HELP! UF vs Univ of Iowa vs UK vs OU

[DivaDDS]

Im really distraught on what school to go to...
I was wondering if anyone could give me pros and cons about the following schools:

Univ of Florida
Univ of Iowa (Scholarship received)
Oklahoma Univ (Scholarship received)
Univ of Kentucky (Scholarship received)

I'm a florida resident btw..

Thank you!

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[tuthluver]

My personal opinion is Iowa. They're one of the top in NIH funds received for research and within the top (if there was a list) of schools in the U.S. From owning my own lab and having dealt with many different doctors from three of the schools you listed, I can say that they also seemed to produce some of the best clinicians.
The only drawback is Iowa City. Coming from warm Florida be prepared for cold weather. Tonight it's -2 with a wind chill of -23. You'll definitely want to stay inside and study.

 

[Andrew324]

I saw Oklahoma and Iowa and I really liked Oklahoma, it was very nice and the students were sooo happy. The city was fairly big and the DVD they gave us about the city was really nice. Oklahoma City is a nice place to live and they said the weather is pretty moderate. Oklahoma also has a nice class schedule which the students thought was a real plus. you know how they stretch out the school year so you are not taking a bunch of classes all at once. the students said it made it much easier to study and do well on the boards because they had more time for each individual class. The facilities were nice and new, you saw the sim lab, it was nice. The equipment was nice and they had the rental program I believe for equipment so that whole part is nice and easy. For me, I thought the facilities were nice, the people were friendly, the students were really happy, Oklahoma city looked like a nice place to live.

Florida I dont know all that much about but wouldnt tuition be way lower than any of them? Also the weather would be nice. But I dont know much about the school itself. Living would probably be nice, you might be closer to family which for me would be a big perk, I dont know if it matters to you though.

 

[TJNova2011]

NIH does publish rankings and from what I've heard, Iowa doesn't compare to UF. I have some friends who are D3 and D4 and absolutely love it there. At times, I envy them of the clinical experience and how many procedures they perform. Living in Florida, UF has a really strong name value. Personally, I would choose UF because you're from FL, they have strong clinical experience and my friends scored really well on the boards (they are hard workers, too) signifies the strength of their first two years and most importantly, the entire program.

 

[DrReo]

Congrats on your accpetances... What were your feelings at the schools? I know that at Okla. their students tend to be extremely happy. Maybe this is the southern hospitality? I didn't apply to UK, however, at Nova a lot of people were ecstatic about UF (although they didn't like the interview).

 

[DivaDDS]

thank you for your responses!

I reaaaally liked Iowa because of the research opportunities for students, the clinical rotation scheduling, the public health-pediatric masters (which i hopefully want to specialize in), non-block scheduling, summer transition program and everyone was super nice! drawback: the weather!!! and its a small city

oklahoma clinically was amazing but i did not like the city at all, coming from florida it was a lil bland for me. i didnt like the fact that most students dont live in oklahoma city but actually commute. standard of living seemed expensive, but the tuition was low compared to other schools.

kentucky was amazing, the standard of living was cheap, students were diverse and really nice, scheduling and clinics were nice

uf...is my alma mater and i love it, clinicals are nice, students are nice, block scheduling sucks tho. and ive lived in florida all my life and kind of wanted to go out of state for a different experience...although the tuition is just screaming at me to go there lol

im still confused, what other pros/cons are out there???

please give me the dirt!!! lol!

 

[Andrew324]

non-block scheduling

Non-block?

You mean the first 2 years? The clinical years are blocks for sure. Might want to check up on that again.

 

[TJNova2011]

thank you for your responses!

I reaaaally liked Iowa because of the research opportunities for students, the clinical rotation scheduling, the public health-pediatric masters (which i hopefully want to specialize in), non-block scheduling, summer transition program and everyone was super nice! drawback: the weather!!! and its a small city

oklahoma clinically was amazing but i did not like the city at all, coming from florida it was a lil bland for me. i didnt like the fact that most students dont live in oklahoma city but actually commute. standard of living seemed expensive, but the tuition was low compared to other schools.

kentucky was amazing, the standard of living was cheap, students were diverse and really nice, scheduling and clinics were nice

uf...is my alma mater and i love it, clinicals are nice, students are nice, block scheduling sucks tho. and ive lived in florida all my life and kind of wanted to go out of state for a different experience...although the tuition is just screaming at me to go there lol

im still confused, what other pros/cons are out there???

please give me the dirt!!! lol!

The list of pros/cons can vary significantly... It depends what's important to you: cost, location, weather, city life, distance from friends and family (if you can stay close, they will give you a tremendous amount of support), where you might want to practice in future, research, faculty, clinical strengths, etc.

What's the costs difference between Iowa and UF including your scholarship? Also, I believe schools that are more research based, are not typically (this is my disclaimer, so chill out for those who may argue) the best educators in clinics. You cannot be the greatest in both worlds, in my opinion. The cost effect is critical, if you have less debt, your opportunities and options are more open and you'll have less interest accuring from your loans. There are some research opportunties here at Nova- every dental school has the opportunties and trust me, for the most part, you'll be short of time and focusing on making the grades...