University of Washington school of dentistry - Should I transfer??

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Parklife

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First of all do what makes you happy, that's the bottom line. Do not hesitate to leave the school you are currently attending. In fact I have some regrets for going to this school for 4 years, however, the education made it worth it. I would rate the social life here a 5/10 at best.

Second of all you don't necessarily need to go to a school that has grad programs, but of course it couldn't hurt. For example just because you complete UW's dental or pharmacology program does not improve the odds of you getting into the graduate program (this should be confirmed by another SDN member). In order to become a WA resident you may want to check out this website and use google to your advantage of course. http://access.wa.gov/living/resources/residency.aspx

Best of luck in your endeavors and live life to the fullest! :D

Hardline
 
First of all do what makes you happy, that's the bottom line. Do not hesitate to leave the school you are currently attending. In fact I have some regrets for going to this school for 4 years, however, the education made it worth it. I would rate the social life here a 5/10 at best.

Second of all you don't necessarily need to go to a school that has grad programs, but of course it couldn't hurt. For example just because you complete UW's dental or pharmacology program does not improve the odds of you getting into the graduate program (this should be confirmed by another SDN member). In order to become a WA resident you may want to check out this website and use google to your advantage of course. http://access.wa.gov/living/resources/residency.aspx

Best of luck in your endeavors and live life to the fullest! :D

Hardline

Thanks for the information. Can anyone shed some light on the dental schools at both of these schools? I don't know how to judge dental schools. I have focused on pharmacy for now. I judged pharmacy schools based on NAPLEX pass rate and US news rankings(just to get an estimate. I know it's not the best way to judge pharmacy schools) but I don't know what dentists have to pass.
 
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First of all do what makes you happy, that's the bottom line. Do not hesitate to leave the school you are currently attending. In fact I have some regrets for going to this school for 4 years, however, the education made it worth it. I would rate the social life here a 5/10 at best.

Second of all you don't necessarily need to go to a school that has grad programs, but of course it couldn't hurt. For example just because you complete UW's dental or pharmacology program does not improve the odds of you getting into the graduate program (this should be confirmed by another SDN member). In order to become a WA resident you may want to check out this website and use google to your advantage of course. http://access.wa.gov/living/resources/residency.aspx

Best of luck in your endeavors and live life to the fullest! :D

Hardline

Confirmed. Unless one decides to make connections with the school's dental faculty and get them to personally know your name; then again, who really knows.
 
Confirmed. Unless one decides to make connections with the school's dental faculty and get them to personally know your name; then again, who really knows.

Well even if it doesn't help. Everything else aside, at least you won't have to get acclimated to going to a new school. College is such a big switch from high school. Professional school may be less of a jump but it's still a jump.

Anyone know anything about UW's dental school?
 
Interesting. Why do you singe out the UW?

Your from Georgia, no? Do you know what the weather is like up here? haha. The UW has a great dental school, and is very well respected! The only downside I can think of at the moment is the older facilities, and some patient issues right now that are hurting it... However, by the time you start as a D1, the patient issues should be resolved by then. Also, going to the UW will NOT increase your chances of attending the UWSOD. It should be noted that the UWSOD is very competitive! My stats are above their averages and even knowing people that teach there, I was not able to get in. With state residency, and great stats, you still have a high risk of not attending. Saying this though, its still doable. :)

If I was in your shoes, I would either move to Texas, or Cali. Both states have a lot of great schools which opens up your options and improves your chances of attending. Additionally, the weather in either state will not be a shock to you. Texas might get the edge IMO because its a cheaper place to live and attend dental school.

Best of luck! :thumbup:
 
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Interesting. Why do you singe out the UW?

Your from Georgia, no? Do you know what the weather is like up here? haha. The UW has a great dental school, and is very well respected! The only downside I can think of at the moment is the older facilities, and some patient issues right now that are hurting it... However, by the time you start as a D1, the patient issues should be resolved by then. Also, going to the UW will NOT increase your chances of attending the UWSOD. It should be noted that the UWSOD is very competitive! My stats are above their averages and I even knowing people that teach there, I was not able to get in. With state residency, and great stats, you still have a high risk of not attending. Saying this though, its still doable. :)

If I was in your shoes, I would either move to Texas, or Cali. Both states have a lot of great schools which opens up your options and improves your chances of attending. Additionally, the weather in either state will not be a shock to you. Texas might get the edge IMO because its a cheaper place to live and attend dental school.

Best of luck! :thumbup:

I can't stand the heat, and Texas is not somewhere I want to live anyways. Cali might be an option, but the cost of living is very high..even if I were to go to UCSD for undergrad and get into UCSF I'm not sure if I could justify the costs. My parents are willing to foot the bill, but I have to be practical. Yes, I want an undergrad experience for a lifetime and maybe even set up legacy for my kids, but I don't want my parents paying 150k for a degree I will not end up using..

Could you direct me to a site where I can comprehensively compare the stats of all these dental schools? For pharmacy, there is a pdf PSAR that has the info for all schools. It's very helpful. It shows the pre-reqs, gpa/PCAT score, out of state and in state acceptance rate etc.

Is there something like this for dentistry?

If not, can you give me the stats for UWSOD and OSUSOD?

Thanks for all your help guys
 
The prestige or change of an undergrad institution yields no advantage towards future applications. Move if you want to move, but dont move for the sake of an imaginary acceptance to UW dental school.
 
The prestige or change of an undergrad institution yields no advantage towards future applications. Move if you want to move, but dont move for the sake of an imaginary acceptance to UW dental school.

It might make some impact because an A from my school is not an A from UW.. lol also the dental school apparently accepts very few out of states.

I want to move because I'm miserable at my current school. It was my safety. I know it won't guarantee my acceptance to UW dental.

Anyone else?
 
I would chose Texas in a heart beat! Schools are super cheap. But I am pretty sure you don't get residency from just going to undergrad. I am pretty sure you have to move to a state for a job or something... Not a 100%

But like mentioned UW is not easy to get into even if in state. But like I told you earlier, research and volunteer is key with good stats.

Also don't forget its a wichi state or whatever which means a lot of people from Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming get pretty much instate treatment (or what seems like it).


I would chose Texas 10x over Washington. school will cost less then 100k and you wont be paying out the butt for rent to live in 300 days of gray and rain.
 
It might make some impact because an A from my school is not an A from UW.. lol also the dental school apparently accepts very few out of states.

I want to move because I'm miserable at my current school. It was my safety. I know it won't guarantee my acceptance to UW dental.

Anyone else?

Your point only holds true if person A and B are one in the same and all that differs between both applicants is that one person went to clown college and the other went to Harvard then of course the Harvard grad would be selected. However, cases are rarely (I want to say never) this cut and dry, making your assumption null. If anything, getting a 4.0 at a easy school and doing well the DAT will trump the guy who put in 400-500% more effort to get a 3.6 at a competitive school.

Your decision should be based on how happy you feel you'll be at the school and the possible instate schools you can attend. Not whether or not you feel prestige factors in your application (which has been proven time and time again to really have very little to do with your application).
 
That leads to another question: Why is it like that?

That's so stupid.. People who go to harder schools should be more competitive. Med/pharm/dent schools SHOULD look at undergrad location.

It's like high school GPA.. i went to the number 1 high school in my state at any other school I would have gotten a 4.3
 
That leads to another question: Why is it like that?

That's so stupid.. People who go to harder schools should be more competitive. Med/pharm/dent schools SHOULD look at undergrad location.

It's like high school GPA.. i went to the number 1 high school in my state at any other school I would have gotten a 4.3

Because "prestige" is a very intangible thing. How can you really compare one school from the next? You cannot. There are far too many other influencing factors that effect someones grades. Furthermore, where do you start drawing the line? If a 3.5 at your school is not equal to a 3.5 at the UW, then what is it equal to? a 3.4? 3.3? Even if you did decide on what it is equivalent to, how do you determine it? One final thing to add is that comparing school grades by prestige adds a whole heck of a lot of personal bias to this already biased process... Why add that extra more? lol
 
Because "prestige" is a very intangible thing. How can you really compare one school from the next? You cannot. There are far too many other influencing factors that effect someones grades. Furthermore, where do you start drawing the line? If a 3.5 at your school is not equal to a 3.5 at the UW, then what is it equal to? a 3.4? 3.3? Even if you did decide on what it is equivalent to, how do you determine it? One final thing to add is that comparing school grades by prestige adds a whole heck of a lot of personal bias to this already biased process... Why add that extra more? lol

I mean it would make everyone more competitive as it is. You would get the best FROM the best..not the best from the subpar.

Ah whatever. Can you tell me more about UW dental and UW in general? I know you applied there.
 
I mean it would make everyone more competitive as it is. You would get the best FROM the best..not the best from the subpar.

Ah whatever. Can you tell me more about UW dental and UW in general? I know you applied there.

More about UW dental? Not really... lol. What you will find when you start to interview is that a lot of the schools out there are essentially the same. You learn the same general sciences and the same general procedures. It also seems that most schools also have the same general facilities (some newer than others). Granted, there are differences here and there, but overall, your still getting that same DDS/DMD no matter where you go. Remember, I simply applied to the UW. I'm not attending, so I'm no UW expert lol. Your best way to get more info is by talking to current students (preferably D3 or D4).

Best of luck! :thumbup:
 
It might make some impact because an A from my school is not an A from UW.. lol also the dental school apparently accepts very few out of states.

I want to move because I'm miserable at my current school. It was my safety. I know it won't guarantee my acceptance to UW dental.

Anyone else?

There's no proof for the bolded statement and it most likely will not have any impact since school prestige is of zero help in d-school admissions.
 
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