U of Pittsburgh / U of the Pacific / CSU LongBeach or Fullerton / U of San Diego / UW / U of Florida

College Search & Selection
1

Hello,

I am a running start student in Washington State and need help with selecting the right college for me.
Options are U of Pittsburgh, U of the Pacific, CSU Long Beach, CSU Fullerton, U of San Diego, UW Seattle, and U of Florida.

I have applied as a biological science major and want to attend dental school afterward.
If allowed, I would like to minor in business.
I need a college that can provide me (or is located at a place that can offer) enough shadowing and working (dental) opportunities.
As money-wise, I have received enough amount of scholarships and grants from every college listed above so money is not the main factor.

Which school would benefit a student like me?

Also, there is a number of colleges that I have been admitted but not in my top choice. They are WSU, Penn State, SUNY Stony Brook, Rutgers U, U of Illinois, La Sierra U, and SDSU and other CSUs. Should I consider any of the colleges in this list?

Thank you for your help!

2

Pitt and UF would be my choices. And I would choose based on personal fit.

3

Since your priority is to have opportunity while you are in school to shadow/intern in dentistry, have you asked the individual schools what their placement rate is with co-ops or internships for undergraduates? Some of those schools have dentistry programs that are far away from the undergraduate campus so there wouldn’t be the kind of partnering you’d like unless the school makes a special effort.

4

If the net prices are significantly different (even if all within the affordability range), consider whether attending a less expensive school for undergraduate would allow you to put the leftover money to expensive dental school to reduce the amount of debt you finish dental school with.

5

Washington’s School of Dentistry is right on campus, with potential volunteeriing, internship and shadowing opportunities.

https://careers.uw.edu/pre-health/

https://dental.washington.edu/about-us/about-the-school/fast-facts/

You might be interested in this course:

https://dental.washington.edu/wp-content/media/students/Oral-Health-Sciences-201-Syllabus.pdf

Washington has been a leading university in the biological sciences for decades:

http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc1.html#RANKBYAREA

http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldLIFE2016.html

http://www.shanghairanking.com/Shanghairanking-Subject-Rankings/biological-sciences.html

http://nturanking.lis.ntu.edu.tw/ranking/ByField/LIFE

https://www.biology.washington.edu/

https://artsci.washington.edu/file/45/download?token=Soz7ja8P

The new Life Sciences Complex just opened:

https://artsci.washington.edu/campaign/life-sciences-complex

http://www.washington.edu/news/2018/09/07/new-life-sciences-building-is-a-nexus-for-modern-age-teaching-and-research-at-the-university-of-washington/

Lots of undergraduate research opportunities:

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/students/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/about/

https://www.washington.edu/undergradresearch/symposium/

https://www.biology.washington.edu/programs/undergraduate/research-opportunities

https://www.biology.washington.edu/news/newsletters/newsletter/article/course-based-undergraduate-research-experiences

The Foster School of Business offers minors and certificate programs.

https://foster.uw.edu/academics/certificates-and-minors/

Hard to beat your instate option.

Good luck!