I mean you just have to look around and be open minded. Keep debt low and have an entrepreneur mindset and Thisbe profession can be really good for you. I can tell your detail oriented but keep on doing your research and feel free to ask questions!
With the avg dental school debt being 400k, please explain your strategy to conquering this enormous debt when the intrest atm is reaching 8%.
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I mean you just have to look around and be open minded. Keep debt low and have an entrepreneur mindset and Thisbe profession can be really good for you. I can tell your detail oriented but keep on doing your research and feel free to ask questions!
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OP, you keep arguing with dental students who are actually in dental school and actually do know their total amounts. All of us are telling you that your spreadsheet is off but you are adamant on sticking to it.
There are many ways to minimize your debt load and not have it be 400k+. I'm at UCLA, one of our in-state schools, and my personal load will not be close to that at all. Work hard, get good grades, be as competitive as possible, make smart decisions and you can easily minimize your load.
There are many ways to minimize your debt load and not have it be 400k+. I'm at UCLA, one of our in-state schools, and my personal load will not be close to that at all. Work hard, get good grades, be as competitive as possible, make smart decisions and you can easily minimize your load.
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I'm iving rural, making well over 200k gross with full benefits package. It's possible.
It’s within OPs right to be skeptical though. Let’s be real dentistry isn’t as “straight forward numbers” as medicine or other healthcare professions in almost every aspect so don’t be afraid to keep on asking but be mindful that we are dental students and practicing dentists on this forum only here to tell you the straight forward truth haha as good or as bad it can be!
FutureDoc2001
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First and foremost, I am very thankful for all the responses here. I do not like to argue with what you can say in this situation, are experts in this field. But some posts were very hard to wrap my mind around, such as a the post about the 120k total for tuition. So I continued asking to understand further how this can be, as that is very distant from what I had on the spreadsheet. Yes, the spreadsheet is an approximation and I am glad to have finally some positive feedback of students having much less debt than I anticipated. This is what I was hoping for in the end.
Can I ask you to break down how much you are currently paying for dental school at UCLA for the 4 years?
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I think in general people don't like to mention specifics because they don't want to be made as a comparison. Like if we are in a really good place with debt load and a lot of our peers are not, we don't want them to feel inferior or anything. So you may hear a lot of people complaining that are on the high end of the debt spectrum for dental school, but you may not hear as much from the people on the lower end.
FutureDoc2001
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To further my point, I am a freshman in college and it is at this time where I need to create for myself a solid path to have a successful future without having any regrets. As some people here have pointed out a difference in how much debt one can accumulate over the 4 years in dental school, it may have now eliminated a regret I may have had, if I would have went to an expensive dental school, having an upwards of 600k in debt, as an example at NYU.
Many of you were advising me to move to a different state for the in state tuition. But each state is different! In Texas, you have to live a year after you have finished school due to the fact that you can only receive residency after living without going to school. This means that I would live there for a year, then apply, wait a year, then apply. This means I will waste 2 years doing particularly nothing other than working.
In Missouri, you can become a resident while attending their undergraduate program and not loose 2 years in between, as you will have applied for the school in your junior year of undergrad.
Which state do you guys think has the best tuition for instate, while having multiple instate schools that have the same residency policy as Missouri^^? I do not want to be putting all my eggs in the same basket.
Many of you were advising me to move to a different state for the in state tuition. But each state is different! In Texas, you have to live a year after you have finished school due to the fact that you can only receive residency after living without going to school. This means that I would live there for a year, then apply, wait a year, then apply. This means I will waste 2 years doing particularly nothing other than working.
In Missouri, you can become a resident while attending their undergraduate program and not loose 2 years in between, as you will have applied for the school in your junior year of undergrad.
Which state do you guys think has the best tuition for instate, while having multiple instate schools that have the same residency policy as Missouri^^? I do not want to be putting all my eggs in the same basket.
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I'd rather not but like I said waaaaaaay earlier in this thread, schools tend to exaggerate the costs to an extent and you will find things don't nearly cost as much as the school said it would. At UCLA specifically, it lists the books/supplies/instruments as being 32.5k when it has been about 10k less, a pretty significant difference. Likewise, you can cut down on room and board significantly if you're willing to be accommodating and live in a double or a triple for a few years, since it is really only for four years, which fly by. You'll find that you can cut costs other ways too.
You can have a reasonable debt load at UCSF/UCLA if you're smart about what you spend money on and if you do well enough in undergrad to get merit-based scholarships.....
To echo this. Schools inflate their numbers so people can safely secure enough financial aid too. Another aspect of it.
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This is true, I know people that after paying for their COL ended up with like 15-20k, after taking out the full allowable amount in their first year, I also know of at least 1 person who spends 4-5k a month on COL alone. It is difficult to asses a true value, but things can be ball parked.
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How are private dental schools an easier way into the profession? The entry into state schools aren’t a luxury everyone has, either due to residency or just schools that aren’t in their area. Seems to me that many private schools accept the same type of student with the 3.4 and beyond GPA with the DAT score into the 18-20s range.
My state school is in the southeast, and it has one of the lowest tuitions comparable to the Texas schools at 280k including COL, COA, and fees. Is your number you give including merit based scholarships?
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They are easier because they have more seats so even though stats are similar they have more room for students to enter the profession.
No state schools are rare which I am very lucky to have one. If I didn't I would have done everything to get into the military.
Yes, my number includes grants, merit based scholarships, ect.
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Most people in the 400k club are dependant on one of the income-driven repayment plans - most often PAYE or REPAYE (as opposed to new IBR). If you're still in college and preparing to go to dental school consider limiting your application to schools on the more "affordable" end of the spectrum. Although we're seeing many schools approach the 100k mark per year, most schools are still below six figures per year. California public schools are expensive in comparison to other out of state public alternatives. The reality of CA is that you really should consider not going to school in CA and returning after you graduate. Being a student and living in Los Angeles or San Francisco is a poor choice in my opinion, and being a dentist in California is particularly challenging. If you have an opportunity to spend less and try living somewhere else, you should take it and then come back to California if you absolutely have to live here.
You can take this course for free for the rest of 2020 to learn more about managing dental student loans: Student Loan Repayment Strategies for Dentists
You can take this course for free for the rest of 2020 to learn more about managing dental student loans: Student Loan Repayment Strategies for Dentists
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I go to my state school and I moved back in with my parents when I started. Total cost over 4 years without cost of living is sub-200k.
Dentistry is an amazing ROI if you can get your debt under $200k. That is what all the older crushing everything in life docs had. Well done sir. Welcome to the club
I will graduate with 330K or so. I am not too worried, I plan to do residency afterwards and if I can average around the 275K+ ballpark I will take home 14K per month. In my opinion this is worst case scenario, living in Ca so paying Ca taxes, assuming will make less than the average of the specialty that I plan on pursuing, etc. So, a 20 year plan with 330K without refinancing is 2519 a month. In this worst case scenario, I will still be bringing home over 11K post tax and post student loan payment which is more than enough to live a comfortable life. Of course, it isn't always this simple. If I were to be graduating with 500K that would be a more daunting figure. Also, I do not plan to do residency unless I attend a stipend program and that isn't a guarantee so I am doing everything that I can now to maximize my chances. Dental school is an investment and I think that ranking high will be the key to attending a paid program and financial freedom.
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You didn't account for accrued interest though. That 330k will be closer to 400k by the time you are done with residency. That being said your situation is not concerning, 400k loans on 300k income isn't bad at all. It's the new dentists graduating with 500k loans on 150k starting income (GP) or 1 million on 250k starting income (ortho), that's very concerning.
Sorry I should have specified, assuming I attend a stipend program I would use the excess money that I don't spend on rent, food, etc to pay off the amount accrued.
What residency do you want to do?
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Endo or OMS
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Do they still make you buy those ridiculous 100 dollar inlay mallets?
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Really bad idea....IMHO. Loan repayment in the National Guard really difficult to get.
What makes this a bad idea? If it is difficult to get into that's one thing; but bad idea why? The National Guard supplies you loan reapayment and an additional income source on top of the pay from your regular job as a dentist in private practice or coorporate
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550k+ in loans for dental school (before annual interest) is absolutely absurd.
If you're justifying dentistry at this price, you have no one else to blame footing the bill later.
Solution: take a year off. Save up some money. Sack up and work a real job. Working a 9-5 for a little bit doesn't suck that bad. You'll be more motivated. If you have grade issues, take part-time classes in another state where you want to eventually live and fix your GPA. Get state residency over time. Take some financial responsibility. Learn what it's like to pay bills. Take ownership of yourself and your finances.
Get away from pressures of having to be in dental school at 22 years old. Life doesn't work out exactly how you want it.
... or, you can take out 700k for USC, NYU, and Columbia.
Your choice.
If you're justifying dentistry at this price, you have no one else to blame footing the bill later.
Solution: take a year off. Save up some money. Sack up and work a real job. Working a 9-5 for a little bit doesn't suck that bad. You'll be more motivated. If you have grade issues, take part-time classes in another state where you want to eventually live and fix your GPA. Get state residency over time. Take some financial responsibility. Learn what it's like to pay bills. Take ownership of yourself and your finances.
Get away from pressures of having to be in dental school at 22 years old. Life doesn't work out exactly how you want it.
... or, you can take out 700k for USC, NYU, and Columbia.
Your choice.
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Where’s the 8% coming from? We just got a thread that federal loans and grad plus loans are 4.3-5.3%.
D
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This thread was made before they lowered it. I think it was like 7.5% before.
You can subscribe to Dentaltown (it’s free) and there is a section for Practices for sale.
Some will give you their % of OH, which you really need to know, eg, 60% OH.
And their gross, eg 500K some 800K.
These are the recent ones posted.
$500K was because the owner had health issues.
It depends on location, location, location.
COL in the location of the practice Is a factor also.
I would compare the 2 salaries, PA vs Dentist, 5, 10, 20 years after graduation.
If the "break even" point was 15 years after graduation, the last half of your working career the Dentist would be ahead financially.
Also being a PA you have a boss. If you own your practice then you are the boss.
Yes but if your "break even" point is 15 years, that is risky. Who knows what the world will be like in 15 years. Dentist salaries are showing strong signs of declining for the foreseeable future
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None of my friends took a job for less than 200k right out of dental school.
Some PA work independently so they don't have to have a boss. And some dentists don't own their own practice, they may work with someone or now corporate is more common
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You should look up the percentage of PAs that work independently vs. the percentage of dentists that work independently. You’ll see how your statement is somewhat misleading.
There is a higher percent of dentist working independently but you can also see that more people are willing to go to a PA now than 10-20 years ago. (not saying that people will not go to MDs, just stating that more PAs are starting to work independently)
