University of Texas San Antonio vs. University at Buffalo

[JPevzner]

Any advantages/disadvantages of going to either one? In your opinion, which one is 'better'?
-Thanks for your input!
-Jon

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[alanan84]

Kind of a random comparison...

 

[mamelons]

It depends. Are you a Texas resident? Do you like to freeze your butt off?

 

[JPevzner]

hows it a random question? i would just like a comparison between the two. Im not a Texas resident, im a ny resident. however, if the texas dental school is better i would consider becoming a tx resident. I hear it is insanely cheap!

 

[JPevzner]

so far san antonio is dominating. Somebody care to explain why?

 

[icedspice]

san antonio is supposed to be a very good school.
your comparison doesnt make sense to most people because texas is notorious for taking mostly in-state...

here are numbers from adea book to give you an idea : OOS applicants/interviews/enrolled
Baylor: 579/19/9
UT - Houston branch: 410/3/1
UTHSC San Antonio: 278/11/4

usually OOS ppl who apply to texas have a really strong reason to be in texas - like family lives here, etc.

 

[doc toothache]

so far san antonio is dominating. Somebody care to explain why?

You are impressed by 9 respondents?

 

[lphiewok]

UT-SA is dominating probably because they have won #1 in dental school ranking (when they were ranked back then) several times and stayed within top 5 for many years.
also tuition for instate (including everything except for living expenses) is 22,000 / year and out-of-state is 38,000.

i would say that's a damn good deal..

 

[tizom]

... in state texan obv texas..... out of state? i would choose buff

and buff isnt too cold.. people are just pussys

 

[keliao]

San Antonio is a smaller city, less to do but the D school is a great school (though, old building) its cheaper than Buffalo.

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

San Antonio is a smaller city, less to do but the D school is a great school (though, old building) its cheaper than Buffalo.

keliao, what are you smoking? San Antonio a smaller city? Do you realize that based on 2008 estimates by the US Census Bureau of cities themselves (not the metro, but the city itself) that San Antonio is the 7th largest city (1.35 million) in the US and that Buffalo is the 69th largest (270,000). If you take the metro area into consideration, the gap narrows, but SA is still well ahead in population 2.0 mil vs 1.1 mil. Now, I won't disagree that there is probably less to do there, but smaller city it is not.

 

[JPevzner]

by the poll votes it is obvious that San Antonio is the clear favorite. Now my question is: do you guys think it is worth it to go to San Antonio over Buffalo even though i am a NY state resident? (I mean how much better is it really?)

 

[alanan84]

by the poll votes it is obvious that San Antonio is the clear favorite. Now my question is: do you guys think it is worth it to go to San Antonio over Buffalo even though i am a NY state resident? (I mean how much better is it really?)

You seem pretty confident that you can go wherever you want. I hope you've got great stats...

I don't understand why you would go to San Antonio if you could get into Buffalo. I believe to be a Texas resident you need to live in the state for 2 years prior to starting school which means if you want to apply next year you'd have to move like now. That is unless you plan on getting in as an OOS to which I'd say "Good luck".

I also like how you're making decisions based off an SDN poll. Awesome.

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

You seem pretty confident that you can go wherever you want. I hope you've got great stats...

I don't understand why you would go to San Antonio if you could get into Buffalo. I believe to be a Texas resident you need to live in the state for 2 years prior to starting school which means if you want to apply next year you'd have to move like now. That is unless you plan on getting in as an OOS to which I'd say "Good luck".

I also like how you're making decisions based off an SDN poll. Awesome.

Deleted due to out of date info........ pointed out by alanan

 

[lphiewok]

by the poll votes it is obvious that San Antonio is the clear favorite. Now my question is: do you guys think it is worth it to go to San Antonio over Buffalo even though i am a NY state resident? (I mean how much better is it really?)

i think it's only worth it if you have family down south or if you want to practice in Texas. if not, i say you should go to your state school.

and both schools are very hard to get in, and esp for SA, if you are OOS your chance is very very slim. i believe last year they accepted 1 person out of 90 some people class.
and their average accepted gpa of class of 2012 was 3.78 and 3.8 sgpa, so unless you have amazing GPA from OOS, it will be hard to impress them.

 

[alanan84]

alanan, no, not 2 years. 12 months. Here is what the UT system has about residency requirements. There is more to this, but this is what appies to this individual. Here is the link if you want to read further into it.:

http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency/resfaq.html

Q. How do I establish residency?
A. One must be an independent (not claimed as a dependent for income tax purposes), US citizen or permanent resident, (have a green card, also known as card I-551 or the evidence of I-551 stamp in the passport) or international student who is eligible to establish a domicile in Texas and live in the state of Texas for 12 consecutive months and establish a domicile in Texas prior to enrollment.


Q. How do I establish a domicile in Texas?
A. A domicile in Texas is presumed if, at least 12 months prior to the census date of the semester in which he or she is to enroll, at least one of the following applies: 1) the person owns real property in Texas, 2) the person owns a business in Texas, 3) the person is married to someone who has established a domicile in Texas, 4) the person has had gainful employment other than work-study and other such student employment in Texas.

I moved here from out of state before entering d-school. I was able to prove my residency to the state because I owned a house and my wife transferred her with her job as a pharmacist with Walgreens (at the time).

That's true but look at this. From TMDSAS' website:

"Please refer to http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency for additional information, but keep in mind that TMDSAS applies these rules at the time of application and not at the time of enrollment to determine eligibility for the Texas applicant pool."

This makes it sound like you have to be a resident (lived in TX for 12 months) prior to you application being submitted. Meaning that you would have to live in TX 2 years before starting school. IDK, you have more experience with this though. I would trust your advice over my own, lol!

Regardless, it seems silly to sit out a year to gain residency in TX so that you can go to UTHSCSA instead of Buffalo. At the end of the day I'm sure you end up with the same degree and a quality education from both schools.

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

That's true but look at this. From TMDSAS' website:

"Please refer to http://www.utexas.edu/student/admissions/residency for additional information, but keep in mind that TMDSAS applies these rules at the time of application and not at the time of enrollment to determine eligibility for the Texas applicant pool."

This makes it sound like you have to be a resident (lived in TX for 12 months) prior to you application being submitted. Meaning that you would have to live in TX 2 years before starting school. IDK, you have more experience with this though. I would trust your advice over my own, lol!

Regardless, it seems silly to sit out a year to gain residency in TX so that you can go to UTHSCSA instead of Buffalo. At the end of the day I'm sure you end up with the same degree and a quality education from both schools.

It wasn't that way when I applied, but I will give that to you. Where I looked on the TMDSAS website a little bit ago, it didn't mention this. But, doing another search, I see where it says this. I retract what I said about the 12 months status as it currently is 12 months before the end of the application deadline. So, based on what the TMDSAS now states, it is a little under 2 years prior to starting school (12 months plus the time from Oct 1 until schools starts in Aug which equals to around 22-22 1/2 months). Good catch.

My bad everyone!

 

[mamelons]

San Antonio is a smaller city, less to do but the D school is a great school (though, old building) its cheaper than Buffalo.

The building may be old, but the technology is not. Every student has an operatory every day in clinic. No fighting for a chair. San Antonio was one of the first schools (if not the first) to implement laptop curriculum (VitalBooks)... we have digital radiography, paperless charting, state-of-the-art sim lab, and lots of community rotations for additional experience... i.e. hospital dentistry, oral surgery at the county hospital, pedo at neighboring community clinics, South Texas rotation in Laredo or Harlingen, etc. And we have a new student lounge too. The clinic is the best aspect by far though... not many places have the type of clinic we do.

 

[mamelons]

San Antonio is a smaller city, less to do but the D school is a great school (though, old building) its cheaper than Buffalo.

The building may be old, but the technology is not. Every student has an operatory every day in clinic. No fighting for a chair. San Antonio was one of the first schools (if not the first) to implement laptop curriculum (VitalBooks)... we have digital radiography, paperless charting, state-of-the-art sim lab, and lots of community rotations for additional experience... i.e. hospital dentistry, oral surgery at the county hospital, pedo at neighboring community clinics, South Texas rotation in Laredo or Harlingen, etc. And we have a new student lounge too. The clinic is the best aspect by far though... not many places have the type of clinic we do.

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

San Antonio was one of the first schools (if not the first) to implement laptop curriculum (VitalBooks)...

San Antonio one of I believe 7 schools that were trial schools to see if a laptop curriculum would work. My original class was the first at San Antonio to try it back in 1996. There were I beleive 10 of us that were given the laptops that year to try out. It obviously was beleived to be a benefit.

 

[Fido00]

Navy?
I don't understand your last post.

Are you still a dental student? What happened that you are still in school after being one of the first classes to use laptops in 1996.

BTW, I would like to see those laptops. I bet they were huge. I graduated HS in 96, and we had a desktop at our house that was the size of a tombstone!

GO SA!

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

Navy?
I don't understand your last post.

Are you still a dental student? What happened that you are still in school after being one of the first classes to use laptops in 1996.

BTW, I would like to see those laptops. I bet they were huge. I graduated HS in 96, and we had a desktop at our house that was the size of a tombstone!

GO SA!

I was one of those people here on SDN who were hell bent on being a physician, but realized they wanted a family life. I had everything I needed to get into most any med school (3.85 GPA/3.95 SGPS/33R on MCAT), but decided I should do dentistry because the dentists I knew had great lives. (At that time, I was engaged to a gal with twins and the life I saw around her family sucked. her dad was a neurosurgeon and he was always having to work or get paged while we were on family outings or at church.) So, without ever shadowing or really investigating what dentistry really was like, I applied to d-school. I was one of those special few that got an out of state slot into San Antonio. During yr 2, I was more interested in going out and parting and playing than going to class or studying. When I began to accept C's on exams and putting only half-assed effort into my lab projects, I knew being in d-school wasn't for me right then. So, I withdrew and joined the Navy. Years later in the Navy, I knew I wanted to do something different. I decided to look at dentistry again, but this time spent time talking to and shadowing my friends on the ship I was stationed on. I decided to give dentistry a shot again. This time, I put a lot into this before making a final decision to pursue. I got off active duty for a couple years to prepare and apply to dental school. I ended up getting a gig at Lackland AFB as a volunteer assistant for the residency programs. It was there that I really began to LOVE dentistry. I learned so much there. I was able to attend post-graduate short courses for the various specialties. I loved showig up to work every day because I knew dentistry was for me. So, I put in my application for dental school. And here I am now! Again! This time enjoying what I do.

So, this is my 2nd time in d-school. First time at SA. This time in Houston. As for the computers, no, they weren't tombstones. They weren't much larger than the ones we use today. They were just heavier. Your laptop way back when had to have been an old model when you got it because the laptop I used in college (1990-1995) wasn't much larger than the one I use today.

 

[Fido00]

Thanks for the explanation. You have a very interesting story , and there is no doubt you appreciate where you are today.

Regarding the computer, I was actually talking about a desktop, and I was embellishing a little bit

 

[NAVY DDS 2010]

Thanks for the explanation. You have a very interesting story , and there is no doubt you appreciate where you are today.

Regarding the computer, I was actually talking about a desktop, and I was embellishing a little bit

Ah, missed that. It was a Commodore 64, wasn't it?

 

[Fido00]

we didn't actually have a C 64, my parents were progressive and bought an Amiga. But, we did use the C64 quite a bit in school, but not in 1995.

 

[JPevzner]

Do you guys think it would be worth it to attend a combined 7 year program at San Antonio vs. a combined 7 year program at Buffalo? San Antonio would be about 35k cheaper than Buffalo but as I am a NY resident it might prove cumbersome trying to establish residency there even if i attend an undergrad there.

 

[tizom]

Do you guys think it would be worth it to attend a combined 7 year program at San Antonio vs. a combined 7 year program at Buffalo? San Antonio would be about 35k cheaper than Buffalo but as I am a NY resident it might prove cumbersome trying to establish residency there even if i attend an undergrad there.

i looked into the 7 yr program and decided against it because you should want to enjoy college the most you can. you dont want to cram every year, you want free time to have fun in undergrad and go out and live your life because you wont be able to do that while youre in d-school.. if you dont go out at all and dont have a social life and are dieing to make it to working life.. go for it

 

[JPevzner]

Why would i have to "cram every year"? Being in the 7 year program would actually be easier as i would only have to maintain a certain GPA and not worry about extra curriculars, research, etc. as i would already be guaranteed a spot at the d school. It would take a lot of stress off. Furthermore, who said I wouldn't go out and have a social life. Of course i would! I simply will not be in undergrad senior year. However, i certainly live up my 3 years in undergrad! My question is only this: Do you think its worth it to take the 7 year program w/ San Antonio vs. the 7 year program w/ Buffalo even though i am a NY resident? (San Antonio is supposedly cheaper than Buffalo and I would probably save approximatelly 35k if i go there instead of Buffalo.)

 

[JPevzner]

bump

 

[adizzle87]

I'm just wondering why you are so fixated on San Antonio, especially since you are an OOS resident. There are private schools that offer what you are looking for. Getting into the SA program will be hard for OOS residents. Don't mean to burst your bubble, really I don't, but I think you should look into schools that are OOS friendly and/or private institutions to open up your options.

 

[JPevzner]

I am so fixated on San Antonio because it is the cheapest dental school, and is of very high quality (or so i've heard). I am a senior in high school and could apply to San Antonio's 7 year program. However, it would be quite a hassle and i'm wondering if its worth it. I would also have to fight for residency in Texas, which i don't know how to get yet.