Private vs Public Dental School

[yolanba]

My daughter is interested in studying dentistry. We're just starting to look into the various options available and a Google search revealed both private and public dental schools.

If my understanding is correct, a public school would receive federal or state funding and the assumption would be tuition fees would be less.

As such, what would be the advantage of going to a private dental school?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

You would have to be a resident in that state to be eligible for the subsidized tuition.
Which state are you currently residing at?

 

[lemoncurry]

I'm not going to try and blow smoke and talk about the prestige of a private school over a public one, as there are plenty of prestigious public schools. The number one practical reason I would see in choosing a private school would be that it is more likely to accept out of state applicants. For example, in California, UCLA and UCSF are public, but they are hard to get into (at least for me, and I am a CA resident). Other options for me consisted mainly of private schools since state schools were less likely or not at all likely to accept OOS applicants, or if they did, you had to be stellar. Certain state schools, such as VCU, accept a higher % of OOS applicants. Some private schools might not even have any preference at all for the state of residency of the applicant.

That's the main reason. Anything else I could say beyond this would be conjecture.

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

The private schools charge the students whatever it costs them to train that student. If it costs 60k/year to train one dental student, they will charge the students 60k/year (if not more).

There are many reasons why a person would go to a private school:
1) Their state school did not accept them
2) Their state does not have a public dental school (eg Arizona, Arkansas, etc)
3) The student feels the private school will provide a better education (Harvard, Columbia, Penn, etc)
4) It was their only acceptance (choice becomes to either pay the private school tuition and become a dentist, or not pay and not become a dentist).

If you can get into your state public school, you will usually receive a discounted tuition, and the state taxes pick up the rest.
For example, at Iowa, it's 33k for in-state and 53k for out of state. The Iowan taxes would pay 20k of your tuition if you're in-state.

 

[yolanba]

Certain state schools, such as VCU, accept a higher % of OOS applicants. Some private schools might not even have any preference at all for the state of residency of the applicant.

Is there a list of any sort that shows which schools have no restrictions on Out of state applicants?

 

[UltimateHombre]

Is there a list of any sort that shows which schools have no restrictions on Out of state applicants?

Your best bet is to buy the ADEA Guide to dental schools. It is kind of expensive, but invaluable resource for dental schools.

http://www.amazon.com/ADEA-Official...5171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325628673&sr=8-1

It tells you every stat about every dental school. How many out of state students they accept, what states they were from, how much instate/oos tuition costs, average gpa's, average dat scores, ethnicity of dental students, etc.

If you don't want to spend the money at this point you can look at predents.com and it will give you some basic info on tuition and oos acceptances.

Also, Wikipedia has a list of all the dental schools in each of the states.

 

[dantemac]

Is there a list of any sort that shows which schools have no restrictions on Out of state applicants?

Here is my discussion of this matter from last year:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=791510&highlight=dantemac

As has been discussed here, private schools do typically accept more out of state students. However, some state schools are generous as well. Other schools have a more regional bias.

 

[ChapelHillT]

Your best bet is to buy the ADEA Guide to dental schools. It is kind of expensive, but invaluable resource for dental schools.

+1 Definitely worth the money...dont know if you want that much detail this early in the process, but it definitely would answer all your questions.

 

[yolanba]

That's some amazing information, Thank you

 

[Silencio]

Go private for sure. Difference will be in quality of teachers. Just like the difference in teachers found at an expensive private boarding school compared to the ghetto teachers found in an inner city public school, dental schools are the same way. Do you want your daughter to become a ghetto dentist?

 

[wired202808]

Go private for sure. Difference will be in quality of teachers. Just like the difference in teachers found at an expensive private boarding school compared to the ghetto teachers found in an inner city public school, dental schools are the same way. Do you want your daughter to become a ghetto dentist?

can you stop giving bad advice? Last time I checked state schools like Temple, Buffalo, Stony Brook were on par if not better than NYU, USC, and Tufts.

 

[UCLAzy]

Please don't listen to me,

fixed

 

[dantemac]

That's some amazing information, Thank you

You're welcome. If you ever need help choosing schools, remember to ask on this forum. You'll get a handful of opinions..err, knowledge about the application process.

 

[wired202808]

fixed

 

[Bereno]

Go private for sure. Difference will be in quality of teachers. Just like the difference in teachers found at an expensive private boarding school compared to the ghetto teachers found in an inner city public school, dental schools are the same way. Do you want your daughter to become a ghetto dentist?

I'm assuming you went to private school? haha

 

[Silencio]

can you stop giving bad advice? Last time I checked state schools like Temple, Buffalo, Stony Brook were on par if not better than NYU, USC, and Tufts.

I'm assuming you went to private school? haha

FYI, I was being facetious. I'm surprised wire dud couldn't figure it out lol. At least Bereno's post was kind of funny haha.

 

[wired202808]

FYI, I was being facetious. I'm surprised wire dud couldn't figure it out lol. At least Bereno's post was kind of funny haha.

maybe cause your jokes are as lame as you 😉

 

[LittleTomato]

There are a few reasons to choose private schools over public ones:

1. If your state does not have a public dental school or you do not get admitted into the program.

2. The tuition can, in some cases, be comparable to attending an out of state public university.

3. Clinical focus. While this is not the case for all public dental schools, many rely on research grants to partially fund their university. Research experience and participation tends to be more highly valued at these schools. In the case of one school I interviewed at, professors were contractually obligated to spend more time on research than on classroom teaching. That is not to say that private schools don't also emphasize research, some have fantastic research programs (ex. Harvard), but they do have more flexibility for the focus of their curriculum because they are not as likely to be financially dependent on it. Some people love doing research and love research based schools, but if you would rather have more of a clinical focus, it is something to keep in mind.

4. Not going to be directly affected by state budget cuts in education. Probably not a significant reason in most situations, but some states have been cutting higher education budgets quite a bit lately and it might be something to consider.

Hope this helps!

 

[FROGGBUSTER]

Go private for sure. Difference will be in quality of teachers. Just like the difference in teachers found at an expensive private boarding school compared to the ghetto teachers found in an inner city public school, dental schools are the same way. Do you want your daughter to become a ghetto dentist?

this is goddam HILARIOUS, HAHAHAHAA, i freaking lol'd

 

[youknowthedrill]

My daughter is interested in studying dentistry. We're just starting to look into the various options available and a Google search revealed both private and public dental schools.

If my understanding is correct, a public school would receive federal or state funding and the assumption would be tuition fees would be less.

As such, what would be the advantage of going to a private dental school?

Dental school has become extremely competitive. Your daughter needs to do well in her academic courses to have a shot at any dental school- public or private. As others have said, many people choose to attend their state school if they are lucky enough to be admitted. Some states don't have dental schools. Residents of those states apply to public schools in other states and private schools. When you pay out of state tuition it is often as much or more than private school tuition. Most public schools do accept some out of state students. Tennessee has an agreement with Arkansas to admit 20+ Arkansas students each year. Many of the western states do not have dental schools but residents of these states can receive reduced tuition at public dental schools through a program called WICHE.