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Congratulations on picking an exciting occupation!
Of the dozen of dentists I shadowed, younger and older, male and female, all but one was thrilled with her or his career decision. (The one exception I think felt like he 'settled' for dentistry.)
Once I decided I wanted to be a dentist, I had to decide on which school. First step was to get a list of the schools
from the ADEA.
To narrow my choices, I tried to do some research by googling "best or top dental schools" and found out there wasn't any real ranking. Which is good, because any ranking would be over-rated.
To pick a dental school, I advise to suspend logic and go with intuition. Want logical reasons for why?
* All schools are accredited. You will get a great education whereever you go.
* As my girlfriend pointed out, she never once asked or cared about where her dentist went to school. I think most people feel the same. They rely more on trust.
* Your dental success will be determined by how much you put into your education, how you do on your National Boards and by passing the licensure exam(s). All dental schools want you to do well. Noboy wants a failing class.
That said, here are some of the factors that were importatnt to me when deciding:
* location, small town or big city?
* strong research emphasis? or more clinical? (From listening to other students, state universities tend to emphasize research more. I, myself, try to avoid research.)
* cost: in-state, out-of-state or private?
* friendly, accessible faculty?
* new technology and facilities? (This one wasn't too important to me, but I know it was for others.)
The most important factor for me was patient pool. Of schools won't tell you their patient pool is pitiful, so talk to recent students. I found out that at one of the schools I applied to, many students stressed about graduating on time because they didn't have enough patients to fulfill their requirements. They even slept in hallways so they would be first in line for the patient sign-up sheet.
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