Public or Private Undergrad?

[SilverEmpress]

I'm in my junior year of high school and obviously I've been trying to create a list of colleges/universities that I want to apply to for undergrad, as I want to become a dentist
For the most part the schools that I'm interested in, lo and behold, are all private schools.
They usually have a $30,000 tuition and $12,000 room and board price along with the other fees they make you pay.
This isn't feasible for me. I think for the majority of the ones I picked out I qualify for the presidential scholarships, but the net price is still too much around $20,000 t0 $30,000 a year. I'm in a middle class family, but we are not poor enough to get need based assistance nor rich enough to pay in full. On paper, my family might seem like we make enough (then again we're a family of 5...) but we don't have an outrageous amount of money to spend on ourselves. I know I can search for other scholarships and that's what I'll be doing in the near future, but should I forget about these colleges and look for state schools? I live in New Hampshire and we have pretty sucky state colleges (maybe not sucky, but not renowned: UNH, SNHU, Keene State). I guess I could go to a state school nearby in Mass or Vermont or something. I have to seriously take into account undergrad combining with dental school fees, and maybe I'm naive in not wanting to pay off loans for 10 years, but I really would like to pay them off as little and as quickly as possible.
The main thing I'm asking is, are there any people who have done a public undergrad, and have gotten into dental school? Was it harder to get in rather than someone from a private college? Any advice?

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[efle]

Yes, people go to state school and from there into dentistry and medicine (even into the very tippy top programs).

You really would need to post some details of your applicant profile before we could help you out much (SAT/ACT, GPA, EC's). If you're a strong applicant you can probably get full ride offers to both public and private schools.

And just FYI, middle class families are not expected to pay sticker price for most private universities. The only people that do not qualify for any financial aid whatsoever are well into the upper class incomes.

 

[SilverEmpress]

Thanks for the information. There are many New England schools that offer a discount to New England residents so theres that, its just tough to find a school with my specific major.
As of right now I have a cummulative GPA of 3.524, and a weighted GPA of 3.646. I know its not great or exceptional, but I'm hoping that it'll go up after I complete all my credits, and taken into account my schools reputation (I started receiving high school credit in 7th grade, which is probably why it isn't as high as I want it.) I have not taken the SAT/ACT yet, I'm taking it this year. What were the schools that any of you went to?

 

[efle]

Ah, so you are only a month into Junior year right now. You don't need to start researching colleges until at least late spring/summer, once you've gotten an SAT/ACT you're satisfied with!

What major are you seeking? "Pre-med" and "Pre-dental" are sometimes listed as majors at some universities, but they are actually just a loose collection of required classes (like one year of chem, one year of bio, etc). You can major in anything you want and apply to dental or med school! I have friends with majors in Anthro and Philosophy that are applying to med school for example.

 

[SilverEmpress]

Lol, my school makes us search for schools beginning this year. I was planning on majoring in Health Administration/Healthcare Management/Public Health in college. I also thought about Psychology, but I was trying to find a major that I could fall back on and still be successful.

 

[WedgeDawg]

You really have two extremes: go big or go cheap. You really can't go wrong with any choice as long as it fits either big or cheap (ideal is both!) and they both have different merits. The worst choice you can make is go somewhere that isn't big and isn't cheap (i.e. Some middling private university). Other than that, you can become a doctor from any school. Are there caveats to both choices? Yes, and they are discussed at length elsewhere on the forum (use the search function or google). But realize it's more what you do with what you have than where you go.

 

[efle]

Lol, my school makes us search for schools beginning this year. I was planning on majoring in Health Administration/Healthcare Management/Public Health in college. I also thought about Psychology, but I was trying to find a major that I could fall back on and still be successful.

That should be a pretty widespread major, but also I believe that's a field where you need a Masters (MPH) to make a career from it.

Without knowing SAT/ACT there's very little headway you can make on college research

 

[Seth Joo]

I'm in my junior year of high school and obviously I've been trying to create a list of colleges/universities that I want to apply to for undergrad, as I want to become a dentist
For the most part the schools that I'm interested in, lo and behold, are all private schools.
They usually have a $30,000 tuition and $12,000 room and board price along with the other fees they make you pay.
This isn't feasible for me. I think for the majority of the ones I picked out I qualify for the presidential scholarships, but the net price is still too much around $20,000 t0 $30,000 a year. I'm in a middle class family, but we are not poor enough to get need based assistance nor rich enough to pay in full. On paper, my family might seem like we make enough (then again we're a family of 5...) but we don't have an outrageous amount of money to spend on ourselves. I know I can search for other scholarships and that's what I'll be doing in the near future, but should I forget about these colleges and look for state schools? I live in New Hampshire and we have pretty sucky state colleges (maybe not sucky, but not renowned: UNH, SNHU, Keene State). I guess I could go to a state school nearby in Mass or Vermont or something. I have to seriously take into account undergrad combining with dental school fees, and maybe I'm naive in not wanting to pay off loans for 10 years, but I really would like to pay them off as little and as quickly as possible.
The main thing I'm asking is, are there any people who have done a public undergrad, and have gotten into dental school? Was it harder to get in rather than someone from a private college? Any advice?

I would go to a public school unless the private school was an elite institution, then it would be worth it to pay the extra tuition dollars.

 

[JuanPabloCastel]

Some OOS public schools have pretty cheap tuition. Might look into those.