Finding the right dental school

[premedwannabe]

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I'm just curious as to what motivates other ppl. I am still underexposed to dentistry, which is why I'm going to volunteer at the Stony Brook Dental School.

1. How do you know what dental school is suitable for you?

2. Did you visit each one to make a decision? even the ones across the country?

3. I understand all dental schools are good, but where can I find a reliable source of the better ones? (I'm in NYC)

I see Stony Brook and Columbia being better. Buffalo and then NYU. Is this an approriate assumption? I have no idea. Just from word of mouth. I didn't find any online ranking like they do for med schools. Those are the ones that I would mostly apply to. I can't find a fifth one to put on my list for the DAT. Obviously I want to find out more about schools that are near by.

Should I visit all of them to get a feel of how school would be like?

 

[gryffindor]

If you want to "rank" New York dental schools in terms of clinical education, I would say

1. Buffalo, Stony Brook (tie)
2. Columbia, NYU (tie)

I've worked with graduates from all of them and am a graduate of one myself. IMO, there are +/- for all of them, but Buffalo and Stony Brook have a solid clinical education at reasonable price tags. I don't know what they teach at NYU & Columbia b/c I've met clueless graduates from both. They must teach something, but NYU has way too many students and Columbia's facility leaves something to be desired and considering their price tags, I would have to place them behind the SUNYs.

 

[DcS]

I don't know what they teach at NYU & Columbia b/c I've met clueless graduates from both.

I too worked with a grad of Columbia in a specialty program and I wondered if they had ever set foot in a dental school.

 

[premedwannabe]

griffin04, did you only look at price and reputation or did you visit each campus?

Is buffalo and stony brook at the same level of competitiveness to get into?

 

[DcS]

I'm just curious as to what motivates other ppl. I am still underexposed to dentistry, which is why I'm going to volunteer at the Stony Brook Dental School.

1. How do you know what dental school is suitable for you?

2. Did you visit each one to make a decision? even the ones across the country?

3. I understand all dental schools are good, but where can I find a reliable source of the better ones? (I'm in NYC)

I see Stony Brook and Columbia being better. Buffalo and then NYU. Is this an approriate assumption? I have no idea. Just from word of mouth. I didn't find any online ranking like they do for med schools. Those are the ones that I would mostly apply to. I can't find a fifth one to put on my list for the DAT. Obviously I want to find out more about schools that are near by.

Should I visit all of them to get a feel of how school would be like?

It's hard to have the time and $$ to visit all dental schools. Choose what the important factors are to you, whether it be money, location (city/rural/college town), patient pool, etc. Once you have a list of the important things you want in a school, go through all programs and choose the ones that fit. Apply to them, and then during interviews you will get the best feeling on which you like. I don't see any point in visiting to a school that you don't even know you'll get an interview from.

Also, if you are unsure about dentistry as a whole I think you are going about things the wrong way. Dental school is NOTHING like private practice. Unless you want to be a dental student for 30 years, I would suggest observing an actual private practice to help you decide if it's for you.

Good luck.

 

[drhobie7]

I first picked schools based on where I wanted to live. LA, SF, NYC. Next I considered cost of education. Then I went by gut feeling at interviews and success of students at placing into specialties.

 

[premedwannabe]

It's hard to have the time and $$ to visit all dental schools. Choose what the important factors are to you, whether it be money, location (city/rural/college town), patient pool, etc. Once you have a list of the important things you want in a school, go through all programs and choose the ones that fit. Apply to them, and then during interviews you will get the best feeling on which you like. I don't see any point in visiting to a school that you don't even know you'll get an interview from.

Also, if you are unsure about dentistry as a whole I think you are going about things the wrong way. Dental school is NOTHING like private practice. Unless you want to be a dental student for 30 years, I would suggest observing an actual private practice to help you decide if it's for you.

Good luck.

When you said go through the programs, do you mean the classes you have to attend in different dental schools?

 

[DcS]

No look at the list of them that the ADA provides...I'm too lazy to find you a link it's prob on the FAQ.

Make yourself a spreadsheet of school name, location, tuition, class size, avg DAT etc etc etc. You can figure it out.