Suggestion for how many schools I should apply to?

[Queserrva]

Hello everyone,

I've done my best to narrow down the list of dental schools I could see myself attending, but the list is still a little too large (15 schools). Can someone help trim it down? My stats are:

• 3.85 sGPA
• 24 AA, 24TS, 22PAT
• Average volunteer, some research, shadowing
• Colorado resident

My goal is to specialize. Regarding cost, I plan on doing HPSP if I go OOS or private.

Schools I will apply to:

• Harvard, Columbia, Penn
• UCLA, UCSF, University of Pacific
• University of Michigan
• University of Colorado
• NYU

Schools I'm considering (I don't know if it's worth spending money applying to these):

• University of Connecticut
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Washington
• University of Maryland
• University of Minnesota
• USC

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[REACHOn]

There's no right or wrong amount but my question for you is are you confident enough to apply to x amount and not regret if you did not get in? Rather get in the first time by spending just a little more than you like than regretting for a whole year. Your stats are great and you'll most likely get interviews but things happen and even people with the best numbers sometimes do not get in. I'd say between 7 to 10 is a good amount. You just want to make sure you have a safety school too. All the best and once again amazing stats you got there.

 

[Cthuluhoop]

Any particular reason you want to apply to NYU with your stats? I didn't with mine, and I wouldn't with yours.

As every dentist here will say, you can specialize out of any school. I'd remove NYU and add Pitt and U Conn of your questionable schools. Otherwise your list looks solid to me as it seems like you've done your research on the schools you want to attend and are knowledgable and understand the implications about the cost of going private/OOS

You need to apply to HPSP soon if you want all 4 years covered, so look into that as soon as you can

 

[REACHOn]

Yes, remove NYU.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Bout tree-fiddy.

 

[Queserrva]

Thanks for the replies! I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life so I wanted to choose schools in the big cities, thus the reason I included NYU in the list.

 

[Queserrva]

Any particular reason you want to apply to NYU with your stats? I didn't with mine, and I wouldn't with yours.

As every dentist here will say, you can specialize out of any school. I'd remove NYU and add Pitt and U Conn of your questionable schools. Otherwise your list looks solid to me as it seems like you've done your research on the schools you want to attend and are knowledgable and understand the implications about the cost of going private/OOS

You need to apply to HPSP soon if you want all 4 years covered, so look into that as soon as you can

So if I plan on matriculating intone summer/fall of 2020, I should start applying for the HPSP now? Is this correct?

 

[Faefly]

NYU is a great school in an amazing part of the city and the faculty is super nice and the resources are limitless; if money is a factor, you might as well remove all private schools.

 

[princeafrica]

NYU is a great school in an amazing part of the city and the faculty is super nice and the resources are limitless; if money is a factor, you might as well remove all private schools.

Penn is private and gives great scholarship

 

[princeafrica]

Hello everyone,

I've done my best to narrow down the list of dental schools I could see myself attending, but the list is still a little too large (15 schools). Can someone help trim it down? My stats are:

• 3.85 sGPA
• 24 AA, 24TS, 22PAT
• Average volunteer, some research, shadowing
• Colorado resident

My goal is to specialize. Regarding cost, I plan on doing HPSP if I go OOS or private.

Schools I will apply to:

• Harvard, Columbia, Penn
• UCLA, UCSF, University of Pacific
• University of Michigan
• University of Colorado
• NYU

Schools I'm considering (I don't know if it's worth spending money applying to these):

• University of Connecticut
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Washington
• University of Maryland
• University of Minnesota
• USC

Pitt and UConn are great programs and give out scholarships so I would highly consider applying to those

 

[BasicG]

Hello everyone,

I've done my best to narrow down the list of dental schools I could see myself attending, but the list is still a little too large (15 schools). Can someone help trim it down? My stats are:

• 3.85 sGPA
• 24 AA, 24TS, 22PAT
• Average volunteer, some research, shadowing
• Colorado resident

My goal is to specialize. Regarding cost, I plan on doing HPSP if I go OOS or private.

Schools I will apply to:

• Harvard, Columbia, Penn
• UCLA, UCSF, University of Pacific
• University of Michigan
• University of Colorado
• NYU

Schools I'm considering (I don't know if it's worth spending money applying to these):

• University of Connecticut
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Washington
• University of Maryland
• University of Minnesota
• USC

Are you a minority?

 

[Queserrva]

Are you a minority?

No Asian

 

[Cthuluhoop]

So if I plan on matriculating intone summer/fall of 2020, I should start applying for the HPSP now? Is this correct?

I didn't do HPSP, but I believe the is how it works. There is a lot of information on this forum about it if you search the threads for it. If you are applying this cycle to dental school, you also apply for HPSP concurrently. So you know you get it before you even know where you are going to dental school

NYU is a great school in an amazing part of the city and the faculty is super nice and the resources are limitless; if money is a factor, you might as well remove all private schools.

Isn't the class size of NYU nearly 400 students? Cost isn't the only reason someone shouldn't apply to NYU and I didn't mean my post in a way to say it's a bad school. But if you have stats like the OP has, you can do better and most likely receive a scholarship elsewhere

 

[OMFS_BLUEFACE]

UConn does a really good job getting people into specialty programs. I would drop NYU from your list and replace with UConn. When I visited NYU they had an arrogance that far exceeded their program quality. In reality NYU is a middle tier school with a top 10 school ego.

Tufts, BU and PENN will all cost you 500k+, that is another factor to consider. If you dont specialize, 500k+ in debt could be fairly crushing.