-
Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today.
ucla? buffalo? usc? upitt?
Started by 2009sf
Buffalo = best deal. If money is not a determining factor, Buffalo may not be your preference.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
3
321931
Upenn.
Don't they actually pay you to go to school there? JK
maygyver,
well it is a totally subjective and opinionated statement. i am curious to see what others think. the only real information that MIGHT matter is that i am a ny resident, but the fact of the matter is you get ca residency after one year and the difference in costs is only about 12k/yr between ucla and buffalo. the only other kicker is that i am contemplating on going onto a specialty. that is all the extra, and slightly informative, detail. so just based on that information what is your (and this is for everyone else) opinion?
buffalo > ucla > pitt > usc imo, since you're a ny res.
+1, and it's not even close.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Oh... I meant that I agreed with that ranking, and that Buffalo is clearly a better choice in your case. The only other school I would have considered out of that list would be UCLA, and the difference in price is higher than 12k, when you consider the first OOS year and the cost of living. Since Buffalo graduates have a good track record of placing in specialties, I don't think the move out West is warranted.
Obviously, this is only my opinion.
Obviously, this is only my opinion.
12k/year = 48k just in tuition (I agree that that number sounds low although I haven't compared UCLA tuition vs Buffalo myself). Cost of living is a huge difference. Westwood, and anywhere within 20min drive is very expensive. A moderate one-bedroom apartment in Westwood costs about as much as a luxury three-bedroom in Williamsville (the nicest suburb near Buffalo).
If I were in your shoes I'd decide between UCLA/Buffalo. Buffalo offers a nice in-state tuition and a well-rounded program, but UCLA is also one of the more attractive schools. But that's just me.
I think you need to let us know what you're looking for in a dental school.
I think you need to let us know what you're looking for in a dental school.
I would choose Buffalo, hands down (if I were you). There isn't a better deal out there especially since you're a NY resident.
Tuition at UCLA for all 4 years + housing is about $287k just to let you know 🙁. Not sure how much it is for Buffalo but I hear it's reaaaaaally cheap. LA has the better rep and weather though IMHO 🙂
Tuition at UCLA for all 4 years + housing is about $287k just to let you know 🙁. Not sure how much it is for Buffalo but I hear it's reaaaaaally cheap. LA has the better rep and weather though IMHO 🙂
From what information you gave, I would highly recommend UCLA. Here's why. I recently spent some time working in a dental lab for someone who had just moved here (NY) from California and I had some lengthy conversations with her about California dental schools. She liked USC and dentists who have graduated from there, but absolutely loved UCLA and its graduates (Loma Linda was next on her list of California schools). She always spoke very highly of UCLA and the surrounding area and gave it the edge over USC in almost every category imagineable. UCLA is a great school with a great reputation and strong clinics in a nice part of town. Also, UCLA certainly fits in with your desire to specialize.
Now on to NY. UB is a very good school, but as I'm sure you've noticed, most people who recommend UB first point to cost as a reason to attend. However, the whole SUNY budget (UB is a SUNY school to any wondering) is a mess and costs are continually increasing. That being said, yes I know California's budget is not in great shape either. I don't know if this is even a issue for you since you said cost is not a major concern between UCLA and Buffalo. And I heard this story from a friend who knows somebody that attends UB... Last year, due to budget problems, students at UB had to come up with $5000 more for the spring semester than what they were originally told. This money was not accounted for in any student loans and for some, was a burden to come up with. Again, that is just a story i heard that I'm relaying to you and you can make what you want of it. But if you do a search on the SUNY budget, pretty much all you will find are cuts being made everywhere.
Can't really say too much about Pitt.
So, without considering Pitt.... UCLA>>>UB>USC
Now on to NY. UB is a very good school, but as I'm sure you've noticed, most people who recommend UB first point to cost as a reason to attend. However, the whole SUNY budget (UB is a SUNY school to any wondering) is a mess and costs are continually increasing. That being said, yes I know California's budget is not in great shape either. I don't know if this is even a issue for you since you said cost is not a major concern between UCLA and Buffalo. And I heard this story from a friend who knows somebody that attends UB... Last year, due to budget problems, students at UB had to come up with $5000 more for the spring semester than what they were originally told. This money was not accounted for in any student loans and for some, was a burden to come up with. Again, that is just a story i heard that I'm relaying to you and you can make what you want of it. But if you do a search on the SUNY budget, pretty much all you will find are cuts being made everywhere.
Can't really say too much about Pitt.
So, without considering Pitt.... UCLA>>>UB>USC
Anecdotal, but can anyone corroborate this? Seems harsh to just raise tuition mid-year and have students come up with 5g's outta no where. Is that even legal??
Yes, it is just a story I heard that I wanted to pass along and stated that it really wasn't first-hand information. So I did some looking around on the school sites just now and couldn't find anything official on the breakdown of each semester of previous years. Everything was in the terms of upcoming years and wouldn't account for any semester-to-semester changes. So this showed a general trend that did increase (slightly, but larger increases in recent years). The following link is the only thing I could find on this topic. It doesn't talk numbers, but seems to be consistent with what I heard.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-757123.html
Definitely exaggerated and from the wrong semester.
We had to pay $800 dollars more this past Fall because of the budget adjustments.
Thanks for the info. That makes more sense. After looking around I began wondering why it was so hard to find anything on the issue if it was as big of a deal as I originally heard. And I just wanted to add... The point of bringing it up was not to trash UB. It is a very good school and is a good fit for many people, but be careful when considering tuition as one of its big advantages. Although now it seems that $800 issue was an isolated incident and not a sign of things to come in any way. And yes, it should be expected that every school will increase its tuition from year to year and this is not unique to UB. I cant imagine anyone paying four years of tuition at the amount they originally expected to pay when enrolling in a school.
But to get back on point...
In my opinion:
If tuition is not a factor: UCLA>>>UB>USC
If tuition is a factor: UCLA>>UB>>>USC
(Still don't know much about Pitt)
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
dentfocus, so why ucla >>> ub? you haven't provided any concrete arguments other than a friend who mentioned to you that she likes ucla students. and did you create an account just to tell the OP to go to ucla?
UCLA>Buffalo>UPitt>USC
Go for UCLA, my friend. Best one among 4.
Go for UCLA, my friend. Best one among 4.
...just to say go to UCLA? No. But that is what I'm starting with.
The way I see it on the following issues:
As research schools: Essentially equal, you will have opportunities at
each
Placement in specialties: Hard to find exact numbers (maybe someone
has good information on this topic), but whenever I hear anyone
talk about this at either school, they say positive things.
So I'm calling this equal too.
Clinic: Both are good, can't give either the clear edge
And finally, where I personally make the distiction:
Reputation: Buffalo is good, UCLA is great
Pre-clinic: Buffalo is adequate for education, but a little dated.
UCLA is more modernized
And unfortunately not really considered:
Curriculum: UCLA recently underwent a change in its delivery of material. Sounds promising. A little more time will tell if its effective. Buffalo has a new dean. I'm sure each will be exceptional programs, but I don't want to call this one.
So these are the things that I took into consideration. I noticed that aside from one comment saying Buffalo graduates have a good track record of placing in specialties and another saying UB has a well-rounded program, nobody else really gave any reasons for their opinions aside from cost, which I believe at this point is not of much help because anyone this far along in the process is capable of realizing which is cheaper. I'd be interested in reading anybody else's breakdown on issues they consider important too.
Are you a NY resident? If you are not then one big advantage of buffalo (I know nothing about the 3 other) is it allows you to change your residency to NY after 1 year. This drops ur tuition to 22k (instead of 50k) for years 2, 3, and 4
I would love to rank the 4 schools, but I only interviewed at buffalo so, im too partial towards it
I would love to rank the 4 schools, but I only interviewed at buffalo so, im too partial towards it
Oh and just to include USC... I hear the implementation of PBL is getting better every year but they are still trying to get it just right. An interview at this school should help people decide if this kind of learning style is a good fit for them. And they recently received a donation large enough to rename the school, so that's attractive. I think brand new clinics is what much of the donation went too. Don't go south (or west?) of the school though. Quite dangerous.
Please explain.
