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First of all, congratulations on the acceptance! That is a big achievement in of itself and it sounds like you now have a few options. The answer to this question really depends on the type of person you are. Some relish the opportunity of studying away from home and experiencing the independence that comes with it. Others are completely content with the status quo and know exactly what they want. And obviously this is a spectrum rather then two quantitative sides. Now in your question, it seems like you have identified finances as the only barrier here but i would like to point out other ones such as proximity to family and friends, living situation, etc..
In terms of deciding whether or not you should interview at the other schools, i would say absolutely yes! The cost of travelling to UPenn and Harvard and attending an interview is very little when you compare it to the big picture of attending dental school and being in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. You may find that the UPenn or Harvard offer something that is more aligned with what you want to get out of the dental school experience. So in short, yes, i would definitely suggest you to attend the other interviews with the security of knowing that you have already been accepted elsewhere. These are no pressure interviews. They will be fun!
Now when it comes to scholarships and bursaries, it is not unreasonable to ask each school about these options. Many schools have programs in place to offer additional funding to students based on various criteria. So do some homework with these schools and find out. Will it be too late in the game to receive additional funds? Perhaps. But you will never know unless you try!
If finances are the biggest deciding point here for you, then it would obviously make sense to simply attend UNC due to the in-state costs but even then, i would recommend you to interview at the other schools simply for the experience. The amount of money you spend attending those interviews will be peanuts even when compared to the in-state costs of UNC dental school.
I hope that helps! Let us know what happens
In terms of deciding whether or not you should interview at the other schools, i would say absolutely yes! The cost of travelling to UPenn and Harvard and attending an interview is very little when you compare it to the big picture of attending dental school and being in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. You may find that the UPenn or Harvard offer something that is more aligned with what you want to get out of the dental school experience. So in short, yes, i would definitely suggest you to attend the other interviews with the security of knowing that you have already been accepted elsewhere. These are no pressure interviews. They will be fun!
Now when it comes to scholarships and bursaries, it is not unreasonable to ask each school about these options. Many schools have programs in place to offer additional funding to students based on various criteria. So do some homework with these schools and find out. Will it be too late in the game to receive additional funds? Perhaps. But you will never know unless you try!
If finances are the biggest deciding point here for you, then it would obviously make sense to simply attend UNC due to the in-state costs but even then, i would recommend you to interview at the other schools simply for the experience. The amount of money you spend attending those interviews will be peanuts even when compared to the in-state costs of UNC dental school.
I hope that helps! Let us know what happens
You can try but when I and other students have spoken to Dr. Pettiette, she said that UNC doesn't award merit scholarships.
UNC estimated COA: ~348k => ~600k when accounting for compounding interest the second loans are taken out (assumes 15 yrs at 7.5%)
UPenn estimated COA: ~480k => ~800k when accounting for compounding interest the second loans are taken out (assumes 15 yrs at 7.5%)
So you'd need at least ~200k in scholarships to really offset the difference. The dean's scholarship, which is offered to 4 incoming students each year, maxes out at 40k/year => 160k over 4 years.
You could try and interview at Harvard and UPenn, but from a financial standpoint, I think UNC will still be cheaper in the long run.
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Interview there bro
HSDM doesn't offer any scholarships and if your parents are not poor, it's extremely unlikely to get any need-based aid. Total COA for HSDM projects around 450-460k for c/o 2023 if I remember correctly from my Excel sheet. Penn also offers scholarships, but at this late in the game, you won't get offered anything huge tbh (30-40k/yr). PM me if you have questions! 🙂
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deleted938508
Thanks everyone! Definitely super helpful.
I was in a similar situation this past January. I was accepted to UNC without a scholarship (OOS) on Dec 3rd and then, I was invited to an interview to UPenn in Nov but I kept postponing it until I ended up canceling it. I can confirm that as a non-minority your chances to receive scholarships from UNC is almost zero. I have talked to multiple people at UNC and they all seem to be confident that scholarships are awarded to minorities only. As far as UPenn goes, they do offer merit-based scholarships but they are limited to about 10-20k to non-minorities (not confirmed, but I've talked to about 10-15 kids from UPenn and they kinda confirmed this finding to me), so again, your chance to get anything above 30k is pretty slim. Harvard doesn't offer any merit-based scholarships but they do offer need-based help but it is usually very limited. So if you are only considering the finance side, then UNC is your best bet. If you really value the name of the school and the prestige then attend Harvard interview. However, I think UNC is pretty reputable and it should be a no brainer if you are in-state. PM if you have any questions.
