Quick geography lesson.
Buffalo and the surrounding suburbs are in Erie County. Erie County and 7 other counties make up what they call Western New York (WNY for short). You'll hear the term WNY a lot, basically it means Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and all the surrounding farmland.
The dental school is on the South Campus. The part of the campus located at the intersection of Bailey Ave. and Main St. is where Buffalo begins (where the dental school is). Amherst and Kenmore are two towns (suburbs) that also have their boundaries at this intersection. When I say students live in the suburbs, I am talking about living in Amherst or Kenmore. Amherst is way safer than living in the areas of Buffalo immediately surrounding the dental school (basically the walking distance areas).
Across the street from the dental school is a shopping plaza with Starbucks, some little stores, and Tops, one of the major supermarket chains in WNY. (We refer to this particular store as "Ghetto Tops." For good reason). A mere 5 minutes drive away is an International Tops and another supermarket, Wegmans. These stores are GIGANTIC. Everyone that come here from the New York City area (Long Island, Queens, etc) is very impressed and amazed at the size of these stores. My point is if you choose not to have a car, you are stuck shopping at ghetto Tops unless someone gives you a ride to the other stores. Near the International Tops and Wegmens are tons of other stores - Target, the Boulevard Mall, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, K-mart, Krispy Kreme, IHOP, movie theatres, you get the idea. These stores are all in Amherst, not Buffalo. You can't get to them without a car. Forget walking. They're too far away for that.
Bike? No way your bike is going to get you to these stores. Maybe in the summer. But people like me who have lived here forever are not used to seeing people on bikes when we are driving. It is not safe for you on the bike. Pedesstrians definitely do not have the right of way here (unlike NYC, Boston, etc). I'm not even sure where you'd put your bike - I've never noticed a bike rack at any store around here.
There are 2 dental students I can think of who bike to school often. However, they are married and their spouses keep the car during the day. So they do have access to a car, even if they don't bring it to campus everyday.
Does it really get that cold? Cold by itself wouldn't be so bad. But most days when I step outside, I am greeted by the nasty wind that makes a cold day feel 100 times worse. This wind chill effect is why people complain so much about the cold. It numbs your fingers (even with the gloves on) and blasts right through your scrubs leaving you feeling like a popsicle.
One other thing you guys might not realize. Your schedule at school is completely insane. First year classes are from 8 to 4 (approximately). However, you'll end up being at school much later because you'll want to study at the Gross lab or the Histo lab - stuff you can't study at home b/c you only have access to it at school. My first year I'd be at school till 4, go home to relax and eat dinner, and then head back to school at 6 to study till midnight, then go back home again. So you will be at school at unpredictable hours. I've had 2 all-nighters doing lab work in my 3 years so far.
Kaede, do yourself a huge favor and scrape together the money to get a car. You'll be thanking me later.