Utah vs. UCSF/UCLA

[nitiwire]

Yesterday was the deadline to put a deposit at Utah and so I put down 1000 there. But after doing more thinking, now I think I might want to go to one of my state schools. Deadline for a deposit is tomorrow. Here we go.

Utah (IS tuition, I go to a Utah school and qualify for IS tuition):

PRO:
~45k/year tuition/books&fees
Fantastic clinical track record, solid patient pool here in SLC
Smaller student body (50)
Cheaper COL
Brand new facilities

CON:
No specialties
Young school


UCSF or UCLA (IS tuition)

PRO:
Home (I'm from the bay)
Reputation of school
High specialty rate
~60k/year tuition/fees (assuming I get no grant money)

CON:
Clinical seems sub-par
Old facilities
Higher COL in either city

I have an option for a loan w/ no interest to pay for school. My spouse will be working and covering hopefully most of our living costs. I guess my main question is, would paying a little more be worth it in the end to keep my options open to specialize (i.e. go to UCLA or UCSF)? I know many people say, "don't base your decision off specializing" & "go to the cheapest school" so I put my deposit down at Utah. Opinions? I'm partial to every school and would be fine living in SLC, SF, or LA. I've done pretty thorough research on all my options and have spoke with dozens of dental students/dentists, but what the heck, might as well ask my fellow SDN people too. Opinions?

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[princeafrica]

Did you fill out your FAFSA? If so what was your EFC? UCSF grants were pretty significant for me

 

[nitiwire]

Did you fill out your FAFSA? If so what was your EFC? UCSF grants were pretty significant for me

I think my EFC is 0.

 

[princeafrica]

My EFC was 0 and they gave up $28k/year in grants. Did you not complete the FA stuff before they accepted you? They should of sent that info by now

 

[nitiwire]

My EFC was 0 and they gave up $28k/year in grants. Did you not complete the FA stuff before they accepted you? They should of sent that info by now

Well that's great to know, thanks! Are those grants conditional? I didn't finish my FA stuff yet but plan to do it this week. Any chance you know how much they calculate parents income info into it?

 

[princeafrica]

They only asked for copies of my parents tax returns which was the same information I had on the FAFSA.

The grants have no condition

 

[Life of Pablo]

Definitely UCSF/UCLA. They are your state school so they'll still be very reasonably priced. On top of that, your ability to specialize will be greater due to the P/F system.

 

[MG14]

I just posted this on another thread, but i'll post it here. Don't buy into Utah's "clinical track record." I found this report produced by CODA (The agency that accredits all the schools) and it's pretty eye opening. I'll attach it below (Look at table 23.) It shows how many patient visits each school had during the 2017-2018 school year. Utah had 9,558 visits. Whereas UCSF had 69,122. Thats 7x more patients for a class size of 88 instead of 50. Call Utah's bluff and go where you'll be a better dentist.

 

[nitiwire]

I just posted this on another thread, but i'll post it here. Don't buy into Utah's "clinical track record." I found this report produced by CODA (The agency that accredits all the schools) and it's pretty eye opening. I'll attach it below (Look at table 23.) It shows how many patient visits each school had during the 2017-2018 school year. Utah had 9,558 visits. Whereas UCSF had 69,122. Thats 7x more patients for a class size of 88 instead of 50. Call Utah's bluff and go where you'll be a better dentist.

This spreadsheet is great, thanks for sharing. Where did you find this?

 

[MG14]

This spreadsheet is great, thanks for sharing. Where did you find this?

Someone posted it on a Facebook group. And then I went and also found it on the actual CODA website. I thought it was pretty great as well!