How much $ is your sanity worth?

[kallie902]

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Hi dental students,

I'm trying to decide between UConn and UPenn.. I feel like the two schools are night and day. Tiny, "extremely demanding" program in the boonies of CT with a much lower price tag vs. ivy-league education, in downtown Philly, that will cost almost $360k...

I'm having trouble justifying the extra $160k for Penn, but I would LOVE to live in Philly and just have this feeling that I'd feel stifled at UConn. I'll be 28 when I graduate and I'm not sure I can justify spending the remainder of my 20s in a small town in CT (I'm from a small town in MA, so not too different) - I would hate to look back and feel like I wasted that time.. but then again, everyone keeps saying that they'd pick cost over location in an instant.

Can anyone shed some light on their own experience? I was lucky enough to get into 7 schools (Maryland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Marquette, VCU, Penn, UConn), so not only am I worry about which of these two to choose, I'm worrying about whether another one of the schools would be a better option than these. I'm not really looking for comparisons, just thoughts on how much $ is really worthwhile to keep your sanity. Thanks in advance for your help...

 

[Regmata]

Do you think UPENN is less demanding than UCONN? Do you want a more clinical oriented or didactic oriented education? You got into several good programs, what is wrong with VCU, Maryland, Buff or Pitt? I would pick the cheapest...you won't go insane because of the town you are in, you are more likely to go insane because of school itself.

 

[kallie902]

Do you think UPENN is less demanding than UCONN? Do you want a more clinical oriented or didactic oriented education? You got into several good programs, what is wrong with VCU, Maryland, Buff or Pitt? I would pick the cheapest...you won't go insane because of the town you are in, you are more likely to go insane because of school itself.

I would prefer a good mix of clinical and didactic.. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of not getting into the clinic until 3rd year (clearly I'd overlook that bias if it were Harvard, haha).. I've also reached out and spoken to some students from UConn, and the majority seem to say that they felt their lives were micromanaged by the school and they had nowhere to "escape" to, being in such a suburban location. Then again, the cost differential is just SO huge that I'm not sure if I can spend THAT much money just to be in an environment I feel suits me better... I think Penn's curriculum appeals to me more as well, but since I clearly haven't been in dental school before, I'm not sure what I would actually do better with when all is said and done.

As for the other schools, Buffalo is too isolated for my tastes.. and I would prefer to be closer to New England than VCU or Marquette. Maryland was a possibility, but it's almost as expensive as Penn and not as highly regarded...

Thanks for your reply, btw

 

[Svart Aske]

How would Penn be $160K more expensive than UConn? I thought New England tuition for UConn is still over $60K/year.

I wish I had gotten into Buffalo. Yeah, Western NY is kind of lame, but Buffalo isn't more isolated than UConn. It's also fairly affordable for an out-of-stater.

 

[Svart Aske]

Correction: "cost" for UConn is over $60K/year.

 

[OceanDMD]

Go with the least expensive. You make your career after you graduate.

 

[gryffindor]

As for the other schools, Buffalo is too isolated for my tastes.. and I would prefer to be closer to New England than VCU or Marquette. Maryland was a possibility, but it's almost as expensive as Penn and not as highly regarded...

Thanks for your reply, btw

Buffalo is a city albeit an old rustbelt one, and Farmington really is a tiny New England town surrounded by more tiny New England towns. IMO UConn is a good school and I'd pick it over Penn due to the lower debt you'll have, but I think you should consider Buffalo if you want to have a little more action socially and have more than double the number of classmates than UConn. The Buffalo dental students were good about organizing social events outside of school and downtown. The first two years at Buffalo are also not spent 100% with the med students like it is at UConn (unless they've changed this). The first two years are a lot of work at Buffalo but they didn't sound like the same stressful experiences in medical classes that the UConn students I used to know at the time were having.

 

[kallie902]

How would Penn be $160K more expensive than UConn? I thought New England tuition for UConn is still over $60K/year.

I wish I had gotten into Buffalo. Yeah, Western NY is kind of lame, but Buffalo isn't more isolated than UConn. It's also fairly affordable for an out-of-stater.

approximately 90k x 4 for Penn = 360k
approximately 60k plus 50k x 3 for UConn (CT res after d1) = 210k

granted that's a bit oversimplified, but generally I'd bet it would be about 140-150k cheaper to go to uconn.

and to answer the other recent poster's question, I'm not sure what rubbed me the wrong way about Buffalo... I liked the school, but it seemed a little depressing to me.. the student panel was apathetic about the school and while the clinics were nice, I just couldn't see myself there for 4 years. nothing I can really put my finger on, just a general sense that I would be happier elsewhere...

 

[kallie902]

Buffalo is a city albeit an old rustbelt one, and Farmington really is a tiny New England town surrounded by more tiny New England towns. IMO UConn is a good school and I'd pick it over Penn due to the lower debt you'll have, but I think you should consider Buffalo if you want to have a little more action socially and have more than double the number of classmates than UConn. The Buffalo dental students were good about organizing social events outside of school and downtown. The first two years at Buffalo are also not spent 100% with the med students like it is at UConn (unless they've changed this). The first two years are a lot of work at Buffalo but they didn't sound like the same stressful experiences in medical classes that the UConn students I used to know at the time were having.

True about the tiny New England town thing, but it's right between Boston (where I'm from) and NYC so while it's isolated, I feel like I could at least have places to go/people to see if I needed a break for a weekend. Also, if I'm gonna be in an isolated area, I'd personally rather be in a picturesque one - I know the surrounding towns in Buffalo are nice, but the area where the school is seemed like a bunch of concrete slabs 🙁

 

[reapply2007]

cost is the largest single factor. These are all fine schools. Personally, off this list I would pick VCU.

 

[Regmata]

Concrete slabs? Where were you? What is this student panel that was so apathetic that you are talking about? Were they first years who had only been there a few months and barely seen the school or 2nd years who are in the middle of the hardest semester of dental school? What constitutes and isolated area to you? If I recall there is somewhere around a million people in the WNY area, Toronto is a little over an hour away, hell...you can make NY in 5 hours on the road or an hour flight. I know very few students who have been unsatisfied with the city itself or the social life, most came here not expecting much and were very pleasantly surprised. From meeting other students (UCONN and Penn included) it seems like we have it made here in Buffalo, both educationally and socially.

Seems like you interviewed on a bad day. Its unfortunate that such a bad impression was made, but it seems like you never wanted to leave the proximity of New England anyway. You have been given the most important advice of all...watch the debt you accumulate. It is not fun knowing the payments I will be making very shortly and my education won't cost as much as yours.

 

[gryffindor]

If I recall there is somewhere around a million people in the WNY area, Toronto is a little over an hour away, hell...you can make NY in 5 hours on the road or an hour flight.

If you try to make it to NYC in 5, guaranteed you will have the cop of some tiny town the highway runs through pulling you over for a hefty speeding ticket. Boston is also an hour by flight if that's where the OP is going. Yeah South campus isn't as picturesque as the UCHC sitting on top of that hill, but it's way better than the North campus which is literally a bunch of concrete slabs thrown up in the 70s (you will never have to go there during dental school). The south campus is the original campus so the buildings are much older and architechturally interesting. It sounded like in your original post you were more interested in the social aspect than the picturesque scenery. If you live in Amherst (NY), the wealthiest suburb of Buffalo, I guarantee you can rent a house or townhouse with a back yard and tree lined driveway with a dog and a fence if scenery is so important to you. Since Amherst borders the dental school on the south side, a lot of dental students live there. Having your own chair is a huge asset so if that's not one of the things Penn provides given the scary amount students pay to go there, I'd reconsider.

 

[UMpredent]

For those that are urging people to go with the cheapest option- are you currently at an expensive dental school/graduated from an expensive dental school?

 

[Demeter]

There is no benefit in going to a high priced IVY league school.
Debt is a Motherf***er.

 

[beannaithe]

Cost is a pretty big factor when choosing a dental school. Honestly, there isn't much difference between $10-$20k (maybe even $50k), but $150k difference is a pretty HUGE difference. Assuming that you're not accumulating any interest on the $150k, it would take you an extra 4 years of paying loans to pay back (if you pay $3k a month.) And when it comes down to it, that is a LOT of extra money.

You get the same education whether you go to an Ivy league school or not. You got accepted to a lot of great schools...congrats though. 🙂

 

[StephenB]

Im looking to keep my debt as low as possible since I'll be 29 when I graduate. I chose Buffalo because its the financially correct choice for me and I was very impressed at the interview and I thought the students were great. One thing people don't consider is that Buffalo is even cheaper than already stated. You can buy a house in Buffalo for sub-40k and it saves you 20k on tuition the first year (if you have proof of ownership and utilities in by april before starting you get in-state tuition) and then you're paying a few hundred bucks a month toward paying off a house instead of throwing it away on rent that you'll never see again. if you run the numbers, you can get through buffalo with quite a bit less debt than at UConn or any of the other schools listed.

 

[og2]

Maryland was a possibility, but it's almost as expensive as Penn and not as highly regarded...

interesting... i'm not quite so sure Penn is regarded higher than Maryland. yes, it's an ivy league, but do you realize how many people think Penn is a state school? with that being said, i understand the appeal of an ivy league, but trust me it's not leaps and bounds, if even at all, more respected than Maryland. i probably should note that i'm a marylander, so pennians will probably be quicker to wholeheartedly agree with you 😛

since you say Maryland is almost as expensive as Penn, i obviously can't say you would be making a mistake by choosing Penn, but i just thought i'd throw in my 2cents in response to your post above 😀

 

[gryffindor]

interesting... i'm not quite so sure Penn is regarded higher than Maryland. yes, it's an ivy league, but do you realize how many people think Penn is a state school? with that being said, i understand the appeal of an ivy league, but trust me it's not leaps and bounds, if even at all, more respected than Maryland. i probably should note that i'm a marylander, so pennians will probably be quicker to wholeheartedly agree with you 😛

I met with a non-dental vendor yesterday from Pennsylvania who upon learning I was an orthodontist immediately told me about another one of her clients who is also an orthodontist.

non-dental vendor:"Oh yeah, he's an orthodontist, did his dental school and ortho at Penn State."
me:"Really? Penn State? Are you sure it wasn't UPenn?"
non-dental vendor:"No, it was definitely Penn State."

We had other work to get done, so I dropped the subject.

 

[og2]

I met with a non-dental vendor yesterday from Pennsylvania who upon learning I was an orthodontist immediately told me about another one of her clients who is also an orthodontist.

non-dental vendor:"Oh yeah, he's an orthodontist, did his dental school and ortho at Penn State."
me:"Really? Penn State? Are you sure it wasn't UPenn?"
non-dental vendor:"No, it was definitely Penn State."

We had other work to get done, so I dropped the subject.

😀 👍