Choosing Your Dental School
Researching about dental programs across the nation is a hassle. You constantly have 10+ tabs open in search of information to try and convince yourself that this school is the one for you. There are 66 dental schools spread out in the United States. For comparison, there are 141 accredited MD (Doctor of Medicine) granting institutions 34 accredited DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) granting institutions in the United States. While you can always search on the school website for most general information, there is no reality check about the school’s program. It’s all just highlights as to why this school’s program is great. And chances are, applicants are not going to fly out to all the schools they’re applying to for a tour after dropping hundreds to thousands of dollars to send out their applications.
1. What are your priorities?
Choosing which dental school to apply to really comes down to what your priorities are. Everyone is going to have different priorities so there really is no right or wrong way when it comes to choosing a program. Some questions you have to ask yourself are:
Do you want to stay close to home?
Do you want to experience a new area?
How much does the program cost?
Are you trying to specialize?
Do you want to be involved in research?
Do you care about the school name?
Do you to go to where many of your friends are?
From many threads and talking with other students, tuition cost, location, and class culture seem to always be the hot topics. There are certainly other criteria to judge a program such as clinical graduation requirements, patient acquisition aid, how early students start their clinical, is there a strong mentor relationship with students, and what resources are available to observe other specialists. However, they typically are not the common deciding factors when it comes down to it.
Tuition
Dental school is a heavy investment and many students graduate with around $300,000–$500,000 in school debt…and we all know how unforgiving interest rates can be. I have heard people say that unless you are super passionate on specializing, pick the cheaper school. Because at the end of the day, you are still going to be a dentist. Even if you decide to pick a more expensive program, how disciplined you are with money, and how quickly you can pay off debt is another matter on its own.
Location
Four years of dental school is no walk in the park. Students are sleep deprived, stressed, always studying, and just trying to get through each day at a time. So how else can they make their experience more enjoyable? By the location their program is in. I have met dental students who have lost passion for dentistry because their program was not in an ideal location for them. So think, what location could lift my mood up through school? Is it a coastal area? A city? A rural area?
Class Culture
Each program’s class size is roughly around 100 people, except for New York University. Class culture can also make or break a student’s dental experience. For the next four years, you will constantly be around the same people. Some cultures can be family-oriented where everyone is trying to help each other out. Other cultures can be cut-throat and competitive. Which one would you rather be a part of?
2. Resources to help your research
While figuring out which school I wanted to apply to, I got tired of flipping through dental school websites to see all of them advertising the same content: achievements, research, facilities, etc. How is that supposed to make filtering any easier? So I decided to search for information from other sources where I could get a more honest opinion. Here is a list of resources I used to get a more holistic view of some of the programs:
- Student Doctor Network
- Youtube
- Other students who are in/have been in that school’s program
- Dentists students shadow
With these, you can find a range of testimonies on certain programs and even get a glimpse of their facilities/lifestyle of students who vlog their journey through dental school.
3. Be reasonable and check the stats
Another factor that affects choosing a dental school is how friendly the program is to in-state and out-of-state applicants. Many states favor more in-state students in the class ratio because of loyalty. These dental programs are putting a heavy investment into each applicant, and want them to remain and practice in that state if possible after graduation. However, there are programs out there that have a more even ratio or greater ratio of out-of-state to in-state applicants.
Committing four more years to a school after undergrad is a tough decision. There are so many factors to consider but sometimes, you just need to keep it simple. Figure out what matters more to you, what can keep you sane through the process, and how this program aligns with your future aspirations as a dentist. And remember, the education won’t stop after dental school. There is continual education on the latest technology, materials, running a business, and so much more afterward.