Where??

[twiztedpaki]

What school would you pick.. UIC, Buffalo, or Pittsburgh?

 

[twiztedpaki]

vote now.. while supplies last?

 

[dddsmack]

You are misisng a choice.......None of the above.........

 

[DocPainless]

You are out of state for all three schools since you indicate that you are in Florida. Of the three schools, UIC is by far the most expensive: $240,000. I understand picking between Buffalo and Pitt ($120,000 and $150,000). But why even consider UIC?

 

[twiztedpaki]

Well.. from my calculations Pitt is more around 250,000 but you are right about Buffalo being cheap. I was considering UIC because it is in Chicago and (according to what people are saying on SDN) I could attain residency after the first year which would probably make UIC nearly as expensive as Buffalo. I'm on the wait list at UF and Nova, so until something miraculous happens I'm headed out of state.

 

[diane07]

Honestly . . . you should never rely on HEARSAY from a chat board when making important decisions. Twiztedpaki . . . I'm not trying to knock you, actually I'm trying to help you. On that other UIC thread I did recommend you contact the school regarding in state tuition. However, since you seem to believe the one SDN poster who told you that you could get in state residency, I'm going to cut and paste quotes that are directly from UIC's website.

1. What do I, an independent student, have to do to become an Illinois resident for tuition purposes?
The University of Illinois requires that you be a bona fide resident of Illinois for one calendar year prior to the term for which you are applying for resident status. The University's requirements to establish residency may be different than other Illinois institutions of higher education or government agencies. Bona fide residency involves being gainfully employed and actually living in the state for one year, and taking other specific actions which link you to the state of Illinois. It also requires that you reside in Illinois primarily for reasons that are not related to receiving an education. It's important that actions be completed before the beginning of the term in which you are attempting to establish residency.
1. What do I, a dependent student, have to do to become an Illinois resident for tuition purposes?
It is assumed that a dependent student's residency follows his/her parent's. If a family moves to Illinois because of an employment opportunity for the family breadwinner, the dependent student is eligible for resident tuition at the start of the next academic term.
2. How important is registering to vote and getting a driver's license/or an Illinois identification card?
These actions signify intent to reside in Illinois for other than educational purposes. If eligible, you would be expected to hold the voter's registration and the driver's license or identification card for at least one calendar year prior to the term for which you are seeking resident status.
3. What is meant by gainful employment?
Gainful employment means that you earn income and file and pay taxes in Illinois on income sufficient to meet one-half of tuition, fees and normal living expenses for a one-year period. Loans from parents or support from a relative in Illinois does not constitute self-sufficiency or gainful employment, for example. Employment during the summer terms alone does not fulfill either gainful employment or the one-year requirement.

That whole bit about "residing in Illinois primarily for reasons that are not related to receiving an education" knocks out being able to receive residency for tuition purposes. And working for one year to meet the required "one-half of tuition, fees, normal living expenses" means you'd have to be pulling a pretty decent salary!

Sorry to disappoint you with this information. But hopefully knowing the facts will help you make an informed decision. And again . . . don't go on hearsay from a chat board when it's this important of a decision. It took me all of 30 seconds to look up that info on UIC's website. I was trying to be nice and help you out because I figured you'd be in for a rough surprise if you waltzed into UIC not expecting it to have one of the most expensive dental school price tags around.

 

[DocPainless]

If you can't get Illinois residency, which seems like you can't base on Diane's post, then Illinois is definitely not worth it. Just the tuition alone is $240,000 total (4 years). This makes it a lot more expensive that all private schools, including University of Pennsylvania. Buffalo's on the other hand is about $120,000 total just for the tuition alone not counting how easy it is to get residency (?). And Pitt is about $150,000 and I know that it is pretty difficult to get residency.

How good each school is varies depending on who you ask. I like Pitt because the living cost is pretty cheap, yet it is smack located in a decently sized clean and safe city. You could seriously get a two bedroom apartment for less than $700/month. They recently renovated their facilities and their sim-lab is pretty good. The school also has a pretty good reputation in healthcare (UIC and Buffalo are not ranked, nevertheless, they are still great schools):

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/brief/mdrrank_brief.php
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/honorroll.htm

It is seriously one of the best bargains out there.

 

[twiztedpaki]

Thanks diane... I'd be a fool to decide anything based of the forums and heresay alone. I'm well aware of the requirements of gaining residency (actually I did a little 30 sec search of my own before hand), but thanks for providing an exact quotation from the website. I've got some time to make my decision and I wanted to get an idea of what others thought... hence the poll. But im greatful to people like you who actually take some time out to try to help others on the forum

 

[Fuji]

I picked Pittsburgh because I like the Steelers.

 

[diane07]

twiztedpaki . . . no problem!

Congratulations on getting in! I'm sure it's a good feeling to have three schools to choose from! You must be a pretty top notch candidate because UIC only accepts a fraction from out of state. I'm definitely impressed anyway!

Another thing to consider, how likely would you be to work in the state where you went to dental school? That could be another factor in your decision.

Chicago's a great sports town and if you like the midwest, it could be a good fit. If you think you might want to settle in Illinois, then it might be worth it for the contacts, friends you make, ect - despite the cost!

 

[twiztedpaki]

Wow... if UIC had one more vote then it would be all tied up. I was expecting more conclusive results