Hi all, I am a Michigan resident who has been accepted at both schools. I have a very open mind about my future career (I am interested in both the private practice and academic sides of dentistry) and there are a few specialty areas that interest me as well. I am having a very hard time deciding between the two schools because I have heard great things about both of them and they both made a great impression on me. Which would you choose and why? In terms of what I am currently thinking about my future in the dental profession, is there one school that will set me up better to succeed in a greater number of the areas I have mentioned above? Any useful information/opinions are greatly appreciated!
Michigan or Penn?
- Thread starter dorf2011
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I was/am in a similar predicament. I'm also a MI resident, and MI is a GREAT school with the added bonus of in-state tuition.
I was debating between Mich/Columbia/Penn and here was a little of my reasoning: I'm pretty certain that I want to specialize and/or be involved in academics, and Columbia & Penn set you up VERY nicely for that (with extremely high match-rates for specialty programs and the option to get your masters in teaching while in your 3rd and 4th years of dental school -- at a discounted tuition)
That is not to say that you cannot specialize from going to MI, I just saw that my chances were higher at a school like Columbia and Penn. I also liked that they had the full-body anatomy. For me, what it boiled down to was whether or not I wanted to specialize... because if I wasn't thinking of specializing, I couldn't really justify the big price difference of going to Penn/Col rather than MI. If money isn't a big factor for you, I don't think you could go wrong bc both are great schools. Try to think ahead to what you see yourself doing and pick the school that will best set you up for that 🙂
I was debating between Mich/Columbia/Penn and here was a little of my reasoning: I'm pretty certain that I want to specialize and/or be involved in academics, and Columbia & Penn set you up VERY nicely for that (with extremely high match-rates for specialty programs and the option to get your masters in teaching while in your 3rd and 4th years of dental school -- at a discounted tuition)
That is not to say that you cannot specialize from going to MI, I just saw that my chances were higher at a school like Columbia and Penn. I also liked that they had the full-body anatomy. For me, what it boiled down to was whether or not I wanted to specialize... because if I wasn't thinking of specializing, I couldn't really justify the big price difference of going to Penn/Col rather than MI. If money isn't a big factor for you, I don't think you could go wrong bc both are great schools. Try to think ahead to what you see yourself doing and pick the school that will best set you up for that 🙂
