To answer your questions:
1)
Q: Why did you choose Nova over Marquette?
A: The main reason I picked Nova over Marquette was the fact that I didn't get an acceptance from Marquette Dental in time and I had to fork out a deposite to a school that I did get accepted to. I applied late and got accept by schools in mid-March. At that time, I only had two weeks to decide to accept or decline those acceptances. I called Marquette up and said bluntly, if you haven't decided on me yet, withdraw my applicant for 2003 because I'm sick of waiting and I got accepted to other great dental schools!
2)
Q: Did you have an option?
A: I guess I didn't have an option since I withdrew my application from MUSoD. I strongly believe that I would have gotten in if I would've waited and been patient. Who knows and who cares, right?! (For those of us that participated in the MUSoD's summer programs at the dental school, our admission applications "can" be at an advantage)
3)
Q: Did one school stand out more?
A: Yes, Nova to me stood out more at the time due to personal preferences.
4)
Q: Why you decided to attend Nova?
A: I decided on Nova because of four big reasons
1. Amazing and up-to-date facilities
2. Passionate faculty and admission staff members (I now experienced it first-hand)
3. A diverse and LARGE patient pool
4. Sunny south Florida (where I can learn and have fun for 4 years)
5)
Q: Could you tell me your opinion on the two schools, seeing how you have been to both?
A: OK, here it goes...remember all this is my personal opinion and experiences...
Marquette:
POSITIVES:
1) New building/facilities
2) Diverse class each year
3) Nice class size at 80
4) Close to Chicago, IL
5) Great reputable dental school
6) New PBL curriculum (this can be good or bad, it really depends on your taste of learing methods)
7) Passionate faculty members
8) Has all the specialty programs for Pre- and Post-doctoral education.
NEGATIVES:
1) Tuition is high
2) Downtown Milwaukee (again this can be good or bad depend on how comfortable you are with the area)
3) Have to compete with Post-Doctoral students for certain type of patients for certain procedures
4) In the Midwest, have to deal with winter, i.e. snow
5) No interaction with any other type of students on campus, the dental building is like 2-3 blocks from the main campus.
6) Does not have a White Coat Ceremony
7) Not so good patient pool
Nova Southeastern University:
POSITIVES
1) Sunny southern FL (Miami and the Keys are only a drive away)
2) Newer building/ facilities
3) Passionate faculty members that wants you to succeed
4) Cheaper tuition for a private dental school
5) You'll get to mingle with medical (DO), optimetry, pharmacy, and other health professions students between. during, or even after class hours.
6) Beautiful campus where you can actually sit outside and relax or study
7) Has all the specialty programs for Pre- and Post-doctoral education.
8) Diverse class
9) A great class size of ~100
10) Beautiful people everywhere!
11) Beach is 10 minutes away
12) Has a White Coat Ceremony
13) You now can take the WREB (a regional licensure exam) at Nova when you graduate verses before where you have to go back to your home WREB state to take the examination if you wish to practice there.
14) Great patient pool (waiting list for patients to receive our dental school services)
NEGATIVES
1) Curriculum changes almost every year to implement new and better education (trial and error thing)
2) No scholarships from the dental school!
The curriculum changes sucks because whatever the D3s and D4s are doing now, it may not be what I'll be doing by the time when I am a D3 and D4 as far as graduation requirements or clinical responsibilties goes! Since Nova is a new school, they're always trying new things and ways.
That's really about it for the negatives about Nova, I really enjoy it here and am happy! I know that all dental schools out there are great and they may all have some strengths and weaknesses in comparison to Nova, but Nova is where I feel like home and where I learn great dentistry.
A side note, Nova is now FULLY-ACCREDITED WITH-OUT REPORTING status!!
