Pre-dental...thought...

[ll Source ll]

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All my life i've wanted to go to one of the big-names, like Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc. Just now though i'm beginning to ask myself why....is it just for the name? I plan on being a dentist and my thought is, i could go to the big state school where i could get 24 credits automatically for being in IB (Univ of Texas, Texas resident) or go to like the bignames and have to take 4 years. Also i heard that the btter the school you go to , the better it looks on your resume for getting a job. Well, does that really matter to us pre-dental who are going to make a private practice/self-employeed?you know what i mean? hmmm. 😕

 

[toofshucker]

Go where ever you can get the best grades and the least amount of debt, then when you apply to dental school, go where ever you can get in, that is the cheapest. Your gpa and DAT are the biggest things you need, so go where you can do the best.

 

[dr bojangles]

i agree with toofshucker. each person wants something different. some people want least debt. some want big name, maybe it looks better in getting a residency. just keep up the gpa/dat, you'll figure the rest when you get there.

 

[samurai361]

i agree with toofshucker too, go to a place where you'll get GOOD GRADES

 

[Cymbidium]

All my life i've wanted to go to one of the big-names, like Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc. Just now though i'm beginning to ask myself why....is it just for the name? I plan on being a dentist and my thought is, i could go to the big state school where i could get 24 credits automatically for being in IB (Univ of Texas, Texas resident) or go to like the bignames and have to take 4 years. Also i heard that the btter the school you go to , the better it looks on your resume for getting a job. Well, does that really matter to us pre-dental who are going to make a private practice/self-employeed?you know what i mean? hmmm. 😕

I'm 7 years out of college and I can tell you that in corporate america nobody asks you what you studied, what your GPA was etc. The only thing the ask about your education is "where did you go to college" and, unfortunately they form an opinion about you based on your answer to that question. Perhaps that's why the name used to mean something to you.


It all depends on what you want in a school - I personally wanted D1 athletics and a small school. Once those 2 items were satisfied, I went where they gave me the most money.


Anyway I think you're right about being a pre-dent and not having to worry as much about where you go for undergrad.

 

[ll Source ll]

thanks for the replies guys/girls 🙂


@cimbidium , thanks for the info dude that really helped

I'm 7 years out of college and I can tell you that in corporate america nobody asks you what you studied, what your GPA was etc. The only thing the ask about your education is "where did you go to college"

One point id like to make tho , thats the thing i really dont plan on being a part of corporate america, just a dentist in private practice no mba or wall street or anything, and if anyone asks...i guess i could just say harvard... 🙂

 

[burgler09]

No one really cares where you went to undergrad if you pursue an education beyond a bachelors.. You have to go to the college where you will be happy to be every day. If you are going to harvard for the name but aren't happy it is a waste of money. If you are unhappy at your state school it will be hard to focus. Find a happy medium, have a good time during undergrad while pulling off good grades and look forward to dental school!

 

[toofshucker]

I get money magazine and they always claim that salaries really don't differ when comparing degrees from "prestigious" to non (state schools). Now, there are exceptions (Wharton school of business) but for the most part, it really doesn't matter where you go to undergrad.

 

[wigglytooth]

All my life i've wanted to go to one of the big-names, like Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc. Just now though i'm beginning to ask myself why....is it just for the name? I plan on being a dentist and my thought is, i could go to the big state school where i could get 24 credits automatically for being in IB (Univ of Texas, Texas resident) or go to like the bignames and have to take 4 years. Also i heard that the btter the school you go to , the better it looks on your resume for getting a job. Well, does that really matter to us pre-dental who are going to make a private practice/self-employeed?you know what i mean? hmmm. 😕

While the name may not necessarily matter in securing a job, the things that you do at a school will matter. If you do nothing at a big school, any "power" that the name has stops there. That said, there are different atmospheres and opportunities in a state school vs. a "big name" and you really need to choose which is best for you. It may be worth it to give up those 24 credits to have an academic and social environment that may suit your needs better. I'm biased in a sense because I do go to a "big name." While sometimes I tell myself I could have gone to my state school and have had enough credits to graduate 2 years ahead from AP's or had a nice scholarship or something along those lines, I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had at my school for anything. I'll stop there because I can only tell you how I *think* the atmosphere here is different from other schools because I've never experienced the other schools.

In terms of getting into dental school, there is that age-old debate about if "big-names" have an advantage or not. I won't go down that path in detail because we've heard it so many times before and it often ends in a bloodbath. I will say that my interviewers seemed impressed that I did how I did at my school (and I'm no 4.0), but they may have just been nice to calm me down or something along those lines. It's still kind of ambiguous after going on a few interviews.