you gotta be foolish to walk away from UF.
uop is such a fantastic school. I had an interview there. Everything about uop is fanstatic....except for the price tag. I know uop grad dentists and have friends currently there. such a wonderful wonderful school.
But difference in money is too much. 100k-150k will be 300k to 450k over 30 years. By going to UF, you will be saving roughly 2,000 every month for 30 years.
If you need more clinical skills, take badass CE courses to catch up. Plus save yourself from all the hassle moving across the nation.
I've seen okay clinical dentists graduated from one of the best dental schools and excellent dentists who went to below average clinical schools. It is up to you to gain experience as much as possible.
Dental school is like a job. It's not like picking a college. Don't worry about weather, location, hot chicks, my best friends going there, etc
Do your parents a favor by saving them money. I would love to have my home state dental school to attend.
PS this is how I calculated extra tuition vs. 1 yr head start for my own case.
Yes, you get out 1 year early, thus making money faster. Over your life time, you will make more money because of that head start.
However, you still have a bigger tap. You will end up pay more for loan repayments. Less netted annual salary and less monthly budget. To offset that, during that first year, you need to pay off the difference. In your case, you can't. Your tuition difference is ~150k and you won't make over 120k. Even if you spend all your salary, you need extra 30k. Not to mention you have ~37%(federal+state) taxes taken out of your expected-first-yr-income(100~120k). Also, Stafford loan is capped at 20k a year. Which means you are gonna have more Graduate Plus loan (higher interest rates and initial loan fee).
