As I said to
@tyjacobs, I don't doubt that you two have a better idea about the rigors of dental school. But if my side argument about anyone being able to specialize is wrong, would it not follow that if pre-dents set on specializing attend Ivy League schools more on average (due to the perceived increase in chance of specializing), then Ivy League schools are then more competitive, and thus harder to specialize out of? If you put the work in to specialize at an Ivy League school, and then put that equal amount of work in to specialize at a state school, you would specialize out of the state school every time.
All of this aside, I disagree that attending certain schools due to this perceived increased chance of specializing makes sense financially. If your decision is between a private school and Ivy League school both at 500k, then yes, the Ivy is a better choice for specializing. My earlier example for OP as an Illinois resident comes into play here though. Southern Illinois would cost OP 250k at most, while Columbia or Pennsylvania would cost 500k. I would argue that a 250k difference in price is certainly not worth school name recognition or a medical curriculum.