Hi 🙂
Going to share my email exchange with my mentor with you guys. His 2 cents.. cuz i was split down the middle between 2 schools (maryland and columbia).. my mentor went to NYU
My Mentor:
"In the 38 years of practice, no one has asked me from which dental school I graduated. Only one person ever asked to see a diploma! When I choose dentistry, times were different. You applied to one or two local schools depending on your grades. The world was microscopic not macroscopic as it is today. Today you have ratings on all schools with descriptions of the school and its curriculum. So much better information to gain a perspective of the school before you commit.
These would be the important elements in my choosing a school. The correct fit should include its location (proximity to getting home [if important], proximity to a major city for occasional R&R); the climate of the school (Buffalo is miserable from November to March); the student and faculty body (some schools are just too competitive and some educators are frustrated failed private practitioners who instruct out of need rather than desire); but more importantly if there is a specialty that you plan on pursuing, does the school offer post graduate training? And if so, what percentage of their own do they admit? If your acceptance to the post graduate program isnt a given by your attendance to the graduate school, then rate that school as any other school under consideration.
And finally, the cost factor. The amount of money for education, coupled with the lost income for 4-7 years and the cost to open or buy into a practice has become astronomical! If earning you dental degree is the most important fact, than the cost should also be an important element in choosing the school. If it is the prestige of graduating from a well known dental school, then cost can be no object.
Not being in touch with the tuition for dental schools, I will assume that they are all expensive and all relatively equal. Im sure you didnt apply to any second tier schools. If you have received, or are eligible for any free scholarship money, and unless the previous above factors are overwhelming negative, I would seriously consider that school offering you an incentive for your attendance. If there is no free money to be had, then I would next check to see which school offers the best and cheapest loan monies. An education is an education, and you, the student and faculty body and your determination and drive will determine just how rewarding the educational experience will be."
My response:
[FONT=PrimaSans BT,Verdana,sans-serif]"Thank you so much for your response. Every point you made and advice you gave I will take them very seriously into my consideration. To keep you posted, I've placed down deposit to 2 schools at this moment (Maryland and Columbia).
Maryland is my state school so the in state tuition is definitely very attractive. On top of that, they have state of the art facility and technology. I was very impressed by how organized my interview day went. The current students they recruited for admission committee seemed genuinely happy. However we didn't get to see the other current students and how the classes were run. My interviewer didn't seem that interested in me.. and I felt like perhaps some of the faculties might be the very same way. (it is one of the biggest research schools in the nation being so close to NIH, maybe they were there more for their research?). Another negative aspect of Maryland is that they require the students to take the board after the first year. I felt that that can be detrimental to students who are interested in specializing knowing that post-doc program look heavily on the first part board score. They mentioned that each year around 15% of its students end up specializing which is relatively low in comparison to Columbia. I'm not sure if it's due to the student's lack of interest or the program itself. In addition, I'm not too sure about living in Baltimore for 4 years.
Besides being more expensive, Columbia's facilities are a bit older. The first two years are taken with the medical students (a lot more didactic). On the day of our interview, the admission director took us to a classroom full of first year's students and left us there for about 15 minutes for the purpose of just asking any questions. I thought that was very genuine of them to do that as if there's nothing to hide. The interviewers were all Columbia graduates who volunteered to come back to be part of the admission committee. I thought that spoke a lot about the program itself. Columbia pride itself in producing specialists (about 50% match into a post-doc program, if they include GPR and AEGD, it'll be 96%). Again, perhaps the students who choose to come to this school has set a goal of specializing from the start. If so, the students will definitely be more competitive. Their grading system goes by Honor/Pass/Fail. I'm not sure what that does if they have an internal ranking system. Another downside about the program is that the students aren't treating patients until their third year (which might explain the high GPR and AEGD post doc training.. or perhaps because most of them are looking to practice in NY after graduation?).
Neither school is exactly perfect. There are so many questions unanswered.. or there's no direct answer. I've spoken to both school's financial aid counselor. The official award package won't be announced until May. Loan options are about the same. Scholarships are minimal. There's just no clear winner from the 2. I do have until April 1 to finalize my decision. I will keep you posted if anything changes. Thank you again for taking your time to share your wisdom. I really do appreciate it.".
His response:
[FONT=PrimaSans BT,Verdana,sans-serif] "It seems that you are really doing your homework(not that I would expect anything less!) As you mentioned, you will need to be happy both inside and outside the classroom and it will grate on you if your not. I also feel that boards after the first year are much too premature. It would nice to have state of the art equipment, but when I attended NYU, they had NO left handed rooms/units and we had the oldest equipment imaginable. We too didn't treat patients until the second semester of the second year. Good didactic foundation is essential especially for specialty. Although I might be considered biased, I feel that I graduated well prepared and my 35+ years of successful practice is testimony. Perhaps you can revisit and sit in on a lecture or two and observe in clinic. How does each school handle patient availability for the students. A very big problem a few years ago, but with the downturn in the economy, i suspect that there should now be an adequate supply. "
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