7 year BS/DMD or UC Berkeley/UCLA?

[Chillornah]

It's pretty darn late in the game for college decisions. But here I am still wondering where I'm going to go.
So in your opinion, with your experience, is it better to accept the 7 year BS/DMD offer at a small school that's relatively unexciting but guarantees me a spot at Dental College of Georgia, or should I take the chance and go somewhere bigger, like Cal or UCLA, and have to apply to dental school later? I heard Dental school is increasingly competitive so I was wondering if it would be a bad decision to let this guaranteed spot go? Also, if I were to go to UCLA, I'd want to join their EMT team. Is that totally irrelevant/would it help at all with getting into dental school, or do they want to see solely dental experience?
If anyone could put in their two cents, maybe address the pros and cons below, I'd appreciate it 1000%!

Pros and Cons to my knowledge:
Pros-
7yr: security, don't have to reapply, just need to maintain grades, much cheaper, maybe more free time on breaks?
UC: greater, more diverse undergrad experience, good undergrad degree, wider scope of people you can meet
Cons-
7yr- small school, seems like a less interesting experience, the BS degree probably won't get me far, not much wiggle room, closed off
UC- no dental school guarantee, more expensive

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[Cali20002]

As long as you are positive you want to become a dentist, take the 7 year bs/dmd program and run

 

[Aceofspades]

You would be a fool to turn down the 7 year program. Not only that, but you would also be a fool to turn down an 8 year program.

 

[UncleJoesVeneers]

GA is one of the most affordable dental schools in the country. You'd be a fool to turn that down if you want to be a dentist. It's also one of the newest and nicest clinical facilities in the country. Augusta is a blah town, but your future self will thank you for saving all that $$$. GA is a good dental school and has an excellent GPR/AEGD that gives preference to their students as well, if you go that route.

 

[sgv]

It's pretty darn late in the game for college decisions. But here I am still wondering where I'm going to go.
So in your opinion, with your experience, is it better to accept the 7 year BS/DMD offer at a small school that's relatively unexciting but guarantees me a spot at Dental College of Georgia, or should I take the chance and go somewhere bigger, like Cal or UCLA, and have to apply to dental school later? I heard Dental school is increasingly competitive so I was wondering if it would be a bad decision to let this guaranteed spot go? Also, if I were to go to UCLA, I'd want to join their EMT team. Is that totally irrelevant/would it help at all with getting into dental school, or do they want to see solely dental experience?
If anyone could put in their two cents, maybe address the pros and cons below, I'd appreciate it 1000%!

Pros and Cons to my knowledge:
Pros-
7yr: security, don't have to reapply, just need to maintain grades, much cheaper, maybe more free time on breaks?
UC: greater, more diverse undergrad experience, good undergrad degree, wider scope of people you can meet
Cons-
7yr- small school, seems like a less interesting experience, the BS degree probably won't get me far, not much wiggle room, closed off
UC- no dental school guarantee, more expensive

If you want to be a dentist and enjoy the dentist lifestyle of working 4-5 days a week, 8-5 workdays, and actually being able to use >$120,000-200,000/year salary, then save hundreds of thousands of dollars in LOANS and 1 year of your life by going to Georgia. This could potentially be a half a million dollar decision.

 

[distressstudent]

Kinda crazy to make a 17 y/o kid decide NOW whether or not they want to commit to being a dentist already.

What state resident are you?
Will you get pell grant, cal grant for the UC?
What's the total CoA?
Why dentistry? What about engineering, law, computer science, medicine?

 

[Legacy382]

Cost. Cost. Cost.

 

[wengerout]

GA is one of the most affordable dental schools in the country. You'd be a fool to turn that down if you want to be a dentist. It's also one of the newest and nicest clinical facilities in the country. Augusta is a blah town, but your future self will thank you for saving all that $$$. GA is a good dental school and has an excellent GPR/AEGD that gives preference to their students as well, if you go that route.

To offer a different opinion to this...

OP I am a GA resident. When I applied I was sure GA would be my cheapest option (In-State tuition and all). In the end after scholarships and financial aid three different schools came up with cheaper offers than Georgia when it was all said and done. Obviously you can't count on it, but it's not out of the realm of possibility to get a cheaper deal dental school wise.

With that being said, I wouldn't go to UCLA personally for undergrad unless the UG cost matched what you would pay to go to school in Georgia. Paying 40k a year for undergrad just to apply to dental school doesn't really make sense.

 

[Chillornah]

Kinda crazy to make a 17 y/o kid decide NOW whether or not they want to commit to being a dentist already.

What state resident are you?
Will you get pell grant, cal grant for the UC?
What's the total CoA?
Why dentistry? What about engineering, law, computer science, medicine?

I agree, its quite hard for me as a high schooler to determine exactly what I want in life, since there is so much I have not yet experienced or learned about.
I would pay out of state for UCLA, no Pell or Cal grant.
Is CoA cost of attendance?
Dentistry because I like working with my hands, patient interaction, biology, etc
Not that keen on engineering and law because a career centered around calculations or legal conflicts doesn't really appeal to me.
In all honesty, I do not have that much experience with CS

 

[wengerout]

I agree, its quite hard for me as a high schooler to determine exactly what I want in life, since there is so much I have not yet experienced or learned about.
I would pay out of state for UCLA, no Pell or Cal grant.
Is CoA cost of attendance?
Dentistry because I like working with my hands, patient interaction, biology, etc
Not that keen on engineering and law because a career centered around calculations or legal conflicts doesn't really appeal to me.
In all honesty, I do not have that much experience with CS

UCLA is not worth the out of state tuition if you want to be a dentist. If you're a GA resident go to school here and save money with Zell.


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[Noice]

Berkeley also has its medical reserve corps (which is essentially an EMT club). If you know you want to be a dentist, you would save yourself a lot of stress by going to the combined program.