So many questions on US schools and other things

[ramseszerg]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi, I'm new here and I just have so many questions.

1. Assuming my GPA/DAT are higher than the average of accepted applicants at that school, is there a point of applying to a school that is not in the Canadian-friendly list? If so which schools do you recommend?

2. What are the cheapest schools, living cost included, in the Canadian-friendly school list? I tried doing this research myself but it took too long, I dont know whether to trust the Barron's Guide, predents.com or the school website's estimated student expenses.

3. How are the schools in the Canadian-friendly school list ranked in terms of reputation? That's alot of schools so how can I research reputation myself? I know Penn and Pacific have that, and USC, NYU, Tufts have good public recognition but is there more I need to know?

4. How many hours per week would you be working as a dental resident if you were to decide to specialize? Is it comparable to a medical residency?

5. Is it a good idea to do only 2 years of HPSP intead of 4 if you think 4 is too big of a commitment?

Thank you so much, I very very much appreciate all the help.

 

[xylem29]

1. Assuming my GPA/DAT are higher than the average of accepted applicants at that school, is there a point of applying to a school that is not in the Canadian-friendly list? If so which schools do you recommend?

Nope - there's no point in doing that unless you have some kind of reason for wanting to go to a particular school.

2. What are the cheapest schools, living cost included, in the Canadian-friendly school list? I tried doing this research myself but it took too long, I dont know whether to trust the Barron's Guide, predents.com or the school website's estimated student expenses.

It does take long - but you want to be a dentist right? The school estimated costs on their websites is what I took. It shouldn't take that long really - just do a search, look for the schools that Canadians generally apply to, and then figure out amongst those schools which are the cheapest. It's not like you're going through every single US school. From what I found, the cheapest schools are Houston (difficult) and VCU.

3. How are the schools in the Canadian-friendly school list ranked in terms of reputation? That's alot of schools so how can I research reputation myself? I know Penn and Pacific have that, and USC, NYU, Tufts have good public recognition but is there more I need to know?

I guess in terms of reputation, Harvard, Columbia, UPenn are pretty high up there. But reputation doesn't mean anything - you want the schools that have the "reputation" for good clinical training.

4. How many hours per week would you be working as a dental resident if you were to decide to specialize? Is it comparable to a medical residency?

No it's not comparable to the average medical residency. I can only guess based on a resident that I knew only fleetingly, that it's about 40 hours per week.

5. Is it a good idea to do only 2 years of HPSP intead of 4 if you think 4 is too big of a commitment?

Sure - two years is a long time, four would be even longer.

 

[ramseszerg]

Thank you so much again.

NYU, Tufts, BU, USC, UoP, Temple, Buffalo, Detroit Mercy, Pitt, Penn, Case, Nova, Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, and Midwestern

These are the schools on the Canadian friendly list. I'm guessing they are all pretty expensive, but I will do that research myself, and I will rely on the school websites like you suggested. I wonder why Harvard is not on this list? Don't they take the best from everywhere?

What are the schools that have the best clinical training on that list?

BTW, I found the minimum commitment is 3 years for HPSP.