Hey guys...just came back from a cold weekend in Boston. TUFTS interview went great. Once again, I was very lucky to have such a great group. I really lucked out in this application cycle with my interview groups.
The day started off with all of us (about 10) in the conference room introducing ourselves. I was late (damn Boston trafffic) by about 15 mins. If you are going to Boston for an interview, please do not underestimate Boston traffic...plan well ahead!
We were then given the statistics such as 85% acceptence, and so on. We were informed that last year, Tufts recieved 1996 applications in total for the year. As of yesterday, they already had about 2100 applications and project 2400 for the end of the cycle. Now thats an increase!
Then the Associate Dean came in and gave us a presentation on Tufts based on questions that we asked. This led up to lunch, where all these students came out of nowhere and started chatting with us. It seemed like all the students were quite happy with Tufts. I was really concerned with the large class size of 150, but the students assured me that it was not a problem and they do not even notice.
During lunch, I was escorted into a room by a 4th year student for my personal interview. I really lucked out, because my interviewer was the president of ADSA, which really caught me off guard for a moment. ANyways, the interview went really really well, and it was basically a conversation between us. It started off with the basic, "why dentistry" and after that, it really went off into a tangent as we talked about travelling and all the countries we both have visited so far. My interview was really tailored to my personal statement, and from his questions, I could really tell that he had carefully read over my personal statement and the non-academic part of my application.
After the interview, we were taken on tour by Katherine Wasilenko. I must admit, the Tufts facilities were AMAZING! I cant think of one criticism I could give for facilities....they looked great, looked clean, and just everything seemed really really good.
I was also impressed by Tufts location. By being located in the middle of Boston, not only does it give Tufts a great patient pool, but its so close to everything, including public transport, movie theatre, musicals, clubs, everything! Great location.
Overall, I was quite impressed with Tufts. The only negative thing about the school is the pricetag. When financial aid talks about numbers, it really stabs me in the heart. Tufts is incredibly expensive with the cost of education being at $67 000/year. Thats a hefty debt! Furthermore, I was really happy that I am able to get a MPH degree as well, but it would cost me $20 000 more on top of my dental tuition.
Personally, its gonna be a tough decision between Temple and Tufts (if I get accepted to both), but honestly, the pricetag may be my deciding factor. Temple is a much cheaper school and was just as nice as Tufts, and it also allows me to get the MPH degree as well. I will try to find out more about Temple's public health program, and will look forward to making one of the most important decision in my life in the upcoming months.