I need help on finalizing school list

[dleodyddlek]

Here's my stat and I need help finalizing school.

NY resident
Biochemistry major GPA:3.6ish

TS:21
AA:20
PAT:27
RC:18
QR:18
BIO:20
OC:22
GC:23


Bunch of EC but little dental shadowing and volunteer. No dentist recom.


So far, my choices are:

Stonybrook
Buffalo
NYU
Columbia
UMDNJ
BU
UoP
Temple
Case
Western?
Upenn?
Pitt?


Any inputs? I've done some research on schools but I'd like to hear your opinion. I had about 20 schools on my list but I wanted to narrow down to about 10 schools. Please help! Thanks.

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[Jongho Yoon]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=8281525

 

[dleodyddlek]

Yea I already used that thread to eliminate most of schools but I need something more than number to choose between Western, Pitt, and Upenn. Any personal advice? Does anyone have anything to say about the schools I listed? Please

 

[Vicviper]

The Post linked to above is a really great resource, somethingpositiv did an amazing job with it.

I think one of your biggest hurdles is not having the dental letter or rec. If I were you, I'd get on the phone calling my local dentists and telling them your situation. See if they'll let you sit in for 3 days this week or something, the hours really build up fast.

 

[NyCzPeter]

Here's my stat and I need help finalizing school.

NY resident
Biochemistry major GPA:3.6ish

TS:21
AA:20
PAT:27
RC:18
QR:18
BIO:20
OC:22
GC:23


Bunch of EC but little dental shadowing and volunteer. No dentist recom.


So far, my choices are:

Stonybrook
Buffalo
NYU
Columbia
UMDNJ
BU
UoP
Temple
Case
Western?
Upenn?
Pitt?


Any inputs? I've done some research on schools but I'd like to hear your opinion. I had about 20 schools on my list but I wanted to narrow down to about 10 schools. Please help! Thanks.

I would take off case, pit, and either BU or Penn unless u really wanna go there. Throw in Uconn cuz its a really good school. Its alot like stony brook, low tuition, small class size, classes with med students for first 2 years, etc.

 

[Vicviper]

I'd say to keep Pitt, it's a really great school. I think your 12 is a really good number to have, not too many at all, and there's no reason to cut your nose to spite your face. The money difference really isn't that much in the longrun, and why hurt your chances, even if you do have good stats?

 

[UCfan]

If I were you, I keep Western in the list (at least check for the interview).I am not sure about UPENN. Your RC can be problematic. Anyway it is my opinion. Please do not put yourself boundary because of me .I am not familiar with Pitt! Good luck.

 

[dleodyddlek]

@NyCzPeter

Thanks for your input. Could you tell me a little for why I should avoid case, pit, BU or Penn? I mean, I know their numbers and all but I'd really love to know what people think about each school. It's not like I can visit them individually before I decide where to apply to, so I was hoping to hear some personal thoughts and experience from people.

Also about Uconn, they specified that they will accept 50~60% from connecticut resident, and 30% from new england states. As a NY resident, I thought I wouldn't stand much chance. Maybe I should reconsider it after hearing you saying it's similar to Stony Brook. And Stony is one of my top choices since I attended their Undergrad.


@Vicviper

I always thought 10 was the magik number!!!!! hahaha
I wanted to keep it under 10 but it seems I fell in love with too many schools.

 

[Vicviper]

Well, one of the best things about interviews is that you get to go out and see the schools. That's where you really learn if you like the school or not, and for me it played a big part in my choosing Pitt over Columbia.

And lets see.. good things about Pitt...haven't started yet, but, the area is pretty nice, much nicer than some other dental schools - also, the bus system is great (though parking sucks), and your ID is a free bus pass. A very modern facility, it's all digital xrays and filing. Everyone has their own simlab station, and it's one of the nice ones with the torso and the dental chair setup. High specialty acceptance rate - everyone who applied to ortho last year was accepted somewhere, and they have more specialty seats themselves than many of the other schools (this was one of the bigger things for me). Lots of research opportunities because they're connected to UPMC. They have a selective which allows you to earn your anesthesia certification which I thought looked pretty cool. The faculty are really great too (though most dental school faculty I've encounter have been as well), My situation was that I was accepted to Pitt and Columbia on the same day, and given exactly a week to decide. After calling Pitt to get some information on specialty acceptance rates, which I had for Columbia, Dr. Etzel from Pitt actually called me and talked to me for like an hour about the pros and cons, and gave me his opinions about my situation, and that really helped.

Overall, I think all of the dental schools are good dental schools, and it's really about which school you feel you connect with.

 

[NyCzPeter]

@NyCzPeter

Thanks for your input. Could you tell me a little for why I should avoid case, pit, BU or Penn? I mean, I know their numbers and all but I'd really love to know what people think about each school. It's not like I can visit them individually before I decide where to apply to, so I was hoping to hear some personal thoughts and experience from people. Keep in mind that interviewers often ask "where else have you applied?" If you start naming schools from all over the country, I don't think it would look positively.

Also about Uconn, they specified that they will accept 50~60% from connecticut resident, and 30% from new england states. As a NY resident, I thought I wouldn't stand much chance. Maybe I should reconsider it after hearing you saying it's similar to Stony Brook. And Stony is one of my top choices since I attended their Undergrad.


@Vicviper

I always thought 10 was the magik number!!!!! hahaha
I wanted to keep it under 10 but it seems I fell in love with too many schools.

Well, I have nothing against those schools, but if I'm not mistaken, BU and Penn are the two most expensive schools in the country, with case and pitt being not too far off. So if you're just applying there to "boost your chances" I'd say save your time and application money because you probably won't end up going to those schools anyway. But if you've done research and have an actual interest in those schools then apply by all means.

As for Uconn, give it a shot. I did not know about Uconn until someone at my StonyBrook interview told me such great things about it. By then it was obviously too late, and if I hadn't gotten into Stony, not applying to Uconn would have been my one of my greatest regrets.

 

[Vicviper]

Well, I have nothing against those schools, but if I'm not mistaken, BU and Penn are the two most expensive schools in the country, with case and pitt being not too far off. So if you're just applying there to "boost your chances" I'd say save your time and application money because you probably won't end up going to those schools anyway. But if you've done research and have an actual interest in those schools then apply by all means.

As for Uconn, give it a shot. I did not know about Uconn until someone at my StonyBrook interview told me such great things about it. By then it was obviously too late, and if I hadn't gotten into Stony, not applying to Uconn would have been my one of my greatest regrets.

Well, USC and NYU are the two most expensive schools the last time I heard, but you're right, I've got a friend going to Pen in the fall, and she's having to take out 80k in loans for the first year, and it increases every year after - and they don't even get to keep their own equipment, they just rent it. Pitt is about 75 in loans for the first year (includes 20k housing/living allowance, more for insurance and everything else) for out of state students, 8k for less for instate, and each year it goes down 2-3k. Looking at Uconn, it's 77 for out of state, and flipping through the Guidebook, 60-80 is about the average for all dental schools. The money shouldn't be the deciding factor as much as how much you feel you connect to the school, though a NY resident getting into Stony or Buffalo for 47k does sound nice. Dentist's don't usually have problems repaying their loans, but I can understand the attractiveness of paying upwards of 100k less.