If I had to do the dental school process over again knowing that I wanted to be an orthodontist at the end.... I would have gone to Harvard. High part I board averages, no class rank, very small class. If you go to Iowa and they have class rank, then that brings about an entirely different level of stress. Sometimes the slackers who barely got into dental school find religion and graduate right there at the top of the dental school class. Those coming in with the high stats may find it difficult to deal with the dental school environment - too many classes, not enough time. Basically, with class rank, there are no guarantees. You have to always be cognizant of your grades & rank and it just sucks. Yeah sure, doing well on Part 1 is all about the student's efforts, not the school, blah blah, blah. But if there is a dental school with a 90+ average on Part I, that means the majority of the students (all 35 of them) are scoring 90+ as well. Big plus in my book.
Of course, I didn't actually go to Harvard so maybe this is a "grass is greener on the other side" comparison, but I think dental school is a crazy amount of work at most schools no matter what. And if you are trying to stay at the top of your class, that brings on more work and stress. Why not just do all the hard work and eliminate the stress of class rank if you have the opportunity?
But if you know you want to be a general dentist in your small hometown in a square state (Iowa or any other state next to it), then go to Iowa. Harvard wouldn't really be that worth it in that scenario.
And you get to spend 4 years in Boston! Iowa vs. Boston? Seriously!
