Feeling sad that I turned down Penn.. :(

[swindoll]

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Somebody talk to me and tell me I made the right decision.

I didn't get any money from Penn, and since I will be taking out loans, I decided to put the deposit in for my state school only. Today I realized that this is it, there's no "let's change your mind again" option as the deposit deadline for Penn was yesterday.

I know this was the right decision since Penn is 150K more than UF, but still... so sad🙁

 

[Advance]

You made the right decision. I completely understand. It was the same with me ( except with UMKC and Baylor).
Go where the $$ is.😉

 

[zammyd]

You will feel a lot better about your decision when you look at the bank statement that shows how much money you owe! Also, you can use that 150k to start a practice and begin an early road to livin' the high life.

 

[okiedokeartichoke]

What makes it so sad? Is it a better program? Better facilities and faculty? Location? The Ivy reputation? I'm sure you made the right choice 🙂 150K is a big difference!

 

[NonTraDentalStudent]

You did the right thing... in the end you'll still get a great education, but you'll be in way less debt! Think about how great it'll be to be debt free sooner, buy a sweet house or taking exotic vacations guilt-free!

 

[swindoll]

I thought you were going to Columbia, might be confusing you with someone else.

I changed my mind close to 100 times, so I might have said that somewhere on here.

 

[swindoll]

What makes it so sad? Is it a better program? Better facilities and faculty? Location? The Ivy reputation? I'm sure you made the right choice 🙂 150K is a big difference!

I would think it must be better since it's so expensive haha

 

[rhp22]

I know exactly how you feel, I made the same decision as you and chose my state school over Penn. I think both of us will look back and realize that we made the right choice even though we may question it now.

 

[Faux]

Don't know how you can be sad after looking at the monthly payments between both schools

 

[BioForLife]

While ultimately it's a personal matter as to which school you really preferred, you can take comfort in the fact that UF is a solid choice with a good reputation. It's even been called a public Ivy League. Go forward and don't look back!

 

[deleted659902]

Somebody talk to me and tell me I made the right decision.

I didn't get any money from Penn, and since I will be taking out loans, I decided to put the deposit in for my state school only. Today I realized that this is it, there's no "let's change your mind again" option as the deposit deadline for Penn was yesterday.

I know this was the right decision since Penn is 150K more than UF, but still... so sad🙁

say bye bye to omfs and ortho
say hi hi to fierce competition

 

[dancer17]

I mean you can prob specialize at UF but i've heard there are more gunners there than UPenn.

Financially you made the best decision though.

 

[rendal]

If you were really changing your mind so much, you would be having similar feelings of regret if you chose Penn over UF because of the finances. You basically had to decide between two great schools that are great for different reasons. UF is great because of the cost and the 100% board pass rate for something like 7-8 years straight, but there are definitely some students I know there (I worked at the Starbucks at Shand's and spoke with the dental students frequently) that say they're having a rough time there because of how hard they work you and because they have feelings of regret for turning down schools they heavily favored during the application process in order to save money. Based on your post, it seems like you maybe saw more of a fit at Penn or that you just liked it more when interviewing, but couldn't justify the price difference. There are definitely a lot of great things about Penn (I don't know many specifics because I never interviewed there), but you would be in a less favorable financial situation after graduating and you never really KNOW which school you'll be happiest at unless it literally has everything that you could ever ask for between location, curriculum style, all of your bestest friends living there, your fiancé that will give you massages and foot rubs every night, etc.

What I'm trying to say is that they are both good options and you would have regrets regardless of the school you chose, but now that you've made a decision you can take comfort in the fact that you will be saving a ton of money in the long run.

 

[bsal1]

I was in the same boat for a day but I just can't justify paying 200k more for Penn over my state school.

 

[ajj70]

In 20 years you will be patting yourself on the back for making the right decision!!

Just running a quick calculation at a conservative 6%, that 100K will turn into $1,131,428.97 in 40 years and an aggressive 8% 2,389,697.36......

 

[beachbum627]

I'm happy at UF and with my decision to attend school here. I have at least 10 classmates who declined Penn for UF for similar reasons! You are not alone!

 

[beachbum627]

A lot of people say its competitive, but I personally do not get that vibe from my classmates. We share study guides and resources all the time. Maybe its different from year to year.

 

[akog]

The only difference between the schools that is certain is money. All the other things that Penn may have had to offer may or may not have ended up being valuable to you. So you chose the most certain choice with the info available.

 

[swindoll]

What made you chose UF/Penn above Columbia?

Cost of living in NYC. Also, I liked Philly much more than NYC.

 

[chompsss]

If you ask almost any practicing dentist where they would go to dental school if they could do it again, barring any exceptionally bad or positive experience (read: everyone within the bell curve) and they say go to the least expensive school. Paying off $400k in loans from Penn would suck the life out of you much more post-grad than paying back $200k from UF.

 

[HowIMetYourMolar]

Somebody talk to me and tell me I made the right decision.

I didn't get any money from Penn, and since I will be taking out loans, I decided to put the deposit in for my state school only. Today I realized that this is it, there's no "let's change your mind again" option as the deposit deadline for Penn was yesterday.

I know this was the right decision since Penn is 150K more than UF, but still... so sad🙁

If you didn't get scholarship from Penn, don't they give you 45 days to put down a deposit?

 

[Miriemirie]

Don't be sad. I go to Penn. If I hadn't gotten a half tuition scholarship I would have definitely had to think twice - I made spreadsheet to compare costs between my top choices and without any money, the debt from Penn is daunting!
Don't get me wrong, I love it here so far, but for some of my classmates who took out full loans, how they are going to pay it off is never far from their minds. There's going to the school you love, and there's being practical - I got to do both, but not everyone can.

 

[Kittenz]

Somebody talk to me and tell me I made the right decision.

I didn't get any money from Penn, and since I will be taking out loans, I decided to put the deposit in for my state school only. Today I realized that this is it, there's no "let's change your mind again" option as the deposit deadline for Penn was yesterday.

I know this was the right decision since Penn is 150K more than UF, but still... so sad🙁

As someone who interviewed at both schools last cycle, I would have made the same choice in your position. I did like Penn more than UF from my short time visiting each. However, it's like how I like strawberry more than vanilla ice cream. I could eat either, but if the shopkeeper said the strawberry cost twice as much as vanilla, I'd be on my merry way with vanilla. Both are still just ice cream after all.

 

[swindoll]

As someone who interviewed at both schools last cycle, I would have made the same choice in your position. I did like Penn more than UF from my short time visiting each. However, it's like how I like strawberry more than vanilla ice cream. I could eat either, but if the shopkeeper said the strawberry cost twice as much as vanilla, I'd be on my merry way with vanilla. Both are still just ice cream after all.

Thank you! As an ice cream lover myself, I totally get this analogy. 🙂

 

[swindoll]

If you didn't get scholarship from Penn, don't they give you 45 days to put down a deposit?

Not sure about that, but I had to put the deposit in by Jan 6th.

 

[swindoll]

If you ask almost any practicing dentist where they would go to dental school if they could do it again, barring any exceptionally bad or positive experience (read: everyone within the bell curve) and they say go to the least expensive school. Paying off $400k in loans from Penn would suck the life out of you much more post-grad than paying back $200k from UF.

Yes, you're right! I heard the same thing from every dentist I spoke to also. This is exactly why I decided to give up on Penn

 

[swindoll]

Thank you everyone!! I feel much better about my decision! 🙂