Hey everybody,
I just got back to my home-for-the-weekend from my 4th and possibly next to last interview. I got up at 7, took the T downtown and walked through the driving rain to get to the BU Medical Center at 915. Overall, I thought BU was a great school. The people pride themselves on being friendly and helpful to their applicants and students. Lets debunk a few rumors:
* BU's patient scheduling system has been drastically changed. No longer do students have to get up at 4am to sit in line to nab patients. Instead they have an all-paperless system that allows them to request appointments and chairs online at home
* The Advanced Placement class is 75 students... take it however you want. I see it as a sample of the diversity of the young city.
* They really darted around the question of how they do on the boards by saying "over 90% pass." In other words, most people pass... I was just wondering if your scores are good enough on average to make waves in the specialty match process.
It was one of the few interviews that was as advertised as being "conversational." At no point did I feel like I was being grilled. In fact, we pretty much talked about how great my personal statement was (ego boost) and the differences between Harvard, Tufts and BU. The Dean was genuinely friendly and helpful.
However, I am most displeased with the price of the school. I expected the cost of living to be astronomical, which it was, but I wasn't ready for the projected total including tuition... over $92,000! WOW! I am going to really think hard about the kind of debt I want to assume coming out of school. Granted, it isn't too hard for dentists, that is still alot of money especially if I have a home loan or a family. Oh well. Now I'm staying the weekend outside of Boston for my Tufts interview on Monday then its back to Virginia to wrap up a couple of things and have Turkey Day with the family... THEN DECEMBER 1st!!!!! SO EXCITED!
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Could you elaborate a bit on the differences between Harvard, Tufts and BU? I'm interested in all three of these schools and I'd love to hear BU's point of view.
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Well I can't tell you much about Harvard except that they have far-and-away the best DAT and GPA scores out there. However, you should seriously consider going elsewhere if you aren't interested in doing research. They are quite fond of it, from what I hear. As a result, they turn out alot of specialists.
ReplyDeleteTufts and BU are so similar its not even funny. They have similar stats, location, prestige, cost, you name it. From going to interviews at both I will try to flesh out some of the differences. BU is a younger school and as a result, they have a more open mind to change. They listen and respond to the demands of the student. BU has the APEX program, which entails working for a dentist somewhere in the US after 1 or 2 years of dental school, as part of the curriculum. I was not too enthused about it, since a dentist I know just graduated from there and saw it as "glorified shadowing." Tufts is a much older school. They have a slightly better reputation in the Boston area and are opening up new facilities that are really really nice. They are a bit larger (150ish a class), but I got a pretty good vibe. In either case, if you want to specialize out of BU or Tufts, its gonna be tough. Needless to say, its tough everywhere, but if you have the skills, you can get great marks and do it anywhere. Hope that helps!