Louisville vs MWU-AZ

[Alcancia]

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I paid my deposit to ULSD and have my spot. However, I just got an acceptance offer from MWU-AZ.

Both schools are amazing!

As much as I really hate turning down Louisville, I think the stronger clinical focus and eased up didactics at MWU better suit my personality and reasons for becoming a dentist. Is it worth the $10K/year though? Will the stronger clinical training help professionally to offset the cost? Potential for specializing impacted either way?

What do you all think?

 

[Typical Average Student]

Louisville, it's a lot cheaper than MWU-AZ (about $100k+ for the 4 years... assuming you're OOS for both) and it's more established.
Also, Louisville football is nice.

 

[Tommyjj]

I paid my deposit to ULSD and have my spot. However, I just got an acceptance offer from MWU-AZ.

Both schools are amazing!

As much as I really hate turning down Louisville, I think the stronger clinical focus and eased up didactics at MWU better suit my personality and reasons for becoming a dentist. Is it worth the $10K/year though? Will the stronger clinical training help professionally to offset the cost? Potential for specializing impacted either way?

What do you all think?

That is great! Go where you feel that will suit you best, if $$ isn't a factor.

Did you have to talk to or keep in touch with admissions at ULSD for them to give you interview? I've read some threads about you have you have to reach out to them to show them that you are interested.

 

[Alcancia]

Louisville, it's a lot cheaper than MWU-AZ (about $100k+ for the 4 years... assuming you're OOS for both) and it's more established.
Also, Louisville football is nice.

Thanks for the insight! Utah is home, so I am OOS. Cost difference isn't quite that bad, unless I'm missing something. MWU tuition and fees are about $10K/year over USLD, so about $40K for 4 years. For $100K there would be no question. For $40K, it's worth considering my stress, sanity, time with the family, and my expected performance in school. Additional factors are that my wife and kids would like the awesome winters filled with outdoor activities in Phoenix and staying West puts us closer to family and lets me take the WREB at my own school (Louisville just stopped offering the Western boards this year).

I totally agree with Louisville's reputation both in the dental community and out (Go Cards!). That and costs of tuition and living are really the only factors keeping USLD in consideration.

That is great! Go where you feel that will suit you best, if $$ isn't a factor.

Did you have to talk to or keep in touch with admissions at ULSD for them to give you interview? I've read some threads about you have you have to reach out to them to show them that you are interested.

$$ is a huge factor.

I did call ULSD and asked about my application status. More importantly, I have a friend that is a D2 there and he dropped my name to admissions and I got an interview invite two days later.

 

[wengerout]

This is really tough, both of these were some of my top choices. At 40k + interest the difference is big but not seismic. If you wanna be a GP and prefer the school/location than I would go to MWU.

 

[Shifff based]

Louisville stopped offering the western boards?! That's a huge deal!

 

[Anoniville]

Louisville stopped offering the western boards?! That's a huge deal!

That's right. And that was one of the big selling points to my class when we interviewed.
The administration doesn't think they have a patient flow problem but 65 students graduated late last year... Who knows how bad it is this year.

 

[DreamChaser01]

http://louisville.edu/dentistry/new...s-clinical-operation-to-southeastern-kentucky

They're solving this issue.

 

[Shifff based]

Thanks for the link DreamChaser! 65 students late is a significant number!

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[mroerdh22]

I paid my deposit to ULSD and have my spot. However, I just got an acceptance offer from MWU-AZ.

Both schools are amazing!

As much as I really hate turning down Louisville, I think the stronger clinical focus and eased up didactics at MWU better suit my personality and reasons for becoming a dentist. Is it worth the $10K/year though? Will the stronger clinical training help professionally to offset the cost? Potential for specializing impacted either way?

What do you all think?

I made this very same choice and ended up choosing MWU. I loved Louisville but I couldn't deny how much stronger MWU was clinically. Shoot me a message if you want a full run down or have any questions! However, congrats, you're in a great position.

 

[Streax1]

I was in pretty much the same situation last year between Temple and MWU. Temple is a great program, and ended up being about 30k less after cost of living adjustments. I ended up going with MWU. I'm a D1 this year and I honestly haven't regretted my decision for one second. The school is top notch, the weather can't be beat, and the communal support between the wives here is next to none. My wife and little boy absolutely love it here. If you have any other questions, let me know. Ultimately, do what feels right for you and your family, but it's been a great experience here for us. Good luck!

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[Alcancia]

That's right. And that was one of the big selling points to my class when we interviewed.
The administration doesn't think they have a patient flow problem but 65 students graduated late last year... Who knows how bad it is this year.

http://louisville.edu/dentistry/new...s-clinical-operation-to-southeastern-kentucky

They're solving this issue.

Thank you so much for the comments! It's awesome to see perspectives from current students.

I'm glad to see ULSD is working to build their clinic. What I've pieced together is that they don't so much have a patient flow problem as much as they have a patients-willing-to-pay-for-advanced-procedures problem. Having residency students pulling from that same pool of willing-to-pay patients decreases availability even further. 65 of 120 students graduating late is a little scary. Sending 6 students/week to a satellite clinic may be a good start, but I'm guessing they'll probably still need more.

Regardless, if MWU-AZ's admissions team is to be believed, they still do 3X the number of advanced procedures (endos, crowns) compared with schools that aren't struggling clinically.

I made this very same choice and ended up choosing MWU. I loved Louisville but I couldn't deny how much stronger MWU was clinically. Shoot me a message if you want a full run down or have any questions! However, congrats, you're in a great position.

I was in pretty much the same situation last year between Temple and MWU. Temple is a great program, and ended up being about 30k less after cost of living adjustments. I ended up going with MWU. I'm a D1 this year and I honestly haven't regretted my decision for one second. The school is top notch, the weather can't be beat, and the communal support between the wives here is next to none. My wife and little boy absolutely love it here. If you have any other questions, let me know. Ultimately, do what feels right for you and your family, but it's been a great experience here for us. Good luck!

Thanks for the insight you guys!

My wife and I have all but decided on MWU. It's a hard decision because I loved Louisville so much. The clinical experience is definitely the deciding factor. It's comforting to hear others have made this decision and are happy about it. Thanks!