UCSF (OOS) vs Colorado (OOS)

[sillygenie01]

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School 1: UCSF
Pros:

• Location (pro/con): lots to do in SF area, lots of variety in food, nature/city activities, campus is in a nicer part of SF by Golden Gate Park
• Known for their name and research, could open more doors if I wanted to specialize down the road
• recently boasted of a 97% ADEX pass rate for Class of 2024
• pass/no pass curriculum
• very supportive culture and environment with faculty and students
• students felt like they were still able to learn while also enjoying life
• have their own public transport for UCSF students/faculty/patients
• I know they offer their own private loans (but could be hard to obtain?)
• more than 50% of students specialize, 77% match rates -- UCSF is known to be good for specializing
• more opportunities to do research, volunteer in the community, many clubs
• large patient-base so graduation requirements aren't as difficult to maintain
• specialties (pro and con): almost every specialty, allows opportunity to learn and ask questions

Cons:

• Location: SF is expensive, apartments are smaller but more expensive
• Higher COL
• Tuition would be around ~$330K if received IS tuition for D2 to D4 years
• not as much clinic exposure-- only a 3 week externship in D4 year
• Don't start shadowing until winter/spring of D2 year, assist in D3 year
• lots of specialties-- many cases are referred out to residencies

School 2: Colorado
Pros:

• Location (pro and con): the campus is nice, the area outside of the campus is said to not be
• received a scholarship = tuition alone is ~$270K
• COL is lower
• more clinical experience -- ACTS program where you do 8 months of 3 weeks on/off at a clinic in Colorado, many say it feels like you are a practicing dentist at this point
• fewer specialties (pro and con): only Ortho, Pediatric. Which means more general dentistry cases for students to work with, I am also interested in Pedo so would still be able to reach out to that specialty
• open-door policies
• start seeing patients in fall/winter D2 year

Cons:

• Fewer people have heard about Colorado's program, is not as recognized
• Aurora is said to be sketchy, Denver expensive in terms of food/activities
• curriculum is grade-based, more competitive environment -- many students during tour stated they study alone vs. together
• Denver is more nature-based activities

Summary:
I am currently stuck between both schools. While UCSF has the name, I would love to live in SF for 4 years, the new federal loan limits make me wary of taking out more in private loans for UCSF's program + COL. My partner is a teacher so that would help with COL, but I don't want to be unrealistic about the loans and choose a school I won't be able to afford. UCSF has not released financial aid estimates, so it makes this difficult as I wanted to see if we would qualify for anything that would lower tuition as I come from a low-income household. UCSF's school definitely made me more excited about their program, but I am grateful to have these two options. I have asked many dentists if they knew about Colorado's program, and no one could speak on it, so it does make it more of a mystery in that way. I would just like to hear more opinions about Colorado's program and if the financial part of UCSF should really deter me from choosing them.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Where does your partner want to go? Is teaching licensure easier in Colorado or California? How about job prospects? State programs to help teachers with loans?

Every University will have some portal to help you decide private loans. UCSF may be a more specialized because it is a grad-only campus. (I don't know about UColorado though Anschutz is its own campus.)

Hard to argue without financial numbers, but UCSF is more established as a program. Many of us know the value of a pass/fail curriculum. How are the clinics managed at each program?

 

[OncePreDent]

Colorado would be an easy choice for me. CU is a good school.

 

[sillygenie01]

Colorado would be an easy choice for me. CU is a good school.

Could I ask how come?

 

[DS2027]

Which school did you choose?