I had to make the same choice in early January. I chose Buffalo mainly because of the cost. 15K vs. 39K a year is a easy choice. If the schools were 50K-60K apart, I wouldn't have considered cost as closely, but after 4 years, thats almost 100K more (not including interest) for your dental education at Pitt. Plus, it seems that Pennsylavina residency is very hard to get, so you'd have to plan on paying the 39K all for years unless you get lucky.
I do think Pitts facilities are better than Buffalo, and they have a really nice simulation clinic. I think Pittsburgh also has a larger patient population, but Buffalo is also a city and you'll get all the patients you need there. Later on, I had to make the decision between Buffalo and Maryland, and like UPitt, Maryland's facilites were brand new/state of the art. I asked current dental students and dentists if all the technology was worth the added cost, and most said it wasn't. After you graduate, you'll have to conform with whatever technology the practice you join has, so its really a crapshoot on which technology is best to learn on. Plus, from what I hear from some second year UB students that I know, the professors at UB are very meticulous with grading your work and will make sure you do it right before you enter clinic. (sorry for any spelling errors...i was an econ major, not a english major...seems like posters here love to jump on other poster's spelling mistakes
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I also worked at the UB dental school last summer, as well as did alot of my shadowing it its various departments, and I think the faculty is great and very friendly.
In terms of city living, everyone I talk to thinks that Pittsburgh is more fun than Buffalo, but I'm from the Buffalo area, and I think Buffalo is a fun city too. It offers all the major attractions you would want in a city, and toronto is only 2 hours away. It all depends on what you like to do for fun. If you are a bar person, the bars here stay open till 4 am too...2 hours longer than basically any place else. There is also museums, parks, theater, alot of ethnic festivals during the spring, summer, and fall. There is alot of snow in the general area, but people not from Buffalo don't understand the general weather patterns of the area. The Buffalo Dental school is located on the north Buffalo/Amherst line. This area doesn't get hit nearly as hard with snow. When you here about all the snow in Buffalo on TV, its normally coming from the south towns/south Buffalo or farther north in the Niagara Frontier region, and with all the attractions and conviences of Amherst, you'll rarely if ever have to venture into these harder hit regions. It can get very cold here, but not that much colder than Pittsburgh...hell, Pitt is only about 3 hours south of Buffalo...the climate isn't that different. If you like winter sports, such as skiing, sleding, etc., the snow is actually a benefit.
In the end, I think it just comes down to where you'd rather live. I hope some of the things I said helped! Good luck with your choice! As much as I tried to sale Buffalo in this post, I did love my visit to Upitt and I found it a very hard choice to make. Either way you'll get a great education. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me and maybe I'll see you on the first day of classes!
Zing!!!
