VCU Guaranted Dental or UVA

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Virginia
1

<p>My daughter has been accepted to UVA and also VCU guaranted dental program.
VCU also offers full tuition merit scholarship.</p>

<p>My daughter has her heart set for UVA. Many of her friends are going there or already there.</p>

<p>However, in the back of my mind, often wondering if the guaranteed dental program is too good to pass on, plus free tuition.
What I concerned about VCU is if she will have her peers there, and also the campus safety for being in downtown Richmond.</p>

<p>Please share your thoughts!</p>

2

<p>One of our valedictorians from a few years back chose VCU GMED over Harvard, Hopkins (BME), Duke (BME), UVA. Guaranteed anything is amazing. Or at least for me, I’d have picked a guaranteed med.</p>

3

<p>The science classes at UVA, while quality, are VERY difficult to earn excellent grades in. Excellent grades are required to get accepted to med school. The labs are hours and hours of work and then graded based on a really bizzare ranking system etc. IF dental school is really what she has her heart set on I would advise my child to go with the sure thing. That is not to say that my son does not LOVE UVA because he does, it is just really difficult for the STEM majors.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for sharing your experience.
That is one of the things I worried about going to a selective school. She will major in biology. Sounds like very tough to get top grades in UVA STEM.
Experienced parents all stated no Ivy league if going to med/dental path.
She does have her mind set for dental path. But what if she changes her mind down the road, then VCU seems too easy for her.</p>

<p>My family dentist thinks UMD dental is better than VCU.</p>

5

<p>EGC2012 writes “But what if she changes her mind down the road, then VCU seems too easy for her.”</p>

<p>Her first adult decision! Good luck with it. VCU dental attracts students from quality undergraduate programs. I knew one guy from W&M that became a dentist from VCU and has had a happy and successful career. I don’t know if Maryland is better/worse than VCU but quite frankly no patient really cares about the school…they care about the quality of the dentist herself. She could be a lousy dentist out of Maryland or a great dentist out of VCU regardless of the rankings. </p>

<p>If she changes her mind down the road perhaps it would be possible to transfer out of VCU and into UVA. Just a thought. Congrats, BTW.</p>

6

<p>For me, this wouldn’t even be a question. If I truly wanted to attend dental school, I’d go with VCU. Full tuition AND guaranteed admission into the dental school… one would be silly to turn down such an amazing offer. </p>

<p>Yes, UVA is amazing, but she’d have to work her butt off in her challenging science classes, incur debt, and still have to apply to dental schools–in which she will not be guaranteed acceptance.</p>

<p>Friends are important, but one doesn’t go to college for friends. One goes to college to receive a good education, that will hopefully land a person a good job.</p>

7

<p>I would look very carefully at the details and conditions she would have to meet for the guaranteed admission to VCU dental. GPA to be maintained? Other requirements?</p>

8

<p>This is the link to the requirement:
<a href=“https://www.pubapps.vcu.edu/honors/guaranteed/dentistry/index.aspx[/url]”>https://www.pubapps.vcu.edu/honors/guaranteed/dentistry/index.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Basically GPA 3.5 and DAT with no component score below 17.</p>

<p>This year they only interviewed 4 students for the guaranteed dental, not sure how many they admitted.</p>

9

<p>Really a no brainer…VCU all the way! This is assuming that she is completely sold on dental school of course.</p>

10

<p>No decision here. VCU. Besides it is time to break away from the high school friends.</p>

11

<p>UVa is close enough to VCU - she can regularly visit her friends. Use the savings to buy a car.</p>