I have had the chance to take Dental Physio, Dental Biochem and Oral Immuno while finishing the masters program. Out of all 3, I'd say that dental physio is the hardest course but I hated Immuno the most. I'll give a breakdown of what to expect for each class and my thoughts on each one
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Dental Physio:
I took this class by itself this fall to finish up my masters program. It is a 5 credit course. It meets 4 times a week from 1 to 3pm. There is a 55 minute exam with 30 questions every two weeks covering 6 topics. At the end you have a cumulative final covering all the material. It is a 60 question, 2 hour exam. Thankfully, the final counts the same as all the other exams so if you have a nice buffer going into the final, doing a little poorer on the final won't affect your outcome all that much. There is also an optional extra credit exam that can add a total of approximately 2 points to your final grade so that can definitely help you out if you're on the border.
As for overall thoughts on the class, as I mentioned, it's definitely one of the toughest classes I've ever taken. I got my acceptance like a week before the final so I didn't study as much as I probably should have haha. Regardless, everyone will agree with me when I say it's a hard ass final. Mostly because it covers so much material and the questions are not general. They're very specific so you really need to know your **** cold to do well. Is it impossible to get an A? Not by any means. Each lecture material is taught by a different professor for the most part. There are some professors whose material is better taught than others and it is very possible to get a 100 on an exam. Other material (GI for instance) is really nitty gritty and it sucks and the exam questions are super specific and hard to figure out. For example, an example of a GI question you might be asked would be phrased in this manner:
statement A: bla bla blaaa
statement B: gobbledy gook
A. A & B are true
B. A is true but B is false
C. B is true but A is false
D. A & B are both false
... etc. you get the point
GI exam is notoriously hard but it's still possible to do decent on it. The other exams though aren't nearly as bad. Because there is an exam every two weeks, you really need to stay on top of the material. Fall behind and you're screwed. I can't imagine how much it would suck to take physio along with the rest of the first semester dental curriculum. I'm glad I got it out of the way hahaha
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Dental Biochem:
Dental Biochem is a 4 credit class. It is also taught by multiple professors. I kind of enjoy biochem so I didn't think this was a particularly difficult course. It's all just cycles and different cell processes. I would just go to the library, get a room with a dry erase board and just draw cycles over and over again til they were ingrained in my head. I believe there were 3 exams and a cumulative final. I took the course last year so I'm not 100% on the number of exams. The cumulative final for this course comparatively speaking is muuuch easier than the physio final. I walked out of the biochem final in like 45 minutes feeling very confident. The questions were very general and just tested you on whether or not you knew the basic material. Oh yea, your lowest grade gets dropped (not the final obviously haha) As for the professors , there were one or two I wasn't particularly fond of because I don't think they explained it in the easiest way possible but for the most part, they were all pretty decent.
Oh one thing I wanted to mention if you guys are in the masters program and are interested in taking this course. The course director, Dr. Kumar, is on the admissions board. If you choose to take it, make sure you kick ass. I did really well on the first exam and went to his office hours to "go over the exam" (really it was just a way to get my foot in the door haha) After we finished reviewing, I asked him if he would consider writing me a letter. He told me that he'd wait to see how I fared with the rest of the course, and then pending me doing well, he'd call me in for an informal interview and then decide whether to write me a letter or not. I busted my ass to do well in the course and had him write me a letter. How much good it did in terms of helping me get in I will never know but I'm sure it definitely helped. So that's something for you to take into consideration
One great thing about these two dental courses (or bad thing depending on how you look at it) the grades are posted up right after the exam is finished. So you can figure out as soon as you step out of the exam whether you need to step your game up or that you're doing something right. It's sort of like the DATs in that sense I guess...
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Oral Immunology
This is a 3 credit course in the masters program. I was not a fan of this class. I don't think it is taught very well. It's taught by Dr. Tsiagbe. He started teaching the course 2 years ago (so this spring will be his 3rd time teaching the course) He's gotten a lot better from what I've heard but I was still not a fan of his teaching style. I found his accent very hard to understand even when I sat up in the front. His notes are okay, I went to the textbook most of the time to clarify things I didn't understand in the class. I forget how many exams were in the class but there's no cumulative final for the course. The course initially was 2 credits but people bitched that it was a lot of work for only 2 credits so he changed it to 3 credits and extended the course an extra 2 or 3 weeks. In those 2-3 weeks, you learn about research principles. You have a sort of group project and an exam on the research principles at the end of the course. Those last 2-3 weeks, you will only take the course with other masters students. The dental students will not be attending the lectures on research principles, etc. Dr. Tsiagbe teaches most of the class but there are 2 or 3 guest lecturers. As for the exams, I thought many of them were poorly phrased. During reviews, he never seemed to explain the answers thoroughly. He would just read the question, state the answer and move on like we were supposed to know it no problem. That kind of irked me as he provided no real explanation for the answer. All in all, this was my least liked course.
On a side note, Oral Immuno is the only course you can sign up for on your own. Dental Physio and Dent Biochem are both courses that you need to place into. As for what qualifies you to take the course, it's mostly based on your performance in the program. My first semester in the program, I had decent DAT scores but my GPA was **** so I didn't place into Dent Physio. I considered taking Oral Micro (the other class offered that you don't need to place into) but the advisers at the masters program scared the hell out of me. They told me it was too difficult a course and that I should ease my way into the program and to not overload my schedule and diminish my chances even more of getting into dental school. I listened to their advice and dropped the course and took something else instead. Which actually worked out for the best, because I did really well my first semester and it gave me the confidence to finish off strong with the program.
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As for whether to complete the program in a year or 2 years, there are a couple routes you can take:
Option 1: you can take 15 credits in the fall, and 15 in the spring (if you're doing the non-thesis route, 2 of those 30 credits should be 60 hours of research)
I'm not a big fan of this option as it's jam packing too many courses into a semester. If you guys are/were in my boat, the masters program was my last ditch effort in helping me get into Dental school. I didn't wanna **** up my chances by taking more than I could handle.
Option 2: You can take 12 credits in the fall and 13 credits in the spring. That leaves you with 5 credits left. 2 of those credits = research. The final 3 credits you can finish off in the summer. There is one course offered in the "summer" It's a virology course offered in June I believe and runs for 3 or 4 weeks. This option will allow you to complete the program in a year
Option 3: Finish the program in a year and half. This is the option I went with. I initially considered going with Option 2 but umdnj was my #1 choice. The school however, refuses to consider someone's application with only a half a year of grades. They want to see a full year of grades before they look at your file. Taking that into consideration, there was no benefit to finishing in a year. Instead, I decided to just go the year and half route as that allowed me to take Dental Physio in the fall. I talked to admissions about my schedule and they asked me why I was taking dental physio if my grade for the course would probably not be considered. I told them that worst case scenario, it prepares me for what to expect in dental school and best case scenario, I do well and and I don't have to take it once I get in. I think that answer pleased them haha. So anyways, those are your three options
I think I covered everything regarding the program. If you guys look at my predent profile, you can clearly see that my undergrad stats are well below average. I had to climb a hell of a mountain to get to where I am now. SDN is full of gunners whose stats are phenomenal and over the top. That's the main reason, why I put up my profile at predents; for those who are reading the threads thinking that dental school is not within their reach. I hope this gives you some hope and you fight for what you want. The masters program was definitely pivotal in helping me get into dental school and if you guys decide to join the program I wish you the best of luck. Just remember to make the most of the situation. It's a clean slate and you can write your future whichever way you want. Future's in your hands
