Please Help: BU vs. UMichigan vs. UPenn

[firenzestar]

Hi everyone,
To those accepted into a dental school this December, congrats! To those accepted into multiple schools, how are you making your decisions!!!

I'm finding myself in a really tough spot to choose between 3 great schools - so any advice or info would really help me out. What do you guys think: BU, Umichigan or UPENN?

My decision factors include:
1) price
2) location** proximity to loved ones in the short and long term
3) quality of dental education: i.e.. after graduation, will you be ready for the real world and employable?
3) opportunity to specialize (keeping doors open)

After doing some careful thought the way I rank these schools on each factor are:
1) UPenn> BU> Michigan
2) BU > UPenn > Michigan
3) UNSURE?! thinking UPENN/Michigan > BU
4) unsureee?!

If anyone has any input - please post below!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LFA20]

good decision factors. Pick a school that will cost you the least amount of money

 

[free99]

Michigan wins in probably the two most important factors - price and location. You will have opportunity to specialize at any of those three schools and will depend largely on how hard you want to work for it. Penn might give you a slight leg up in that category, but is it worth the 100k+ difference in price? That depends on what value money has to you.

 

[SerboDent]

As I've been told and read about on these forums...follow the money. There are only so many dental schools in the country...you can't really go wrong with any of them in terms of getting a quality education.

 

[UWO2014]

I would say Michigan because of cheaper options, location (Ann arbor is great city), quality of education is top notch as well, But at the end like others mentioned, I think it comes down to cost..

 

[yoong]

My vote goes to Penn if you want to specialize, especially in something like OMFS

 

[Contach]

I don't think we are understanding your ranking of category 1. Penn is the cheapest or most expensive option? Did you get one of their Dean's scholarships? If Penn is the cheapest - I would chose Penn and I could make the argument that this is an easy decision (this is also my alma matter, so I may be biased, but do believe in the school - it got me and my friends to where we are now... read specialty residencies... and most of us are pretty happy (besides the debt)).
If Penn is not the cheapest, then that would make the decision hard. Michigan would be my #2 pick.

 

[jdye]

I don't think we are understanding your ranking of category 1. Penn is the cheapest or most expensive option? Did you get one of their Dean's scholarships? If Penn is the cheapest - I would chose Penn and I could make the argument that this is an easy decision (this is also my alma matter, so I may be biased, but do believe in the school - it got me and my friends to where we are now... read specialty residencies... and most of us are pretty happy (besides the debt)).
If Penn is not the cheapest, then that would make the decision hard. Michigan would be my #2 pick.

I think Penn is the most expensive, Michigan is the closest.

I'm in a similar situation between BU, Buffalo, Penn. Toughest decision ever... BU = close, Buffalo = cheap, Penn = education. Don't know what to do

 

[Ferneezy]

I would argue buffalo = cheap and education

 

[BlackThought]

If you have the scholarship for Penn, then I would say that's the best option all things considered (biased). However, if you do not have the scholarship, that's a tough situation. I'm not sure how big a difference in cost there exists between Penn and UMichigan, but if it's substantial (in that Penn is much higher), then Id consider UMichigan (especially if your ranking system means that UMichigan is the closest to you). Both are great schools, so you really can't go wrong, and I doubt you'll regret your decision either way if you think it through.

I'm in a similar situation between BU, Buffalo, Penn. Toughest decision ever... BU = close, Buffalo = cheap, Penn = education. Don't know what to do

Buffalo is a great school, as is Penn. I don't know very much about BU, so I can't really comment on it. It really comes down to what factors you are considering and how you rank those factors themselves. For instance, how would you rank factors like Location, School curriculum, Cost, Match rates etc, up against each other. Writing it all down will help you organize your thoughts. Congrats on the acceptances and good luck with your decision.

 

[firenzestar]

Hi guys thanks so much for the feedback!! To those who asked i didn't get a Dean's scholarship (i wish!!) so the difference in cost is around 350k Michigan vs. 412k UPenn.. pretty significant given that accruing interest. For comparison sake, BU is abou 387k.

 

[100%permwinner]

I am in a similar situation. BU offered me a seat and I might get accepted from UPenn waitlist as well. I know UPenn is great if you care about specializing after 4 years. I live in Boston and BU is a good choice given my living expenses will be lower (live at home, no need to rent). However, I am concerned that BU may not have a large number of patients for students to enhance their clinical skills and complete NERB exam. Upenn is more expensive but there may be more patients for students to develop their clinical abilities. I do concern about finding work after 4 years of dental school so the amount of experience I develop over time matters (pt 3). What do you think?

 

[andreadds]

I went to Michigan and my husband went to BU when comparing our educations I would say they were both good. At Michigan we got more patient experience though. So I would pick Michigan.