Declined an acceptance and accepted following year. (My advice)

[Kenshin_Med]

Well, firstly I hope everyone is enjoying their breaks and holiday for those that celebrate. So as I stated in the title last year I was accepted into an OOS dental school. At this point in my life I was dealing with serious issues outside of the application world. On top of that I had the burden of the massive amount of tuition that would be signing myself up for. I misinterpreted the policy for obtaining instate tuition. I figured I would be able to obtain instate after one year because on their website it says something to the extent of "Rarely do OOS students remain paying out of state tuition." I have nobody to blame but myself for not diving deeper into the tuition aspect for the school. I'm not going to lie though schools will try to fool you for the amount of money you will be into debt for. I remember during the finical aid presentation the presenter stated "Looking at 330k for COA for OOS." After my acceptance I called him and asked how he came up with these numbers and he said "Well, we used an average of the students who took out the least amount of loans." Basically saying they used students who parents were paying a good amount of tuition or had some type of HPSP scholarship.

So what did I do?

Frankly I did not have much of a choice because I needed the time to focus on the other issues in my life so I declined my only acceptance. At this point I didn't even think Dentistry could be an option for me in the future. Thankfully things started to clear up a few months down the road. I decided I was going to bust my ass to improve my application with the time I had so I did. I did research and I saw a lot of "Red flag" and "Detrimental" comments on all the threads about declining an acceptance to reapply. I said to myself if schools do not want me because of my reasoning then it is a place where I wouldn't want to be anyways. I also know that dentistry isn't everything and that I could find a different avenue for myself. I ended up getting 3x the amount of interviews compared to last year and thankfully I was accepted into a school that is around 140k cheaper. I'm not sure how much of a "red flag" this really is, but if you provide a valid reason then I'm sure things will work out. Tbh I only included a small paragraph about this issue and it was not detailed.

My advice: Your health wether mental or physical takes priority over pretty much anything in life. Don't settle if you feel like you are selling yourself short. Don't be naive like I was and not do your research. Life is all about risk and reward... how much you are willing risk is up to you. According to everyone else it could have been my dental career

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[Faris_]

You gambled and won.. Congrats!!

 

[ihaterain123]

May I ask what school you rejected and what school you got in? I hear for UMaryland you can get instate tuition after 1 year (which is why I chose it) and wondering if this is the school your talking about....

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[Kenshin_Med]

May I ask what school you rejected and what school you got in? I hear for UMaryland you can get instate tuition after 1 year (which is why I chose it) and wondering if this is the school your talking about....

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Maryland was not the school. Based off what I’ve heard from others is if you follow the steps then you’ll be fine for obtaining residency for Maryland. The school I declined has the 12 month rule for living in the state prior to matriculation otherwise you are out of luck. I’d get to work on switching your license and all that jazz that they require as soon as possible though.

 

[Biggytooth]

I had a similar situation last year. Got into one school-- NYU. Isaw the price tag and decided to take a chance on reapplying to my state school. Dentistry is a great profession, but I wasn't ready to commit to a lifetime of indebtedness for a $600,000 NYU education. So I worked to improve my application and ultimately it paid off; I got into my state school this year. Happy to hear that someone else had a similar success story OP! If more people don't begin declining to attend these outrageously priced schools, their rates will only continue to climb!

 

[AONLINE]

Maryland was not the school. Based off what I’ve heard from others is if you follow the steps then you’ll be fine for obtaining residency for Maryland. The school I declined has the 12 month rule for living in the state prior to matriculation otherwise you are out of luck. I’d get to work on switching your license and all that jazz that they require as soon as possible though.

Prior to matriculation? That means basically you have to live in that state for the whole year before starting dental school, which very few OOS students can fulfill. It would be very helpful for future applicants if you could let us know which school it is.

 

[Frychicken]

I had a similar situation last year. Got into one school-- NYU. Isaw the price tag and decided to take a chance on reapplying to my state school. Dentistry is a great profession, but I wasn't ready to commit to a lifetime of indebtedness for a $600,000 NYU education. So I worked to improve my application and ultimately it paid off; I got into my state school this year. Happy to hear that someone else had a similar success story OP! If more people don't begin declining to attend these outrageously priced schools, their rates will only continue to climb!

That’s not exactly how it works. Those schools will still be able to fill the 100+ seats with other students so unfortunately it won’t make much of a difference. But good on you for putting yourself in a better financial situation!

 

[DocStranger]

I had a similar situation last year. Got into one school-- NYU. Isaw the price tag and decided to take a chance on reapplying to my state school. Dentistry is a great profession, but I wasn't ready to commit to a lifetime of indebtedness for a $600,000 NYU education. So I worked to improve my application and ultimately it paid off; I got into my state school this year. Happy to hear that someone else had a similar success story OP! If more people don't begin declining to attend these outrageously priced schools, their rates will only continue to climb!

Schools will not lower their rates. There will always be students willing to pay, PERIOD.

 

[Stanelz]

You are my hero

No school will give you an experience worth 100k+ more