Does going to NYU or USC make it difficult to specialize?

[makushin]

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As much as I searched, I could not get a clear answer. I'm talking specifically about NYU and USC. You know why. Since my application is going to be late, I'm considering applying to these schools to help my chances for getting in somewhere. Is this going to hurt anywhere besides the wallet?

I want to make sure I'm not leaving anything on the table; for a given student, is it harder to specialize coming from one of these schools?

 

[armorshell]

It's my personal belief that there's nowhere you can go that will hurt your chances to specialize, and conversely there's not really anywhere you can go that will help that much either. "Specialty rates" and average board scores are an unreliable predictor of a schools actual scholastic merit since so much self selection occurs in the student body (Motivated students choose schools with good board scores because they want good board scores, which they would get regardless of the school they went to, perpetuating the cycle).

The burden of specializing is placed solely on your shoulders and I find it hard to believe that a student who ends up going to NYU or USC wouldn't be able to specialize vs. a situation where the same student ended up going to a different school.

 

[kokobean]

it'll be fine. i dont think it'll be anymore difficult than any other school.

 

[pts218]

Irregardless of where you go to for dental school just do well in your classes, rock the boards, and make some connections in your desired specialty and you can get in to a program without too much problem.

You're always going to have your gunners, your secret gunners (sneaky bastards) and normal people in every dental school, irrespective of class size, the percentage of smart people looking to specialize is roughly the same.

It totally is self motivation that is going to get you into a specialty program and not which school you get your degree from.