both schools are great, but you will have a crazy amount of debt coming from both schools. I just graduated USC with crazy debt, it's really fun there and I doubt you will enjoy yourself more at any other dental school in the US. There are frustrations and things to get over like at any school. PBL is nothing to worry about, you get a good clinical education at USC, but I'm sure Minnesota is good too. As far as living goes, if you want to live on the cheap side and don't mind a roommate (separate bedrooms) you can find places for like $600-$700 a month in LA and the projected living expenses give you up to $1200 a month for rent so that's a savings of $500-600 a month for 4 years will get the living expenses to be the same as Minnesota's estimate. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.