Classes with Medical Students

Started by chickensoupdr
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chickensoupdr

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10+ Year Member
I have heard that in some colleges, the medical and dental students take basic science classes together. What are the pros/cons of this set-up? Is there a general trend of which group tends to make higher grades? And just out of curiosity, what is the dynamic between medical and dental students? Are there any stereotypes about what it means to be a medical versus dental student?

Thanks! 🙂
 
chickensoupdr said:
I have heard that in some colleges, the medical and dental students take basic science classes together. What are the pros/cons of this set-up? Is there a general trend of which group tends to make higher grades? And just out of curiosity, what is the dynamic between medical and dental students? Are there any stereotypes about what it means to be a medical versus dental student?

Thanks! 🙂
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my understanding is, EVEN the very few schools that do this, only do it with only a select few classes (Gross anatomy, biochemistry, physiology).... I don't think they can do it with other classes cause then.... things start to branch out.

pros of such system: I can't think of any...

Cons of such system: HUGE class.
 
chickensoupdr said:
I have heard that in some colleges, the medical and dental students take basic science classes together. What are the pros/cons of this set-up? Is there a general trend of which group tends to make higher grades? And just out of curiosity, what is the dynamic between medical and dental students? Are there any stereotypes about what it means to be a medical versus dental student?

Thanks! 🙂
Click to expand...

Well my school is one where we have a combined curriculum with medical students, podiatrists, and optometrists. The average grades per program per test 99% of the time going from highest to lowest are medical students, dental students, optometry students, and then podiatry students. The medical students are by far more high strung and stressed because they have to get good grades to compete for a residency. My dental class with a couple of exceptions are really laid back and all get along well and as far as the dynamic between the med students vs. the dental students, well lets just say I have met some awesome med students and consider them my friends but have also met a couple of BIG DOUCHEBAGS. I say for the most part there is cooperation and friendliness and mutual respect between the programs but there are always going to be a couple of students that throw a kink in things.
 
spud daddy said:
Well my school is one where we have a combined curriculum with medical students, podiatrists, and optometrists. The average grades per program per test 99% of the time going from highest to lowest are medical students, dental students, optometry students, and then podiatry students. The medical students are by far more high strung and stressed because they have to get good grades to compete for a residency. My dental class with a couple of exceptions are really laid back and all get along well and as far as the dynamic between the med students vs. the dental students, well lets just say I have met some awesome med students and consider them my friends but have also met a couple of BIG DOUCHEBAGS. I say for the most part there is cooperation and friendliness and mutual respect between the programs but there are always going to be a couple of students that throw a kink in things.
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I hope the dental students don't get ranked along side the med students, cause according to what your saying, that would place the Dental students fairly low.

Im curious, do you think the reason the med students score higher is because they study more? or are they just smarter than your average dental student?
 
If the classes were ranked all together the dental students wouldn't be low because we outperform the optometry and podiatry students but each program has their own ranking so there is no direct competition. As to your question about why med students score higher, my personal experience with my fellow classmates is that the med students study much harder because rank is much more important for them. I definitely do not think that in general the med students are smarter than the dental students or the dental students are smarter than the optometry students etc., but I do think the med students work harder. Plus, dental students are also inundated with dental classes whereas the medical students do have additional medical classes but coincide with what is being taught in the general sciences classes so sometimes I feel we have more info to learn than the other programs. Anyways, I hope that makes sense and I hope it helps!
 
spud daddy,

I don't know if I'm understanding this correctly, but... Let's say that there's a curve given for an exam, then is there a different curve for medical students, dental students, optometry students, etc? Or are the grades given out without considering whether you are medical, dental, optometry...?

If the grades are distributed regardless of whether the student is medical, dental, optometry, etc., (assuming that medical students tend to get higher grades) would going to a school in which dental students take classes with only dental students help your gpa? How will this affect you when you decide to apply to a specialty program later on?

Thank you!
 
At Nova, Dental and Optometry takes some classes together, and Dental and Med take some classes together

The grading is separate for each class. Which means class ranking and any curve or anything is calculated by just your own class.

And some exams med scored higher, and others dental did.
 
Grades are given out per program. If a curve is applied, it is program specific meaning medical, dental, podiatry students etc. all receive different curves. Ranking is also program specific so going to a school with just dental students or a mix of med and dental students wouldn't really influence my decision to go to a particular school or be a positive or detrimental thing when applying to specialty programs.
 
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