Dental School [Austrailian]

[dabi]

Resolved.

[Pauls]

The best advice that I can give you is to stick with the CHEAPEST school and SAVE as much money as possible. I would 100% avoid UQ because it costs 376K which is super expensive. James Cook is fairly new dental school and will cost you 300k in tuition alone and its located in a very small city. Australia and US should be your second option and always go with Canadian schools first because they are cheaper and give you better chance for specializing. Please note that some Australian dental schools accept prior credits and that can reduce your tuition to some extent. Check with UQ and James Cook to find out. I know someone that got 90 credit hours! and saved around 100K!! rare but possible Best of luck! 

[dabi]

7 minutes ago, Pauls said:

The best advice that I can give you is to stick with the CHEAPEST school and SAVE as much money as possible. I would 100% avoid UQ because it costs 376K which is super expensive. James Cook is fairly new dental school and will cost you 300k in tuition alone and its located in a very small city. Australia and US should be your second option and always go with Canadian schools first because they are cheaper and give you better chance for specializing. Please note that some Australian dental schools accept prior credits and that can reduce your tuition to some extent. Check with UQ and James Cook to find out. I know someone that got 90 credit hours! and saved around 100K!! rare but possible Best of luck! 

Thanks for your insight, Pauls.

I agree that costs is a huge factor to consider in making this decision. However, considering UBC Dental tuition is ~60k/year, in addition to 2~3 (or even more) years of undergrad (~18k/year), plus expensive housing costs of Vancouver (~1200$/month vs ~700$/month in JCU), aren't they quite similar? Of course, flight fees & higher utilities fees would add to the costs should I choose to go with AUS.

I actually do not have plans to specialize; having shadowed my general dentist for several years, I would love to do what he is doing (setting up clinics in rural regions and serving underserviced populations in a more general sense). 

I agree UQ is far too expensive .. although the campus and the facilities look beautiful! (+ gorgeous weather).

As for the person who got 90 credit hours, do you mind if I ask what his major was? I took basic science courses so hopefully chem/bio courses credits can be transferred! Thanks for the info!

[Dentistry101]

Hey, you're a strong Canadian applicant! Don't leave us! I'll suggest something that may have not crossed your mind. The university of Alberta faculty of dentistry accepts only 2 years of undergrad. So you could technically apply this 2017 Oct, with your first year grades, while simultaneously, taking all the prerequisites that the school requires and writing the DAT in November and applying with those scores. You already have the GPA, so just get your prereqs done and your DAT and you could make it to a Canadian dental school by your third year. It might sound a bit hectic to do these prereqs and write the DAT at the same time, but with an average like yours, you're probably really disciplined and can pull it off. It is only one extra year, and you could save almost 150k dollars and study at a Canadian university. Trust me, a year flies by. In my opinion, applying to Alberta is a better option for you.  

[dabi]

6 hours ago, Dentistry101 said:

Hey, you're a strong Canadian applicant! Don't leave us! I'll suggest something that may have not crossed your mind. The university of Alberta faculty of dentistry accepts only 2 years of undergrad. So you could technically apply this 2017 Oct, with your first year grades, while simultaneously, taking all the prerequisites that the school requires and writing the DAT in November and applying with those scores. You already have the GPA, so just get your prereqs done and your DAT and you could make it to a Canadian dental school by your third year. It might sound a bit hectic to do these prereqs and write the DAT at the same time, but with an average like yours, you're probably really disciplined and can pull it off. It is only one extra year, and you could save almost 150k dollars and study at a Canadian university. Trust me, a year flies by. In my opinion, applying to Alberta is a better option for you.  

Thanks Dentistry101 for your suggestion.

I have looked into UofA option and unfortunately they seem to have only 3 seats for OOP applicants, as well as quite strict pre-reqs. I'm not sure if I can see myself taking 2 o-chem courses, another physics course, and stats. Saving 150k dollars though, is definitely appealing. However, with only 3 seats, on top of preparing for Interview, completing pre-reqs (I didn't take English courses in 1st year), and writing the DAT, my chances do seem pretty slim.

[mp99]

Hey, 
I just graduated from UBC undergrad, and a 95% first year average is no joke! I was in arguably one of the easiest programs (not a science program) and never achieved an average like that. You should be very proud of that

I understand your burnout (you probably worked your ass off!) and frustration since UBC is somewhat of a keener school. However, you are such a strong canadian applicant, and it's also hard to know what you want to do so early on. If you go to australia, just make sure dentistry is something you REAAAAALLY want. 

My suggestion would be maybe take a step back, enjoy the rest of your summer and do non academic related things just to get your mind off. Maybe try to approach second year UBC with a more intrinsically motivated perspective (if that makes sense) and just do your own thing. I also never really fit in with all the cliquey people at UBC so I just did my own thing and that made me enjoy things alot more. If in the end, if you just can't do it anymore you may still be able to go to australia since I think their school year doesn't start until January (i'm not too familiar though).

Best of luck. 

[Hammerheadweds]

The way I see it, the amount of debt will make a difference in your late 20's and early 30's but by the time you're in your 40's you'll be in the same spot. What's more important is the financial decisions you make following school. You do need to be sure dentistry is your passion though because if you rack up ~$500k of debt then decide it's not for you you'll be in trouble. It's also hard to put a price on the experience of living in a beautiful country across the world and experiencing a new culture. I can't speak for certain but it seems like you'll come away with the same level of education either way so I would look at it as more of a life decision than a financial decision. Do you see yourself living in another hemisphere for 5 years? 

[dabi]

On 7/8/2017 at 7:58 AM, mp99 said:

Hey, 
I just graduated from UBC undergrad, and a 95% first year average is no joke! I was in arguably one of the easiest programs (not a science program) and never achieved an average like that. You should be very proud of that

I understand your burnout (you probably worked your ass off!) and frustration since UBC is somewhat of a keener school. However, you are such a strong canadian applicant, and it's also hard to know what you want to do so early on. If you go to australia, just make sure dentistry is something you REAAAAALLY want. 

My suggestion would be maybe take a step back, enjoy the rest of your summer and do non academic related things just to get your mind off. Maybe try to approach second year UBC with a more intrinsically motivated perspective (if that makes sense) and just do your own thing. I also never really fit in with all the cliquey people at UBC so I just did my own thing and that made me enjoy things alot more. If in the end, if you just can't do it anymore you may still be able to go to australia since I think their school year doesn't start until January (i'm not too familiar though).

Best of luck. 

Thanks so much for the encouraging words.

I will definitely have to consider carefully should I get an offer from Austrailia. If I knew about it right when I graduated high school, it would've been worth it to attend [save 2+ years but since I have finished 1st year with a rather competitive GPA, I am definitely on the fence about it now.

I understand what you mean by approaching with a more intrinsically motivated perspective. I think I tried too hard to fit into the mold that I stressed myself out. Will definitely try to take it easier on myself.

Thanks again!

[hopefuldentist22]

If you are thinking about applying to Australia check out OzTrekk! They are the main link for Canadian students who want to study graduate programs in Australia like Dentistry. The employees are really nice and they basically send in your application to the schools for free.