Is dental school a fun?

[KinKs]

I am defined by my high school years. It was a lot of fun - getting in and out of trouble, escaping corporal punishment, winning National soccer competitions etc. undergrad was a waste and I hope Dental School will now become the defining years of my life.

Please share with me whether or not you are having the time of you life at dental school?

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[jackbauer!]

I am defined by my high school years. It was a lot of fun - getting in and out of trouble, escaping corporal punishment, winning National soccer competitions etc. undergrad was a waste and I hope Dental School will now become the defining years of my life.

Please share with me whether or not you are having the time of you life at dental school?

Uncle Rico anyone?

jb!

 

[NSDDS]

Uncle Rico anyone?

jb!

haha...good one jack....dental school was honestly the best time I had in my life...the friends you make are life-long...it's a different kind of bond...It was more like high school than college because you see the same people everyday in every class....you somehow manage to make a close group of friends and confide in each other for comfort and advice....definitely enjoy your time.

 

[Dukie]

I am defined by my high school years. It was a lot of fun - getting in and out of trouble, escaping corporal punishment, winning National soccer competitions etc. undergrad was a waste and I hope Dental School will now become the defining years of my life.

Please share with me whether or not you are having the time of you life at dental school?

Uh, no. Dentistry is great. Dental school? Not so much.

 

[vize]

dental school sucks. dentistry is fun. the only good thing about dental school i'd say is the bond you form with your classmates and the fun nights you all share. everything else sucks.

 

[jackbauer!]

dental school sucks. dentistry is fun. the only good thing about dental school i'd say is the bond you form with your classmates and the fun nights you all share. everything else sucks.

agreed

the best part about dental school is finishing a hell week on a friday at noon. afterwards we... ughh.. you can fill in the blanks..

jb!

 

[Regmata]

I think it depends on the semester. Some semesters are more fun than others, but the less fun ones might just be more satisfying. You get a certain enjoyment out of coming closer to reaching your goals and bettering yourself. Everyone is driven differently though and enjoys different aspects. The social aspect is there and can be a blast...but it can also be overshadowed by long nights, headaches and being completely overwhelmed.

 

[NSDDS]

When I was saying dental school were one of the best times I've had...I was strictly speaking about the social experience...yeah...the rest of these guys are right....the school part does suck....it would've been a great experience if classes and tests weren't in the way..haha

 

[dWiz]

I am defined by my high school years. It was a lot of fun - getting in and out of trouble, escaping corporal punishment, winning National soccer competitions etc. undergrad was a waste and I hope Dental School will now become the defining years of my life.

Please share with me whether or not you are having the time of you life at dental school?

you'll be spending most time of the day in lectures/lab/ or self study...imagine that for the next few years....

 

[Harvey]

I am defined by my high school years. It was a lot of fun - getting in and out of trouble, escaping corporal punishment, winning National soccer competitions etc. undergrad was a waste and I hope Dental School will now become the defining years of my life.

Please share with me whether or not you are having the time of you life at dental school?

If I had to equate it to something, I'm guessing it is sort of like pledging a frat, but for 4 years. There are a lot of good times, but the times that suck, really suck, and there are lots of times that suck.

 

[Typo]

You are in for a world of pain.

 

[cowbuddha]

Sure, it will be fun. Now bend over.

 

[DIRTIE]

dental school sucks

 

[Toothpaste99]

I'm only a 1st yr, so I have a limited perspective, but do NOT expect high school fun. It is a brutal experience. Take advantage of the rare day to relax and forget about everything. Chances to hang out with classmates are the crutch to get you through it all, otherwise you would be miserable. You'll find that the people in dental school are awesome for the most part.

As someone mentioned, it is just like a fraternity, but more like the hell week part. You feel mentally and physically assaulted. I've never been so tired in my life! I wish I could go back and take all those naps that I wasted in kindergarten.

 

[CoachJawbone]

do any of u guys consider the laboratory work/ requirements to be fun?

 

[Regmata]

Your 1st year they are...they become a welcome reprieve from your didactic course load.

 

[1992Corolla]

I think it is fun. We learn about the body, manipulate wax, use power tools, read books, and then put everything that we learned down onto a piece of paper that will define us as a failure or a success.

I can only speak for the first two years though. Maybe it gets worse in the clinic? I am a firm believer in having a good attitude no matter what. Sure it sucks, but would you rather be applying to dental school again?

 

[blankguy]

It sounds like Dental boot camp.

 

[clickytop]

OMG dental school is like so awesome. Me and my bffs have so much fun together and we're going to totally work together when we graduate. OMG we saw this really cute OMFS resident in clinic the other day and he was totally checking Ashley out.LOL. Me and my girlfriends go out like almost every night, the teachers are so chill that they don't mind when we come in 3 hours late and totally hung over. And they gave us these cute blue scrubs that look so hott with our white coats. But yeah dental school is soooo much fun, it's like one big party LOL, and you're going to have such an awesome time.

 

[CoachJawbone]

sounds like Clicky is telling us that Dental school is obviously hard

 

[KinKs]

thanks for all the responses - i am definately looking forward to it

 

[pietrodds]

are you serious? you are getting trained in the career you're going to be doing the rest of you life most likely and you big concern is if you're going to have fun like in high school? Did you ask this in your interview???

First of you dental school is like getting an ice pick stuck in your ***. Yes, you'll make some friends along the way because you are all getting stuck with the same 'ice pick' and can relate to each other's plight. But the reality is that you have this pain in your *** for 4 long years and that should be your chief concern. Graduating from dental school is the equivelent of having the this ice pick removed from your ***. Trying to get your final clinical requirements down the stretch for some feels like the bad guys pulling the pick out slowly and wiggling it along the way wondering if they're going to really pull it out and end the misery or are then going to let it continue for an undisclosed period of time.

I hope your exerpience is fun like a trip to disney world however.

 

[Dutchboy]

are you serious? you are getting trained in the career you're going to be doing the rest of you life most likely and you big concern is if you're going to have fun like in high school? Did you ask this in your interview???

First of you dental school is like getting an ice pick stuck in your ***. Yes, you'll make some friends along the way because you are all getting stuck with the same 'ice pick' and can relate to each other's plight. But the reality is that you have this pain in your *** for 4 long years and that should be your chief concern. Graduating from dental school is the equivelent of having the this ice pick removed from your ***. Trying to get your final clinical requirements down the stretch for some feels like the bad guys pulling the pick out slowly and wiggling it along the way wondering if they're going to really pull it out and end the misery or are then going to let it continue for an undisclosed period of time.

I hope your exerpience is fun like a trip to disney world however.

Well said. You make friends because misery loves company. The stress will take years off your life. I'd rather eat **** out of a cup.

 

[KinKs]

My apologies guys - I will never worry about having fun and being comfortable over a 4 year period ever again. I dont know what got into me.

 

[Dutchboy]

Don't be a tool. You asked and we told you. It might not be the answer you wanted to hear but it's the truth. I hope you have a better time than most of us had, I just wouldn't count on it.

 

[Giuliana]

If you want to have fun don't come to dental school. Whether you make friends or not, it will be the most miserable time of your life.

 

[Regmata]

I dont know where you guys all go to school or if you are just negative people, but myself and fellow classmates don't seem to share your attitudes. Sorry dental school sucks for you so much, maybe you chose the wrong career paths...

 

[blankguy]

I'm just going into this thinking that it is a roller coaster of a ride. Hopefully it will be a fun ride.

 

[JamieMac]

Given most of the responses here, I cannot help thinking that many of you have not encountered any significant adversity or challenges in your life. I can respect that D-school is hard, and I (like many entering this fall) wonder what I'm in store for...BUT c'mon...(yes, I'm kind of calling you out here)...what do you have to compare it to? I have faced many challenges throughout my life, and I sincerely appreciate the opportunities I have been given. Sure, getting through D-school will be challenging, but I'll venture to say that it will be a lot easier to hurdle this compared to a few other obstacles I have encountered thus far.

Dutchboy...interesting avatar - heard of the website, but no desire to see it.

 

[edkNARF]

Work hard, and play hard. You can have as much fun as you want in dental school.

 

[Typo]

Given most of the responses here, I cannot help thinking that many of you have not encountered any significant adversity or challenges in your life.

The issue is what else we could be doing with our time. I personally don't enjoy devoting nearly every weekend to constant study and waxing up dentures like I'm doing this weekend. I don't enjoy spending my weeknights studying while my wife and kids are downstairs without me. I don't enjoy the stress of being an office manager, lab technician, hygienist, and secretary all rolled into one during clinic, all the while scrambling to achieve requirements and deadlines through the random patient base I'm assigned.

Meanwhile, I could have taken a decent job after college, and I could be spending my nights and weekends with my wife and kids, and my stress levels would be significantly lower during these 4 years.

Naturally, my future and my family's future will be much brighter than if I had done the above, because I will be in a profession I enjoy more, we will have a higher standard of living, and will hopefully even end up having more free time than I would have with some other job.

Dental school isn't a grand old fun time; it sucks compared to a lot of other ways I could spend my time. It'll be worth it though.

 

[Dutchboy]

The issue is what else we could be doing with our time. I personally don't enjoy devoting nearly every weekend to constant study and waxing up dentures like I'm doing this weekend. I don't enjoy spending my weeknights studying while my wife and kids are downstairs without me. I don't enjoy the stress of being an office manager, lab technician, hygienist, and secretary all rolled into one during clinic, all the while scrambling to achieve requirements and deadlines through the random patient base I'm assigned.

Meanwhile, I could have taken a decent job after college, and I could be spending my nights and weekends with my wife and kids, and my stress levels would be significantly lower during these 4 years.

Naturally, my future and my family's future will be much brighter than if I had done the above, because I will be in a profession I enjoy more, we will have a higher standard of living, and will hopefully even end up having more free time than I would have with some other job.

Dental school isn't a grand old fun time; it sucks compared to a lot of other ways I could spend my time. It'll be worth it though.

Well put. It feels like your life is always on hold. You miss out on a lot, and that gets frustrating when it's because you are memorizing something you won't remember the day after the test. Just seems like a waist of time.

 

[jackbauer!]

Don't be a tool. You asked and we told you. It might not be the answer you wanted to hear but it's the truth. I hope you have a better time than most of us had, I just wouldn't count on it.

Chill out, bro. Not every dental student is as miserable as yourself.

jb!

 

[Dutchboy]

Chill out, bro. Not every dental student is as miserable as yourself.

jb!

Ya, not every dental student is at Nova.
I'm not saying everyday is hell. Dentistry is fun. But dentistry is only a portion of the crap they make you learn in dental school. With that said, I have to get back to memorizing what drugs you can prescribe to someone with African sleeping sickness.

 

[jackbauer!]

What kinda muck are they runnin down there at Nova? There seems to be a lot of unhappy Nova kids on this board.

I grew up 30 minutes north of Nova and there's a good reason why I didn't apply there. I feel your pain brotha, but dental school is just a lot of hoops to jump through. Sad but true.

In the end it will all be worth it. I was a teacher last year. I would take d-school any day over some job I'm not satisfied with.

jb!

 

[1992Corolla]

I like dental school. I think I am going to start one. The Big Johnson School of Dentistry.

 

[Avrelian]

Well said. You make friends because misery loves company. The stress will take years off your life. I'd rather eat **** out of a cup.

 

[gatorfan99]

Yeah, I gotta tell you, I'm having the time of my life!

LoL, I'm kidding, its actually a daily constant hell, the friendships I've made is the only bright side in a dark, stressful, 4 year nightmare

 

[blankguy]

Do you guys study from the time you get out of class to around midnight on weekdays?

 

[jackbauer!]

Do you guys study from the time you get out of class to around midnight on weekdays?

Absolutely not. There will be days where you get out of class and study all night, and there will be days that you get out of class and go to happy hour.

School really isn't as bad as gatorfan is hinting at. I guess some of it depends on where you go to school and how friendly the students/faculty are, but most of it depends on how you handle stress. There are many, many students in dental school that will bitch and complain about anything and everything that isn't just peachy. These are the students that claim "dental school will take years from your life!"

Sometimes you just need to take a step back and put everything into perspective. We are all very lucky to be in dental school, entering such a great profession. At times, school will suck. But it will never suck more than going to work day in-day out working for "the man." At times, you will fail. But you will graduate. Just work hard and have fun; if you do this then I promise you, you will not equate dental school to "hell" or anything similar.

jb!

 

[blankguy]

I take it you always feel that you don't have enough time to study.

How do people study? Memorize notes?

 

[jackbauer!]

I take it you always feel that you don't have enough time to study.

How do people study? Memorize notes?

There are times where you will have plenty of time to study, and times where you will have to prioritize and neglect one subject in favor of another.

I suppose if you have excellent time management, then you will find time to study for everything. But most dental students aren't like this. We like to go out and have a good time.

How do we study? Depends on the class. Some classes are very conceptual (i.e. radio), others are rote memorization (i.e. microbio). You will learn to become a more efficient studier as you progress through first year. You will learn to memorize things in less time. Repetition and sleep are key to remembering stuff. Cramming everything in the night before is close to impossible for most courses. You will rarely find time to actually read chapters from the text.

Hope that helped.

jb!

 

[armorshell]

At times it's the most fun I've had in my life, interspersed with crippling defeat and disappointment

 

[pietrodds]

It blows. I'm sticking by my ice pick analogy. The dentistry part is interesting and I hope it is for you too. If it's not then you're in BIG trouble as this is what got me the strength to continue. Dental school is in general a rediculous set of hoops to jump through. The hoops are set up by a bunch of incompetent fools who in most cases could not make a living in private practice due to their inept abilities in dealing with other individuals of the same species. The systems set up to graduate are so frickin inefficient and cumbersome that it's maddening. Case in point, I scaled and prophied a pt for 14 hours of app't time before the perio instructor would sign off on a pt to let me do a crown. 14 HOURS! The pt's gums were impecable and the only reason the damn dentist-hating hygienist signed off on it was because the pt has a emotional meltdown to her about how she spent more in child care to make these appointments than she saved by having the crown done at the dental school. The few decent teachers, usuallly the part timers, make the experience at least bareable. I hope your experience is better than mine. Part of my stress was the knowledge that I had taken out 200K and spent 4 years up until the day I got my degree question IF I'd ever actually get it and if I didn't how I'd ever pay my loans off. My school failed nearly 20% after my second year and 10 of them were not invited back. I finished with a GPA well over 3.0 and yet it was a constant question as to whether some jerkoff prof who had a vendetta against me was going to see to it that my life was hell. Best advice is to bite your tongue and just walk on all fours and bark like a dog if they tell you too. After you get the degree, you can tell them to kiss your ***. If someone else had been footing the bill for Dschool for me, I'm sure that it would have been much less stressful for me. Those who think it's all fun and games either have someone paying their way or don't understand the concept of money imo. You financially can't pay off 200-300K in loans working a 50K job with your undergrad degree after you fail out of dental school.

 

[Blackjack21]

a little off topic...but whats the passing rate for dental schools...i know all schools will obviously be different but all in all is there a specific percent out there?

 

[djeffreyt]

Our Pass rates is usually between 95% to 99% varying year to year. Usually the 1st year class will lose 1 to 3 students to illness or family issues, academic reasons, or people just quiting cause they realize they don't want to do Dentistry. Sometimes you may lose another during 2nd or 3rd, but it is rarer.

As for fun. I enjoy it. I think the reason you get so many varied opinions is simply the fact that every person and every school is different. You can put a miserable wretch of a person in a wonderful unicorn-dancing, elf-singing, gnome-powered-lab school and they will say that every day is a 4cm, barbed ice pick up the urethra. You can put an optomistic, happy go lucky person in the same school and get the opposite results. And, oddly enough, if you put a miseable wretch of a person in a horrific school where professors beat you with your typodonts before you can even walk into the front door...you might find that person to actually love dental school...it's all very odd. Every personality meshes into the personality of the school so differently with completely weird results.

Even at Pacific, where everybody knows your name, you'll find one or two people in every class who, given the right impetous, will talk your ear off about what a horrible school Pacific is and how they hate coming here and hate every minute of it and want to pour acid into their eye sockets every morning just cause they come to this school.

I'm not trying to downplay the fact that every school has problems and some have more than others...I understand and appreciate that. But different people deal with those problems differently. Some ignore it. Some figure out how to make it better. Some medicate to forget. Some dwell on it until it becomes the Titanic sinking, and some just brush it off like a mosquito bite and move on.

 

[Bifid Uvula]

Absolutely not. There will be days where you get out of class and study all night, and there will be days that you get out of class and go to happy hour.

Amen... Thank God for good old Camden Pub!

 

[pine88]

are you serious? you are getting trained in the career you're going to be doing the rest of you life most likely and you big concern is if you're going to have fun like in high school? Did you ask this in your interview???

I hope your exerpience is fun like a trip to disney world however.

OMG how DARE you wonder if you if this this 4 year chunk of your life is going to be a defining experience. And asking about HAPINESS?? Happiness is for the weak. You obviously don't deserve to be a dentist. We only talk about misery here.

One of the main reasons I picked my school, is that along with good passing rates on the boards and a good clinical reputation, it was the only school I visited where the students I met were actually happy. When I asked students at other schools about that, they seemed to think that being unhappy was a necessary part of d school. And therefore happy students must = bad school. Which doesn't make sense. Yes, it is hard and A LOT of work, but having faculty that respect you, an administration that supports you and good structure to the curriculum - that makes a huge difference. And how would that be detrimental to one's education? I'm not saying our school is perfect in these categories, I'm just saying a lot of what gets people really frustrated about school is avoidable.

I agree with Jeff that which school you go to and a person's personality make a big difference. Other things that make a big difference are:
-if you want to specialize. If so, prepare to not see daylight. Unless you are a genius.
-your study style. Are you an auditory learner who can listen to a lecture and remember everything without studying? Do you learn quickly, or do you have to read everything they assign, rewrite all the lectures, etc. There is never enough time in d school, so the less time you need to do your work, the better you will be.

 

[mattk79]

well said. i'm glad i didn't haven't any of you wimps in afghanistan with me. i think you probably would have gotten the soap in pillowcase beating. i'm looking forward to dental school. just finishing pharmacy school now. it could always be a lot harder so enjoy yourself kinks!

Given most of the responses here, I cannot help thinking that many of you have not encountered any significant adversity or challenges in your life. I can respect that D-school is hard, and I (like many entering this fall) wonder what I'm in store for...BUT c'mon...(yes, I'm kind of calling you out here)...what do you have to compare it to? I have faced many challenges throughout my life, and I sincerely appreciate the opportunities I have been given. Sure, getting through D-school will be challenging, but I'll venture to say that it will be a lot easier to hurdle this compared to a few other obstacles I have encountered thus far.

Dutchboy...interesting avatar - heard of the website, but no desire to see it.

 

[pine88]

well said. i'm glad i didn't haven't any of you wimps in afghanistan with me. i think you probably would have gotten the soap in pillowcase beating. i'm looking forward to dental school. just finishing pharmacy school now. it could always be a lot harder so enjoy yourself kinks!

Your point is poorly put, but a point none-the-less. Reminds me of this perfect study break video. Some of you have probably seen it before. Feeling Stressed? Study break! The whole thing is good, but if you want the Cliff Notes version, check out 6:00-6:33.

Here is the intro my classmate sent out with the link "This is a video from a professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has months to live......he gave his last lecture to his students and then Oprah invited him to give it one last time.

I know everyone has been consumed by dental school (and its hard not to be), therefore, I thought this might help us all to ground ourselves once again with the perspective of what is truly important in life."