Columbia vs Rutgers (IS)

[tdlss3]

Hi everyone! I was accepted to a couple of programs on Dec 15th and have narrowed it down to two schools. I would love any advice about either! As background, I'm currently thinking of doing a pediatric residency or ortho after dental school. Both interest me and I'm sure I'll learn more when I'm in school. I am also not opposed to going into general dentistry. Also, I'm interested in NHSC (but not deadset) on it. If I did NHSC, it would logically make more sense to go into ped dent.

1. Columbia

Pros:
-Academically strong
-Pass/Fail Curriculum
-Medical School Curriculum (This could be a pro & con. For one, I see the benefit of having the knowledge, especially to be a well-rounded healthcare provider. However, I'm not sure if the integration of the medical school curriculum will take away from dental education. I want to be a great dentist before anything else.)
-Prestige (This is slowly becoming not important to me. I always loved Columbia and wanted to go for my undergrad.)
-Living in NYC (Again, not the biggest thing for me now, but it used to be)
-Great specialty match rates

Cons:
-Cost (Obviously, it's a lot. It will be about 90K more for me to attend Columbia)
-Would most likely do NHSC to help cover the costs
-Less extensive clinical curriculum
-Med School curriculum (for reasons outlined above)

2. Rutgers (IS)

Pros:
-Loved the school when interviewed there. I had a great conversation with the professor that interviewed me and the students seem to really love the school.
-Really friendly faculty and staff
-Strong clinically
-Cheaper by 90K

Cons:
-I don't love Newark. I live about 45 mins away from the school, so I wouldn't know if I would move or stay home.
-Not sure of their specialty match rates

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[todentornottodent]

Ultimately, specializing comes down to the individual. I've heard P/F helps somewhat, but in the long run I don't really see it being that beneficial. You have to be smart and a good student to specialize, not just a good student (if that makes sense). Like supposedly if you're not a good student, you go P/F, you may still get passes, but it'd like show elsewhere in your app that you're not the best applicant.

And that 90k is going to cost a LOT more if you specialize. Suppose you have the 2 year residency (3 at some ortho programs) on top of the 4 years for dental school. That 90k (in addition to your other loans) is gonna accrue a LOT more interest than it would otherwise bc your debt is just sitting there, untouched, for 6 yrs.

I'm not gonna be one of those wackos who says "cheaper," when there's just a 20k difference. Sometimes the cost difference is worth it to the individual. For example, you may be thinking the independence and individuation that result from moving away makes the 90k+ difference worth it but, personally, I would go Rutgers if I was in your shoes, bc the cost difference is not negligible and isn't worth it in this case. Maybe if it was 30k or 40k I could see it, but if we're taking interest accruing on an extra 90k for 6 years?? That's a lot more.

I punched the numbers into an interest calculator. The interest on 90k starting principal, when compounding daily (I think that's how often dental school loans compound, if it compounds monthly it's only 3k less) over 6 years at an interest rate of 7.5% (the current Grad PLUS interest rate), quickly becomes ~$141,000. That's a down payment on a house right there. I wouldn't do it if I were you.

I don't think P/F for a fraction of a higher chance of specializing is worth 141k. I'd rather save that P/F and work harder at Rutgers. So, that's my case for Rutgers.

 

[LFA20]

Hi everyone! I was accepted to a couple of programs on Dec 15th and have narrowed it down to two schools. I would love any advice about either! As background, I'm currently thinking of doing a pediatric residency or ortho after dental school. Both interest me and I'm sure I'll learn more when I'm in school. I am also not opposed to going into general dentistry. Also, I'm interested in NHSC (but not deadset) on it. If I did NHSC, it would logically make more sense to go into ped dent.

1. Columbia

Pros:
-Academically strong
-Pass/Fail Curriculum
-Medical School Curriculum (This could be a pro & con. For one, I see the benefit of having the knowledge, especially to be a well-rounded healthcare provider. However, I'm not sure if the integration of the medical school curriculum will take away from dental education. I want to be a great dentist before anything else.)
-Prestige (This is slowly becoming not important to me. I always loved Columbia and wanted to go for my undergrad.)
-Living in NYC (Again, not the biggest thing for me now, but it used to be)
-Great specialty match rates

Cons:
-Cost (Obviously, it's a lot. It will be about 90K more for me to attend Columbia)
-Would most likely do NHSC to help cover the costs
-Less extensive clinical curriculum
-Med School curriculum (for reasons outlined above)

2. Rutgers (IS)

Pros:
-Loved the school when interviewed there. I had a great conversation with the professor that interviewed me and the students seem to really love the school.
-Really friendly faculty and staff
-Strong clinically
-Cheaper by 90K

Cons:
-I don't love Newark. I live about 45 mins away from the school, so I wouldn't know if I would move or stay home.
-Not sure of their specialty match rates

This is a tough one. If you are dead set on specializing(I personally don't know how you know that when you haven't even picked up a handpiece yet) then I'd pick Columbia. You absolutely can specialize coming from RU(one of my classmates matched into Columbia ortho but she was #1 in class). Peds is definitely not a problem.. You can pretty much specialize from any school.

Competition at RU is fierce and a difference of .05 GPA can put you either lower or higher of about 10-12 spots..(personal experience lol)... I have no doubt you have the brain to excel in the basic science courses at RU since you got into Columbia. However, the lab can drag your grades down unless you are SOMEWHAT good at it(again from personal experience). I do believe we have converted some of our lab classes to P/F?? but I am not 100% sure. When I was there we got graded in Operative, Occlusion, Removable, Waxing, and Fixed Pros.

The first year you are gonna be hit with all the heavy science courses and those will make up most of your 1st year rank. After that it's all dental classes + lab and 3rd and 4th year is all based on requirements(again you are graded on this so do NOT do just the minimum requirements to graduate and get C's(again personal experience lol).

I loved my time at RU and I think I got a really good education. We are very strong clinically and we have large amount of patient pool. If you are specializing most program directors won't care about your ability to prep class II's or crowns lol. Save the headache and go to Columbia.

Financially speaking, I agree with the post above met. $141,000 is a LOT of money. LMK if you have any Q's about RU

 

[princeafrica]

Go to Rutgers and save yourself a lot of money. Especially since you may have the option of staying at home vs renting in New York.
You can definitely specialize out of Rutgers and it would suck if you decide to do Ortho and now you got Columbia debt + Ortho residency debt.

You shouldn't bank on NHSC because that is super competitive and if you do NHSC ortho is not an immediate option as they only approve GPR, AEGD, Peds, and Public Health for postgraduate training

You're smart you can definitely specialize out of Rutgers

 

[Nostalgia_Night]

Columbia​