UOP Only 3 Years

[Awuah29]

Am I right guys,
UOP , only 3 years of Dental School? Are there any advantages and disadvantages? I mean come on guys 3 Years Dental school . I guess those students that attend UOP do not have life ? Am I correct or wrong ? Another question is if it is hard to get into UOP. Let say I am from out of state. What's the distribution?
Thanks for your contribution

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[Barry20]

There's another thread with this same topic. But to answer your questions, here goes.

Yes, it's only 3 years, but you pay for 4 years tuition, which is ~$50K/year. It's great if you want to be a GP. At my interview, it seemed as though everyone loved the school. They do have social lives, just not as many breaks. UOP is a private school, which means they give no preference to in or out of state applicants. And yes, it's tough to get in, but all schools are difficult to get into. You need a higher DAT score than many other schools along with other things, of course.

 

[bingpredent]

Not sure if this would work for UOP...if it does, it's worth considering.

If you can, sign up for military scholarship. That's 3 for 3 (i think). It's the best military deal ever!

 

[koobpheej]

Not sure if this would work for UOP...if it does, it's worth considering.

If you can, sign up for military scholarship. That's 3 for 3 (i think). It's the best military deal ever!

Not true. UOP organizes its 3 calendar years into 4 fiscal years. if you do military scholarship at uop, it's 3 for 4 or 2.5 for 3 etc.

 

[ItsGavinC]

I didn't know that fiscal years mattered with the Air Force scholarship. My impression was that you owed what they payed for in terms of scholastic calendar years So, if you are. That is, if you have the scholarship prior to matriculating, and graduate as a DS3, then you owe the 3.

It sounds as though you have much better info than I do on this matter, though.

 

[KDBuff]

Gavin, you are correct. I would know as I am taking a Navy scholarship. I owe three years of service. This payback does not include a GPR as it used to, but wouldn't for any other four year school either. Meanin I would owe four if I decided to do a GPR, and a recipient of any other school would owe five in this situation.

 

[HBomb]

I interviewed at UOP, and every student at UOP I talked to liked it. They treat you really well compared to the dental school across town. I have a few friends that graduated from UOP, and they all had good experiences. So basically, no one from the UOP family has ever told me they didn't like it there. I think it has a lot to do with their "humanistic" approach where the faculty treats you as a peer from day one. Also, I think that they have all the resources there to help you become a successful dentist.

The downside is that it's expensive. Tuition and living expenses for 3 years are $206K and $51K. Here's the link:
http://www.dental.uop.edu/finaid/DDS/cost_of_attendence.htm

But what I did want to point out was that even though 200K+ is a lot, it's actually a good thing that you are charged every 9 months (their academic year is 9 months). As many of us know, the max federal Stafford loan is $38.5K per year. So now you have the ability to cap that every 9 months, so the amount of private loans required is less.

I don't know about other schools, but when I compare it to UCSF, it's very financially viable, meaning I think it's actually cheaper to go to UOP. UCSF, after 4 years with cost of living, adds up to $199K. UOP adds up to $257, but you get to work one year earlier. So is that extra year worth $58K? I really think it is financially worth it...but then there are other factors in chosing a dental school beside cost.

FYI, here's the link to UCSF's budget:
http://saawww.ucsf.edu/financial/general/budget.htm