Nova vs. Rutgers (OOS)

[afr786]

---

Members do not see this ad.

School 1: Rutgers
Tuition: $82k first year, and I *believe* $52k after first year

Pros:

• Established school
• Very good clinical training
• High residency match rate
• Very diverse school and huge patient pool

Cons:

• Very competitive/not as friendly
• Difficult curriculum/easy to fall behind
• Older facilities
• Not much emphasis on student clubs/involvement
• Have to leave home/FL, not close to family

School 2: NSU
Tuition : ~$95k a year

Pros:

• Very friendly environment, faculty, and students
• Great FL weather round
• Only 15 minutes from home (lots of family support)
• Modern facilities/latest tech

Cons:

• Not as established school
• More expensive
• Not as strong patient pool

Summary: Hi, I'm a Florida resident currently living in Fort Lauderdale, FL and am fortunate enough to be deciding between these two schools right now. If any dental students currently at Rutgers or NSU has any insight, or anyone else, I would greatly appreciate it! I'm very conflicted and would like any help deciding. I know most would say cheaper school, but I would like to look beyond that. Thank you🙂

 

[deleted903013]

Rutgers because it's cheaper

 

[giannis]

Even if its more expensive, if you plan to stay near Ft Lauderdale to practice, then I would just go to Nova. Friends, family plus the location.
Have you seen Newark? You might be miserable for the next 4 years of your life

 

[deleted1042127]

Hi! I'm a current student at RSDM. I'm not sure about your circumstances and values, but I wanted to share my two cents about Rutgers!

Although I agree that Rutgers is competitive, I wouldn't necessarily say it's unfriendly. The vibe really depends on your class and how everyone interacts. If you all start out helping each other, it will be the norm and your class will be more collaborative. My D1 class is very collaborative and everyone shares their study materials (aside from the very few competitive people).
The curriculum is difficult and it is easy to fall behind, but this is where you develop tremendous study habits and time management. I can definitely say that you learn A LOT during your D1 and D2 years, and the curriculum is very well planned in that material from 1 class will likely appear in your other classes. It supplements the material and drills the knowledge into your head. This is very important because you go to dental school not just to learn dentistry but to be a good doctor as well.
The clinic is very modern at Rutgers (more important), but the pre-clinic lab is outdated. It doesn't change anything about the skills that you learn though and you just get used to the environment.

Let me know if you have any more questions and ill gladly help