There are many factors to consider in choosing a University.
Location and Cost of living
Based on the weather conditions, states like New Jersey, New York have heavy snow in winters but there are places like California, Texas, Florida which are warmer and never see snow. This is just a personal preference. The cost of living also depends on the state for example, in New Jersey as a student you could live with $500 living expenses per month whereas places like New York or California would cost you $1000- $1100 per month. Unless you have family, members living in a particular state.
Tuition Fee / Scholarship
The same course you choose might be $55,000 in few schools and in a different school it might cost you $60,000 with $15,000 scholarship. You must compare all these factors and check with the respective schools to see if they are offering any scholarships. International students are not eligible for most of the scholarship programs available but there are still some schools offering if you have a good GPA etc. You can find details on their websites or simply email the admissions office.
Duration of the Course
Traditional master’s program in-person full-time would be 2 years. If you are applying for an F1 visa, the above program is suggested. If you are already in the US and have a Green Card or a citizenship, you can even take up a complete online program or hybrid (partly online & partly classroom based) program. Post COVID most of the which had in-person classes also switched to online.
If the University has an associated dental school ?
If you are intending to apply for DDS/DMD or a residency program in future, then try to choose a school which has a dental school associated with it (specifically international dentist program). It will not directly give you pass to get into DDS program, but it will at least allow you to build some connections from dental school students or faculty. If you get familiar with them, you might be lucky to get an interview.
GRE
When I did my masters lot of universities required GRE but lately from the past 2 years and specially after COVID, things changed and most of the schools do not require GRE now. So that’s a good news for us.
TOEFL/IELTS
First shortlist the schools you want to apply to, check the requirements if they require IELTS or TOEFL. It doesn’t matter which test you take, but to apply to dental schools only TOEFL is accepted. So if you have a choice prefer taking TOEFL.
Sense of Community
I am from India and when I first came to New Jersey, though I was very far from home, there were a lot of people with similar background, lot of Indian restaurants which made me still feel home. I did not feel lost. It is great to be in a diverse community, we will get to learn a lot from different cultures and different minds but sometimes you need that sense of belonging as well.
Life of Foreign Dentist in USA 