Private School vs. Public School

[enginerd]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm actually a pre-dent student, and I was thinking my question would fit in this forum better. I was wondering if the difference between a public dental school and a private dental school are that significant. Basically, is it worth it to pay more to go to a "private" school. For example does going to a private school give you more post graduate connections, a better faculty(?), a better education(?), etc.

The reason I ask is that it seems like most dental schools have small class sizes anyways, either around 100 students or less (of course I'm excluding schools like NYU 😛 ). So the difference between public and private dental school doesn't seem as obvious as undergrad, where in public undergrad schools we would get crammed into a lecture hall with 200+ people. And if I were to go to a public school as an non-resident, I might as well pay more to go to a private school?

I'm not comparing a certain school to another, but just wondering in general does a private school give you things (if any) that public schools don't due to the excessive amount of $$$ you are investing. Does it even make a difference when the school claims itself to be a "private" institution?

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

Hello,

From my experience, it does not matter what school you go to as all give you excellent education. I would pick a school that is the cheapest since you don't want to be bogged down with student debt. The size of the class does not really matter as long as there is adequate faculty coverage on the clinical floor. DP

 

[enginerd]

Hello,

From my experience, it does not matter what school you go to as all give you excellent education. I would pick a school that is the cheapest since you don't want to be bogged down with student debt. The size of the class does not really matter as long as there is adequate faculty coverage on the clinical floor. DP

So do private schools give you a better education? Looks like alot of the private schools rank at the top of most rankings (law, medicine, business, undergrad). It seems like the only good public dental schools are the UCs, UConn, UMich (just to name a few, hope I don't offend anybody with this abbreviated list 😛 ), but for out-of-state residents it's basically the same as private school tuition.

 

[cdpiano27]

I will second what some other people have said.

In my opinion, would you rather take someone with a 95 on the boards who went to a lower-tiered school or a 75 with someone from an Ivy League school such as Upenn or Columiba (great schools though!)

I have had this experience myself.

In my statistics program, I was given a VIGRE fellowship because of my high GPA from a not-so-good undergrad school along with a high GRE score. However, I applied to UNC-Chapel Hill biostats grad program in the school of public health, and I was granted admission but was told I was not competitive for funding because my undergrad school was not considered good enough.
They thought at this one place that a 3.0 from Harvard or Purdue was better than a 4.0 from Central Florida. For me, it is comparing apples against oranges anyway.

But since there is rarely fellowship money for dentistry, you do NOT want to disqualify yourself from residency by getting a slew of bad grades in an excruciatingly competitive class. For example, one of my friends went to the National University of Singapore department of applied mathematics for undergrad, which is a terrific school. It is also one of the most difficult in the world. They have a three-year bachelors program, and he took abstract algebra I and II in the same semester along with real analysis I and II also in the same semester. Well, he got a mixture of very bad and very good grades and missed the "honours" year by the slimmest of margins (very bad if you are applying to a school in the United States with the British system). However, when he applied to stat departments in the United States, only NC State gave him admission but without funding along with Nebraska. He was rejected from everywhere else because of his marks even though his school is considered among the top 20 universities in the world.

So just think about that. DO NOT disqualify yourself from getting good grades in dental school by going to a place that is private, very good and competitive, but very low specialty placement rates.

 

[grant555]

This question always seems to bring a difference of opinion, but for my money, I prefer a private school over a state school. This reasoning probably comes from the fact that I didn't attend at a public school until college, and, in fact, ended up finishing a second bachelor's a private school after the first at a state college.

At any rate, dental school is a far cry from undegrad, but it seems that a private school has a little more invested (albeit this is variable) in you the student than a state school. As my dean put it, "you are our credentials."

Private schools don't receive nearly the state and federal funds that state schools receive, which correlates to increased tuition, which I will agree is always a factor in the decision process of where to attend, but somethings do not have a price tag: such as clinician student ratio and committment to student success.

At private schools, the educational experience tends to be more symbiotic. At the end of the day, I would pick the school that gives me the best chance for success, which will vary for each individual. Picking a dental school is a personal experience that must be weighed heavily due to the astronomical costs and time consuming schedule, which will make any dental school you pick a second "home."

Best of luck to you.