Month: April 2022

This week we’ll be analyzing the University of West Virginia School of Dentistry. The school offers a four year D.D.S. The school has a small class around 50 students coming in per year that allows for better interaction between the faculty and students. The campus is located in Morgantown, WV which is a two hour drive from the capital city of Charleston and an hour and a half away from Pittsburgh, PA. Morgantown is a suburb that runs around the university’s spirit and liveliness. Unlike most schools, there is campus housing for their dental students as told on ADEA Dental School Explorer. Most of their students had average DAT scores of 19.2, and average GPAs of 3.7. I know a dentist who attended this school and gave them high praise fro their program.

Mission & Core Values

The university of West Virginia School of Dentistry aims to develop the necessary attributes of good character and integrity in their students to defeat challenge of becoming a competent dental professional through dedication to providing comprehensive, compassionate, and high quality oral health care to patients in West Virginia and the rest of the country.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

West Virginia University strives to create a safe, diverse, hospitable, and integrated community regardless of race, creed, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic class. Students, faculty, and administration create a welcoming environment for patients, students, staff and faculty by treating them with respect, dignity and nondiscrimination. Through equitable treatment, a dynamic learning environment that addresses present and future oral health in an unbiased manner they can hold onto diversity in their program

Cost

WVU is no cheap school. Like the others, they offer an in-state tuition that nearly splits that cost in half. Out-of-state tuition is $83,000 and during your first year, you’ll also need to buy $20,000 worth of instruments and tools for yourself. Along with estimated living expenses of $17,000 and other small fees this totals to a first year cost of $123,000. A breath-taking, yet normal number for dental schools that I’ve been looking at and researching. After four years, of course without any financial aid this would cost about half a million dollars.

Last Thoughts

Yet again, UNE takes the cake. After looking at the required courses for this school I’m not sure I can even apply because I’ve shockingly only taken one english course over the last three years. I believe I am allowed to list an english course I am taking next year and this will count toward my requirements. Overall, I think living in West Virginia would be better than in Boston, Connecticut, and New Jersey strictly based on price but the lifestyle of the state would have to be something I would need to get used to.

In this week’s travels we make it to Newark, New Jersey onto the campus of Rutgers School of Dental Medicine. The 4-year D.M.D. program is very difficult to get into, with average DAT scores of approximately 22 which is 3 points above the national average. The school is in search of a well-rounded applicant who is great in the classroom, involved in campus life, and contains the attitude and perseverance needed to get through dental school. Most of their enrolled students are from the state of New Jersey (~70%). Although the program is statistically great, the website had very little information that all of the other schools had regarding mission and core values, diversity, equity and inclusion, and even cost.

Mission & Core Values

Rutgers University has a mission with a goal to improve the health and quality of life by creating a generation of dental professionals who will provide the highest quality, evidence-based care serving New Jersey and communities worldwide. The university’s values push excellence, integrity, respect, and innovation when serving the community.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Rutgers, unlike the other schools have very little on diversity, equity, or inclusion but they have something that they emphasize that the other schools do not. They touch a small amount on their inclusion, and diversity but a new emphasis they speak on is their effort to promote the inclusion of the LGBTQ community.

Cost

Rutgers University is very, very expensive. The cost of tuition for out-of-state applicants is approximately $89,000 on top of an yearly fees and payments necessary for the school year. Add this onto the increasingly expensive cost of living in the area, a student would be looking at yearly cost of nearly $130,000 which is similar to that of the schools in the Boston area.

Last Thoughts

Considering everything, I would put Rutgers at the bottom of the list that I’ve shared as of this point. The school looks very nice and the program is credible and well put together if I were to get into any school in Boston I would choose Boston over the city of Newark, New Jersey for many reasons. Boston has more life to begin with; professional sports, night life, and historical past time. Boston would also be closer to home, which would make it easier to get home and make commuting from Maine seem more realistic.

Moving out of Massachusetts and into Connecticut to the great state university. UCONN School of Dental Medicine is an esteemed program located in Farmington, Connecticut which is a suburb outside of Hartford. They are the only dental school in Connecticut and also the only public dental school in the New England Region. They offer a D.M.D. in just under 4 years (45 months). Their entering class sizes are around 50-60 per year.

Mission and Core Values

UCONN aims to reach the people in Connecticut and others through research, new knowledge, education, and development of great dental professionals who provide high quality patient care. Their pursuits in education, patient care, research, service and outreach will support the missions of their University. In all of the courses, the University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine strives for excellence, embraces innovation, promotes professionalism, compassion, diversity and social responsibility, and above all of this they hope to maximize the potential of their dental students.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The School of Dental Medicine embraces diversity and strives to create a multicultural and diverse community similar to the state of Connecticut. The School recognizes the many benefits of racial and cultural diversity. UCONN strives for a diverse student population of dental professionals prepared to treat a diverse, multicultural society. To promote diversity across the campus, UCONN welcomes people across all aspects of society as current or future faculty and staff. Because of this diversity, UCONN believes they’ve gained strength in the field of dental education.

Cost

At UCONN, they offer a New England resident tuition of approximately $62,000 dollars. Their in-state tuition is nearly half that at $35,000. After paying for tuition, any fees, and estimated cost of living in the area, one year of school at UCONN would cost around $100,000 for the New England Resident before financial aid. UCONN is similar to price with UNE but in comparison to UNE, I wouldn’t have to worry about housing in Maine but would have the additional cost of living in Connecticut.

Last Thoughts

UCONN has amazing facilities and a cheaper tuition than those schools in Boston, but UNE still holds the highest rank because my cost of living would be nearly eliminated when factoring in cost. I would place UCONN over the Boston schools also because of the suburbia lifestyle as compared to that of Boston. I personally don’t like the fast-paced life in the cities over the slower pace of Farmington and Portland. I’ve noticed that none of these schools have any housing provided for the students, of course this is normal for graduate students but there is no recommended housing either.