Columbia or UCLA?

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drpepper47

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  1. Pre-Dental
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I got into Columbia in December but I just got off the waitlist for UCLA. I'm really excited to move to NYC and experience something new because I've lived in LA since high school.

The only thing is Columbia's tuition is 20k more a year. Do you guys think it's worth it to go to NYC at the expense of an additional 80K in all my loans?

So I'm pretty torn and lost. Pick the school/city that I want to go to or the cheaper school?

Current dental students or dentists please give me your opinions!! Thanks.
 
seriously, it's not worth 80,000 to 'try something new' in my opinion. go to NYC on your summer vacations or something... however if you really like the SCHOOL more, then maybe go to columbia.
pretty much everyone will tell you go to ucla i think
 
Not worth the $20K per year plus loan interest. Go UCLA.
 
Go to cheaper one.
 
Go to the cheaper school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have never meet a dentist who is happy about their debt, even if they went in-state.
West-LA is great, but who is going to have time or money to be a tourist in D-school?
 
Yeah, go to the cheaper one, it doesn't really matter reputation wise when you get out. Plus it might be easier to take boards for ca region if you go to ucla. Better weather too.
 
Nightguard said:
Yeah, go to the cheaper one, it doesn't really matter reputation wise when you get out. Plus it might be easier to take boards for ca region if you go to ucla. Better weather too.
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UCLA has a great reputation, and is extremely competitive. One of the top research institutions in the world, and a great area. I would have loved to have gone to this school, but they rejected me. It is the best of both worlds: a cheaper in-state school that has the reputation similar or not better then some ivy-league schools.
It is a no brain-er, dump Columbia unless they give you free tuition
 
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I know that at Columbia you can get scholarship if you have good stats plus Columbia University loans (that's how they call them but i'm not sure if the funding actually comes from CU), which are interest free while you are in school and 5% once you finish. did you get your financial award letter yet?
If you didn't get anything then I agree with everyone else, go to cheaper school.
good luck on your decision.
 
i got 10k from them for each year...

thanks for all the help guys!
 
on the other hand, columbia's one of the ivy league schools
i know this may not mean much, but it may have some correlation with the kind of instructors/administration/courses/research opportunities they offer in columbia. 5 yrs down the road as a general dentist, it may not matter as much, but if you plan on going into residencies, it may have potential effects.

that being said, i'd go to UCLA if i were you, because i'm not too interested in residencies at the moment, and the cost is significantly lesser. NYC may be a great place to visit, but living there for 4 years may not seem too glamourous once you're halfway through.

these are the 2 approaches that i personally see...i hope this kinda helps.
 
this is a stupid thread, come on "experience NYC?"

Instead of paying 80-100K to experience it, just use your earned income after dental school and spend $5,000 experiencing it for a month. If you like it enough, move there
 
I dont know if this affects the grad schools, but arent California public schools in a debt crisis and rapidly jacking up tuition? Maybe ucla will be a private-priced public after 4 years lol
 
Take the extra 20K/year, go to UCLA, then spend the 80K on experiencing NYC in a huge party with a 100 friends after you graduate. Seriously, 80k is a ton a money....factor in interest and 6 figures is right around the corner. Columbia is not worth an extra 80K + interest. I know, I went there. Go there for residency if you want to experience NYC later.
 
shabu2 said:
Take the extra 20K/year, go to UCLA, then spend the 80K on experiencing NYC in a huge party with a 100 friends after you graduate. Seriously, 80k is a ton a money....factor in interest and 6 figures is right around the corner. Columbia is not worth an extra 80K + interest. I know, I went there. Go there for residency if you want to experience NYC later.
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baboooooooooooo
 
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Charmm said:
How many UCLA grads are there at Emory OMFS ?


You still think it is not worth going Columbia?!
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OMFS residencies are so small self selection can play a huge factor in where people end up. But FYI, I interviewed with one UCLA grad who's starting at Emory omfs this year.
 
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Charmm said:
How many UCLA grads are there at Emory OMFS ?


You still think it is not worth going Columbia?!
Click to expand...



I go to Columbia as well...CDM is awesome at placing people into residency. Last year I think our stats were 9 going OMFS, 10 went ortho and 20+ went peds out of a class of like 79 thats pretty much 1/2 of the class going into very competitive residency programs not many other schools can match that if a specific post grad program is your main goal.

That being said UCLA is also known for placing people into residency so unless you are madly in love with NYC I say go to UCLA (although the whole state funding may become an issue)

I love how people hate on CDM so much on this forum tho makes us feel loved 😎 Its not a school for everyone but if it fits your style I don't think you would regret coming here. Of course if you can go to UCLA for signficantly less money thats a pretty big deal and I think justifies picking it over CDM.
 
Are we going to do this again? UCLA and Columbia are both great schools, and are both extremely competitive. Go to the cheaper one!!!! Where are you going to go?
 
Charmm said:
armorshell, smart kids who get 25 AA in DAT will most likely ace the board ( 97% ) and will get into well-known OMFS programs. An applicant with these stats will succeed nomatter which dental school he/she attended. I think you are sending the wrong message. For majority, a tough school which is known to prep well ( P/F or H/P/F, enough time to study for boards, strong didactics etc...) is the better choice. So, which school you go does affect your chances of getting into residency.
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armorshell you got into Columbia didn't you and decided to go UoP instead right? I agree with Charmm somewhat also. A genius with 3.8+ GPA's and 23+ DAT scores will likely do amazing regardless of where they go, since they will be top of the class. However, for normal smart guys like me who have a 3.5-3.8 and a 20-22 DAT, does it help us if we go to better schools like the ivys and hope the strength of the schools reputation will get us a little further in specialty selection than just straight up numbers--especially with boards going pass/fail.

Thats what drove me mad for so long about UoP vs. Penn. Ultimately money (as bad as that sounds) contributed a lot in the decision when I could not come to a firm resolution about school choice. UoP + HPSP is unbeatable. Its as good as if you got free tuition from the school when the numbers play out.
 
Charmm said:
armorshell, smart kids who get 25 AA in DAT will most likely ace the board ( 97% ) and will get into well-known OMFS programs. An applicant with these stats will succeed nomatter which dental school he/she attended. I think you are sending the wrong message. For majority, a tough school which is known to prep well ( P/F or H/P/F, enough time to study for boards, strong didactics etc...) is the better choice. So, which school you go does affect your chances of getting into residency.
Click to expand...

I could easily turn that around and say that if you're smart enough to get accepted to Columbia (Good DAT/GPA), you're smart enough to specialize.

You say "for the majority", Columbia's attributes would help them specialize, but Columbia doesn't accept the majority, they only accept the elite.

I think you're sending the wrong message, that people need to attend high-priced private universities to have a gleam of hope of getting into a dental specialty.
 
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