Hey Hey11an (interesting name),
Regarding finances for dental school, since you also carry a debt from your undergraduate institution, you might also want to consider attending a public dental school instead of a private one. Public dental schools like UCSF, UCLA, Connecticut, and Michigan have solid reputations like Penn, Harvard, Columbia, etc. and are a LOT less expensive. UCLA and UCSF are around 120-130K for the 4-year education compared to the 200K+ education for the 4-year education at Harvard, Penn... From all the dentists I talked to (the ones who attended private dental schools), most say if they could do it over again they would attend a public dental school because graduating with a 200K+ debt can seriously set a recent dental graduate behind in terms of trying to get a practice up-and-running.
Regarding your military question, there was a long debate about this around 4-5 months ago, so you might want to check the SDN archives to get info. on this. My overall viewpoint of military dentistry is don't do it unless you feel really passionate about the military. AND NO, I'm not trying to say anything bad about the military--I highly, highly respect the military, but the drawbacks I see to military dentistry for me seem to outweigh the benefits. First, here are some of the pros:
1. Dental tuition/fees totally paid for. (great if you went to a private dental school)
2. Get to be assigned to an area of the nation/world that you may have never been to, therefore, good for the experience/sight-seeing.
3. Free housing, inexpensive food/clothing.
4. You will go into the military as an officer.
5. Don't have to worry about trying to get patients because the military provides all the patients for you.
6. Billing, insurance, and all the boring administrative paperwork is taken care of.
5. Being part of the military is a noble, honorary thing.
Cons:
1. Yes, even though they pay for your tuition, you will get a stipend when you graduate that is not very high--if I remember correctly it is around 40-50K. The average dentist right out of dental school makes 70-80K and will begin to establish him/herself within the community and build up a clientele right away. The military dentist does not have this luxury. He/she will be stuck with the 40-50K for the duration of the military assignment and when he/she gets out, no client base will have been established--thus the military dentist will have to build up clients only AFTER the military assignment is complete.
2. You may be assigned to some remote, desolate, boring military base with nothing better to do but to count the number of cactus growing.
3. I hear one doesn't have too much of a choice where one is assigned--basically where the military needs a dentist is where YOU'LL be sent.
4. The dental instruments and supplies a dentist will get are barely adequate to cover the dental procedures (from what I hear). Equipment is old and any access to state-of-the art equipment is not likely.
4. You go into the military as a low-ranked officer, therefore you are told what to do and when to do it.
5. Since you are a low-ranked officer, GUESS who gets to get-up at 2:00 in the morning when the pager goes off for an emergency dental procedure?
6. I hear the housing the military provides isn't that great.
Those are some pros/cons of military dentistry. If anyone else has info. to add to this or to correct anything I may have mentioned above, please add. This info. as I have mentioned in previous posts is just info. I have collected from asking questions and reading information.
Racerdude
P.S. If I were you Hey11an, I would ask the military dental recruiter if I could talk to current military dentists about their experiences. Talk to as many military dentists as you can before you make a serious commitment.
