Why did you choose Arizona over other schools?
I chose AZ mainly because of its non-traditional approach to education, ie the module system, external rotations, no tenured faculty, take the boards after the first year. I have always had a dislike for the semester system and this really appealed to me. Its not a fit for everyone but it was for me. Also, the administration seemed very approachable and sincere. I am from Arizona but even if I had been from out of state it would have been my top choice.
Have your professors taught at another dental school before?
I am only half way through my first year but I don't think we've had any professors that are not from other medical or dental schools throughout the country. Some really suck, some are mediocre, and some are really good. That's normal for every school. What sets us a part though, is that if we don't like a professor we voice that in our anonymous reviews after each class. Those reviews are taken into consideration when rehiring a professor.
Do you think reputation of a school is important? Even if you specialize?
I think to a certain degree reputation is important. I don't plan on specializing but I recently heard that 5/5 D4's all got accepted to specialty programs. If you are at all worried about AZ's reputation - don't be. It will take time for our reputation to develop but I have no worries that we are will produce very experienced and competent dentists.
If you had a choice to transfer, would you?
No way. My life is too great right now - I seriously think things are too good to be true and I'm not the only one in my class to think that. Because of the module system I have plenty of time to spend with my wife and kids, hobbies (just went snowboarding last weekend), and I even work part time. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been easy and at times my grades suffer but I prefer to have a balanced life over getting straight A's - you still have to put the time in, but not once has it been overwhelming for me to manage school, work, and play. This is definately the school to go to if you want a balance life.
Do you think that most of the students at your school did well on part 1 boards?
This is what I've heard so I'm not positive - our board scores have been comparable to the national average, with a 92% pass rate - so i think 2 or 3 out of 54 had to retake one or more sections. I'm not specializing so my only concern is passing.
Did or Do you like the block system your first year?
Like I said I'm half way through my first year and I still love it. Some of our modules are longer than others. Our longest has been head and neck anatomy which was 3.5 weeks long - so it is easy to get burnt out after focusing on one subject for so long but I still wouldn't have it any other way. Our typical routine is like this: module starts on Monday afternoon, lecture all day Tuesday, lecture Wednesday morning, sim clinic Wed. afternoon, lecture all day Thursday, lecture Friday morn, either guest speaker (grand rounds) or half day friday afternoon, and then an exam Monday morning over the previous weeks material and the routing starts all over again. It does vary from module to module but that's the basic structure of our week. The first half of the year we do a lot of group/case study work and quizzes throughout the week depending on the professor.
I'm only asking these questions for myself and others to know what the students at other schools are thinking..please don't take any of the these question in a negative way...
Bring on the questions.
