I'm just biased - San Antonio sent me an interview invite, and I enjoyed my experience there. I was accepted, and took their offer, but when I decided to go to a different school, they were more than understanding; no hate mail, no lost deposit $$, just a friendly sendoff and wishes for good luck. They seemed to place great emphasis on research and community service... and I like the city itself, it's nice.
Baylor sent me a secondary and a few weeks later I got an "our class is full" letter, so I wasted some $$ on their secondary fee.
Also, unless you find someone who has gone through more than one school (which is possible), it's hard to get a good idea of how each school stacks up to another. That is, a current dental student's 'inside scoop' will only apply to one school - their own.
It might help to gather all the info that you can about both schools from people who are current students there, then make your own little chart that lists Pros and Cons of each school - tailored to you, for your life, and for your goals in the field - because that's what really matters. Some questions that you may want to ask about each school and your situation are: do you have family nearby? can you get cheap or reasonable housing? might you want to specialize, or just be a gp? what are their board scores like? do their clinics have a long waiting list for patients (which I know UTSA does, not sure about Baylor), or are students fighting tooth-and-nail just to get chair time? do you have to do your own lab work (you don't at UTSA)? Just some things to keep in mind. Sorry if this is all repeated from another post somewhere
🙂 Good luck!!
Vitae said:
Based on the poll results thus far, I'm very curious to hear additional insight from those that voted San Antonio as opposed to Baylor. Much like Aaron_TX, I'm also in this very difficult position of having to choose one of these two schools and am torn at the moment. You guys are already dental students and have the inside scoop at this point. Is there anything that some soon-to-be 1st year dental students should know that could sway our decision one way or the other. Thanks for any help.