Freshman's Nightmare: How should we prepare for 1st year dental school?

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pibozh

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Hello my Dear friends in SDN,

There are a lot of students like me who are going to start their first year next Fall. We are in desperate need for some good advice about how to get ready for our first year. In my interviews everybody said don't worry about it and just go and have as much fun as you can, cause when you start you won't have time for that... Now I want to know how can I prepare myself for that first year that seems to be really hard..Review Anatomy?Biochemistry? What are some good things you would do before dental school begins if you were starting all over again? I am out of school next semester so I have plenty of time which I really don't like to waste; like when I wan younger


Thanks a lot
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You can't really prepare for anything. You won't remember any of the stuff you study (not in the detail you'll need), and you'll probably study a bunch of stuff that you don't need to study.

Seriously, don't worry about it.
 
Relax and do absolutely nothing the summer before school starts. That is the best thing you can do to prepare. You will be so busy once school begins that you won't remember what having free time is like.
 
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I am going to do absoloutely nothing as a preparation for the dental school. I am going to take 3 month vacation in the summer and enjoy it. Visit my family, travel a bit and will try to workout as much as I can. Also, I will try to stay up late as much as I can during this time and will sleep as much as I can. Will try to go out every night. I think I will be well prepared for dental school after this.
 
Majority seem to be voting for you to do nothing.

I agree. Chill out all year until you start.
 
ItsGavinC said:
You can't really prepare for anything. You won't remember any of the stuff you study (not in the detail you'll need), and you'll probably study a bunch of stuff that you don't need to study.

Seriously, don't worry about it.
Click to expand...



Thats so true. Gotta love higher learning huh?

Also, lots that you learn in dental school will not be needed afterwards as well.
 
It sounds like you're in a similar situation to the one I was in during the past year before dental school. I had the year off and taught anatomy classes and classes at Kaplan, and I even made a post a year ago or so about how much detail I should know about anatomy, since I wanted to start school and whoop some major hiney since I was thinking about specializing. I made huge plans to memorize tons of terms from Netter's Atlas of Anatomy (thankfully I didn't).

If you're like me, reading responses like "just take it easy" isn't what you want to hear. But, I'm going to parrot the same thing now. :p Take anatomy, for example. I can tell you the origin and insertion of almost every muscle, and can tell you tons of stuff about each body system, but how has it helped me, now that we've started our first year course? Not very much, to be honest. Sure, it's saved me some time, but not to the degree I had hoped. It's exactly like Gavin said - you're going to study tons of stuff you don't need to study. And, there will be more detail than you will probably ever cover. Heck, I thought I knew mitosis and meiosis absolutely cold after teaching Kaplan classes, inside and out, before dental school, and then I get here and they tell me there's a "prometaphase" in mitosis (news to me), and that there are five different stages of prophase in meiosis (leptotene, zygotene, etc. blah blah blah).

Every dental school is going to focus on slightly different stuff, and every professor is going to have their pet details that they want you to know for their test. From what I've seen so far in the first 4 months of first year, 100% of the effort I put forth in anatomy etc. has given a 10% payoff.

If you were going to prepare in any way, taking a class in histo or maybe biochem would be the way to go. But then, consider my story again: I took biochem twice, and histo once, and how much did it help? A little, but in order to get good grades I've still had to bust it in dental school and work harder than other people - I came in thinking it would be relatively easy (again, every teacher has their pet details).

Take it off. Enjoy yourself. Maybe get a job at a dental office or work to save some money. I think you'll get *far* better returns by having fun now, and promising yourself that you'll bust your tail in dental school instead.

Good luck!
 
pibozh said:
Hello my Dear friends in SDN,

There are a lot of students like me who are going to start their first year next Fall. We are in desperate need for some good advice about how to get ready for our first year. In my interviews everybody said don't worry about it and just go and have as much fun as you can, cause when you start you won't have time for that... Now I want to know how can I prepare myself for that first year that seems to be really hard..Review Anatomy?Biochemistry? What are some good things you would do before dental school begins if you were starting all over again? I am out of school next semester so I have plenty of time which I really don't like to waste; like when I wan younger


Thanks a lot
Click to expand...

Hey if you are old then you have wasted that much of your life, waste some more.
 
Typo said:
It sounds like you're in a similar situation to the one I was in during the past year before dental school. I had the year off and taught anatomy classes and classes at Kaplan, and I even made a post a year ago or so about how much detail I should know about anatomy, since I wanted to start school and whoop some major hiney since I was thinking about specializing. I made huge plans to memorize tons of terms from Netter's Atlas of Anatomy (thankfully I didn't).

If you're like me, reading responses like "just take it easy" isn't what you want to hear. But, I'm going to parrot the same thing now. :p Take anatomy, for example. I can tell you the origin and insertion of almost every muscle, and can tell you tons of stuff about each body system, but how has it helped me, now that we've started our first year course? Not very much, to be honest. Sure, it's saved me some time, but not to the degree I had hoped. It's exactly like Gavin said - you're going to study tons of stuff you don't need to study. And, there will be more detail than you will probably ever cover. Heck, I thought I knew mitosis and meiosis absolutely cold after teaching Kaplan classes, inside and out, before dental school, and then I get here and they tell me there's a "prometaphase" in mitosis (news to me), and that there are five different stages of prophase in meiosis (leptotene, zygotene, etc. blah blah blah).

Every dental school is going to focus on slightly different stuff, and every professor is going to have their pet details that they want you to know for their test. From what I've seen so far in the first 4 months of first year, 100% of the effort I put forth in anatomy etc. has given a 10% payoff.

If you were going to prepare in any way, taking a class in histo or maybe biochem would be the way to go. But then, consider my story again: I took biochem twice, and histo once, and how much did it help? A little, but in order to get good grades I've still had to bust it in dental school and work harder than other people - I came in thinking it would be relatively easy (again, every teacher has their pet details).

Take it off. Enjoy yourself. Maybe get a job at a dental office or work to save some money. I think you'll get *far* better returns by having fun now, and promising yourself that you'll bust your tail in dental school instead.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

thanks.. i really needed to hear this. :) i was thinking of ways to prep for school as well.. and it's been driving me insane. in the end, i've decided to fly out to my motherland for about 6 months and learn more about my culture/languange AND travel around Asia. we'll see.
 
i thought about this. please answer my question. if you cram for every test for every subject, two years later you will have to take the national board exam, but you get 2+ months to cram for every subject you took. that is not enough time to cram for all the subjects in just few months. correct?
 
Let me see if I get this right...

some of you predents are so dumb that not only did you need people to explain the application instructions and hold your hand throughout the entire process, but that even after you've been accepted you still need someone to tell you how to spend your free time before school starts!?!?

Jesus flying F! Is independent thought so out of vogue nowadays?!? would it kill the schools to admit people that are oh, I don't know, capable of making some decisions on their own and figuring things out?

I bet if I talked of how oh I dunno, my efficient pooping schedule is beneficial to use during school some of y'all would ask for advice and a time chart.
 
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i'm planning on sitting on my butt and spending as much time with family and friends as possible. i'm sure they know once i hit dental school, it will be similar to me having fallen off the face of the earth.

you're going to be doing a ton of work in dental school. why try to do a bunch now that might not help you?
 
1. Spend time with your beloved ones
2. Read (anything)
 
phremius said:
Let me see if I get this right...

some of you predents are so dumb that not only did you need people to explain the application instructions and hold your hand throughout the entire process, but that even after you've been accepted you still need someone to tell you how to spend your free time before school starts!?!?

Jesus flying F! Is independent thought so out of vogue nowadays?!? would it kill the schools to admit people that are oh, I don't know, capable of making some decisions on their own and figuring things out?

I bet if I talked of how oh I dunno, my efficient pooping schedule is beneficial to use during school some of y'all would ask for advice and a time chart.
Click to expand...
Funny post, and maybe you were saying it just for a reaction, but I think it's way more complicated than that. We're talking about the career people are going to have for the rest of their lives. Some people might have different goals than you, and a different experience than you. Nothing wrong with asking for advice.
 
Watch every minute of March Madness possible this coming spring...you probably won't have time to do that during 1st year. :)
 
I agree w/all of the people that have said do as many of the things that you want to do before you go to dental school. not to say that you don't have fun while you're in school, but you have significantly less time.

in terms of taking classes before dental school, if you have absolutely NO science background, then taking an intro biochem or histo class may be helpful in terms of just calming you down. i took both biochem and histo in undergrad and it didn't really help at all because 2 nights before the exam i was still cramming everything in. With classes that I had no background in, I actually did better because I didn't know what to expect, and I put more effort in, rather than relying on my previous knowledge... but that's just been my own experience.

The summer before dental school, I travelled all over the place, and partied really hard... so hard, that i was actually tired of partying and had the energy and desire just to focus on school. Everyone's different, be willing to try different things out, and figure out what works... Good luck :)
 
if you're still in college, spend the last semester having fun and enjoying "college" because you won't ever have that chance again. cut back on classes (you're in already, there's no need to get more stuff on your resume), go out and have fun, and spend LOTS of time with your college friends--because chances are, you won't see a good portion of your college friends ever again (a sad, but true, fact).

have FUN. goof off. skip your morning classes on winter mornings that are too cold and watch your favorite shows/movies or something you've been wanting to see.

believe it or not, i followed the above protocol, and that semester's GPA was the second highest on my college transcript.
 
all play and no work makes jack a good dentist :laugh:

...the summer before starting dental school
 
phremius said:
Let me see if I get this right...

some of you predents are so dumb that not only did you need people to explain the application instructions and hold your hand throughout the entire process, but that even after you've been accepted you still need someone to tell you how to spend your free time before school starts!?!?

Jesus flying F! Is independent thought so out of vogue nowadays?!? would it kill the schools to admit people that are oh, I don't know, capable of making some decisions on their own and figuring things out?

I bet if I talked of how oh I dunno, my efficient pooping schedule is beneficial to use during school some of y'all would ask for advice and a time chart.
Click to expand...


I have something you can hold with some lotion.
 
Hot pickle baby said:
I have something you can hold with some lotion.
Click to expand...

Hahaha. Phremius, please dont be so intolerant to people who are just asking for advice. I agree, at times the questions could be perceived as unnecessary, but how does being downright condescending towards the people who pose such questions help?

Anyways, I am a pre-dent who got accepted to schools. I am going to take time in the summer to do things that I would never be able to do once D-school starts and continues. Go travel, volunteer in inner-city neighborhoods, etc. I am going to make it a point to enjoy, but keep my mind sharpened through sticking to and completing a pre-set reading list. Its whatever floats your boat folks, you are not entering a Red-Alert situation. Its dental school, may be slightly different from what we've been used to in U-grad, but assimilating and adapting is something that we have learnt throughout our life. We'll be fine! Congrats to those accepted, good luck to those who are waiting!
 
Sit on your ass, do nothing. Bore yourself to the point that you'll be looking forward to school
 
fruity_trident said:
hot pickle baby: u have the funniest cartoon ever!
Click to expand...
HOT PICKLE BABY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
phremius said:
Let me see if I get this right...

some of you predents are so dumb that not only did you need people to explain the application instructions and hold your hand throughout the entire process, but that even after you've been accepted you still need someone to tell you how to spend your free time before school starts!?!?

Jesus flying F! Is independent thought so out of vogue nowadays?!? would it kill the schools to admit people that are oh, I don't know, capable of making some decisions on their own and figuring things out?

I bet if I talked of how oh I dunno, my efficient pooping schedule is beneficial to use during school some of y'all would ask for advice and a time chart.
Click to expand...

If its not too much trouble, I would like to see some sort of time chart or graph showing how much time each day you alot to takin care of business. It would put to rest some of those nasty rumors that have been goin around about dental students not having enough time to poop or having to study while pooping. Thanks so much.
 
HermeytheElf said:
If its not too much trouble, I would like to see some sort of time chart or graph showing how much time each day you alot to takin care of business. It would put to rest some of those nasty rumors that have been goin around about dental students not having enough time to poop or having to study while pooping. Thanks so much.
Click to expand...



sounds like undergrad. I had poop stains all over my organic book.
 
ItsGavinC said:
You can't really prepare for anything. You won't remember any of the stuff you study (not in the detail you'll need), and you'll probably study a bunch of stuff that you don't need to study.

Seriously, don't worry about it.
Click to expand...


I agree with Gavin. And along that note, one way you can prepare for dental school is come to terms early on that you're going to be logging in all kinds of crazy hours and time will not be your own. After talking to many students, both at Penn and at others, I have arrived at the conclusion that most people go through a really difficult period in dental school at about the 2-3 month mark. Up until this point most people aren't used to the idea of 'perpetual Tuesdays' - meaning that the seven day week you have grown used to all through out your life is suddenly irrelevant as you spend a huge chunk of time pouring over notes and books and thus, it turns into that day of the week that is neither special nor extraordinary - Tuesday. Some of the people that I know that had the hardest time getting used to such a transition didn't know, or refused to believe, the commitment that dental school requires and how it can sap your time. With that said, one way to prepare for dental school is to understand that many of you are in for a very long haul and going out everyweekend, routinely watching your favorite show, and so on will be a thing of the past (at least during your first two years) - so get all of stuff in right now while you can.
 
Sprgrover said:
I agree with Gavin. And along that note, one way you can prepare for dental school is come to terms early on that you're going to be logging in all kinds of crazy hours and time will not be your own. After talking to many students, both at Penn and at others, I have arrived at the conclusion that most people go through a really difficult period in dental school at about the 2-3 month mark. Up until this point most people aren't used to the idea of 'perpetual Tuesdays' - meaning that the seven day week you have grown used to all through out your life is suddenly irrelevant as you spend a huge chunk of time pouring over notes and books and thus, it turns into that day of the week that is neither special nor extraordinary - Tuesday. Some of the people that I know that had the hardest time getting used to such a transition didn't know, or refused to believe, the commitment that dental school requires and how it can sap your time. With that said, one way to prepare for dental school is to understand that many of you are in for a very long haul and going out everyweekend, routinely watching your favorite show, and so on will be a thing of the past (at least during your first two years) - so get all of stuff in right now while you can.
Click to expand...



I am sorry, but I just don't buy your posts. You or Gavin. You both post how difficult dental school is and how long the hours are, yet you have THOUSANDS of posts.

Where do you find the time to be a moderator? Maybe if your so stretched for time you should give it up.

Exactly what do you get out of being a moderator on SDN besides a measely amount of power over a select few???

And yes, I am not being an ass, I am serious.

What do you get out of this?
 
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