I was in the same dilemma, I live close to NYU as well(with family,significant other living closer as well). Skip all the way down below if you want a quick summary.
Why I chose temple:
To start, both schools are great clinically, so quality is fairly similar. I believe nyc would be one of most exciting cities to live in, but not during dental school. Yes you will have time to enjoy the city, but not nearly as much as you think you would, you will be studying most of the time, plus nyc is has very high living costs. so location was not a real factor as well.
I had a friend at each school, the one at NYU barely had time to talk to me, the one at Temple provided plenty of time to assist me. After interviewing, I felt that students at temple seemed happier/more laid back relative to nyu, and now being a D2, I can see why. Our class is very laid back, student help each other out, faculty is great, our DEAN is very involved in trying to satisfy the students.
The cost of living is very affordable relative to NYU, I have friends that pay from: $400/person - $1200/person depending on where you live. You can live in the suburbs and pay on the cheaper end, or center city and pay around $900-$1200/person AND have your own room(nyc is far higher, you are probably sharing a room, this is an issue for me because I need my space). If you end up commuting to nyu OR temple, I hope its 30min or less, because if more than that, it will eat away at you(unless you love waking up very early). The avg commute to temple from where most students live is about 10-30min(10 from the city, 15/20 from manayunk,25/30 from roxborough).
The idea of a large class sized was not only unattractive to me, but the idea of an additional 100+ international students was alot to handle. Not only would I feel like a number, but I felt that I could be replaced easily( not saying this happens, just saying thats how i felt).
At the end, I thought I would have an better/more comfortable time getting through Temple's curriculum than NYU's. Temple eases you into your 1st sem there, you only take biochem and histo as your main science classes(obviously other classes as well, but most other schools have anatomy built in, if not even more sciences.
The administration also really values all their students succeeding, it seems that it would be very difficult to be kicked out or fail out, since the faculty try to help out as much as possible.
OVERALL
Both schools are similar clinically, Temple is 100k cheaper over the 4 years(tuition+living costs), I enjoyed Temple's vibe/culture far more, and I am VERY happy I am attending it and have NO regrets. NYU does have a better location, but temple is safe and being able to live in philly has been pretty cool so far.
You can't go wrong with either school. GL
