UW vs. Michigan vs. UoP

[meendabean]

I'm really excited to have these options, as they were all my top choices. Now I'm faced with the tough decision of where I want to go. I've already narrowed down my options quite a bit. Now I'm stuck choosing between three schools where I felt equally happy at. Where do you guys think I should go?

University of Washington
COA: $337,895
Pros: Great reputation among dentists, especially since not many out of state students are accepted. Strong clinical skills because of a number of rotations to outside clinics that all students do in their fourth year. I will have family close as well since much of my family wants to move to Washington or Oregon within the year. Seattle is also a great town with a lot of diversity and things to do when I have time. A lot of specialties available at this school.

Cons: Tuition is going up. We were warned at the interview that tuition was expected to increase by ~14%. Also, OOS students may not be able to convert residency to in state after the first year as they have been able to do in the past. The patient pool may also decrease because the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has reduced coverage of dental procedures. Many of the patients were beneficiaries of this coverage.

University of Michigan
COA: $314,195
Pros: The school has a great reputation and is #2 for NIH funding (although I'm not sure I'm very interested in research at this point). I've heard from everyone that Ann Arbor is a great town and that the college town atmosphere is great. Students also seemed slightly less stressed here than at UW or UoP. It is also the cheapest of my options. Good opportunities for specialization.

Cons: Far from family. Cold, harsh winters. Patient pool may struggle due to increasing budget cuts in Michigan.
University of the Pacific
COA: $371,698
Pros: The 3 year program seems great. I can make up the increased cost of tuition because I'll have an extra year to work and pay back loans in comparison to the other two schools. Every dentist that went here tells me they were prepared for private practice coming out of school. UoP is also extremely advanced with technology and has some of the most up to date materials and instruments. I also love San Francisco and the weather there.

Cons: Tuition is high and is expected to go up 5% per year. I also can't take a car since parking is tough to find and expensive. I wouldn't really have a car when I visit family if this was the case. Many dentists have told me that they don't believe a 3 year program is sufficient. I've also hear that UoP is cliquey but I'm not sure if this is more than any other dental school.
- Any input would be appreciated. Please let me know what you guys know or have heard about these schools. Thanks.

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[gigawatt]

Go to UoP and don't look back. Seriously. I can't see how you'd ever regret it.

And if service is at all up your alley, then take a 3-yr HPSP and you're golden.

 

[kdentg]

I'm really excited to have these options, as they were all my top choices. Now I'm faced with the tough decision of where I want to go. I've already narrowed down my options quite a bit. Now I'm stuck choosing between three schools where I felt equally happy at. Where do you guys think I should go?

University of Washington
COA: $337,895
Pros: Great reputation among dentists, especially since not many out of state students are accepted. Strong clinical skills because of a number of rotations to outside clinics that all students do in their fourth year. I will have family close as well since much of my family wants to move to Washington or Oregon within the year. Seattle is also a great town with a lot of diversity and things to do when I have time. A lot of specialties available at this school.

Cons: Tuition is going up. We were warned at the interview that tuition was expected to increase by ~14%. Also, OOS students may not be able to convert residency to in state after the first year as they have been able to do in the past. The patient pool may also decrease because the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has reduced coverage of dental procedures. Many of the patients were beneficiaries of this coverage.

University of Michigan
COA: $314,195
Pros: The school has a great reputation and is #2 for NIH funding (although I'm not sure I'm very interested in research at this point). I've heard from everyone that Ann Arbor is a great town and that the college town atmosphere is great. Students also seemed slightly less stressed here than at UW or UoP. It is also the cheapest of my options. Good opportunities for specialization.

Cons: Far from family. Cold, harsh winters. Patient pool may struggle due to increasing budget cuts in Michigan.

University of the Pacific
COA: $371,698
Pros: The 3 year program seems great. I can make up the increased cost of tuition because I'll have an extra year to work and pay back loans in comparison to the other two schools. Every dentist that went here tells me they were prepared for private practice coming out of school. UoP is also extremely advanced with technology and has some of the most up to date materials and instruments. I also love San Francisco and the weather there.

Cons: Tuition is high and is expected to go up 5% per year. I also can't take a car since parking is tough to find and expensive. I wouldn't really have a car when I visit family if this was the case. Many dentists have told me that they don't believe a 3 year program is sufficient. I've also hear that UoP is cliquey but I'm not sure if this is more than any other dental school.

Any input would be appreciated. Please let me know what you guys know or have heard about these schools. Thanks.

I could text you but I'll just respond on here since I can type faster than text. Michigan's patient pool isn't decreasing. It's one of the few schools that accepts Medicaid so they've had a large increase in patients. Also, we get all other patients in Michigan besides Detroit. I see Michigan has a strong patient base and no one has heard about struggles with fulfilling grad requirements like OHSU. I don't know what budget cuts you're talking about. Tracy and the financial aid lady said it might increase by 3-5% in terms of tuition. But every school is going to have at least a slight increase in tuition...just not 14% increase of UW or the 20% increase of OHSU.

Also, UoP might be extremely advanced in technology but you're never going to be using this technology in your practice. You're not going to spend $300,000 on the digital impressions when you get into private practice. You're not going to spend $160,000 on a CEREC. This technology might be nice but it's not going to help you become a better dentist or help you with your practice.

It's cold in Michigan, it's always raining in Seattle, it's always cloudy and foggy in SF. Good luck man.

 

[321931]

UoP all the way. I have lots of friends that attend the institution, and when there is downtime/no exams, there's so many ways to unwind in SF. Cultural events (Japan town, China Town), clubs, bars, coffee houses, trendy "scenes", bakeries, eateries, parks, recreation events, SF Giants, Warriors, concerts, Union Square shopping, scenery, top notch entertainment(imagine looking outside and seeing the Blue Angels do their maneuvers over the Bridge), Fisherman's Wharf etc etc etc.

You just can't beat a world class city. People come here from all over the world to see SF, and you are going to live in the area for 3 years. Coupled with a great education in a humanistic environment...UoP all the way. All those factors is the reason why SDN feedback and the boards is filled with:
"EVERYONE, and i mean EVERYONE loved the school"
When you visit, you'll see why this school is everyones dream school"
👍

P.S. The education at UOP is more than sufficient. Lots of people go into UoP and end up specializing. One of the posters, armorshell, is a UoP graduate and currently he is at a top OMFS program. What you heard is just a myth.

Regarding cliques, I would say, no. I know that the UoP dental school takes quite a few kids from their undergrad, pre-dent program. So it might be cliquey for them, since they "know" each other already. However, there is 140 spots. Chances are you'll definitely find your "social" group. I would think it would be much worse (cliquey wise) in schools that have 30-70 spots.

Last Edit: I know I sound like I'm all over UoP..., but out of the eight schools I visited, none ever came close to UoP's atmosphere. I fell in love instantly 😛

 

[SphericalWave]

I'll just go and out and say Michigan because I would love the opportunity to have you as my classmate. Although I didn't apply to either U of P or Washington which seem like fantastic schools, I can speak a little bit about Michigan and the environment it encompasses.

I lived in Ann Arbor pretty much all of my life(bout time I get out already😛). Yeah the winters get pretty cold, but I guess after a while you just get used to it(I suck it up a lot, believe me). The only problem is we don't get Snow Days because the campus claims we are a residential campus and therefore can walk to class(Flint and Dearborn campuses are closed because they are commuter campuses). But summer and spring are pretty pleasant here! Ann Arbor has a lot to offer over the summer such as Top of the Park, which is a summer music festival here that is pretty cool, as well as one of the nationally renowned and biggest art fairs in the U.S. Booths are lined up for days on some of the main streets of Ann Arbor in July and it is such a mind blowing experience.

There is nothing like the atmosphere on football Saturdays at the Big House and has always been passion of mine since I was young. There is nothing like it when it comes to tailgating and just going to Stadium during home games. I'm pretty sure the dental school has a tailgate at the Michigan golf course.

The dental school itself, I can say a lot of my friends love it there. Obviously I'm not in the school yet so I can't speak to everything about the school, but I guess I can speak to what I do know from my minute knowledge about the school and from what I experienced/heard. Although people rag on the school for having low board scores or not great clinical skills(I'm in the camp of your clinical skills are what you make of it), I bet you found out at the interview that out of the people who applied to grad speciality programs, only like 2-3 people didn't match into their speciality out of the several people that applied(like 2 didn't get into OS). Like Washington, from what you said, there are outreach programs in different parts of Michigan where you serve the undeserved population which I think is neat. You get to start out in clinic right away when you're a D1 by helping assist D3's I think, which will probably boost your confidence and "clinical skills" when you start seeing patients. Also, I volunteered at Michigan's Hospital in their Hospital Dentistry clinic this past year and while there, I saw 3rd years do rotations which involve helping GPR's do operating room cases on mentally compromised patients under general anesthesia as well other clinical stuff in the chairs available there(not sure if that's at other schools). You also do an OS rotation there at the hospital and while I wasn't able to see what they did on the rotation, I bet it was some pretty neat stuff involving the OR in the trauma unit as well typical cases of removing wisdom teeth(I got my wisdom teeth pulled at the Hospital by I believe this Spanish lady who is the director of the undergraduate OS clinic at the school). The attending GPR director is a really cool guy and is a prosthodontist, so it was neat learning some of the many facets of prosthodontics. U of M's hospital is 14th in the nation so you can't really go wrong there. I also get dental checkups at the school by the faculty and my dentist teaches the D1's, she seems nice as a person. Whether that translates to the classroom is up for debate but from what my friends say at the school, they like their faculty teachers.

The Michigan name is a national brand in a lot of things by continuosly being ranked as one of the best public insitutions in the country. I went here for undergrad and I think there is a ranking company that has put us at 15th in the world as an institution(U.S. News rankings from what I hear?, a lot of the grad programs are ranked really high here too). I happened to be perusing the internet today for "unofficial" dental school rankings and while at the end of the day you'll be a competent and good dentist wherever you go/dental school rankings don't matter, Michigan would always pop up as a "top" dental school. From what I hear(so take it with a grain of salt), some of the past ADA presidents have come from Michigan. I think the current one is from Michigan.

These are some things to think about but in the end make the decision on where you think you'll be the happiest. Dental school is probably going to be what you make out of it, so pick the place you think gives you that opportunity. Although I'm rooting for you to come to Michigan for the reasons above, you can't go wrong with the other schools because they are equally fantastic. Good luck!

 

[armorshell]

Also, UoP might be extremely advanced in technology but you're never going to be using this technology in your practice. You're not going to spend $300,000 on the digital impressions when you get into private practice. You're not going to spend $160,000 on a CEREC. This technology might be nice but it's not going to help you become a better dentist or help you with your practice.

It's cold in Michigan, it's always raining in Seattle, it's always cloudy and foggy in SF. Good luck man.

The digital impression unit (iTero) is actually only around $20,000. The E4D is a fun toy but I doubt it would significantly affect anyone's education. Having endo microscopes, endo ultrasonic instruments, and ISOLITES available to basically any dental student is a huge deal. It ramps up your endo training significantly and having isolites around makes a massive difference for getting things done quickly. Isolites are something you might actually take to practice with you as well. Some of the technology will help you become a better dentist, but you can certainly become an excellent one without any of it.

 

[armorshell]

Regarding cliques, I would say, no. I know that the UoP dental school takes quite a few kids from their undergrad, pre-dent program. So it might be cliquey for them, since they "know" each other already. However, there is 140 spots. Chances are you'll definitely find your "social" group. I would think it would be much worse (cliquey wise) in schools that have 30-70 spots.

I can only speak for my class, but it's unreasonable not to expect 140 people to group up with people they tend to hang out with more. However, I can't think of a single person in my class that if I ran into them at Harry's, I wouldn't be 100% comfortable sitting down and having a conversation with. Everyone tends to get along very well at Pacific.

 

[armorshell]

University of the Pacific
COA: $371,698
Pros: The 3 year program seems great. I can make up the increased cost of tuition because I'll have an extra year to work and pay back loans in comparison to the other two schools. Every dentist that went here tells me they were prepared for private practice coming out of school. UoP is also extremely advanced with technology and has some of the most up to date materials and instruments. I also love San Francisco and the weather there.

Cons: Tuition is high and is expected to go up 5% per year. I also can't take a car since parking is tough to find and expensive. I wouldn't really have a car when I visit family if this was the case. Many dentists have told me that they don't believe a 3 year program is sufficient. I've also hear that UoP is cliquey but I'm not sure if this is more than any other dental school.
- Any input would be appreciated. Please let me know what you guys know or have heard about these schools. Thanks.

I had a car for 2 years in SF and parked on the street. Street parking is $70 a year and it wasn't a hassle at all. Got a parking ticket maybe once every few months but that's the cost of doing business (and my laziness/forgetfulness about moving it for street cleaning). Another option might be Zipcar/City Car Share, which I did my first year. Cheap and makes getting groceries/short trips insanely easy.

I have never heard anyone suggest my education might be inferior simply because I finished in 3 years. However, if anyone DOES suggest that, you can remind them that the ADA, ADEA, the AGD, every specialty board, and every state and regional licensing board in this country and Canada think differently. But hey, what do THEY know, right?

 

[armorshell]

As far as where you should go, $60,000 is a significant amount of money. You will finish a year early through Pacific, and you need to determine how valuable that is to you. If it's worth $60,000 (Or enough to get you close enough) then you should go to Pacific. If it's not, then Michigan.

Also remember though, that your loans will capitalize for an additional year (While you're in school) should you choose to attend UM. Given the COA, they'll likely accrue around $15,000 of interest during your 4th year. So the "true" COA at UM is about $15,000 higher since you will capitalize less interest at Pacific (Because the loans only have 3 years to capitalize).

 

[meendabean]

Thank you guys for the posts full of insight. When I have all of the interviews running through my mind, I forget some important aspects of the different schools. Keep the posts coming. I really appreciate all of the well thought out posts that don't simply say go where it's cheapest or go where you're happy. I can see myself at all of the schools but all of these little things are helping. If you think of anything else let me know.

You're not going to spend $300,000 on the digital impressions when you get into private practice. You're not going to spend $160,000 on a CEREC. This technology might be nice but it's not going to help you become a better dentist or help you with your practice.

It's cold in Michigan, it's always raining in Seattle, it's always cloudy and foggy in SF. Good luck man.

I honestly don't know a lot about all of the technology and what is most useful and what isn't. But I had heard a lot of bad things about the CEREC previously, like the crowns not seating correctly or margins being off. I've now heard they improved upon the machines a great deal and I see this as being a possibility in my practice. However, technology isn't the absolute most important thing in my decision because all of these schools has fairly recently updated equipment. UoP is ahead and likes to update often but if there's a particular piece of technology I want to use, I could do a CE course on it or pay the company to teach me. So I see your point.

Go to UoP and don't look back. Seriously. I can't see how you'd ever regret it.

And if service is at all up your alley, then take a 3-yr HPSP and you're golden.

I did actually go the service route. For some reason or another, I got denied after making it through the physical and everything else. Who knows why. I tried contacting another branch and found out that all of the 3 year scholarships are up. Oh well I guess. I don't think I'll apply for the 4 year scholarship now. But that's a whole 'nother discussion thread.

The Michigan name is a national brand in a lot of things by continuosly being ranked as one of the best public insitutions in the country. I went here for undergrad and I think there is a ranking company that has put us at 15th in the world as an institution(U.S. News rankings from what I hear?, a lot of the grad programs are ranked really high here too). I happened to be perusing the internet today for "unofficial" dental school rankings and while at the end of the day you'll be a competent and good dentist wherever you go/dental school rankings don't matter, Michigan would always pop up as a "top" dental school. From what I hear(so take it with a grain of salt), some of the past ADA presidents have come from Michigan. I think the current one is from Michigan.

Exactly my thoughts. I've seen the rankings and for some reason UoP is generally not found in these unofficial sorts of rankings. I'm not sure why that is. But I do take them with a big grain of salt. UW and Michigan are generally neck and neck as far as research funding and unofficial rankings. Thanks for all of your input and I just might see you in Ann Arbor. Who knows.

 

[meendabean]

I had a car for 2 years in SF and parked on the street. Street parking is $70 a year and it wasn't a hassle at all. Got a parking ticket maybe once every few months but that's the cost of doing business (and my laziness/forgetfulness about moving it for street cleaning). Another option might be Zipcar/City Car Share, which I did my first year. Cheap and makes getting groceries/short trips insanely easy.

How did you manage parking for $70 a year?! A car seems important to me right now. I have family all over and friends only a few hours away. A car would be nice so I could just drive places over breaks and weekends rather than fly.

 

[armorshell]

Exactly my thoughts. I've seen the rankings and for some reason UoP is generally not found in these unofficial sorts of rankings. I'm not sure why that is. But I do take them with a big grain of salt. UW and Michigan are generally neck and neck as far as research funding and unofficial rankings. Thanks for all of your input and I just might see you in Ann Arbor. Who knows.

Put ZERO credence in the unofficial dental school rankings you can find by searching around. The most prominent one is by toptennation, and has literally no methodology. Some simply 'decided' what their top ten were, and posted it on the internet. Sadly, due to desperate searches by pre-dents it has managed to receive a relatively high index by the major search engines. However, anyone who purports to be able to rank dental schools is doing no more than just putting them in order based on their own heavily flawed knowledge.

Wondering about who is and is not a "top program" is a tail chase in dentistry. The only people who care about these kind of things are pre-dents and dental students. The minute you step outside of your dental school, no one is ever going to ask or care where you went to dental school again.

 

[armorshell]

How did you manage parking for $70 a year?! A car seems important to me right now. I have family all over and friends only a few hours away. A car would be nice so I could just drive places over breaks and weekends rather than fly.

That's how much a street parking permit costs. (http://www.sfmta.com/cms/pperm/indxpkperm.htm)

Looks like they've actually raised the price to $95 now though.

 

[meendabean]

That's how much a street parking permit costs. (http://www.sfmta.com/cms/pperm/indxpkperm.htm)

Looks like they've actually raised the price to $95 now though.

thanks! Did you get tickets just because you didn't move your car every 3 days? How much were the tickets?

 

[armorshell]

thanks! Did you get tickets just because you didn't move your car every 3 days? How much were the tickets?

It's not every three days. It's a certain time every month the street cleaner comes (For example, 1st and 3rd Tuesdays from 7:00-8:00am in front of my apartment). Lots of times I wouldn't have to move my car for a week and a half at a time. Most of the time when I got a ticket I just forgot that I had to move the car because I didn't set an alarm on my phone like an idiot.

On the weekends you can park at the UoP parking lot too (for free).

Tickets were around $60 when I was there.

 

[Noelle23]

Good luck finding a parking space!!

thanks! Did you get tickets just because you didn't move your car every 3 days? How much were the tickets?

 

[armorshell]

Good luck finding a parking space!!

I parked on the street for 2 years in SF without ever having to walk more than a few blocks from my apartment to my car.

 

[Noelle23]

I parked on the street for 2 years in SF without ever having to walk more than a few blocks from my apartment to my car.

When I interviewed at UCSF not one person thought it was a good idea to bring a car to SF. And I talked with people all over NorCal when I was looking for a place to live. In fact, people gave me this advice unsolicited.

You are the very first person that said parking was easy.

 

[Kahr]

I parked on the street for 2 years in SF without ever having to walk more than a few blocks from my apartment to my car.

If you don't mind saying, where was your apartment relative to UoP?

 

[armorshell]

If you don't mind saying, where was your apartment relative to UoP?

1.5 blocks away

 

[lnngu]

When I interviewed at UCSF not one person thought it was a good idea to bring a car to SF. And I talked with people all over NorCal when I was looking for a place to live. In fact, people gave me this advice unsolicited.

You are the very first person that said parking was easy.

I was in SF looking at apartments last Sunday in Pac Heights. My head almost exploded circling around for a parking spot.

I think you're supposed to move your car every 72h: "A permitted vehicle will be subject to violation and towing if parked more than 72 hours in one spot. The vehicle must be moved 1 block or one tenth of a mile." Sounds like they may not enforce it from what Armorshell said, though.
http://www.sfmta.com/cms/pperm/13442.html

 

[kdentg]

Yeah let's keep talking about parking like that's going to be a deciding factor for which school you pick. Half of this thread is on parking. If this is how someone is gonna justify their bias on which school you should pick then.... SF parking sucks, in Ann Arbor you don't have to ever park cuz you'll walk or take the bus everywhere, and who the hell knows about Seattle's parking.

-"So how did you decide on which world-renown school to attend?"
-"Oh [this school] had better parking!"

 

[lnngu]

Shrug... salient point, but if I'm not mistaken, the OP was asking about it?

 

[Machiavelliansm]

-"So how did you decide on which world-renown school to attend?"
-"Oh [this school] had better parking!"

lol. actually only two of the three schools are really world-renowned.

 

[lnngu]

Your sig doesn't fail to make me chuckle. Sooo...where did you get a ranking of world re-nowns, by schools? 😛

 

[Machiavelliansm]

Your sig doesn't fail to make me chuckle. Sooo...where did you get a ranking of world re-nowns, by schools? 😛

lol, I would say most people outside of california (or even the bay area) probably haven't heard of UoP..not saying it's a sub-par dental school in any way, just not "world-renowned".

P.S. there are plenty good quotes to go around for more sigs 😉

 

[321931]

lol. actually only two of the three schools are really world-renowned.

I disagree with all of the above. It's all relative. I would consider IVYs and a few select "public" IVYs to be world renowned. Not like it matters anyways. 🙂

 

[armorshell]

lol, I would say most people outside of california (or even the bay area) probably haven't heard of UoP..not saying it's a sub-par dental school in any way, just not "world-renowned".

Yeah, it's really unfortunate. How "world-reknowned" my dental school was comes up every single day.

 

[meendabean]

K back to the main point. Hopefully I get more input. I'm going to be doing a lot of research this weekend and next week. One option at UW may be to get a thing called a "tuition waver" after my first year by meeting certain requirements. This would mean in state tuition then and greatly reduced total cost. This would only take effect after a year of OOS tuition I believe. I'm going to research it more tomorrow and figure out a new COA if that will be an option for me.

 

[Spit]

K back to the main point. Hopefully I get more input. I'm going to be doing a lot of research this weekend and next week. One option at UW may be to get a thing called a "tuition waver" after my first year by meeting certain requirements. This would mean in state tuition then and greatly reduced total cost. This would only take effect after a year of OOS tuition I believe. I'm going to research it more tomorrow and figure out a new COA if that will be an option for me.

UW stopped doing that, they are already having to raise tuition as is to make up for budget cuts so I don't think they can offer that to OOS anymore.

 

[kdentg]

Wait...

Armorshell, it says that you're a Medical Student...you're talking like you go to UoP's dental school. So are you a dental or a medical student?

 

[lnngu]

Wait...

Armorshell, it says that you're a Medical Student...you're talking like you go to UoP's dental school. So are you a dental or a medical student?

He's a UoP grad who's doing OMFS... geez, know your SDN lore!

 

[peerless218]

I could text you but I'll just respond on here since I can type faster than text. Michigan's patient pool isn't decreasing. It's one of the few schools that accepts Medicaid so they've had a large increase in patients. Also, we get all other patients in Michigan besides Detroit. I see Michigan has a strong patient base and no one has heard about struggles with fulfilling grad requirements like OHSU. I don't know what budget cuts you're talking about. Tracy and the financial aid lady said it might increase by 3-5% in terms of tuition. But every school is going to have at least a slight increase in tuition...just not 14% increase of UW or the 20% increase of OHSU.

Also, UoP might be extremely advanced in technology but you're never going to be using this technology in your practice. You're not going to spend $300,000 on the digital impressions when you get into private practice. You're not going to spend $160,000 on a CEREC. This technology might be nice but it's not going to help you become a better dentist or help you with your practice.

It's cold in Michigan, it's always raining in Seattle, it's always cloudy and foggy in SF. Good luck man.

I've been living in SF for quite a while now, I haven't really experienced much fog in the mornings. Coudly wise...ya I'll say it's cloudly and little bit windy but not bad. You're going to be at school or studying somewhere indoors, I really don't think the weather matters that much.

 

[peerless218]

I can only speak for my class, but it's unreasonable not to expect 140 people to group up with people they tend to hang out with more. However, I can't think of a single person in my class that if I ran into them at Harry's, I wouldn't be 100% comfortable sitting down and having a conversation with. Everyone tends to get along very well at Pacific.

+1 for my class👍👍👍 Not everyone are going to become best friends but we're definitely very friendly toward one another.

 

[lmaozedong1]

+1 for my class👍👍👍 Not everyone are going to become best friends but we're definitely very friendly toward one another.

Maybe you're not their friends b/c you're "peerless." 👍

...totally kidding by the way.

 

[peerless218]

No I am peerless because everyone is better than me. I stand alone on the bottom

 

[meendabean]

UW stopped doing that, they are already having to raise tuition as is to make up for budget cuts so I don't think they can offer that to OOS anymore.

I spoke to someone at the school today in the admissions office and she told me that it is almost 100% set that students will no longer have that option starting with next year's accepted students. I'm going to talk to someone tomorrow that is a student trying to get the tuition waiver right now to double check. If I am still able to get a tuition waiver after my first year, my tuition will be $240,000 (if they don't raise tuition which I know is almost certain, just not how much).

Another question I have for peerless or armorshell and any other dental students at UW or Michigan, how many chairs are available? Does each student have their own chair for patient visits or do you have to schedule? If so, is there any trouble getting a chair ever? Please be totally honest.

My other question for all three schools is whether exams are in large blocks with multiple exams in one or two weeks or if they are spread out with one or two exams a week just about every week?