Dental school selection and admission to residency programs...

[cybermech]

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I realize that I'm not technically a dental student yet, but I decided that this question would be best directed to D3/D4 students who are applying to or have gotten into residency programs.

Let me explain my situation:

I have been accepted to the DMD/DDS programs at: Penn, Tufts, Pacific, Creighton, and Nova. I'm looking to specialize, and am considering perio or possibly ortho.

I have been advised by my pre-dental counselor to go to Penn due to their reputation for sending people into the specialties. However, my dad (a general dentist), has told me that I should go to Tufts because I'd have a better competitive advantage and might achieve a higher class ranking than I would at Penn.

At this point, I'm not sure who to believe. For me, this seems to be a case of "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" See, does Penn send a huge percentage of student into the specialties because they're smart or because the school itself carries a reputation that speaks for itself. At the moment, I'm torn because I doubt I'm in the upper 25% of the accepted pool for Penn because I didn't receive a scholarship.

Would it be a safer bet to go Tufts where I'd have a better chance of reaching the top 25% of the class? Does this logic even have any bearing on admissions?

 

[gryffindor]

Would it be a safer bet to go Tufts where I'd have a better chance of reaching the top 25% of the class? Does this logic even have any bearing on admissions?

Your logic is faulty. You won't necessarily have a "better chance" of reaching the top of your class at Tufts. There will be lots of other driven, gung-ho students there to give you a run for your money. Check out this thread where first year students come in thinking they'll aim to stay at the top of their classes and are instead getting owned by other classmates who are thinking the same thing and are finding they need to change their old habits to compete in the new environment.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=569163

Just go to the cheapest school. That's the only decision you have to make. If you go on to specialize in ortho or perio, chances are you'll be taking out high levels of loans to do that too since most programs in those specialties charge lots of tuition rather than paying a stipend. The "reputation" of your school means very little when applying to specialties. Your class rank, board scores, and experiences/research mean a lot, I mean A LOT more. UOP and Creighton are interesting choices on your list since they don't have many specialty programs at those schools so I have heard students get a lot of pretty cool clinical opportunities that would ordinarily get kicked to post-grad departments at other schools.

If you're not paying to attend dental school with mostly loan checks, then go wherever you want.

 

[HupHolland]

Your logic is faulty. You won't necessarily have a "better chance" of reaching the top of your class at Tufts. There will be lots of other driven, gung-ho students there to give you a run for your money. Check out this thread where first year students come in thinking they'll aim to stay at the top of their classes and are instead getting owned by other classmates who are thinking the same thing and are finding they need to change their old habits to compete in the new environment.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=569163

Just go to the cheapest school. That's the only decision you have to make. If you go on to specialize in ortho or perio, chances are you'll be taking out high levels of loans to do that too since most programs in those specialties charge lots of tuition rather than paying a stipend. The "reputation" of your school means very little when applying to specialties. Your class rank, board scores, and experiences/research mean a lot, I mean A LOT more. UOP and Creighton are interesting choices on your list since they don't have many specialty programs at those schools so I have heard students get a lot of pretty cool clinical opportunities that would ordinarily get kicked to post-grad departments at other schools.

If you're not paying to attend dental school with mostly loan checks, then go wherever you want.

what he said.

go to the cheapest school or perhaps UOP. on the 1st day of dental school nobody cares when you got accepted, what your DAT score was, or how high your GPA was. every school will have a certain % of people that want to specialize. doesn't matter if it's tufts, penn, UOP, etc. your ability to specialize depends very little on the school and much more upon yourself as a student.

best of luck,
Hup

 

[ou_jay]

You have a lot more to do with whether or not you can specialize than what school you attend. If you spend 3-4 years in residency then the interest on your loans keeps accruing. Choose the cheapest school. Then when you get there, work harder and longer than everyone else.