Dental School List Advice

[dentalguy4]

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Hello everyone. Reading other school lists, i've looked at them and thought "Geez, why are they so confused? Picking schools is not that difficult!" Well, now it's time to make my own list, and well, I understand now! I am hoping to get outsider feedback, and would very much appreciate thoughts and opinions. Mostly I'm looking to cut some since I have a lot.

Background Info:
NJ Resident
>4.0 GPA, 24/25/27 DAT (AA,TS,PA), Top 10 University
Research heavy application, but maybe lacking in ECs compared to other applicants (though I certainly have some.)
Parents said they will help pay for everything, but $$$ is still obviously a very important factor (Same degree in the end, why waste that money? They worked hard for it)
Not sure about specialization. Would be perfectly happy with general, but I've considered the possibility of specializing.
Somewhat regret going to the prestigious undergrad far away from home. I think it's because I miss city life.

State Schools (I assume switching to In-State tuition where applicable):
- Rutgers (Surprisingly costly for an in-state school. Do they give scholarships? Also, real talk, what is the chances I get into Rutgers? I don't mean to be smug, but if the chances of acceptance here are high, I think I can more easily pull more schools off of this list)
- UNC (Really cheap, students seem happy)
- UT-SA (No personal connections to TX. Cheap.)
- Baylor (See above. Are my chances too low to even bother?)
- Conn (Heard tons of great things. Cheap. And P/F)
- SUNY-Buffalo (Cheap.)
- SUNY-Stony Brook (Not so cheap, but have heard great things. Have family relations in area. Very low odds)
- UCLA
- UCSF (Even with in state switch, significantly more than the others. But i've heard great things. Worth it?)

Private Schools:
- Harvard (I love Boston! Not exceedingly pricy, and great research too.)
- Columbia (Could I justify spending the extra $$ over Rutgers? Do they give any scholarships?)
- Penn (Honestly, there's no way I'd go here without that lucrative Dean's Scholarship. What are those chances? Otherwise the cost just cannot be justified.)

Other Schools I'm maybe considering:
- Pitt (I definitely need to learn more about this school.)
- Temple (Closest to home, and they have some scholarships, right?)

Many thanks for any thoughts!

[Edit: Removed Creighton and Marquette, convinced I should check out Pitt]

 

[JLT223]

Take uconn off of your list. While your stats are awesome, it's known to be incredibly OOS unfriendly. UB/Stony are difficult as well, but possible.

 

[Typical Average Student]

I'm assuming you went to Princeton. You have amazing stats so I think you have a pretty good shot at every school, including a TX school.
I don't think you need to cut out anything, you should consider the schools after attending the interview. That way, you'll have a good look at the facility before choosing.

 

[pgex2t]

Apply anywhere you want; with your stats, scholarships are feasible! +1 to what was said about uconn though

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

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[plumerias]

Pitt has great research opportunities and like someone said before, I didn't expect to like it initially. But when I got there I fell in love! Temple has an amazing clinic and yes, some scholarships. I think they list them on their site. Don't bank on getting instate status though. I'd cut Rutgers before those two.


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[dentalguy4]

I'm assuming you went to Princeton. You have amazing stats so I think you have a pretty good shot at every school, including a TX school.
I don't think you need to cut out anything, you should consider the schools after attending the interview. That way, you'll have a good look at the facility before choosing.

As enticing as the Texas schools are, I just have no personal connection to Texas (which I heard is really important). Don't get me wrong, I would love to go there. I heard they are great cities, the dental future there is bright, and students seem to absolutely love it! Do you know any OOS students at Texas schools that did NOT have a fiance/parent/childhood in Texas?

 

[dentalguy4]

Take uconn off of your list. While your stats are awesome, it's known to be incredibly OOS unfriendly. UB/Stony are difficult as well, but possible.

Damn you NJ! Yes, both UConn, NY schools, and TX schools are all incredibly OOS friendly (The CA schools too). I think I'd rather take my chances on the NY schools and UConn over the TX schools. Do you attend UConn? Do you know any OOS students? I had the impression that Conn was restrictive, but not insane like TX or NY, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Advance]

Texas schools are extremely tough to get into from OOS. With your stats i'd say you have a pretty good chance though.

 

[dentalguy4]

So you've clearly put yourself into a great position. Also, you're very fortunate that your parents can help finance the cost, and it's good that just because it's their money and not yours that you still take cost into account.

First, you would have to mess up applying, totally botch your interview, or have poor LORs to not get into Rutgers. I suggest doing some more ECs between now and application time to show your commitment to serving all populations, but you should be safe regardless.

I am obviously biased, but I believe the number one school on your list should be UConn. You'll get in-state tuition during the last 3 years. However, if lack of city life is a dealbreaker for you, then UConn will simply not work out. It's a phenomenal school and I bet you'd be happy there without city life, but I don't know how much you value it. There are multiple people out of New England that will be my classmates come August (I believe upwards of 6/51 in the class). You have the stats to give it a shot.

UNC?- They are extremely difficult to get in as an OOS student. If anybody can, it's somebody with your numbers. So leave them on there.
UT-SA? Baylor?- San Antonio is the most OOS friendly, and San Antonio has a lot to offer, so I would apply to them but not Baylor, as their OOS friendliness is less than San Antonio's.
UCLA? UCSF? UCSF is more OOS friendly, the cost of living in SF is brutal but the school is awesome so go for it if you'd like to give it a shot.

Harvard appreciates heavy research backgrounds, so you can give them a shot if you'd like.
Columbia and Penn are both pretty cool, I loved both while interviewing, cost is the biggest and probably only drawback for them.

Pitt was my dark horse. Didn't expect to love it and it was tied for my second favorite school with Michigan. They were both phenomenal and I got accepted to both OOS with lower stats. Give them some consideration.

Long story short, you will get interviews at most if not all the schools you pick. Pick about 6-8 that you could really see yourself attending. This will cut down application and interview costs. If I were in your position drop two to four of your least favorite from the following list:

Rutgers
UConn
Pitt
Michigan
UNC
UT-SA
UCSF
UCLA
Columbia
Penn

Best of luck! Would be happy to share my thoughts from interview days at UConn, Pitt, Michigan, Columbia, Penn. I didn't interview at any of the other schools you listed in your original post.

Thank you so much for the detailed response! Congrats on UConn! Were you a CT resident, or OOS? The city issue isn't necessarily a deal-breaker, especially in the North East where even "middle of nowhere" is usually 2/3 hours near an urban center. I'd love to hear more about Conn. I will message you later.

Glad to hear about Pitt. I haven't visited, but I've gotten good impressions. I wasn't considering Michigan because I thought it was rather expensive (~$360,000).

Thank you for giving your recommended list, this helps me a lot. I hope you don't mind if I send a message to you later.

 

[dentalguy4]

Texas schools are extremely tough to get into from OOS. With your stats i'd say you have a pretty good chance though.

Do you mind me asking (since I see you attend Baylor), if you know any OOS students at your school? Did any OOS students have no personal relationships in the area?

 

[dentalguy4]

Apply anywhere you want; with your stats, scholarships are feasible! +1 to what was said about uconn though

I know about the Penn Dean's Scholarship, and I read that Temple gives some too, but do you know if any of the other schools on my list give them? It seems to be information shrouded in mystery.

 

[hellofuturedentists]

Damn you NJ! Yes, both UConn, NY schools, and TX schools are all incredibly OOS friendly (The CA schools too). I think I'd rather take my chances on the NY schools and UConn over the TX schools. Do you attend UConn? Do you know any OOS students? I had the impression that Conn was restrictive, but not insane like TX or NY, but maybe I'm wrong.

I'm OOS and out of New England and I got an interview. About half the people on my interview day were from random states. I got waitlisted, and probably for the best (I enjoy being in a city) but I would definitely give it a shot at applying if I were in your shoes. Worst case scenario, you lose a few hundred dollars but at least you tried. Good luck!! You'll almost definitely get in a few places

 

[tyjacobs]

Im an NJ state resident and interviewed at rutgers dental. They have one of the best clinical programs around. You are in class 8-5 all four years basically. Although this may seem like a lot, rutgers students who graduate have a very strong clinical foundation. Other than that, it didn't seem rutgers offered much more. That necessarily isn't a bad thing but I am the type of person who is very passionate for research and I also want to specialize so I felt rutgers wasn't a good fit for me

 

[dentalguy4]

Pitt has great research opportunities and like someone said before, I didn't expect to like it initially. But when I got there I fell in love! Temple has an amazing clinic and yes, some scholarships. I think they list them on their site. Don't bank on getting instate status though. I'd cut Rutgers before those two.


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I have Pitt at about $60,000 more than Rutgers, and Temple $80,000. It becomes a numbers game. Thank you very much for your opinions! Costs are really hard to estimate with multiple sources everywhere, each taking different things into account. Plus, I have no idea where scholarships might swing things. But hearing your opinion (which confirmed my prejudices before hand), Temple and Pitt are definitely two schools I should stick to.

 

[Advance]

Do you mind me asking (since I see you attend Baylor), if you know any OOS students at your school? Did any OOS students have no personal relationships in the area?

I start this fall. I know someone personally that was accepted to Baylor this cycle from OOS, but she did a summer program with Baylor during undergrad.
During my interview there were 5 OOS students and from what I can see from our facebook page only 1 OOS person was accepted or accepted their admission offer from my interview group.

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

[,

 

[strep mutans]

UT-SA? Baylor?- San Antonio is the most OOS friendly, and San Antonio has a lot to offer, so I would apply to them but not Baylor, as their OOS friendliness is less than San Antonio's.

Pretty sure you've got it backwards. Baylor typically enrolls 10 out of state students, which is the upper limit for a Texas public university (10% of the entering class of 100). San Antonio, on the other hand, usually only enrolls around 5 students from out of state.

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

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[strep mutans]

I did it based on percent OOS interviewed, and out of those OOS people that were interviewed, what percentage were accepted.

UT-SA: 6% OOS interviewed * 59% of them accepted = 3.54% "chance"
Baylor: 4% OOS interviewed * 50% of them accepted = 2.00% "chance"

Perhaps a higher number of people applied to Baylor? That would explain their higher OOS enrollment. Doc Toothache's guide, where I got the numbers, could also be wrong too. That's just what I based my post off of.

I see what you're saying. There are different ways of looking at it I guess, percentage vs raw number. Baylor does receive more out of state applicants than SA, which actually explains the lower % OOS interviewed (because they interview around the same number of applicants). But generally that is not why Baylor has more out of state enrollees. Baylor seems to reserve 10% of its class spots for OOS applicants, while historically San Antonio only holds 5% of their class for OOSers. It does look like SA had to accept more OOS students to get their 5 OOS enrollees, which accounts for the higher % OOS accepted, but in terms of actual spots in the class, Baylor is friendlier to OOS applicants.

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

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[strep mutans]

Thanks for letting me know. In the future, if you don't mind, I'll still this tidbit of info when advising people. Don't want to mislead them.

Of course. Either way, TX schools are a tough nut to crack if out of state. 🙂

 

[redmau5]

Definitely do NOT remove UConn from your list. A lot of applicants look at their matriculation statistics and automatically draw the conclusion that the school isn't OOS friendly. The problem with making this assumption is that it ignores many confounding variables. For instance, a substantial number of admitted students simply choose to matriculate to their state schools due to cost, proximity to family, etc. If you are highly qualified—in this case, meaning you have a high sGPA and TS DAT score, both of which are accurate—UConn is, in fact, rather OOS friendly. On top of being P/F and unranked, UConn also provides grants and low-interest loans to its students. This is possible because the state of Connecticut knows what it's doing and actually funds its dental school. Don't forget that you can easily declare residency after your first year, qualifying you for in-state tuition. All things considered, I think that UConn one of the best dental schools in the country.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like more specific advice about the application process.

 

[dentalguy4]

Definitely do NOT remove UConn from your list. A lot of applicants look at their matriculation statistics and automatically draw the conclusion that the school isn't OOS friendly. The problem with making this assumption is that it ignores many confounding variables. For instance, a substantial number of admitted students simply choose to matriculate to their state schools due to cost, proximity to family, etc. If you are highly qualified—in this case, meaning you have a high sGPA and TS DAT score, both of which are accurate—UConn is, in fact, rather OOS friendly. On top of being P/F and unranked, UConn also provides grants and low-interest loans to its students. This is possible because the state of Connecticut knows what it's doing and actually funds its dental school. Don't forget that you can easily declare residency after your first year, qualifying you for in-state tuition. All things considered, I think that UConn one of the best dental schools in the country.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like more specific advice about the application process.

When I really sit down and think about my top 3 schools, it seems like UConn always finds its way into that list. I will pm you. Thanks for the reply.

 

[dentalguy4]

Take uconn off of your list. While your stats are awesome, it's known to be incredibly OOS unfriendly. UB/Stony are difficult as well, but possible.

Source for this? ADEA guide says more than half of the class is OOS. Sure, over 1000 people applied for the 24 spots, but it seems more likely than other state schools.

 

[hellofuturedentists]

Source for this? ADEA guide says more than half of the class is OOS. Sure, over 1000 people applied for the 24 spots, but it seems more likely than other state schools.

For UConn, lot of those out of state spots are for people who live in New England.

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

Well this guy literally has very ideal numbers; why not just apply to anything he wants to. He is obviously above average statistically everywhere.

 

[Scumbag_Steve]

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[tarheel616]

As a current undergrad at UNC and future dental student at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, you can't go wrong with applying to either school.

 

[redmau5]

There's not too much room for outside New England, but there definitely is if you're qualified enough.

The bolded is key. Based on his stats, I think that the OP has a great shot. Additionally, there is no secondary application, so why not at least apply and see what happens?

 

[Incis0r]

WOW someone's a machine! Those are fantastic stats- definitely apply to UConn!

 

[A Pre-dent]

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[Scumbag_Steve]

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[dentalguy4]

Well this guy literally has very ideal numbers; why not just apply to anything he wants to. He is obviously above average statistically everywhere.

Because $$$ doesn't grow on trees. It comes from Mommy and Daddy's pockets, and I know how much they've busted their a$$ for it.

 

[dentalguy4]

As a current undergrad at UNC and future dental student at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, you can't go wrong with applying to either school.

UNC is definitely on the list. Michigan seems pricey; I heard switching to in-state won't happen, and I don't see why it would be worth the cost over a school like UNC. (Also Michigan requires Microbiology which I haven't taken yet )

 

[dentalguy4]

The bolded is key. Based on his stats, I think that the OP has a great shot. Additionally, there is no secondary application, so why not at least apply and see what happens?

No secondary at UConn? Did not know that, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I guess that makes it easier to apply to.

 

[dentalguy4]

Class of 2020

Connecticut- 30/51 or 59%

Other New England States
Massachusetts- 9
New Hampshire - 3
Maine- 1
Vermont- 1
Rhode Island- 1

Outside Connecticut New England total: 15/51 or 29%

New England total: 45/51 or 88%

Outside New England
Florida-2
Ohio-1
New York- 1
Maryland- 1
Texas-1

Outside New England total: 6/51, or 12%

This gives a breakdown of 59% in-state, 41% out of state, but out of state is misleading.

So basically think of UConn as the "in-state" school to 6 states. Connecticut makes up 3.59 million of the 13.4 million people in New England. So with 27% of the population it gets 66% of the New England seats.

So while UConn is more friendly to OOS students than other schools, it's misleading because it has to treat other New Englanders like IS. This sucks for kids in CT who fight over a small number of seats, and the preference for residents is diminished, but it sucks worse for the kids from the other five New England states because they don't have public dental schools.

There's not too much room for outside New England, but there definitely is if you're qualified enough.

I had forgotten that they give preference for NE, thanks for the breakdown! Despite the odds, I've heard too many good things about UConn to pass up the shot.

 

[tarheel616]

UNC is definitely on the list. Michigan seems pricey; I heard switching to in-state won't happen, and I don't see why it would be worth the cost over a school like UNC. (Also Michigan requires Microbiology which I haven't taken yet )

I'm in-state for Michigan, but I see what you are saying. I can tell you (along with the ADEA guide's numbers) that it is not as hard to get into Michigan OOS than UNC. Yes Michigan is pricy compared to UNC OOS, but it is reasonable compared to other public dental schools (UCSF, UCLA, UConn)

 

[Zeekz]

In what world do you live in where Boston isn't "exceedingly pricey"

Killer stats, btw.


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[dentalguy4]

I'm in-state for Michigan, but I see what you are saying. I can tell you (along with the ADEA guide's numbers) that it is not as hard to get into Michigan OOS than UNC. Yes Michigan is pricy compared to UNC OOS, but it is reasonable compared to other public dental schools (UCSF, UCLA, UConn)

Michigan is a great school. But if I compare to Rutgers, we're talking about a 100k+ difference (even though I'd say Michigan is probably the better school). With the other state schools you listed, they offer in-state switches. But even then, it's a hard sell.

 

[dentalguy4]

In what world do you live in where Boston isn't "exceedingly pricey"

Killer stats, btw.


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That was unclear. I mean the school (i.e. tuition) is reasonable compared to other schools. You're totally right, Boston prices are bubbling. It would definitely be something I have to look into.

 

[Faux]

I'd throw the dice at any OOS you want, include all 3 texas schools, unc and uconn

 

[Endoapp24]

Yooooo, where have you decided on applying? I'm in the same boat as you and oddly enough had the same precursor list of schools... My stats are a bit lower than yours (3.92gpa and 25AA/TS) but I'm really curious as to what schools your final list consists of? I literally made my list the same as yours with UCLA, Rutgers, and UConn as the primary OOS-with-IS-tuition schools. Likewise, I was planning on applying to Texas schools just based on their gorgeous sticker price!