Dental school scholarships

[dentite24]

Generally speaking, for the average dental school of about 100 students, costing about $70,000 in total ($45,000 in tuition):

- How many full tuition scholarships are given out?
- How many half tuition scholarships are given out?
- How many scholarships are given out in total?
- Are there many institutional scholarships given out that are less than half tuition?
- What are the average GPA and DAT scores for the above types of scholarships?
- How much of does interview performance, financial need, and cultural background weigh on scholarships?
- Can you get a scholarship for having a family member already go through dental school?

Obviously this is hypothetical because this is so broad, but what are the general answers to these questions?

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[diasIItema]

Some schools do have partial scholarships, but usually they are schools with hefty price tags that only reduce the cost to about state-level cost of attendance. Some schools have special programs that may offer partial to full scholarships (e.g. I believe Columbia DDS/MPH track is reserved for one person to be given a full scholarship? Heard this after the fact, may not be true..)

My state school offers no scholarships at all. Zero. Some little $1000 "scholarships" here and there after first year, but that's a joke. Your only real bet is military, USPHS, National Health Service Corps (mainly loan-repayment) and state-supported loan-repayment options.

Unless you plan to do military or USPHS, don't bet on getting a scholarship.

 

[Dr.PetesAFDDS]

I just got an Air Force scholarship, and I highly suggest it. I applied for the 4 year, didn't get it, so I applied again for the 3 year. Although it's mountains of paperwork, it is worth it. I will come out of dental school with about $70,000 in debt from my first year+interest so probably upwards of $90,000. After working in the Air Force for three years post grad, I will hopefully be able to pay my debt down and be debt free by age 30. Some people have no problem paying debt off quickly, but I would rather not feel the weight of debt for the next four years. Look into it! Air Force is a great lifestyle!