Deciding Factors

[El Salvaje]

Okay so for those of you with multiple acceptances I'm sure we can all benefit from this thread. How would you place the rankings regarding the deciding factors for what school you will attend? Is it tuition, closeness to home, reputation, the impression cast at the interview, the female situation (if you are a straight guy this will probably factor in somewhere), the general attitude of the school, etc?

I am COMPLETELY TORN between my top two choices out of all the acceptances I have recieved. I'm sure if those of you currently in dental school or people who have made up their mind already shared your rankings in a 1, 2, 3.... fashion, then the rest of us would surely be grateful. Basically, I want to know your rationale for WHY you chose your school so that I can make a more thoughtful decision on this matter as well.

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[dentalWorks]

1) Being close to home, family and friends I think is pretty important. My underestanding is, dental school will be stressful, and while you will have friends in DS, you might not be so close with them as you will be with your.... best friend from your middle school years.

2) if I didn't get into my state school, then I would be looking at tuition, I don't wanna get out with 400k in debt, If I can swing it with 300k or less, I would pick that school in a heart beat.

3) I want a school to have a strong patient pool. This is important because once you finish your graduation requirements, you can still do more work on more patients, and ehnahcne your hand skills. If you go to a school that has a huge patient pool, you might be able to do this. I know my sister, when she got her DDS from Detroit back in 2000, she had done like 53 crowns/bridges and like 39 root canals lol.... she did WAYYYY above the requirements, and her reasoning was... she wanted to enhance her skills and speed.

 

[SoulPower]

Cost of attendance should no doubt be your top priority. 200k over 300k over 350k anyday because you WILL be spending probably 7-10 years paying off however much you owe. But since my only choices atm are NYU and MWU cost isn't such a big deal cause they are about the same, praying on UB acceptance in the future.

Clinical technologies and diverse patient pools, not in ethnicity but procedures, which I think most schools are pretty good with since most happen to be situated in a large metropolitan or outside of one.

Next is how easily I could see myself living in the school's area. I liked Arizona a LOT. The heat, I'm from Wisconsin, is nice and the scenery is totally different. NYC is huge, has cold weather, and is too crowded for my taste.


Family isn't a big deal for me since most of my family is now spread out over several states and I'm sure I'll make new friends in dental school. And it's only 4 years so its not a super life changing decision to move away from family as you will probably not have much time to see them unless during breaks.