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Hey guys, have some free time. I’m about to graduate dental school and want to give back. If you have any questions about dental school or anything pertaining to it, ask away!
Wanting to go to dental school? Ask your questions here!
- Thread starter KAU6
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Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo
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thank you so much for doing this!!!!
1. how did you manage to maintain a healthy professional relationship with your classmates for 4 years?
2. what were some of the struggles about dental schools that the admissions office/ school ambassador don't talk about when they meet pre-dental students?
3. were professors generally nice and helpful? did you have any professors that were really difficult to work with? if yes, did the program ever address the problems?
1. how did you manage to maintain a healthy professional relationship with your classmates for 4 years?
2. what were some of the struggles about dental schools that the admissions office/ school ambassador don't talk about when they meet pre-dental students?
3. were professors generally nice and helpful? did you have any professors that were really difficult to work with? if yes, did the program ever address the problems?
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Thanks for the questions!
1) Just like in general life, having a healthy relationship with your classmates whom you know you will be around for 4 years, it important to be kind. Dental school has been a difficult academic and life-growing process for me; everyone around you is going through the same thing. Be supportive, and take the time to offer a helping hand when you can, because chances are, you will need it one day! You reap what you sow, and treat others how you would like to be treated. Also, just be cautious on what you say to people! Rumors spread like wildfire and you will be stuck there for 4 years with them lol!
2)The dental school ambassadors will make it seem peachy!! Often times it seems that things change at a snails pace or complaints are unheard. I think mental health is the #1 concern that isn’t brought up in the beginning of dental school. It’s important to take the time to destress, cause if you don’t, it WILL catch up to you. I picked up running, and boy did it help! Dental school is doable, just pay attention to your body and take time to nurture it!
3) Yes generally speaking the professors were kind in offering help when a student needed it. However, it didn’t prevent them from putting on the heat so to speak. Didactic classes can be quite difficult and they don’t tend to baby you through any courses. It’s basically like a right-of-passage. You have to go through the stress and struggle because the dental schools want the students that graduate to wear their emblem with pride. In other words, the school wants students that graduate from their program to represent them.
1) Just like in general life, having a healthy relationship with your classmates whom you know you will be around for 4 years, it important to be kind. Dental school has been a difficult academic and life-growing process for me; everyone around you is going through the same thing. Be supportive, and take the time to offer a helping hand when you can, because chances are, you will need it one day! You reap what you sow, and treat others how you would like to be treated. Also, just be cautious on what you say to people! Rumors spread like wildfire and you will be stuck there for 4 years with them lol!
2)The dental school ambassadors will make it seem peachy!! Often times it seems that things change at a snails pace or complaints are unheard. I think mental health is the #1 concern that isn’t brought up in the beginning of dental school. It’s important to take the time to destress, cause if you don’t, it WILL catch up to you. I picked up running, and boy did it help! Dental school is doable, just pay attention to your body and take time to nurture it!
3) Yes generally speaking the professors were kind in offering help when a student needed it. However, it didn’t prevent them from putting on the heat so to speak. Didactic classes can be quite difficult and they don’t tend to baby you through any courses. It’s basically like a right-of-passage. You have to go through the stress and struggle because the dental schools want the students that graduate to wear their emblem with pride. In other words, the school wants students that graduate from their program to represent them.
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Hey there, thanks so much for doing this! I remember going into college utterly unprepared for anything, so it will help to get a better idea of what dental school is like.
1. Any insight into time management and work-life balance? (I have an SO and many fam/fam friends near school and want to spend time with them, but I also want to set myself up well to specialize later on.) What does your typical day look like, and do you feel like you had to sacrifice a lot to study?
2. What do you regret doing/not doing from your earlier years? What would you tell teeny D1 you?
3. How do you manage stress and sense of competition?
4. Any study tips?
5. Outside of school, what are ways you have prepared for general dentistry in terms of clinical skills and practice management?
1. Any insight into time management and work-life balance? (I have an SO and many fam/fam friends near school and want to spend time with them, but I also want to set myself up well to specialize later on.) What does your typical day look like, and do you feel like you had to sacrifice a lot to study?
2. What do you regret doing/not doing from your earlier years? What would you tell teeny D1 you?
3. How do you manage stress and sense of competition?
4. Any study tips?
5. Outside of school, what are ways you have prepared for general dentistry in terms of clinical skills and practice management?
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Great questions!
1)I had to make some difficult decisions the initial years of dental school. I was used to going out often, spending tons of time with friends, and generally doing what I wanted to do while in undergrad; besides spending a few hours before exams I was pretty much free. In dental school I quickly realized in order to stay on top of the mountain of material, I had to study proactively. I guess it depends on what school you go to, but those are questions to ask the students during the interviews (definitely do that!!!). So what I did was take a Friday afternoon off and make set amounts of time that I would look over the material. Mine was generally 3 hrs per day after school. I had to sacrifice more time with friends in dental school compared to undergrad. However, even times of heavy studying, I would take the time out to go on runs and it really helped with the stress!!
2) the one thing I can think of that I would do differently is to just turn down the stress I would put on myself. I did pretty well in my didactic work, and maybe the stress put on myself helped with that, but chill little DS1 lol! Don’t compare yourself to others.
3) I picked up running about 3-4 days a week to deal with the stress. Competition is a real thing in dental school. Everyone is comparing themselves to everyone else. People in your class are used to being highly successful, that’s why they made it into this competitive field to begin with. My best advice: unless you are really concerned about your performance, just chill and ride on. Do your best, adapt to the amount of coursework, study to stay in tune with the material, and ask PROFESSORS for help, not other classmates. Professors are much better suited to help you out and they generally care about your success. Or if you find another student whom you share study habits with, that’s pretty good too!
4)pick a certain amount of time during the week and on weekends that your are willing to put to the side to study. Take as good of notes as you can. Oh ya, you can type faster than you write by hand...trust me. Look over your notes. And if your school records lectures, time is generally better spent relistening to the lectures on 1.5 speed vs going to class if attendance isn’t important. Wish someone would have told me that in the beginning!
5) during your interviews simply ask the students involved in your interview process if they feel prepared to practice Dentistry. If they say no or if multiple say no, be wary. I feel pretty prepared, and I feel you should be if you make the most out of your clinic time (last two years). There is a refugee clinic at my school you can spend extra time at. You can take time during your time off of clinic (generally an afternoon or two depending in what school you go to, it’s scheduled every week) and go shadow one of the specialty clinics. I found that if you ask faculty involved in public health, they have a lot of resources for you if you want to spend the extra time to get more general dentistry experience.
1)I had to make some difficult decisions the initial years of dental school. I was used to going out often, spending tons of time with friends, and generally doing what I wanted to do while in undergrad; besides spending a few hours before exams I was pretty much free. In dental school I quickly realized in order to stay on top of the mountain of material, I had to study proactively. I guess it depends on what school you go to, but those are questions to ask the students during the interviews (definitely do that!!!). So what I did was take a Friday afternoon off and make set amounts of time that I would look over the material. Mine was generally 3 hrs per day after school. I had to sacrifice more time with friends in dental school compared to undergrad. However, even times of heavy studying, I would take the time out to go on runs and it really helped with the stress!!
2) the one thing I can think of that I would do differently is to just turn down the stress I would put on myself. I did pretty well in my didactic work, and maybe the stress put on myself helped with that, but chill little DS1 lol! Don’t compare yourself to others.
3) I picked up running about 3-4 days a week to deal with the stress. Competition is a real thing in dental school. Everyone is comparing themselves to everyone else. People in your class are used to being highly successful, that’s why they made it into this competitive field to begin with. My best advice: unless you are really concerned about your performance, just chill and ride on. Do your best, adapt to the amount of coursework, study to stay in tune with the material, and ask PROFESSORS for help, not other classmates. Professors are much better suited to help you out and they generally care about your success. Or if you find another student whom you share study habits with, that’s pretty good too!
4)pick a certain amount of time during the week and on weekends that your are willing to put to the side to study. Take as good of notes as you can. Oh ya, you can type faster than you write by hand...trust me. Look over your notes. And if your school records lectures, time is generally better spent relistening to the lectures on 1.5 speed vs going to class if attendance isn’t important. Wish someone would have told me that in the beginning!
5) during your interviews simply ask the students involved in your interview process if they feel prepared to practice Dentistry. If they say no or if multiple say no, be wary. I feel pretty prepared, and I feel you should be if you make the most out of your clinic time (last two years). There is a refugee clinic at my school you can spend extra time at. You can take time during your time off of clinic (generally an afternoon or two depending in what school you go to, it’s scheduled every week) and go shadow one of the specialty clinics. I found that if you ask faculty involved in public health, they have a lot of resources for you if you want to spend the extra time to get more general dentistry experience.
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