Current dental students/recent graduates, please answer these questions!

[artist2022]

Hey everyone, it's been brought up that the previous versions of this thread are quite old and outdated, so here's a new one to keep the tradition going. I've kept many of the questions the same, but edited some to be easier to answer/more relevant. Please keep this thread on topic, and move discussions about a school into a new thread or into a PM -- keep this thread a reference thread!

Link to first (2007) thread
Link to second (2011) thread

Copy and paste, and then answer the questions below 🙂 Thanks!

1. Name of Your Dental School
->

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
->

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
->

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
->

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
->

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
->

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
->

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
->

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
->

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
->

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
->

13. What is the drop out rate?
->

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
->

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
->

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
->

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
->

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
->

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
->

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->

27. What student organizations are most active?
->

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->

30. Any last words or advice?
->

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[artist2022]

Index: from 2016 onwards.

Alabama
1) University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry (UAB)


Arizona
2) Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ASDOH)


3) Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine- AZ (MWU AZ)
2019 (D2) |

California
4) Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC (USC)


5) Loma Linda University School of Dentistry (LLU)


6) University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry (UCLA)
2019 (D2) | 2018

7) University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry (UCSF)


8) University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry (UoP)


9) Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine (WestU)
2016 | 2016

Colorado
10) University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine
2019 (D1) |

Connecticut
11) University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine (UConn)


DC
12) Howard University College of Dentistry


Florida
13) Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Dental Medicine (LECOM)
2019 (D2) | 2016

14) Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine (Nova/NSU)


15) University of Florida College of Dentistry (UF)


Georgia
16) The Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University (DCG)
2019 (D1) |

Illinois
17) Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine- IL (MWU IL)


18) Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine (SIU)


19) University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry
2017

Indiana
20) Indiana University School of Dentistry (IU)


Iowa
21) University of Iowa College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics


Kentucky
22) University of Kentucky College of Dentistry (UK)
2019 (D4) |

23) University of Louisville School of Dentistry (UL)
2019 (D4) |

Louisiana
24) Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Dentistry (LSU)


Maine
25) University of New England College of Dental Medicine (UNE)


Maryland
26) University of Maryland School of Dentistry- Baltimore (UMD/UMB)


Massachusetts
27) Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (BU)


28) Harvard School of Dental Medicine


29) Tufts University school of Dental Medicine
2019 (D3) |

Michigan
30) University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry (UDM)
2018

31) University of Michigan School of Dentistry (UMich)
2016 | 2018

Minnesota
32) University of Minnesota School of Dentistry (UMinn)


Mississippi
33) University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry (UMMC)


Missouri
34) Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health (MOSDOH)
2019 |

35) University of Missouri School of Dentistry- Kansas City (UMKC)
2019 (D1) |

Nebraska
36) Creighton University School of Dentistry
2017

37) University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry (UNMC)


Nevada
38) University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine (UNLV)


New Jersey
39) Rutgers School of Dental Medicine


New York
40) Columbia University College of Dental Medicine


41) New York University College of Dentistry (NYU)


42) Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine (SB)


43) Touro College of Dental Medicine at New York Medical College
2020 (D1) |

44) University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine (SUNY)


North Carolina
45) East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine (ECU)


46) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry (UNC)


Ohio
47) Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine


48) The Ohio State University College of Dentistry (OSU)
2018

Oklahoma
49) University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry (OU)


Oregon
50) Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry (OHSU)
2018

Pennsylvania
51) The Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry, Temple University


52) University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine (UPenn)
2019 (D2) |

53) University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine (Pitt)


Puerto Rico
54) University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine


South Carolina
55) Medical University of South Carolina James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine (MUSC)


Tennessee
56) Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry


57) University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry (UTHSC)


Texas
58) Texas A&M University Baylor College of Dentistry
2019 (D4) |

59) University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston (UTSD-Houston)
2017

60) University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry (UTHSCSA)


Utah
61) Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine


62) University of Utah School of Dentistry


Virginia
63) Virigina Commonwealth University School of Dentistry (VCU)


Washington
64) University of Washington School of Dentistry (UW)
2018

West Virginia
65) West Virginia University School of Dentistry (WVU)


Wisconsin
66) Marquette University School of Dentistry
2019 (D1) |

Nova Scotia
67) Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry
2016

Canadian:
University of Saskatchewan
2020 |

- through post #20 -

 

[artist2022]

It's pretty sad 🙁 There's barely anything. I'll put a new one up for UCLA soon (I guess?) but ima have to start tagging ppl on here to get some responses 😉 here we go

@princeafrica @I-hate-alginate @sobertiger @thenextcarnegie @Iroh @averageasian @Stanelz @Rand627 @DSchoolorBust202X @zToothinator @Life of Pablo @Likkriue @Faux @ab117 @dPseh @ChewyDrop @BluntForceTrauma @Faefly @BasicG @Firik @P7898 @fit2

hopefully that gives us a decent start 😀 please, please do one of these and answer questions as best you can! It'd be cool to compare between schools too. If you do one, be sure to tag someone else 😉 like a pyramid scheme 😛

 

[mrneatteeth]

It's pretty sad 🙁 There's barely anything. I'll put a new one up for UCLA soon (I guess?) but ima have to start tagging ppl on here to get some responses 😉 here we go

@princeafrica @I-hate-alginate @sobertiger @thenextcarnegie @Iroh @averageasian @Stanelz @Rand627 @DSchoolorBust202X @zToothinator @Life of Pablo @Likkriue @Faux @ab117 @dPseh @ChewyDrop @BluntForceTrauma @Faefly @BasicG @Firik @P7898 @fit2

hopefully that gives us a decent start 😀 please, please do one of these and answer questions as best you can! It'd be cool to compare between schools too. If you do one, be sure to tag someone else 😉 like a pyramid scheme 😛

Can you place this thread in both the “pre-dental” and “dental” page? Might not be getting that much attention in only the “dental” one.


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[artist2022]

Can you place this thread in both the “pre-dental” and “dental” page? Might not be getting that much attention in only the “dental” one.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Predental is for predental students, and I'd say not too many dental students/grads browse that forum. Instead, I put a redirect in the "Dental Residents/Practicing Dentists" forum, that will direct back to this thread. Hopefully that'll help but I wouldn't expect too many responses. Those other threads were up for years and ended up not having too many posts unfortunately.

 

[Life of Pablo]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Penn, sometimes known as Penn State

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
-> D2

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> We take 1 exam a week, but the schedule for the current D1s changed. They take block exams.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> This varies person to person. Probably neuroanatomy or pathology.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> Ortho lol.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> Powerpoints.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Nope

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Lab is P/F/H. Classes are A, B, C, D but there is no class ranking/no top 10.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> Varies class to class, but everyone in my class is helpful. Since there are no class rankings, I think it makes the environment much more chill.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Lectures are recorded, but there is no official note taking service.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Only for like 2 classes. All the rest aren't mandatory (thank goodness).

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> Yes they're approachable.

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> I'd say 1 person per class. They really aren't trying to get you to fail.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Yes. Tutors are available for preclinic and classes.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> Idk numbers but everyone pretty much passes. Boards are a formality tbh.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> Integrated boards summer between D3 and D4

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> NA

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> Not sure the exact time we'll get off for integrated boards since we're the first class taking it.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Home, different libraries on campus, coffee shops etc

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> Not in clinic yet, but I believe we don't have issues really fulfilling requirements.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> Not sure.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> It's really nice and new. I don't know the worst because I'm not in clinic yet.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> You do specialty rotations starting first year. We have every specialty so there are plenty of opportunities to explore them.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> As a D1/D2 you pretty much just suction when you go on rotations. Once you're a D3/D4 that's when you actually do stuff.

We have a lot of outreach type stuff. We go on outreach rotations starting D2 year, and continue to do so D3/D4.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Wear whatever you want.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Yes...but again it varies class to class. Some classes are closer to each other and some classes are not.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA. Last 2 national presidents of ASDA go/went to Penn.

In general, we have tons and tons of organizations. Plenty to get involved in if you're interested.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Housing is definitely affordable.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> I wish we went completely P/F with take home exams like Columbia, but then again we probably have it better than a lot of schools so

30. Any last words or advice?
->

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Tufts

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
-> D3

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> varies year to year. Second year you have two large blocks second semester, and primarily one large test month during October. First year is different, and everything has changed from when I was 1st year.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Varies. Gross or Oral Path. Just a ton of information. Then again, Neuro had the lowest test average of my class collectively, so maybe that?

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> epidemiology. Or a school run "Intro to Dental Patient" course.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> Powerpoints.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Negative

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Lab is P/F/H, Clinic is also P/F/H. Classes are A-D+. Class rank is a thing.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> I can honestly say everyone here is super friendly with the very, very rare exception. One of my friends is like #4/200 and they are legit always answering questions for others, working out, helping in lab, etc.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Lectures are recorded, no note service.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Only for workshops, rotations, and the occasional class. Some classes you wanna go to for sure (looking at you fixed prosth) so you can get the lab work done. Others have in class quizzes, so while the class isn't required, you best go to class.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> approachable

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> I'd say 2-3 first year, but mostly for issues outside of academics. Last year we had only 1 that I know of.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Yep. Tutors for courses TAs for everything in clinic/preclin. Mental health people and counseling.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> can't remember, but not great for part 1. Thankfully this is changing due to the INDBE. curious to see what happens to the rate

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> Integrated boards summer between D3 and D4

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> N/A

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> We had a month for Part 1, but you have to just figure it out for Part II and I'm assuming the same for INDBE.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Wherever works for you. I study at home, but also have a fam.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> This is becoming a hot topic everywhere. Short answer, no, not "readily" available. With the advent of community clinics and also having two other d-schools near by cuts into the patient pool. That, and the population of patients we treat are generally lower income and as a result, want the cheapest treatment option. Many patients are happy to take a tooth out instead of doing the Endo, core build up, crown that are required to restore the tooth.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->
10 Crowns (including implant or bridge, or CAD/CAM), for which we do all the lab work short of casting
3 complete denture arches
1 RPD
5 Endo canals
40 operative
10 Ext
16 quads of SRP
Bunch of pedo stuff.

All of the above have competencies in addition to the procedure limits. There are also points associated with each procedure and you have to graduate with 1000 points. Example: D0120 is 4 pts, prophy 2 pts, crown 13 pts, operative 1 pt per surface.

All this said, these requirements are changing as the school will be going to a pod system at some point. After I graduate.
If you don't have what you need then you have the patient passed to you so you can work with them and get the procedure done that you need.
Most people who don't graduate on time are those who are not actively around, present in clinic, even when they aren't seeing patients. They're taking vacation for weeks at a time, always jetting around with ASDA or ADEA, and just kind of aloof in general.
In addition, the school helps find new patients, but it's luck of the draw. My best patients have been referrals from other patients I have.
You do all your own scheduling.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Beat: It's not the first two years and you can actually do work on patients.
Worst: red tape and stupid requirements (looking at you "edentulous space competency")

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> You do specialty rotations starting 2nd year and you can shadow or assist whenever you like in any of the PG clinics. Department heads are generally really good to work with.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> As a D1/D2 you pretty much just suction when you go on rotations. Once you're a D3/D4 that's when you actually do stuff.

We have a lot of outreach type stuff. We go on outreach rotations starting D2 year, and continue to do so D3/D4.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Wear whatever you want for the first two years, unless you're in clinic, then it's essentially business casual or scrubs. Third and fourth year are business casual or scrubs.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Yup. Classmates are all super close and have really good friend groups. Many come from far away so they become really good friends here.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA. I have feelings on this that are not super positive.

In general, we have tons and tons of organizations. Plenty to get involved in if you're interested.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Housing is stupid expensive. Finding it isn't bad, but it's Boston. Reasonably safe. I live well outside the city to commute and save money.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> I wish we had less students, less bureaucratic crap.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> At the end of the day, it's a school and it teaches you stuff. I think my education is actually pretty good, though I have no metric. I'm also doing it on the military's bill, so that is huge. Recommend looking for scholarships.

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[erinnnnn]

Reposting my response from the old thread (info is still all relevant since last year) 🙂

1. Name of Your Dental School
University of Kentucky

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
D4

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
We are on the semester schedule for the most part though some classes run all year or are staggered to overlap between semesters a bit. This is actually beneficial because there isn’t so much to stress over at the end of every semester! Some courses have a single exam, others have a midterm + final, others have 4-5 exams/practicals total. Having more than 2 exams/practicals in a week in uncommon for the most part though can happen (or sometimes you may have an additional quiz or other assignment due). Overall, time management is important for all dental schools! Also, did you know we also get a decent summer break??

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
Hard to say because people excel in different areas – ie. Hand skills can take some time to develop, memorizing Path is tough for others, understanding Physiology/Immuno pathways can be difficult for some. Fortunately, you get a wide variety of coursework at any given time so if one area is giving you trouble, you can prioritize that~ All of the slightly more “difficult” courses have group tutoring sessions before exams and if you are really struggling, individualized peer tutoring is an option. At UK we really want everyone to pass every class!

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
Maybe not the easiest per se depending on if you like kids… but one of the most enjoyable across the board is D1 Sealant trip where students get to spend a few days in the more rural parts of KY providing sealants for children at elementary schools. We are pretty fortunate to see a lot of patients early on. As D1s, you will also rotate through the patient clinic and work with D4s or visit our various specialty departments (OMFS, Ortho, Perio, Peds, GPR, etc). In August of D2 year, patients will start being assigned to you for oral diagnosis, perio, restorative, and denture needs as you spend 2 sessions/week in the patient clinic (which becomes 3 sessions/week in the Spring semester). Keep in mind this is anecdotal but I was able to extract multiple teeth (with D4/resident help) in the beginning of D2 and also prepped my first crown towards the end of D2. There are always opportunities to get involved and help out during your down time.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
I don’t think I’ve had a class that didn’t provide a powerpoint or at least some handouts, though some professors do test on things they mention in class or they will assign book readings. Fortunately, our textbooks are almost always found on reserve at the medical library or on ClinicalKey for free. With the textbook readings, I’ve found it fairly simple to sift my way through the most important info so it’s not as daunting as it sounds!

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
Okay well I’m sort of on the end of the note-taking spectrum that LIKES taking notes by hand whether it be via my SurfacePro or once in a while printing study guides and annotating SO I sometimes prefer buying a hardcopy textbook. Of course I resell these on ebay and make most of the cost back… but like I mentioned before, you can always find textbooks for free (ClinicalKey, PDFs floating around, professors are usually happy to let you borrow a copy). Keep in mind though that some of these books seem unimportant now but you might want to use them for reference later while you are a practicing dentist (ie. Oral pathology, pharm guides, systemic diseases and dentistry).

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
Majority of classes are letter grades but there are a few P/F classes thrown in there. Typically an “A” is a 90%+ but every syllabus is a little different regarding the grade breakdown.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabatoge each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
Our class size ranges from ~65-70 students so it’s not really the type of environment to be unfriendly Overall, I think there are always people who are happy to share resources and study together though of course sometimes other people prefer to study on their own. I think at UK you also have the opportunity to get to know upperclassmen who are more than happy to share Quizlets, etc. I know every single D4 student by name (not that I’ve had conversations with every person obviously but I would feel comfortable approaching any one of them) and probably 75% of the D2s despite me being a D3. Having a small class size also means that there are overall more experiences/extracurriculars available to a given student. If you are interested in something here, you can do it.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
Some of the more science heavy courses during D1-D2 are Echoed (video recording software that is available online to all students), but there is not a particular note taking service. Though like I mentioned before, I’m sure a lot of your friends/classmates would be open to comparing notes as you prepare for exams.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
A lot of classes are mandatory, but honestly I personally try to go to all of them even if they aren’t. This is for three reasons: 1. Professors often emphasize or mention in class things they will test on! (Wish I realized this in undergrad lol), 2. You can’t study everything every day in dental school so it’s important to use your time wisely and being in class forces me to look through the information at least one time, 3. I get that sometimes sitting in class can be draining but these are your professors and I would want to be respectful by showing up – everyone knows who you are especially by D3-D4 and I think initiative is a beneficial trait for any prospective dentist.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
Definitely, all of their offices are spread out through the dental school. Emails or Axium messages are usually answered soon (within reason) and you can often stop by or schedule an appointment.

13. What is the drop out rate?
I don’t really know any specifics regarding this but I can say that every student I started with D1 is still currently in my class.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling?
Yep I mentioned before that we have peer-based group tutoring available to anyone for the bulk of our classes and if you are really struggling as you progress through the semester, individualized tutoring can be an option. These are all free services. But also, I can’t stress enough that getting to know your classmates and finding a mini study group with similar study habits to you can be encouraging. Professors are always open to meeting with students to discuss exam grades and answer questions.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
You know what I am really not sure because that is not publicly released information to us, but I do think that is a preparation area that our school is working on improving. I personally think our courses are boards-relevant (I have only taken Part 1 so far) but studying for boards definitely takes individual effort and good material selection. And you know what, I also think sometimes you have to luck out on test day! One nice thing is that we had a ~6-7 week break to study during the summer between D2-D3.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1?
Summer between D2-D3

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
When I took boards, we did not but we did have 6-7 week summer break to study on our own. I am not sure if that will change with the INBDE.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
Ugh I keep pre-emptively answering questions that are actually asked in the next question T_T. Yes, 6-7 weeks for Part 1 during D2-D3 summer and 4 weeks for Part 2 during D3-D4 summer.

19. Do most people study in the University Library? Or does the place clear out right after school and everybody studies on their own?
Well UK has the big campus library that also services undergrads and some study there. This library is mostly 24 hours but the hours are a bit worse in the summer and during undergrad breaks. We also have a 2-floor Medical Library on the first floor of the dental building that is open to medical students, dental students, and I imagine other health professions students (Nursing, PT, Pharmacy) but I don’t think too many of them trek over to the medical/dental area of campus. I believe we just got 24 hour access to this library. So thirdly, there are a LOT of conference rooms that people often study in. I also spend way too much time at Starbucks :/

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in?
We have multiple faculty (Clinic Team Leaders) that make sure all D2-D4 students are on track with their requirements. As long as you put in the time and effort to get things done, you shouldn’t have any issues. We do not have to find our own patients at all and we do have coordinators that schedule patients typically (though you are usually welcome to call your own pt to schedule if you feel inclined). In fact, I think many students are able to excel in areas that interest them (ie. plenty of OS experience including a full-time clinic oral surgeon on faculty who oversees students for grafting/implants/complex OS, rotations in OMFS dept for extractions/routine alveolar/sedation, digital lab experience for implants/same day crowns/, there’s an endo suite that was also just renovated, morning rotations through our Urgent Care Clinic learning emergency dentistry, help treat ortho cases). I could go on but overall if you want to learn it, we have it.

21. Is it a hassle to get a chair once you get patients in? In your opinion, does your school have enough chairs?
Nope, plenty of chairs. I’ve never not had a chair. We also just renovated our entire patient clinic so the operatories feel very secluded and private. To be honest, sometimes I wish we didn’t have as many chairs available for patients so I could sleep in once in a while j/k… kind of.

22. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult?
I actually don’t know too much about the D4 requirements yet but by the end of D3 you should be somewhat on track to completing at minimum: 2 complete/complete sets of dentures, RPD, 1 additional denture arch or interim or RPD, 12 quads SRP, 40 restorative experiences, 20 Exts. Your experiences here are all subjective though. Some of my friends finished all their required restorations by November and will obviously probably double that by the end of D3, others might be working on multiple dentures all at once. I have faith that it all evens out by D4 though!


23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
We rotate through specialties every year (D1-D4) and have to see patients in every realm (even peds). As you progress through dental school, your responsibilities increase in each of these departments or clinic areas. UK has a lot of specialties. When I was first starting dental school I remember hearing that sometimes specialty programs means that patients are “taken away” from students. That’s not true here because we also have all specialties in-house at the dental school. Ie. We have our own dental school faculty to oversee implant placement but if it was a really difficult all-on-4 then we would refer to GPR or if the patient needed #8 esthetic implant with extensive gum grafting/sinus lift/medically compromised/IV sedation then maybe they would see OMFS/Perio.

24. Is there sufficient preparation for practice management? What career placement opportunites does your school offer?
Oh man there are quite a few business/practice management classes that have been implemented recently. We also have Finance/Business type lunch and learns pretty much every 2-3 weeks (free lunch!) that are hosted by our school.


25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
Scrubs (matching but any color your heart desires) or business attire is the official dress code but often students will wear casual clothes if there is just a few hours of lecture or a short day where you are not in the sim lab or clinic. The gym is also just a short walk from the dental school so sometimes people will bring gym clothes.


26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
Yes! I actually moved here from across the country so obviously didn’t know a soul in KY until the first day of school. You can find every type of person here: married, single, religious, dog lovers, partiers, non-drinkers, sports fans, gamers, different relationship preferences. As you can imagine, KY in general is less diverse than many other states but the various health professions (and faculty) at the school have a bit more balanced representation.

27. What student organizations are most active?
Hmm I am guessing that DSD and ASDA have the most events because they tend to be more social but we have a ton of clubs that have a lot of volunteering elements. See our website for a list so I don’t have to think of all the acronyms!

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
Plenty of places to live. Lexington is very clean and overall a pretty nice place to live. I mean… it isn’t NYC or Chicago by any means but there’s a substantial selection of places to eat, handful of bars. It is also so cheap to live here! I was absolutely shocked about how low the cost of living is in this part of the country. I don’t think safety is too much of an issue beyond what you would expect on any large campus.


29. What do you not like about your dental school?
Starting clinic early at the beginning of D2 is awesome because you get the feel for patient experience but that means that some of our academic classes are pushed back to Fall of D3. At this point I’m starting to feel pretty exhausted sitting through classes still and wish I was just in clinic full time.

30. Any last words or advice?
Below are some other questions I was asked in a separate thread...

Clinical experience in D2 vs D3 vs D4:

1. What are the average number days of you get to spend in clinic for each year (Monday- )? Each clinic session for all students is broken into AM and PM blocks from either 9-12PM or 2-5PM. These occur every week and on the same days each week. Once in a while you will have longer clinic sessions from 8-12PM if you are rotating in a particular department. During D2, you begin with 2 clinic sessions in the Fall and progresses to 3 in the Spring. D3 year has 4 in the Fall and 5 in the Spring. The D4 class has 8 clinic sessions each week throughout the entire year.
2. How many patients do you get to see on these days/how is the clinic day split up? Most of the time, you will see one patient in each block though sometimes I will see two patients if the procedures are short or if you just need something quick like alginate impressions. No matter what school you go to, there is a lot of faculty oversight so it's tough to seat a patient, have all your procedure approvals, make sure paperwork is completed, and check that financials are in order. Also don't forget you need to clean up everything and write notes which takes some time.
3. In general, do you feel like you get to see/do below-average/average/above-average number of patients/cases? I ask because during my interview it felt like there are so many patient opportunities at UK, but I recently saw the CODA data and was surprised that the number of patient visits was only 18,554? I know these numbers can mean many different things so I just wanted to see how you all felt about your experience? I feel as if I see an above-average number of procedures when I compare this to my friends at other schools, however that is not to say that there aren’t a ton of fantastic schools out there too. Another school I've come across that has an outstanding number of clinic procedures is Houston (though I'm sure there are many more). There is a downside to completing lots of procedures and that is that it often comes with lots of time consuming lab work I don't know anything about patient visits but this is sort of a silly number to look at because every school has a different number of students (ex. we only have ~65 students per class which is pretty low compared to the average number of dental students at each program). Additionally, it's tough to track things like this because many schools have other departments where you see patients that are technically not part of the "dental clinic" - ie. Urgent Care type rotations. Also, I commonly will complete multiple procedures in one patient visit. Overall, I think essentially all dental schools will enable you to become clinically competent so I personally wouldn't worry too much about this number!
4. I know patients are scheduled for you, which is awesome, but can you schedule/request additional patients on top of this if you want to (mainly talking about 4th year of course)? In dental school, we are each assigned a number of patients that are essentially "ours" to take care of and work with throughout the duration of school. You can manage your own patients as much as you like - I commonly ask the scheduling coordinators to call patients and place them in particular clinic blocks or on days I'd like to see them. Or when you are walking your patient to the exit, you typically stop by the scheduling desk and request when you would like to see them next and for what procedure. They are an amazing support mechanism for us, I couldn’t really imagine dental school without them. The nice part about this mechanism of scheduling is that you don't have to call them on your own all the time and if an appointment opens up, the coordinators are the first to know and can place patients who are waiting to see you in those time slots. To be perfectly honest, I prefer not to give out my number to patients because sometimes they can abuse that privilege :/ If I would like to contact a patient over the phone, I'll just use one of the numbers in the office.
5. Erinnnnn mentioned that at UK the whole “patients are taken away from students by specialty programs” doesn’t hold true, does this mean that you get great opportunities to actually do challenging cases, or just see/assist? There are plenty of things to do in dental school and if you are interested in a particular area, you can make it a point to try to do these types of procedures. This however is very student specific regarding what sort of procedures you are interested in. We do refer patients to the various specialty departments if it is in fact a patient that could be better cared for there or because they do procedures that we wouldn't be doing in general dentistry. For example, re-treating a molar that has already been root canal treated is probably better handled in the endo department but have students done this in the dental clinic? Sure, a bunch of times with the supervision of the endo faculty but it is case dependent. Or if you are referring a patient to perio for extraction, grafting, and a sinus lift, will they let you help out? Of course, they'll often even let you do parts of the procedure to help teach you but obviously you wouldn't be handling this case on its own. You are always welcome to join your patients for their procedures in the specialty departments (provided that it doesn’t interfere with your class schedule). As a pre-dental student (or even dental student), it's hard to know what you don't know so I find having these referral sources as beneficial in terms of learning the best patient care.
6. I am also really curious about implants, as I know they mentioned it in the interview. How many implants do students typically get to place, and can you do more many more if you want to (I am really interested in implants)? I don't know any specific numbers and this also varies based on student interest. I think last years graduating class had some students who placed 10-15 but others who did 0 or just a few. The faculty team leaders who help run the clinic as attendings are very receptive to your hopes for more challenging cases. Personally, I have no interest in prepping big 6-8 unit anterior crown cases in a day but there are a handful of my classmates that love that and have done so. In reality, if you'd like to place implants regularly as a general dentist, you are probably going to need CE courses or help from other dentists to get you up to speed after dental school. After placing some implants in D4, you could probably successfully place some implants in private practice but it is all about case selection and I would seek out additional post-graduate training to perform more cases.
7. Also, regarding implants, does the student get to do the whole process from start to finish, or do faculty/residents do part or most of it (goes back to question number 5)? I think the real perk of UK’s Digital Dentistry program is the curriculum which allows us to learn how to do every step including the digital scanning, stent fabrication, implant placement protocol, and crown design. It is your responsibility to do all of these steps and make sure everything is in order when you take care of your patient. Faculty and residents do not ever treat patients in the student clinic if that is where the implant is being placed. If the patient is referred to OMFS or perio residents for implant placement due to the complexity, they will take on the implant planning portion of the case but you will still often be in charge of making sure the procedures are moving along (in addition to often doing the 2nd stage implant uncovering and crown fabrication).
8. I was really impressed with the digital dentistry and the fact that UK is a pilot school. I am just wondering in clinic, what does this integration looks like? Are there multiple 3D-printers where same day crowns can be made for many different patients, or is it more of a special experience you get to do only a couple of times? I guess what I am wondering, is digital dentistry the primarily method used in clinic, or are traditional methods used less/equal/more? On a given day, there are multiple people digitally scanning Zirconia crown cases for implants or regular teeth and others scanning for diagnostic casts. I’d say maybe 50% of our cases are designed digitally while others must be done in a traditional lab (crowns with non-scannable margins, PFMs, and other metal crown types that technologically can’t be printed). However the majority of these still have the same lab time-frame (about 10 business days to fabricate because the digital design is done by lab staff). Same day crowns are more of a special case because you need a very particular case that can be digitally scanned in the first place, a patient that is willing to be at the dental clinic all day, 2 open clinic blocks in a single day, and the supervising faculty to help YOU with the design and milling (it is a more time consuming and hands on case for the student as opposed to sending the case to be made entirely by the lab).
9. Are there any certifications that are offered through the program (Invisalign/laser/etc)? There are no certificates that we offer though if you are interested in Invisalign there is an elective course where you treat one of your classmates (or more if you can find people willing to pay for it – fortunately at a greatly reduced cost). We are not trained on using lasers though if you were interested in seeing their usage, you could probably meet with Perio faculty and residents or once in a while they’re using for gingiva reduction in the clinic. Laser use isn’t really a common general dental procedure.

Pre-Clinical Years (1-2)

1. Just wondering what a typical day/week looks like in D1/D2? 8 to 5 Mon-Fri (I know this varies considerably by year/class/etc but just roughly)? D1 schedule is much lighter than D2 with a few mornings that don’t start until 9 or 10AM and a few afternoons you can head out early. Most classes are required but not all (although the students who perform better tend to go to all classes!). Generally, D2 year you should plan on more of an 8-5PM schedule (will still have a few 9AM days or able to leave early but less common). Almost all D2 classes will be required so it’s a bit busier.
2. Do you guys really get a huge summer break between each year (seems nice and refreshing if so)? The summer break between each year is about 1 month (~6 wks after D1, ~7 wks after D2, and ~4 weeks after D3). I’m not sure if this will change a little bit with integrated boards coming but this is the upcoming summer break for the current D1-D3 class.

 

[knewstance]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine- AZ (MWU AZ)

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
->D2

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
->Several exams every week. You can count on 2 but sometimes up to 4 on the weeks we have practical exams too. Finals week we have 5.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
->I thought the hardest was Neuroataonmy but it varies based on learning style, professor, and background knowledge. Just learning lots of different pathways was harder for me. Some people struggle with pharmacology, others with gross anatomy.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
->Dental Anatomy? Very straight forward class (albeit important), know the numbers and the characteristics. There are a few courses that are pretty easy.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->100% powerpoint/lecture-based. Some professors will reference articles occasionally but usually, they boil the textbook chapters down in their powerpoint.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
->I haven't purchased any textbooks.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
->Traditional grading system (A, A-, B+...) with GPA and class rankings available at the end of each year.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
->Not that I've seen. Everyone is always posting study guides to help each other out. If anything, we share notes too much and I don't have time to even read it all. Those that are planning on applying for specialty programs work harder, but they are not malicious about it.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
->Not that I've seen. All lectures are recorded and can be viewed at any time after the lecture.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
->For the most part, yes. If you miss too many classes you start to get grade deductions unless you have an excused absence. Attendance is taken through an app. There are a few courses that are not required but generally, you do have to at least go to campus every weekday.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
->Very approachable. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been to a professor's office to meet with them, but I know that my classmates have and they have no problem speaking with them. There are a few professors that do research, but they are always willing to make themselves available to students.
In terms of sim lab, you work directly with bench faculty and they are always awesome (although some have different personalities - to be expected) and provide good feedback on how to improve your work.

13. What is the drop out rate?
->I'm only aware of 1 in my class that dropped. They left before I got to know them so I don't know anything about their situation.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
->Classmates and upperclassmen are always willing to help. I know you can sign up for free tutoring. Lecture professors always offer to meet with students and are always quick to respond to emails.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
->Very high, I don't know the exact numbers, but I know its over 90%.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
->Previously was during the summer of D1, but now changing to integrated so I'm not sure - We will be the first class to take integrated.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
->They did when we were taking Part 1. Now that we are changing to integrated, I assume they will offer classes for that as well.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
->With NDBE Part 1 they gave us 3 months off - the summer after D1 year. But that is changing now and things are currently a strong TBD.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
->Students study mostly either at home or in the library. Typically just reviewing the powerpoints, lecture notes, and re-watching the lectures. People put together study guides and flashcards and stuff too.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->I'm not in clinic yet but as far as I know it is not too hard to get patients (you aren't hitting the streets to find your own).

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->I'm not sure the exact numbers, but everyone I've talked to has expressed that it's pretty reasonable to reach all graduation requirements.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->Very strong in technology and CAD/CAM training (you are nearly proficient in D2). The clinic is always pretty full and they are always getting new tech for us to use along with the adequate training. I can't tell you the worst thing because I'm not in the clinic every day, so I don't know the ins and outs.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->It's really as much as you want/whatever your patients need. The school has specialty clinics and full-time specialists on staff, but no residents taking your cases.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->I know you do a few local rotations during 4th year. None that I know of require different accommodations. There are tons of outreach programs going on. typically multiple per week. They are mostly optional though (must do 1 per year).

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Either Navy or Black scrubs depending on your year. Some people wear business casual, but you have to wear a gown in the sim lab with street clothes, so 99% wear scrubs all the time.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->As much as you want. There are a few places that lots of students live and they always have activities going on. Everyone is always really nice to each other.

27. What student organizations are most active?
->There are lots of clubs that you can join. I'd say the most active are ASDA, Academy of General Dentistry, and Student Research Group. People get pretty excited about the clubs and the meetings are usually really good and worth going to.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->Great location, lots of things to do close by. I feel very safe. Everything I need is within 1-2 miles. Hiking, lake, and outdoors stuff close by. About 20-30 mins from PHX airport. Housing is on the expensive side (coming from the Midwest and South), but I think it's pretty reasonable. I would estimate that most of my classmates without roommates spend $800-1300 on rent depending on how fancy and the size.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->I've been to probably 15-20 dental schools between interviews and tours. I feel strongly that MWU-AZ is the best out there. I guess if I were to change something it would be the price.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> Things are really pretty great here. I know there are always a few weeks in each quarter that get stressful when that perfect storm of exams comes together, but really everything is pretty manageable and well designed. I'm very glad that I decided to go with MWU-AZ.
After D1 summer off, there is never really any more time off other than 1-2 weeks at a time. Make the most of that time - enjoy yourself!


I'm happy to answer any specifics via PM or just PM me a link to your thread.

 

[Stanelz]

Copy and paste, and then answer the questions below 🙂 Thanks!

1. Name of Your Dental School
->LECOM School of Dental Medicine

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
->D2 and have not taken part 1 yet as we are not allowed to until spring of D2 year which will obviously change for integrated boards.

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
->Due to the PBL system, we do not have tons of exams like other schools because our basic sciences are grouped together. This means that we have one gigantic exam (150 questions over 3 hours-three times a semester) over a series of basic science topics. In addition we have our regular dental courses which can have exams at any point in the semester typically 2-3 per class per semester). The exams for our classes outside of PBL are usually around the same time since you will typically have a midterm and a final in most cases with practicals spread throughout.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Perio by far. Our perio instructor was an oral surgery resident and then a perio resident so he is extremely knowledgeable and trains you like a resident. He actually does CE courses on the side and people pay him thousands of dollars to attend so he really knows his stuff. His lectures are interesting and you will leave LECOM having some of the best perio knowledge of almost any school imo. His exams are very difficult because he expects you to have an extremely good understanding of his material.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
->Ortho. Our instructors for ortho basically give you the answers or at least everything you need to know to get an extremely high grade. Most of our classes are not super difficult actually. All of the staff is very fair.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> 90% of the time the test questions come directly from powerpoints and maybe 10% from lecture. Rarely do you ever need to touch a textbook other than PBL which is textbook based in nature

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Electronic textbooks. At first everyone hates it but after about a month we love it because you dont have to lug around textbooks and destroy your back and electronic reading makes it feel like you are reading way faster. Theres always a few people that are dead set on using real textbooks but they usually convert quickly because they realize how much better electronic is once you get used to it (including myself who loves physical pages but would never go back to real textbooks)

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Graded with percentages, no honors

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> Theres definitely gunners in every class but I would say 95% of people are willing to share their notes and study together

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> No but everyone usually shares notes and resources

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
->Yes and it is necessary for most classes but is kind of terrible for some unnecessary filler classes that dont teach you very much

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> All the professors are very appraochable I have not had any issues getting ahold of any of them

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> I know one person that dropped out because they were extremely young (under 21) and could not handle the course load at all and I know 1-2 that were moved down to a lower class (repeated year) because they could not keep up

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Yes we have student tutors and office hours that are available at all times

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
->I am not sure what the pass rate is for this year but it has been above 90% the last few years for first time takers

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> I take part one in the Spring of D2 year and I essentially have one shot at it because they stop offering it in the summer

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> We have a deal with Kaplan to where we get there review questions

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> We have a few weeks when the schedule is a bit slower to study for boards but we dont have a huge break or anything

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Most people study at home and maybe about 20% use the library/cafeteria

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> In years past there have been tons of patients but for some reason this year (in all honesty) there has been a slump in patients that they are currently doing lots of publicity to fix. There have not been issues with meeting requirements however just not as much traffic as usual. Our fourth year is done at another location and they are not having any issue at all. Overall after talking to preceptors that have taught at other schools they say that LECOM training and exposure to patients is miles ahead of other schools.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> I personally do not know

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Best thing is having a great environment and staff that is readily available to help. We do not have many staff members that are terrible and give you a hard time. Worst thing is sometimes they set ridiculous rules such as the no food and water policy in the building (other than the cafeteria) and for a time you were not allowed to be in the sim lab without a buddy (which we gave them hell for and got it changed)

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> We have clubs for all specialities and there are many specialists in the area that allows us to shadow

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> We have a lot fo community outreaches with local schools and things like give kids a smile

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Scrubs fortunately

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Yes everyone gets along very well. Of course theres gonna be a few people that you are really close to but overall everyone is very friendly and theres no one in my class I wouldnt be comfortable just going up to and starting a conversation with

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA mainly, the specialty clubs are active also but not to the same extent

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Location and cost is spectacular. Its very cheap to find housing and there so much available. The school is in an upscale area that from what I can tell has no crime

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> Food and water policy and the fact that they changed the class size from 100 to 105 and we no longer have our own operatories in third year (which not a huge deal)

30. Any last words or advice?
-> LECOM is a great school and if I had to choose it again I would. My best advice however is to go to the cheapest school because all the clinical requirements may be slightly different, but no school is going to give you an experience that is worth 100k or even 50k more

 

[DSchoolorBust202X]

1. Name of Your Dental School
->Dental College of Georgia (DCG), formerly Georgia Regents University, formerly Georgia Health Sciences University, formerly Medical College of Georgia I think we got it under control now, guys

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
->D1

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
->Exam schedules are really similar to undergrad. There are a handful of classes that stagger, and the ones that end before the true end of the semester have finals earlier. We are coming up on a two week finals exam week starting Monday, and have a total of seven finals (five exams, two practicals).

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
->I can't really say what the hardest class is because I think they're all doable. I say that because my standards are decently low compared to others because grades don't mean too much to me. Neuroscience has been a little tough just because I don't have a background in it, and the course instructors are not the most organized. I may update this after the finals, though.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
->Easiest class to me is nutrition, but it's a one-hour credit. Some people think evidence-based dentistry is easy because it's pass-fail, but I thought it was tough.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->Class notes are based on lecture PowerPoint slides by the professors that, best I can tell, are from the textbook.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
->There are electronic textbooks in our class' Google Drive, but I personally seldom use them. I don't know anyone who has bought paper textbooks in my or my mentors' classes. I enjoy paper, but it hasn't been hard to switch to electronic.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
->Grading system is like undergrad with A-F, except one class I alluded to before, evidence-based dentistry. Most didactic classes have a traditional scale (i.e. A is 89.5-100, B is 79.5-100, etc.), but the lab courses are skewed (i.e. A is 88-100, B is 82-87.9, C is 75-81.9, below is failure and you will need to repeat the D1 year).

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
->I know of a handful of gunners, but everyone typically tries to help each other out. It seems most people do their own thing when it comes to studying, or they have small groups. I tend to study by myself.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
->Not that I am aware of, but all classes are ECHO (video) recorded for reviewing.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
->Administration claims it is, but unless the professor takes initiative to take attendance with a sign-in sheet, they likely don't know. I attend every lecture, and attendance is only taken about half the time. I hear that if they do see that you haven't signed in on the sign-in sheet for multiple classes, you are issued a warning of some kind.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
->Instructors are fairly approachable, and I enjoy going to their offices. However, something I find a little aggravating is that they don't post office hours; you kind of just have to show up or try to schedule a time to meet with them on your own. This can be difficult when they are lecturing other classes, covering student clinic, or providing care in faculty practice. I don't know of very many that participate in research.

13. What is the drop out rate?
->To my knowledge, they don't report that. I have heard of two people dropping out of the D2 class, but I'm not sure of the circumstances of why they did. No one has left our class so far.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
->There are tutors available for most every class, and there is tutoring for waxing and operative lab every week. Mentors can be helpful, and most upperclassmen are approachable and helpful in the practice lab. From a mental health perspective, we do have a nearby counseling and psychological services office that I use relatively frequently. It's helpful to have it nearby, and the staff there are really understanding.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
->I am really not sure on this, but I think it has been close to 100% for the past few years. Time will tell with the new integrated board exam; we will be the first class required to take it.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
->Since I'm a D1, I really haven't given this one too much thought. I do know that we are required to take the integrated boards. I believe it will be summer between D3 and D4, but I'll have to check back.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
->From what I hear from upperclassmen, they do offer a class for it.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
->Again, I'm not aware because it is early in the program for me, but I believe it is during D3 and D4 years when we're mostly done with didactic classes anyway. I don't think there is any time off to study.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
->I study on my own in my dorm room, and I tend to cram much like in undergrad. Others utilize the various study rooms on campus and study more consistently throughout the semester.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->I'm not to that point yet, but I know that upperclassmen try to help each other out by trading patients for certain requirements. Last I heard, there was a waiting list for patients to get in to the student clinic.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->I have no idea, but I can try to find out and update the post.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->I can't speak to that since we have only been to clinic to check occlusion. I do appreciate the set-up of the clinic, however, and that for the most part, there is a chair for every student. We have a junior and senior clinic as well as a small practice lab with simulators outside the regular simulator lab for underclassmen.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->There are a handful of organizations to discuss different areas, like pediatrics (you can sign up to shadow in the OR), oral surgery, and public health. I believe we are required to shadow and assist in each residency area early in the curriculum.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->I am not to this point yet. I have been trying to find community outreach programs, but I think those are more student organization-based. There are a few times per year where you can volunteer to do oral cancer screenings as local health fairs.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->Each class votes on a scrub color that they will wear for the full four years. For lab classes, we must wear scrubs, but on days we don't have lab, we can wear scrubs or business casual dress.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->There is camaraderie and civility between most everyone, but people will mostly hang out with certain groups of friends and sit with the exact same people in every class. There are social events throughout the year that get people together, and my peers do spend a good bit of outside time with each other.

27. What student organizations are most active?
->The student organizations I always see doing things are ASDA, SNDA, and SPEA. There are a handful of smaller groups that have a couple events throughout the year.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->Augusta is not my favorite place in the world, but it's okay. Lots of housing options. I wouldn't go walking around by myself at night, but I've felt safe within groups. Also, to be fair, there are a lot of resources around town.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->Honestly, I would say location, but thinking about it, that might come in second. The big issue I have is with the general organization of the administration. There are times when class room locations, times, or assignment dates have been wrong or updated without our knowledge, and I just wish there was better communication and overall organization on their part.

30. Any last words or advice?
->One thing I appreciate is that we get Wednesday afternoons off. Overall, not a bad place to be. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out 🙂

 

[wannagiveup]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> University of Louisville

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
->D4

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
->Varies. Most clinical courses in D3 and D4 years and 1 credit hour courses are only midterms and finals. Big courses including gross anatomy, histology, pathology etc are several exams every other week.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
->Oral Path hands down. Oral Medicine a close second.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
->Infection Control

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->Depends on profs but mostly lecture and PowerPoint based.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Not used very much

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Mostly letter-grades with a few P/F courses

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> We try to help each other out. There are cliques though.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
->No but some professors record lectures through panopto

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Yes

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
->hit or miss

13. What is the drop out rate?
->We have about five or so people that got held back from the class above us out of a class of ~120. We've lost about the same number along the way.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
->Tutoring services are available.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> Between 90-95%

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
->Usually over the winter break in D2 or between the summer of D2-D3. (irrelevant for future applicants)

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> Yes. They teach to the boards and offer online review courses.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
->Nope

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
->At the library right across the street; some study at home

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->If you want to get ahead and be done early, you have to network and find/schedule on your own. They do provide patients though.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->They change it every year. The last word I heard is about 5ish crowns (no final word yet). 1 implant crown restoration. 2 RPDs. 2 CD/CDs. Class II/III operative competencies (one each) in D4. 40ish fillings throughout D3/D4. A bunch of dentoform-based competencies for fixed and operative throughout D3/D4. 5 quads SRPs. 4 RCTs (doesn't have to be a molar endo).

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->Location is kind of sketch. Med students at the library can be annoying during finals week. It's in a relatively big city with quite a bit to do. It's a very GP oriented school and so we have a pretty low specialization rate (and no, GPRs don't count).

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->dunno. They don't really help out all that much with specializing.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->It's a week on week off system. You spend time in DMD clinic for one week then go to your assigned rotation for another week etc. You do a whole lot in oral surgery rotation (tori removal, surgical ext, I&D) not so much in perio (usually just assisting). Endo rotation can be a hit or miss. Ortho rotation is just advanced shadowing (only like one or two sessions the entire D3/D4 years). Peds is a hit or miss too.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->Scrubs all four years.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->There are cliques that hang out exclusively by themselves, but we try to help each other out when in school. We have social events throughout the year with other classes (usually club organized or sponsored)

27. What student organizations are most active?
->ASDA

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->It's not the safest area, but we do have a dedicated police officer and a security guard that patrol during business hours. I would not walk alone after like 7pm. The university offers police escort service. There are student housing options two blocks away from school where some people stay all four years.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->

30. Any last words or advice?
->

 

[princeafrica]

1. Name of Your Dental School
University of Colorado

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
DS1

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
Depends. Some classes end earlier in the semester than others and their final exams may be the same week as other classes final exam or regular exams. Some weeks can have multiple exams, and some can have one or none.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
Pathology because there is a lot of material to memorize and the exam questions are based on random facts found in about 1200 slides. This sort of class really tests your ability to memorize rather than critical thinking.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
Intro to dentistry. Taken during the first semester and introduces you to the different fields and or specialties within dentistry to get you started to think about what you may be interested in.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
Primarily based on lecture

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
There is a one-time fee of around $4800 the first semester for all the books you will need for all 4 years. They are all electronic and downloaded to your iPad and Macbook

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
Letter grade. Most classes the first two years are letter grade. Most classes the last two years are pass/fail

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
You will find a couple gunners in each class but generally the culture here is very collaborative. My class has a class website where people upload their study guides for everyone to use. Upper classman also share their study guides. Everyone is also very helpful in lab.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
Yes, by accommodation only I believe.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
No. Lectures are recorded. But some classes have quizzes at the beginning of each lecture.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
So far from experience, the professors are very approachable. I have asked a couple upperclassman about their professors as well and they mentioned that they are easy to reach. Anyone in administration is also easy to reach and are happy to meet with you.

13. What is the dropout rate?
I have maybe heard of one take absence due to medical related stuff. But the school is on your side and will try to hardest and do their part in making sure you get through all 4 years.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
Yes, ADEA runs tutoring sessions every week and sometimes a couple times a week depending on if there is an exam. ASDA also does some tutoring sessions sometimes. If you are really struggling administration can work with you to find you a good tutor for 1 on 1 sessions. The campus is also huge here with 4+ other health professions and so there are offices that deal with mental health, abuse, etc that are all willing to listen and help.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
I believe over the past couple years the pass rate has been 97-100%

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
Part 1 was usually taken after 1st year. I will be taking the integrated boards after 3rd year.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
Class of 2022 told me they had a bunch of review session for Part 1. Administration also tells us that there will be courses and review sessions towards the end of 3rd year to help us prepare for the integrated boards.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
Not sure if we will for the integrated boards but Class 2022 had classes during the summer before boards but they were lighter than Fall and Spring semesters and they were a bunch of time in their scheduled allotted to studying for boards.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
There are study rooms all over campus that you can study room. The building in which we have the majority of our classes in has a lot of study rooms and a café to study in. If these rooms are full, there is a big library with a ton more study rooms. Most people choose to study in the study rooms in close proximity to our classes.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
Patients are available but chairs to book the patients are not. You have to compete against other students to be able to book a chair to bring your patients in. To book a chair you have to wake up at 6 am and send a request via a program called Axium. This will not always guarantee you a chair, however.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
Clinical requirements are reasonable but what makes it tough to fulfill these requirements is the fact that there is a lack of chairs available to book patients in.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
Best thing about clinic is that the dental chairs are nice (literally cannot think about anything else). Worst thing about clinic is the shortage of faculty, which leads to a shortage in available chairs and one faculty to supervise a large group of students. This means that you will spend a lot of your appointment time waiting for the faculty to come give you the ok to move on to the next step.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
There are different rotations you go through to evaluate the different specialties.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
The rotations are at the dental school. You will have a block in your schedule to attend a certain rotation. For example in one semester you might have 3-5 sessions of a certain rotation. There are also rotations in community clinics through a program called ACTS during the 4th year. Essentially you do a 3 week rotation at a clinic outside the school and then 3 weeks at the school clinic. You might do this about 3-4 times during the year. During the ACTS program you while working at the community clinics you will essentially be seeing however many patients that clinic sees per day and working on their schedule.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
Navy scrubs for all 4 years.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
All the students in my class see each other outside of class whether its studying or just hanging out. The first month or two everyone tries to figure out what each other interest are and then they start seeing each other outside of school regularly. But people still send out party invite to the whole class through groupme.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-Multicultural Student Dental Alliance (MSDA) which will transition to Student National Dental Association (SNDA)
-American Student Dental Association (ASDA)
-American Dental Education Association (ADEA)
-Delta Sigma Delta (DSD)
-Alpha Omega Iota Beta (AO)

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
The school is located on a huge campus with multiple health professions schools and multiple hospital. The campus is very safe as there are different police department and security agency patrolling the campus than I can count. There are apartments directly across from the school (Forum and Fitzimons being the most popular) which are generally safe. The city immediate surrounding neighborhoods aren’t the safest in Colorado, but they aren’t the most dangerous. If you just exercise general common sense and not walk alone at 2am you are totally safe.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
Hopefully they hire more faculty for the student clinics to make appointments go by quicker.

30. Any last words or advice?
Colorado outdoors is pretty nice for anyone who is into outdoors.

 

[BasicG]

1. Name of Your Dental School
University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
D1

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
Roughly 4-5 tests per class including finals. Tests from different classes tend to be scheduled pretty close to one another which creates a couple of 'hell weeks'

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
The class with the lowest averages on tests is histology at about 75%. Classes aren't that hard imo but when you have 3 tests in the same week it can get a bit overwhelming and you have to prioritize which test you want to do well on at the detriment of the grade of another test

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
Ethics, show up and do group work on an ethical situation, write a couple papers, then you're done. It was an 8 week course that honestly could've been summed up in 1 class period. There are 3 classes that are like this and are a waste of time but I've come to accept that they gotta squeeze some loan $ outta us so they can pay faculty

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
It's all based on Powerpoints

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
We don't buy any books. All books are PDF files that are shared to you, but you'll be better off looking at the powerpoints

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
Letter grades with a +/- scale

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
Everyone is collaborative and shares notes/study guides on the class drive. I haven't seen any gunners yet

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
Lectures are recorded and can be played back 1-2x

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
The syllabi in every class says attendance is mandatory but its not. Professors don't take attendance. You do need to show up for the couple of classes that involve group work to get the daily points

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
Teachers are definitely approachable and are nice

13. What is the drop out rate?
Still have 109/109 students. Upperclassman have had a few students drop out after D1 year, but those spots were filled with international students trying to get a US license

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
I haven't used it but there is class specific tutoring you can sign up for. There is also a buddy system with D1/D2s, so you can always ask your D2 buddy for advice/help

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
Don't know this

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
We're the first class to be scheduled to take the integrated boards in our 3rd year I believe

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
NA

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
NA

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
Students tend to study in the upstairs library of the dental school.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
From the students I've talked to earlier this semester, patients are kind of rough to get this semester. I believe the school mentioned doing some marketing to help this but I'm not sure if this has helped, its been a while since I've been down in clinic

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
I don't know the requirements

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
The clinic is outdated and needs to be renovated. I know the upperclassman are a bit frustrated that the sim clinic was remodeled instead of the patient clinic.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
Rotations through the specialty clinics in the school

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
There are community outreach programs that allow D3/4s to get more experience under their belts. Externships can also be done during breaks

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
Scrubs. Colors alternate, current D1s have navy

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
There are always social invitations going out in the groupme to hangout after classes, during breaks, etc. Everyone is pretty dang friendly

27. What student organizations are most active?
American student dental association (ASDA)
Ethics organization (SPEA)
Women in dentistry
Psi Omega Frat
Zips Frat

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
The schools is right next to the med, pharmacy, and nursing schools. Outside these 2 blocks, things are kind of sketchy when the sun goes down. The health campus in of itself is safe and there are frequent campus patrols, but the area around it has high poverty and crime rate. Just be smart if you're out at night in the area

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
Renovate the patient clinic..it looks like a haunted psychiatry ward

30. Any last words or advice?
Nope, PM if you have any questions

 

[Advance]

1. Name of Your Dental School

-> Texas A&M College of Dentistry


2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)

-> D4

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?

-> D1,D2 and D3 we had tests consistently throughout the semester with more tests being concentrated around October which is around the time when we had midterms and after thanksgiving break generally we would have finals. Currently we are in the middle of a curriculum change. So far they’ve updated the D1, D3 and D4 curriculum. For the D1 classes they’ve cut out some courses and merged some together so now they have their tests every Monday. D4s have very few exams the whole year, about 7 total.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?

-> This is pretty subjective but for me I’d say D1 the hardest class was Dental anatomy. D2, D3 and D4 I’d say the hardest was pharmacology. Dental anatomy was just so foreign since I had never taken a dental related class at that point. Waxing was also a challenge. Pharmacology is just a lot of info, more than any of our other classes IMO.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?

-> We had quite a few easy classes at the school. We have classes that don’t have exams or anything you just have to show up and listen. Our NBDE II review course(D4) and practice management course(D3) are examples of this.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?

-> I haven’t read a single textbook since I started D1. Almost everything is on PowerPoint or they will give every student a manual for the course.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?

-> You can buy the text books for the courses if you want, but it’s not necessary. The library has a hard copy of most textbooks we use if you wanted to check it out.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?

-> Our grading system recently changed, our new grading scale is
90+ A
80-89 B
75-79 C
74 and below F
They recently cut out D’s in our grading scale unfortunately.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?

-> it’s hard to make a generalization but I don’t get a huge gunner vibe from my class. D1 year it seemed to be a bit more cut throat but as the years went on it became more relaxed. Overall though most people are more than willing to help if you ask.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?

-> All of our lectures are recorded so you can watch them later at your leisure.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?

-> It depends on what department teaches the course. Most courses say in the syllabus that attendance is mandatory but it’s really up to the instructor wether they enforce it or not.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?

-> The biomedical science instructors are always happy to help students that come to their office hours and they are easy to get a hold of.

13. What is the drop out rate?

-> Tricky question, I don’t know the exact numbers but it’s rare that people completely drop out of our school. Most of the time it’s not due to grades. Usually it’s due to lack of interest in dentistry, an accident or medical emergency ect. Students are sometimes held back a year, but it’s rare that they get expelled from the program for academic reasons.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?

-> Yeah we have a program where D2s tutor D1s in their classes. Faculty and prosth residents also tutor D2s with lab work and hand skills if they’re lacking in that area. Also our school realizes mental health is important and the school has people that you can talk to if you have those kinds of issues.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?

-> I’m not sure of the exact numbers but it’s definitely 90%+

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **

-> NBDE I is the summer after D1

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?

-> Yes

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?

-> The school wants NBDE I to be attempted before Fall D2 begins. It’s about a 2 week break between summer D2 and fall D2.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?

-> I studied at home, I don’t know many people that study at school.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?

-> our school has plenty of patients. its hit or miss wether they will show up on time, pay, ect. You can find patients on your own if you want to, but’s it’s not necessary. We have patient managers that will call patients and schedule them so the students don’t have to.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?

-> since our curriculum has currently changed the school doesn’t really know what numbers we should be reaching for so they’re using our old numbers as a goal for this year.

-100+ Direct restorations
-30+ Fixed units (crowns)
-8+ Credits of removable ( F/F, 1 arch metal frame partial and immediate count for 1 credit each, interim/resin base partial and relines count as .5 credits.)
-125+ Extractions and other surgical procedures (frenectomy, tori removal, alveoloplasty and ridge preservation count towards this)
-4+ Root canals. school is weak in endo so getting this is hit or miss
-4+completed perio cases (16 Quads SRP)
-6+ Nitrous oxide Administration
-2+ implant work ups and restorations

This year I’m finding it tough to meet some of these numbers but overall it’s competency based. They just give these numbers as a goal to reach. Show up to clinic, treat your patients, try your best and you will be fine.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?

-> Best thing about my school clinic is our undergrad OMFS clinic. We work closely with OMFS faculty, residents and interns. We get a good amount of experience with surgical extractions and other surgical procedures compared to other schools. I personally have learned a lot in the undergrad OMFS clinics from treating more medically complex patients, prescribing meds, procedures ect.

Another good thing about our school is our community clinics. They have a more fast paced private practice vibe to them (compared to our schools main clinic) and they’re always looking for volunteers to work over the school holidays if you want more experience or want to work on your speed.

As far as bad things about our school I would have to say the lack of endo. Most cases end up going to the endo residents so it’s pretty tough to get endo experience in the DDS program.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?

-> As far as I know you can always go and assist or observe in all of our graduate clinics. Since we have all the dental specialties (except anesthesiology) you can go talk to residents and faculty in any specialty you’re interested in. They also teach multiple courses during the dental curriculum so you will have the opportunity to meet them in the classroom too. We also rotate through some of the graduate clinics in the D3 and D4 curriculum.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?

-> We have lots of rotations, sometimes you just assist or observe residents doing procedures, other times you’re working directly with patients. We rotate through undergrad OMFS, undergrad Pedo, Grad endo, Grad perio, radiology, Ortho and others.

So we do have outreach programs, D3s sometimes go out and place sealants at elementary schools around Dallas, sometimes they do career fairs, dental screenings at events and with organizations. Our school really does a lot around Dallas.


25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?

-> During my time at school you could wear scrubs of any color or business professional. Now They’re changing it to class color scrubs starting summer 2020.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?

-> Yes, and yes most people in my class usually have a group they hang out with outside of school.

27. What student organizations are most active?

-> Most organizations are pretty active I’d say there’s always a bake sale or an event going on but for the most active I’d have to say the dental fraternities have the most events.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?

-> The location is in the Baylor medical center right near deep ellum, there’s plenty of housing right by the school but it’s a little more expensive than if you were to live further out. The area is pretty sketchy at night but school security is more than willing to walk you to you car at night.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?

-> The attendance policy for some departments.

30. Any last words or advice?

-> Dental school is rough but most people that get in make it out. Remember, it’s just school. Try to enjoy your life as much as possible, even while In dental school.

 

[sp1997]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Marquette University School of Dentistry (Wisconsin)

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
-> D1

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> Several every week

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Pres res because an A is 95% and a lot of the grading is subjective

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> Personally, micro and neuro were the easiest because they were structured like undergrad science classes

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->Powerpoints

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Up to you I guess. No one I know has used the textbooks

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Letter grades. The dental classes have higher requirements for an A, the other science classes have it so that 93% is an A

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> There are a few gunners, but not the sabotaging type. People either keep to themselves or are super helpful

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> All lectures are recorded by a designated student who uploads it within a day or two

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Yes but attendance isn't taken

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> They've been approachable so far. I have been busy so I usually reach out via email and have gotten responses in a timely manner

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> Probably low because I haven't heard of anyone dropping out yet

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Yes, don't know the details of it, but I know it's there

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> No idea

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> I have to take the integrated and have no clue when that is lol

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> I don't know

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> No idea

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> In there rooms, in the school, or at the library. We usually run into a lot of kids in the library lol

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> idk

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> Idk the specifics, but people don't seem to have too much of a problem with them

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Best: we get into clinic super early (summer of D1 year); Worst: sometimes the doctors are super picky/mean when giving critiques

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> We get to assist/see patients in different specialty clinics right in the school so you get a chance to see what you like

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> Rotations for D1 is assisting in various clinics on campus and also going to a few clinics off campus to assist. I believe later on, you can do more for the community and travel further

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Scrubs (they choose our color) for all 4 years

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Yes! So many of us are good friends and we go out all the time

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA, the frats, class board, SNDA. ASDA seems to dominate a lot of dental related stuff and the frats do a lot of fun socials

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Housing can be hard if it's last minute, but there are plenty of options. MKE is a nice city with plenty to do (if you have the time). Safety has been a concern, but we travel together

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> They give us so much information at once but at the wrong time. I wish there was a way to organize that better

30. Any last words or advice?
-> Like any, it's a good school. I have definitely made some amazing friends here. My class studies hard and plays hard

 

[artist2022]

Figured I talk/post a bunch and that I should do one of these too 😛

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> UCLA

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
-> D2

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> Block schedule-ish; some classes have a midterm & final, other classes really only have a final

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Anatomy is the hardest class first year, and then later it's OPath. There's just a ton of info that you need to absorb and understand and be able to apply in a really short amount of time.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> I think every quarter you get 2-3 easy classes that really don't eat up much of your time outside of class. First year it's materials, then later on I don't think direct/indirect lectures are too bad... personal opinion.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> Powerpoints

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> No books really

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> P/NP/H; honors awarded to top 10-15-20% of the class, threshold to pass is usually 70 or 75.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> Varies by class but I think my class is generally really helpful & supportive, making and sharing study guides and quizlets with the whole class rather than keeping it to themselves

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Yep - one classmate will be your notetaker, and they'll be paid from your class dues. Our class has two.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Some classes yes, some classes no. Sometimes attendance is truly mandatory and you'll get an NP if you skip, sometimes it's just part of your grade.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> Generally yes, usually at the end of class is when people ask the most questions and they usually stay after to answer them. Usually most are good about answering emails too.

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> No idea, only had one person drop from our class so far because dentistry just wasn't for them.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> We have a big/little program and generally bigs are really open to helping their little out. Upperclassmen in general are also really there and willing to help underclassmen out too. Professors usually don't want you to NP and will sometimes work with you to help avoid that.... We also have a tutoring/lab TA program for the labs, in which you can get more help from upperclassmen who've done well in those lab classes (like Dentures for example).

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> Idk but I'd assume pretty high 😛

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> Usually 2nd year, the break after summer quarter/before fall quarter.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> Nope

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> Nope - you don't get a specific break for the boards, you use one of your breaks, usually the 3 week one after summer quarter.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Varies greatly, either at home or in the library.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> No idea since I'm only a D2. We don't find patients really, but we do schedule them on our own. Gotta be quick though and careful because chairs fill up quick and your appointment request can be canceled if you haven't double checked everything.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> Mix of a points-based system + competency based system. Need to do a minimum # of certain procedures, but you also need to pass competency exams.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Best is P/NP/H since it's less competitive imo. Worst idk, maybe that I wish our class weren't the guinea pigs for the many changes that are going on in terms of getting students into clinic faster lol

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> We have tons of selectives and I think you're pretty much always welcome to shadow in the clinics too.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> Idk.... rotations are 3rd & 4th year. We have something called Community Based Clinical Education (CBCE) where dental students go out to underserved areas throughout the state I believe to provide dental care. We also have lots of OHI events at parks, schools, etc and oversea service trips.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> You can wear whatever you want, but you have to (ish) wear your blue, UCLA embroidered scrubs during clinic/rotations. Gotta wear scrubs in Anatomy lab too but they don't really have to be blue.... People wear FIGS a ton but I think you need to get them embroidered with the logo/name/something.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Yes and yes. Lots of socials go on throughout the year, we have Friendsgiving, Secret Santa, Vegas trips, End-of-the-year parties, etc. Really depends on who your social chairs are and your class cabinet too 😛

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA is probably the biggest, then the frats (AO and DSD) then ASB then other clubs probably...

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> It's in a pretty expensive area. Grad housing is the cheapest way to go, but even that's about $1400 for your own bed/bath in a 2bd/2bt apartment, and about $1600 for a studio, then about $100 more for parking. Outside of grad housing, it's like $2100+ for a private room/bath.... realllllly expensive which sucks because you should really live close to campus your first/second years if you can. Third/fourth years not so much since you'll have your rotations (so you kinda do need a car those last two years). I think safety is ok but there are homeless people that you'll encounter on your way to school

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> I think the order of some classes could be swapped around to have things make more sense/to pair things together (like if we're learning about viral and bacterial diseases, have us take micro at the same time... or if we're learning anatomy, have us perhaps take anesthesia the quarter after when we have all those nerves and muscles fresh in our head, to solidify the clinically relevant stuff).

30. Any last words or advice?
-> Cost should be your number 1 when you're deciding which schools to apply to/attend. Every school will sell themselves off as being the best, but keep in mind that so much of your learning comes outside of school, when you're on your own. Every school will give you the foundation you need to be a competent and caring dentist, and every school will also give you the chance to specialize. The way you career ends up really depends on you and how much you put in SO just pick the cheapest school you get into. And then make sure you enjoy your break before school starts

 

[SaskOMFS]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Canada)

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
-> Graduated recently.

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> There were many, many quizzes and shorter exams throughout the semester. We had a midterm and finals exam set that was usually somewhere in the range of 10-15 full length (2-3 hour) exams, depending on the year.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Truthfully, whatever class you aren't interested in will be your hardest class. Some classes had difficult practical exams, some had difficult written exams. It entirely depends on your interests because you ultimately will not invest as much time and effort in subjects that you hate.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
- > Endodontics. Our professors had very realistic expectations based on your level of training and the grading for practical exams was pretty transparent and unbiased. Written exams were always very fair with very few ambiguous or confusing questions. They told us what to study, then tested us on that. It was a very good, no nonsense kind of class.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> It varies. Some classes were primarily textbook, others were primarily powerpoints.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Paper textbooks were used, but realistically, you can find any of them online quite easily, and usually a bit cheaper. I personally prefer paper textbooks.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
->A few classes were pass/fail, but the vast majority were percentages.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> For the most part, we all worked together to make life as easy as possible. People would readily share resources and reviews. We had small classes, so everybody knew each other and would help each other out. There were a few gunners, but mostly they were just people who studied more, there was no "sabotaging" that I'm aware of.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> No, but it was easy to get notes from a classmate

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Yes

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> Yes. Very few professors would refuse to meet you if you had questions.

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> Varies, but maybe 5-10%?

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Yes. Many people rewrote exams, redid practicals, etc. Our university had the usual full range of supportive services as well.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> Nearly 100%. Probably an average of 1 person/year would fail. Canadian boards are pass/fail.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> I took NDBE Part 1 in third year, then took NDBE Part 2 and the Canadian board exam near the end of 4th year.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> We did plenty of boards prep, geared towards the Canadian board exams.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> Not really. Some people would skip out of clinic, but I don't remember there being any actual time off.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Home or library. Pretty even mix if I recall correctly.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> Depends. Our clinic was divided into "pools" that had one person from 2nd/3rd/4th year that would share patients. Some pools had lots of credits, others were a little more bare. We had a system for reallocating crowns/fillings/dentures/RCTs from good pools to bad pools, but it was pretty inconsistent. Ultimately, you just needed to see as many patients as possible for "new patient" or "recall" exams to find work. Overall, there was enough for everyone to graduate. I don't know of a single person that failed a year due to insufficient credits, although a few people would have to come back in the summer to cement a crown or finish a denture.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> I'm a few years out, so the numbers may be a touch off, but:

Operative: 50 fillings including x number of amalgams and x number of composites
Fixed: 18 credits. Crown =1 credit, Pontic =0.5 credits (ie: a 3-unit bridge would give you 2.5 credits)
Endo: Maybe 10-15 canals? I don't recall exactly. Must include anterior teeth as well as molars.
Removable: ~10 credits. 1 complete denture = 1 credit. 1 RPD = 1 credit. Must do CDs and RPDs
Implant: Minimum 1 case start-to-finish where you Tx plan, fabricate a surgical guide by hand, and restore the implant. Local OMFS placed the implant.
Pedo: Minimum of ~6 Stainless steel crowns, several pulpotomies, and as many fillings and sealants as you can.
Perio: I honestly don't remember what the minimum was. We had to do SRP on every one of our patients every year, so we always went way beyond the minimum. Had to find 2 surgical cases among your patients, you would assist the perio faculty for the surgery (crown lengthening, GBR, gingival grafts, etc.)
Oral surgery: no specific requirements. Show up to clinic, take out some teeth. Maybe 10-20 extractions per student in 4th year.
Orthodontics: We worked in teams. Everybody would tx plan 2-3 cases of full fixed buccal braces. You would have a mix of cases that you started and continuing to work on cases that were passed down from the previous year (makes sense because most ortho tx plans take 12-18 months to complete in a dental school setting)

These are the numbers for 4th year only. Most people went well beyond these requirements

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Best: Overall, we had lots of patients with plenty of work that needed to be done. Really good clinical experience.
Worst: Sometimes difficult to find enough credits in one single discipline if you were unlucky with your patient pools (ie: if no one in your pool needed an RCT or couldn't afford it, you were kind of out of luck. Or maybe your pool didn't have enough dentures. Or enough crowns. You get the idea)

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> Limited. We have ZERO specialty programs in Saskatoon. This means you get to do more of the procedures yourself, but there is no residency program to shadow at.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> Sparse. A week or two at a low-income community clinic.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Scrubs in the clinic/sim lab, anything you like in the classroom

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Awesome group of people, we had a small class (25-30 people). We had many class parties where 1/2 to 2/3 of the class would attend. We hung out a lot outside of school. We did Secret Santa, ski trips, end of midterms/finals parties, etc.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> We had a student council type of thing that organized events and parties.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Good location, housing is cheap and plentiful. Very safe area.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->Would be nice to have some specialty programs so you could shadow and see what residency is like.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> Keep your head down, chin up, work hard, and it'll all work out.

 

[Gold2th]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Tufts

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
-> D3

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> varies year to year. Second year you have two large blocks second semester, and primarily one large test month during October. First year is different, and everything has changed from when I was 1st year.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Varies. Gross or Oral Path. Just a ton of information. Then again, Neuro had the lowest test average of my class collectively, so maybe that?

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> epidemiology. Or a school run "Intro to Dental Patient" course.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> Powerpoints.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Negative

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Lab is P/F/H, Clinic is also P/F/H. Classes are A-D+. Class rank is a thing.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> I can honestly say everyone here is super friendly with the very, very rare exception. One of my friends is like #4/200 and they are legit always answering questions for others, working out, helping in lab, etc.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Lectures are recorded, no note service.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Only for workshops, rotations, and the occasional class. Some classes you wanna go to for sure (looking at you fixed prosth) so you can get the lab work done. Others have in class quizzes, so while the class isn't required, you best go to class.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> approachable

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> I'd say 2-3 first year, but mostly for issues outside of academics. Last year we had only 1 that I know of.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Yep. Tutors for courses TAs for everything in clinic/preclin. Mental health people and counseling.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> can't remember, but not great for part 1. Thankfully this is changing due to the INDBE. curious to see what happens to the rate

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> Integrated boards summer between D3 and D4

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> N/A

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> We had a month for Part 1, but you have to just figure it out for Part II and I'm assuming the same for INDBE.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Wherever works for you. I study at home, but also have a fam.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> This is becoming a hot topic everywhere. Short answer, no, not "readily" available. With the advent of community clinics and also having two other d-schools near by cuts into the patient pool. That, and the population of patients we treat are generally lower income and as a result, want the cheapest treatment option. Many patients are happy to take a tooth out instead of doing the Endo, core build up, crown that are required to restore the tooth.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->
10 Crowns (including implant or bridge, or CAD/CAM), for which we do all the lab work short of casting
3 complete denture arches
1 RPD
5 Endo canals
40 operative
10 Ext
16 quads of SRP
Bunch of pedo stuff.

All of the above have competencies in addition to the procedure limits. There are also points associated with each procedure and you have to graduate with 1000 points. Example: D0120 is 4 pts, prophy 2 pts, crown 13 pts, operative 1 pt per surface.

All this said, these requirements are changing as the school will be going to a pod system at some point. After I graduate.
If you don't have what you need then you have the patient passed to you so you can work with them and get the procedure done that you need.
Most people who don't graduate on time are those who are not actively around, present in clinic, even when they aren't seeing patients. They're taking vacation for weeks at a time, always jetting around with ASDA or ADEA, and just kind of aloof in general.
In addition, the school helps find new patients, but it's luck of the draw. My best patients have been referrals from other patients I have.
You do all your own scheduling.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Beat: It's not the first two years and you can actually do work on patients.
Worst: red tape and stupid requirements (looking at you "edentulous space competency")

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> You do specialty rotations starting 2nd year and you can shadow or assist whenever you like in any of the PG clinics. Department heads are generally really good to work with.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> As a D1/D2 you pretty much just suction when you go on rotations. Once you're a D3/D4 that's when you actually do stuff.

We have a lot of outreach type stuff. We go on outreach rotations starting D2 year, and continue to do so D3/D4.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Wear whatever you want for the first two years, unless you're in clinic, then it's essentially business casual or scrubs. Third and fourth year are business casual or scrubs.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Yup. Classmates are all super close and have really good friend groups. Many come from far away so they become really good friends here.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA. I have feelings on this that are not super positive.

In general, we have tons and tons of organizations. Plenty to get involved in if you're interested.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Housing is stupid expensive. Finding it isn't bad, but it's Boston. Reasonably safe. I live well outside the city to commute and save money.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> I wish we had less students, less bureaucratic crap.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> At the end of the day, it's a school and it teaches you stuff. I think my education is actually pretty good, though I have no metric. I'm also doing it on the military's bill, so that is huge. Recommend looking for scholarships.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Thank you! This was great insight. I start in July


Sent from my iPhone using SDN

 

[Rynomachine]

Copy and paste, and then answer the questions below 🙂 Thanks!

1. Name of Your Dental School
->Touro College of Dental Medicine

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
->D1, we will be taking the INDBE

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
->Most classes have between 3 and 5 exams or practicals, so each course has an exam every few weeks.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
->That depends entirely on how you learn. My worst was Histology, but many people would say that biochemistry or physiology were worse. Some had issues with our operative course, because we went at a fairly fast pace.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
->Introduction to Oral Radiology, it's just very straightforward and approachable. The material is supposed to come up again in our second year for another radiology course.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->Lecture powerpoints using figures from the textbooks

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
->Either are acceptable.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
->Letter Grades

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
->There's definitely no sabotaging in our class. Some are absolutely trying to be top of the class, but even they are very helpful to each other. We set up a discord for our class to share useful resources.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
->Not currently.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
->Basically all of our classes are mandatory. Some do this by having daily quizzes.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
->They are generally very available for questions, although some are more available by email.

13. What is the drop out rate?
->I'm not aware of anybody who has dropped out. We have had a few people repeat a year though.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
->There are plenty of resources for academic struggles, and I believe we have a mental health person we can see.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
->I do not know

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
->End of D3 INDBE

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
->It does, but it is unclear how that will work for the Integrated boards in D3.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
->Previous years have, but that is currently unclear for the future.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
->We have two libraries available to us, which most students use. One is open 24/7

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->Having talked to upperclassmen about this, they don't seem to have too much trouble finding patients, although finding them specifically for the boards is apparently always a difficulty.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->I do not know.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->I do not know

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->I'm not sure. We have professors from each specialty here, but no specialty program, so I know our students get to experience a lot of variety of cases.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->I do not know

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->Scrubs are required (and provided) for working in the Sim lab and clinic. On days where you only have lecture, there is not a dress code.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->Other than the people with outside responsibilities or long-commuters, many students hang out with each other.

27. What student organizations are most active?
->A lot of them are still getting off the ground now that we have all four classes in the school.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->The location is pretty nice. Housing is very available, but much more expensive than I'd like. That's mostly just an adjustment to being in New York though from the south.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->There's a bit of disorganization at times, and communication could occasionally be better.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> Overall, I really like it here. If you are not Jewish, there may be an adjustment to the different schedule, but there are very solid benefits there. For instance, we get out at noon every friday. We also get off for Jewish holidays, which is nice.

 

[mrneatteeth]

Can someone do UF please?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[booksandteeth]

Can someone do UF please?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I second that!! There is so little info about UF on here for some reason.

 

[Firik]

1. Name of Your Dental School
->University of Minnesota School of Dentistry

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
-> D2 (will take INBDE)

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> Most weeks, two exams per week or one exam and a practical; however, during mid-semester and the final week is about 4 exams and a practical. A class can vote (80% must agree) to move the exam on a different. For example, we had two big exams on a same day and one of them got moved by the class vote. Most classes have four exams per semester; the exception is pass/fail courses.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> For me it was Physiology, even if I took in the undergrad. Much lower averages for the exams, so hardest exams. It's a very important and interesting class though as a health care provider. As a D1, your Fall semester is much easy compared to Spring as they want you to get adapted to the school. As Spring term comes and you'll get 26 credits of classes, which you need to manage assignments/exams/practicals.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> Evidence Based Dentistry as the exam questions are given for you to prepare. This is the only class that does it.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> Exams based on powerpoints for most classes. I would say generally lab courses want you to read a textbook and a couple of questions takes from there.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Textbooks are electronic, while lab manuals are paper. For convenience and fast searching, I prefer electronic.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Most classes are A-F grade, while a few social science courses are P/F grade. Note, during COVID, the university allowed you to switch from A-F to P/F for any class.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> We do help each other and share summary notes for exams with each other. During labs, we give suggestions or tips to improve our skills. I happy with everyone supporting each other.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Most lectures are recorded. The biomaterial course provides a summary transcript for the lectures.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Definitely for labs, but not so much for lecture unless in-class clicker quiz.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> Well, this is when I will say, there is a rainbow of approachableness. Generally, the younger instructor the more approachable. As I understand the older instructors are not so much interested to type and respond to hundreds of emails. Again, this is a generalization. I can go into specifics, but in short, there are instructors are doing a phenomenon job to make the class go smoothly and easy interpreting powerpoints, while other instructors make it difficult. I think this is one of those things that any school will have a rainbow of instructors. I would say, instructors in my school are experts in their field!

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> Probably 2 people out of 110. My current class has 0%.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Tutors available, not so much during COVID though. Also, there is mental help available. I would say you can find any help you need with, just know resources and people.

15-18. About boards
-> Will update in the future.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Some in groups, most individually. Personally, when I have questions I ask others, but mostly spend time myself memorizing. Next, if time allows, test each other with my study partner.

20-24. About clinics
-> Will update in the future.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Everyone wears the same scrub for four years. In addition, during pre-clinics you wear a white coat and during clinics you wear gowns. There is a file the Student Dress Code Policy https://www.dentistry.umn.edu/sites...dent_dress_code_policy_amended_2018-edits.pdf

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> I would say yes and yes. Very few who are secluded from others. Before COVID we were making plans to get together and do stuff, even as simple as game nights. Yes, we were doing other things besides going to bars/clubs.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA, we had lunch and learns at least one every week (need to get membership though). It comes with lunch for every meeting.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Great location as it is in the heart of twin cities and next to downtown. It is very expensive housing, especially if you don't want to share an apartment. A studio in a new building could cost you $1400 after all utilities. School is huge and yes we do get crime alerts. A couple of years ago it was about harassment and these days are about the robbery. School provides a security service for a student to request a security person to walk with him/her to the apartment.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> One thing I would change in school is to build more windows in rooms. On a serious note, every semester they review our feedback and change/consider based on our feedback. For example, the person who was dispensing lab materials was not nice and everyone got that feeling. After writing the reviews for the course, I think most wrote about that person and guess what the next semester we found out that the person no longer does this job.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> If you get frustrated easily, dental school will not be easy for you. I stay optimistic and try to find usefulness in any obstacle that I encounter, and so far I like my experience here. Definitely, if considering COVID, I am getting concerned about how much experience/knowledge I am getting from my education, but I still remember that it's all about how much effort I put myself. Also, remembering that I have a lot to learn after dental school; on my own as a practicing clinician.

 

[futuremrsDr<3]

1. Name of Your Dental School
->Dental College of Georgia (DCG), formerly Georgia Regents University, formerly Georgia Health Sciences University, formerly Medical College of Georgia I think we got it under control now, guys

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
->D1

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
->Exam schedules are really similar to undergrad. There are a handful of classes that stagger, and the ones that end before the true end of the semester have finals earlier. We are coming up on a two week finals exam week starting Monday, and have a total of seven finals (five exams, two practicals).

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
->I can't really say what the hardest class is because I think they're all doable. I say that because my standards are decently low compared to others because grades don't mean too much to me. Neuroscience has been a little tough just because I don't have a background in it, and the course instructors are not the most organized. I may update this after the finals, though.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
->Easiest class to me is nutrition, but it's a one-hour credit. Some people think evidence-based dentistry is easy because it's pass-fail, but I thought it was tough.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->Class notes are based on lecture PowerPoint slides by the professors that, best I can tell, are from the textbook.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
->There are electronic textbooks in our class' Google Drive, but I personally seldom use them. I don't know anyone who has bought paper textbooks in my or my mentors' classes. I enjoy paper, but it hasn't been hard to switch to electronic.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
->Grading system is like undergrad with A-F, except one class I alluded to before, evidence-based dentistry. Most didactic classes have a traditional scale (i.e. A is 89.5-100, B is 79.5-100, etc.), but the lab courses are skewed (i.e. A is 88-100, B is 82-87.9, C is 75-81.9, below is failure and you will need to repeat the D1 year).

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
->I know of a handful of gunners, but everyone typically tries to help each other out. It seems most people do their own thing when it comes to studying, or they have small groups. I tend to study by myself.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
->Not that I am aware of, but all classes are ECHO (video) recorded for reviewing.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
->Administration claims it is, but unless the professor takes initiative to take attendance with a sign-in sheet, they likely don't know. I attend every lecture, and attendance is only taken about half the time. I hear that if they do see that you haven't signed in on the sign-in sheet for multiple classes, you are issued a warning of some kind.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
->Instructors are fairly approachable, and I enjoy going to their offices. However, something I find a little aggravating is that they don't post office hours; you kind of just have to show up or try to schedule a time to meet with them on your own. This can be difficult when they are lecturing other classes, covering student clinic, or providing care in faculty practice. I don't know of very many that participate in research.

13. What is the drop out rate?
->To my knowledge, they don't report that. I have heard of two people dropping out of the D2 class, but I'm not sure of the circumstances of why they did. No one has left our class so far.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
->There are tutors available for most every class, and there is tutoring for waxing and operative lab every week. Mentors can be helpful, and most upperclassmen are approachable and helpful in the practice lab. From a mental health perspective, we do have a nearby counseling and psychological services office that I use relatively frequently. It's helpful to have it nearby, and the staff there are really understanding.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
->I am really not sure on this, but I think it has been close to 100% for the past few years. Time will tell with the new integrated board exam; we will be the first class required to take it.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
->Since I'm a D1, I really haven't given this one too much thought. I do know that we are required to take the integrated boards. I believe it will be summer between D3 and D4, but I'll have to check back.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
->From what I hear from upperclassmen, they do offer a class for it.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
->Again, I'm not aware because it is early in the program for me, but I believe it is during D3 and D4 years when we're mostly done with didactic classes anyway. I don't think there is any time off to study.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
->I study on my own in my dorm room, and I tend to cram much like in undergrad. Others utilize the various study rooms on campus and study more consistently throughout the semester.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->I'm not to that point yet, but I know that upperclassmen try to help each other out by trading patients for certain requirements. Last I heard, there was a waiting list for patients to get in to the student clinic.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->I have no idea, but I can try to find out and update the post.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->I can't speak to that since we have only been to clinic to check occlusion. I do appreciate the set-up of the clinic, however, and that for the most part, there is a chair for every student. We have a junior and senior clinic as well as a small practice lab with simulators outside the regular simulator lab for underclassmen.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->There are a handful of organizations to discuss different areas, like pediatrics (you can sign up to shadow in the OR), oral surgery, and public health. I believe we are required to shadow and assist in each residency area early in the curriculum.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->I am not to this point yet. I have been trying to find community outreach programs, but I think those are more student organization-based. There are a few times per year where you can volunteer to do oral cancer screenings as local health fairs.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->Each class votes on a scrub color that they will wear for the full four years. For lab classes, we must wear scrubs, but on days we don't have lab, we can wear scrubs or business casual dress.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->There is camaraderie and civility between most everyone, but people will mostly hang out with certain groups of friends and sit with the exact same people in every class. There are social events throughout the year that get people together, and my peers do spend a good bit of outside time with each other.

27. What student organizations are most active?
->The student organizations I always see doing things are ASDA, SNDA, and SPEA. There are a handful of smaller groups that have a couple events throughout the year.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->Augusta is not my favorite place in the world, but it's okay. Lots of housing options. I wouldn't go walking around by myself at night, but I've felt safe within groups. Also, to be fair, there are a lot of resources around town.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->Honestly, I would say location, but thinking about it, that might come in second. The big issue I have is with the general organization of the administration. There are times when class room locations, times, or assignment dates have been wrong or updated without our knowledge, and I just wish there was better communication and overall organization on their part.

30. Any last words or advice?
->One thing I appreciate is that we get Wednesday afternoons off. Overall, not a bad place to be. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out 🙂

Hi! Can I privately message you? I am IS but looking to see if there is any advise you may have for me to get into DCG 🙂 thanks!

 

[butterchkn]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Indiana University

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
-> D1 & INBDE

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> Exams, quizzes, and assignments every week. Multiple exams on the same day at times.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Of the 11 classes this fall semester, a class called: General Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, & Antimicrobial Therapy. Mainly because it disinterests me and it's hard to stay focused during it. The material piles up too fast. In the summer semester, many of my classmates found Head & Neck Anatomy difficult. Since it was condensed into 6 weeks, we learned a new chapter daily (5/week) with weekly quizzes. If you took A&P during undergrad, it will really help with this class. I'd say up until the midterm, a lot of it was repeated information. Make sure you take A&P I & II!

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> Histology. It's not so bad memorizing stained pictures of tissues.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> Lecture PowerPoints made by professors.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Electronic. Prefer them too.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Letter grades (93%+ is an A, etc.). Two classes this summer & fall semester have been P/F tho. For some reason, they have been the most work-intensive too.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> No gunners. Everyone's really nice, fun, supportive, collaborative, and we all do what we can to help each other out. Makes the world of a difference. Your goal as a class should be to start and graduate together. No reason to have a cutthroat mindset!

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Yes, we do have a verbatim notetaking system set in place. It's extremely helpful. A note-taker will be assigned from your class and they are compensated nicely from class dues.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> For some. Attendance is taken through Zoom.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> They are all approachable and have weekly office hours. Some respond to e-mails within minutes and some can take days.

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> Not sure. No one's dropped out yet tho, so that's good!

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Yes, in your summer semester, you are introduced to upperclassmen TAs who you can reach out to for help. Mine have made my transition into dental school a lot easier and they're always happy to help.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> Not sure, sorry.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> Taking integrated.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> Not sure. Just a D1. Sorry.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> Again, just a D1. Sorry.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> At the various school libraries on campus, from home (most popular atm due to COVID), from cafes. Some study in groups, majority solo study. I prefer studying alone because I get the most done this way.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> I believe patients are handed down to you from students who graduate (don't take my word for this) but you also need to find your own (this I'm sure of).

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> Not sure yet, sorry.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Can't answer this properly yet, sorry.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> Can shadow, join specialty clubs (ortho club), etc.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> There are many community outreach programs. Not sure what rotations are like yet. Maybe I'll come back and edit this post in a year or two if I remember haha.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Scrubs or professional attire. Everyone wears scrubs. Scrub colors: any shade of blue, green, grey, and black.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Yes, our class is outgoing and there have been a few socially distanced events, not many due to COVID. I suggest making a class GroupMe so you can remain in touch with your class (helpful for exam prep Qs, assignment clarification Qs, etc).

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> ASDA, SPEA, Kids Club, and many many more. There's likely a club for everyone.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> The location is nice being that it is downtown. It can get sketchy at night and during the day in some parts of downtown, but you will find this in a majority of bigger cities. Locating housing is not an issue at all. I recommend getting an apartment in the suburbs rather than downtown (cheaper & safer). Be sure to do your research. Perhaps get a 6-month lease at first which is what I did and highly recommend.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> Nothing. So far, so good!

30. Any last words or advice?
-> If you don't get in right away, don't be too hard on yourself and don't give up. You've worked extremely hard to get this far. Stay productive, take care of your mental health, and most importantly, take everything that is being thrown at you one day at a time. Looking too ahead into the future can be mentally draining. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any specific questions!

 

[MLC45]

Copy and paste, and then answer the questions below 🙂 Thanks!

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> University of Oklahoma

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
->DS3 and taking INBDE. The school will not allow us to take NBDE 1 & 2 even though we are within the time line to take them

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> We have 3 semesters a year. Depending on the class depends on the test schedule. Some have only midterms and finals, other classes have chapter tests in addition to the finals.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Most people would say anatomy, but for me it was pharmacology because the names of the drugs messed me up (but that's a personal thing not an issue with the class)

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> I think that all depends on the teacher

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> 95% of the info is on PowerPoints. I've bought/read very few text books.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> For the most part, textbooks are for us to get and the teachers don't care if they are electronic or paper, EXCEPT removable. They want us to have paper if we buy the book.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Letter grades with no rounding

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> For the first 2 years there wasn't any sabotaging, but there wasn't much helping each other either unless they were in your friend group. Since Covid and reduced patient appointments, it's become kind of self survival mode and keeping your own head above water in clinic. I have classmates that are kind of taking patients as they come but not making a stink if they don't get scheduled. I'm worried for them that they'll fall behind and not meet their requirements for graduation, but I can't help them if they aren't willing to help them selves.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Nope. You take your own notes

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Depends on the class

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> Teachers want us to approach them especially if we're having problems. We have to make the effort. They won't spoon feed us the information.

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> Pretty much zero. A student in my class dropped out during first year because he got a 526 on the MCAT and he wanted to go to medical school instead. A student in the 2023 class was having personal issues so she deferred until 2024 and 2 from the 2024 class had Covid fears so they deferred until 2025. 1 or 2 might have to repeat a year but very few people actually drop out.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> They say there are tutors, which are pretty much upper class men, but the school won't make you part of the tutor program unless you're failing. I had a "C" and was struggling to keep it, so I asked for a tutor. I was told I was passing and to come back when I was failing. They say there's help, but you're basically on your own.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> don't know

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> Our class will take the INDBE

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> no

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> no, we're on our own for all that

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Studying is on or own, after hours when ever we have the time

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> We have to get our own patients, sometime that means begging the school for some or begging the upper class men for hand me downs. Very rarely are they just given to us.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> We have an RVU system which I still don't completely understand, so I'll do my best to describe it.
We need 200 Perio RVU's to graduate. Each Prophy is 1.5 RVU's and Each OHI is 0.5 RVU's, Each SRP quad is 2.0 RVU's, consult's are 1.5 RVU's. We can occasionally assist in Grad Perio which gives us 5.0 RVU's but those are few and far between

We need 175 Operative RVU's to graduate. A 1 surface filling is 1.0 RVU, 2 surface is 1.5 RVU's, 3 surface is 2.0 RVU's, 4 surface or core is 3 RVU's, consults are 1.0 RVU and you can get a max of 8 assisting RVU's.

We need 90 Fixed RVU's to graduate. Each completed crown from start to finish is 6 RVU's. They say you can get partial credit for doing the prep or the impression without the delivery, but I haven't seen that.

We need 50 Removable RVU's to graduate. I haven't done any yet so I'm not sure how that works

We need 10 canals for RTC to graduate. Haven't done any of those either

We need to pass the competencies in both oral surgery and pedo with out there being a minimum amount

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Scheduling and the reduced amount of patients because of Covid

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> We have rotations in all the specialities

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> Currently with Covid none. Usually there is one week each semester we would be one one.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->Scrubs. Each class is in a specific color for all 4 years. I wear Navy

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->Yes. In general we all get along. Some are really good friends

27. What student organizations are most active?
->ASDA, SPEA, lots of clubs for everyone who wants to join one

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->We are everywhere from a few minutes from the school to almost 40 minutes away

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> Too many leaders that don't communicate with each other. The head of one department will tell us one thing, and the head of another department will tell us the exact opposite. It leaves the students stumbling around not know if we're going to get in trouble for doing something or for not doing something. Very frustrating!

30. Any last words or advice?
-> You'll hear good and bad about all dental schools. If you want to be a a dentist, then learn what you have to do and deal with any issues that might come up. No one is going to care more about your future than you, so work hard and do your best.

 

[aubreyjokes]

Copy and paste, and then answer the questions below 🙂 Thanks!

1. Name of Your Dental School
->VCU

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
->2020

13. What is the drop out rate?
->out of 100 we had 1 totally drop out, maybe 3-4 got held back

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
->Clinical board pass rate is pretty high compared to a lot of schools possibly bc we don't take them till latter half of 4th year so you know what you're doing by then

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->You don't have to recruit pts at all, we have weekly screenings that then get filtered and assigned to students. Students are then pretty good about sharing cases etc once they've finished a requirement - i.e. giving away endo, pros, resto, to others once they've finished req's

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->Pros was a little difficult for people simply because getting pros appts was such a headache but that's been streamlined now. 3rd year req's are resto based - 200 "surfaces" for an A - then 4th year or to graduate you need 3 endos, 6 crowns, a complete denture case, a distal extension, a bridge, some perio nonsense and lots of forms and eval type stuff and also a revenue requirement. So the req's are pretty simple which leaves time for you to explore things you really enjoy. For me it was surgery stuff WHICH I will say in talking to kids from other schools we have a really strong exposure to. I'm attaching my axium "production" which does not include off site procedures just those done in school clinic (and was cut short a month bc of covid). But you'll see I was doing tori reduction, frenectomies, tuberosity reduction etc

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->Worst used to be getting pros appts but they've streamlined/went digital for stuff, so you no longer have to set your own teeth/take up 11 appts for a C/C
-Best is probably the senior selective opportunities that let you tailor your learning exp to specialties if you want. And surgery for sure, I'd say the majority of my class if not all got experience sectioning teeth, exostosis removal etc

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->Exposed to everything, then senior year you can be in selective specialties that give you expanded priviledges/work with grad residents etc in endo, perio, omfs, path, ortho, digital dentistry etc

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->MOM projects but also you have 1-4 day rotations out in BFE Virginia that are really good at seeing real world type dentistry, more pts a day etc

 

[rebelsurgery]

1. Name of Your Dental School
UNLV

2. Your Year (if you're not comfortable answering that, have you taken Part I of the NBDE?)
4

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
Generally there is midterm season and final season - with some quizzes and random exams mixed in.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
Human Structure and Function (UNLV's version of Anatomy and Physiology). There is a ton of material to memorize
Beyond that, it depends on which professor is teaching the class. For instance, if one professor is teaching operative or crown class they can make that class more difficult (more difficult grading, etc.) The "difficult" classes at UNLV mostly come in the first and second years. Once you get past those two years, didactically it is smooth sailing.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
There are some easy 1 credit classes scattered into the curriculum like Nitrous Oxide administration, local anesthesia, etc.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
Mostly Powerpoints!

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
Throughout dental school you have access to the textbooks digitally on a program called Vital Source. Class material rarely comes from the book though. It is mainly from the powerpoints.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
Letter Grades. You are also "ranked" (highest GPA is ranked #1 and so on). This becomes important if you are trying to specialize.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotaged each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
To my knowledge, no one has ever sabotaged a classmate for the sake of doing better on a test, project, etc. With that said, there are going to be gunners in every class that have to "gun" to stay ranked high. I think that generally the UNLV vibe is one of helping each other out.

10. Is there a note taking service for lecture available?
No. Some classmates will take incredible notes/study guides and they are generally willing to share them.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
Technically yes. Some professors take attendance. Most don't.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
Yes. approachable.

13. What is the drop out rate?
Low. And most the time students will just drop back a grade. Out of 80ish students, 1 or 2 dropped out my first year. Since then a few have dropped back a grade for personal reasons. These are usually peculiar circumstances and not something to be worried about at UNLV.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling?
Yes. We have counseling services for those that request professional help. When struggling students reach out to each other because they are struggling with classes, projects, etc. we help each other. If a student does well in a class they can sign up to be mentors and get paid to mentor students in a particular class.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
idk. The year I took boards we had around 10 students that had to re-take NBDE I. To my knowledge all of them passed the second attempt.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1?
D2 year. But boards have changed. There is no longer part 1 and part 2. There is one integrated board that you take sometime in D2 or D3.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
Yes. A Kaplan course. Paid for by the school. Most people prefer to sign up for their own study program though. For instance I used Bnb to study for part 1.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
No. But you can schedule your exam around a semester break and use the semester break to study though.

19. Do most people study in the University Library? Or does the place clear out right after school and everybody studies on their own?
No. UNLV's dental school is about 20 minutes away from the university main campus. The main campus has an awesome gym, great library, great food, etc. So its a bummer that the dental school is so far away.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in?
Most clincial requirements will come easy. There will be some like Crowns, bridges, implants that are hard to come by. With these requirements it is sometimes just luck of the draw! Some students will reach that requirement quickly and some will be scrambling towards the end of D4 to meet them. To my knowledge, everyone who works hard and is a team player meets these requirements on time and graduats on time. But, yes. Sometimes there is some stress associated with meeting requirements.

21. Is it a hassle to get a chair once you get patients in? In your opinion, does your school have enough chairs?
COVID has changed this. So my answer will change by the time people reading this will get to clinic.

22. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult?
Reasonably attainable if you work hard. Again, sometimes its just luck of the draw! You will get assigned patients at random and if you get lucky you will get assigned patients that need the treatment you need for requirements. You'll be even luckier if they can afford it. Theoretically patients are distributed to students based on the work they need done and the procedures the student needs to do to graduate. But its an imperfect system and you just take what you get and work hard.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
UNLV has orthodontics and pediatrics specialties. So for students who want to specialize in these there is great exposure. You can go hang out with the residencies as much as you want basically. Currently we have weak periodontics. There is no oral surgery residency which is good and bad. It's bad because if you want to specialize in it, you have to go extern to get experience. But, since there is no residency you get to do all your own extractions and other minor surgeries. So its good and bad. The pre-doctoral endodontics program is very strong. We have great endodontic instruction and ample opportunities to do root canals.

24. Is there sufficient preparation for practice management? What career placement opportunities does your school offer?
No. We have a professor that teaches our practice management courses who was a successful practice owner. He gives great lectures, but I don't think that anyone feels confident stepping out and managing a practice right after dental school at UNLV. I figure this is the case at most dental schools as well.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
Scrubs every day.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
Yes and yes.

27. What student organizations are most active?
COVID has made it so that all organizations are INACTIVE. Under normal circumstances the Hispanic Student Dental Association is active, the Pediatric Dentistry club, Oral Surgery club were all active. Our chapter of ASDA is active as well and holds all sorts of lunch and learns and activities.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
The school is basically down town. Not a particularly affluent area. It is a good location for our patients though. Most people live about 15-20 minutes away from school. Fortunately the free ways are very easy and traveling to school is always easy. There is reliable security and police officers on campus so I think everyone always feels safe!


29. What do you not like about your dental school?
I have a very optimistic perspective of dental school. I have enjoyed my experience and feel that I have learned a lot and been fairly well trained. I don't like that it is not on the university main campus, but I understand why it is not. Our school is not known for placing a high number of students in to specialties for various reasons. One of those reasons is student desire. So if you want to specialize at UNLV and you work hard enough you can make it happen. For the most part I have gotten along with administration, professors, clinical faculty, and my class mates. I have had all the opportunities to do research that I could ask for.

30. Any last words or advice?
Be optimistic. Be cheerful and friendly. Remember that dental school is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't get too down on yourself for under performing when you do.

 

[emk1217]

Can someone do The Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine? It would be a huge help in my decision for dental school! Thank you!

 

[DrSubway]

Can someone do The University of Pittsburg School of Dental Medicine? It would also help with my decision for that school. Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

[deleted923283]

My time as a dental student ends in about 4 months. Hopefully future applicants will find this helpful.

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (RSDM), formerly known as the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
-> D4 (Class of 2021). The class of 2022 is the last Rutgers class to take the split NBDEs. From the class of 2023 onwards, they will write the INBDE.

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> This school has Fall, Winter, and Spring trimesters, each with its own finals period (1-3 weeks long). However, we have unit exams throughout the semester. D1 it was about 1-2 exams per week. D2 is about 2-4 exams per week. D3 is about 1 exam per month. D4 basically has no exams.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Most failed class is Gross Anatomy, just because fresh D1s don't realize dental school is a big step up from undergraduate and they need to put in a lot more work. The most difficult class will change since professors change. For us it was probably Dental Anatomy, Oral Pathology, and Systemic Pathology, but all of the course directors we had have since retired.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> There are a bunch of easy classes that we take because of CODA.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
-> 95% from powerpoint lectures. Rarely will a lecturer pull something from a textbook.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
-> Virtually no one actually read the textbooks. Unnecessary, and the school doesn't make you purchase them.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Letter grades and we have class ranks. Generally 20-25 people get 3.8 each year.
A = 89.5 or above
B+ = 84.5-98.4
B = 79.5-84.4
C+ = 74.5-79.4
C = 69.5 - 74.4
Anything lower than 69.499 is a failure

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
-> There is always a handful (10-20) of gunners in each class, but they generally study together to get the best grades possible. Everyone in our class shared notes and study guides, but I'm not sure if that's true for every year here.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> We paid classmates to compose our lecture notes.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Technically, yes. But many lectures are empty. Some courses have quizzes which forces attendance, but many do not have quizzes. According to the school, if you fail, but attended less than 80% of the lectures, you are NOT eligible for remediation and are dismissed. So it's up to each student to weigh the risks and benefits.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> Very approachable. But generally, there aren't questions to ask. Everything is in the slides.

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> Tough to say. I'd say maybe about 2 people fail and 2 people join the next year's class. Not bad for a class of ~85+. Our class had 0 people join the next class, 1 leave for medical reasons, and 1 decided dental school wasn't worth it . This has everything to do with the student's situation (family situation, commuting, medical issues) rather than the school.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Free tutoring provided by the school. Clubs also provide tutoring. There's free mental health counseling as well. If I had a personal issue (pregnancy, divorce, death of parents), I'm confident the school would help me, though if it were extended, they may advise taking a year off. That being said, I've seen some HORRIBLE things happen to classmates (cancer, death of parents, MVCs) and they didn't have to take a leave of absence.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> I think we had two people fail Part 1. That's probably the average each year. We have no data for INDBE yet.

16. When do you take the INDBE ?
-> Classes will take it following D3 I believe, with a mock exam provided by the school in the winter of D2.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> No. Honestly, boards are easy and it just comes down to studying on your own. Now the school offers a mock version, so I guess that's the same as a review session.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> You study during winter break which is generally 3 weeks long. This will be different because of the INDBE. The school will probably just say "Take this before date X". Your call when you want to take it. You'll have breaks free to study. Again, boards are really easy, so I wouldn't sweat dedicated study blocks.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Most just read the scribe's notes and quiz each other and review the previous years of exams. Most students study off campus at the dorms or apartment, but we do have study rooms at the school.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> There are honestly too many patients here and not enough time to schedule them all. D3 can start slow, but you'll be swamped by D4. If you want more patients, you just have to ask your clinic boss. You do NOT need to find patients, but I guess you could. You schedule your own patients (which is the biggest pain of dental school, but I think most schools make the students schedule).

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
-> They are tough, but most people get it done. Not sure I should post the specifics.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->
BEST: Plenty of patients, some amazing faculty, recently renovated clinics, clinic bosses that focus on getting you out before graduation, cooperative classmates.
WORST: Some grumpy/picky faculty, requirements are too high, scheduling our own patients, BUREAUCRACY!

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> Just walk down to the department. It's that easy. We have every speciality here. Our OMFS and Endodontic specialities are some of the best in the country. Orthodontics and Periodontics are solid. I've heard mixed things about the Pediatric. These are all just rumors, I actually have no idea.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> One day of the week is dedicated to rotations which rotates every week. For one complete week, which happens about 4 times a year, you will be completely in one speciality.

D3 day-long rotations: Radiology, Emergency, Pediatrics, Periodontics, Operative
D3 week-long rotations: Oral Surgery (x3), Orthodontics

D4 day-long rotations: Oral Surgery, Emergency, Pediatrics, Periodontics, Operative
D4 week-long rotations: Special Care, Oral Medicine, Orthodontics

Community Outreach: I don't know what that means. We are required to do 4 hours of volunteering each year. And for D4, there are two trips (one to the DR, and another to a Native American reservation). We also have clinics in South Jersey where you are required to do 2 weeks, but 9 D4s may spend the entire year there.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
-> Scrubs every year. Each year has different color.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> Depends on the class and depends on the person. People definitely meet lifelong friends here and form good connections with faculty.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> Italian Dental Society, Hispanic Student Dental Association, ASDA, Asian American Dental Club(?). We have lots of clubs, but those are the most active on campus.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> University Heights (the neighborhood in Newark) isn't NEARLY as bad as people expect. It's fine. Everyone who wants to live in 180 W Market St (the student dorms) gets a spot. There are several apartment buildings close to campus. Others live in Harrison, Hoboken, and Jersey City. Don't go wandering into unknown neighborhoods at night, but I think that's obvious.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> Schedule my patients for me and lower the requirements.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> Dental school is NOT worth an extra dollar. Go to the cheapest school. You'll thank yourself later.

 

[suavity queen]

Can someone do MOSDOH and MWU-IL, please?

 

[pubhealthdent]

Can someone do MOSDOH and MWU-IL, please?

Mosdoh already done

Can You Answer These Questions About Your Dental School? (Part 2)

.

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[FreddieMercury1]

Can someone do The Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine? It would be a huge help in my decision for dental school! Thank you!

Here you go!

1. Name of Your Dental School
Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
D3. We are the last year that is taking NBDE part 1/2, so you would take the INBDE.

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
No more than 2 in a week and that's when it's busy. (So not block schedule)

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
Anatomy in D1 had the most material to learn but it was very interesting!

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
Oral biology and Geriatrics are easy material and easy exams.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
Most classes have a recommended textbook, but 99% of classes you can rely on lectures alone.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
You can get any of the textbooks as paper or electronic. I prefer electronic.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
Letter grades

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
No sabotaging but some students are competitive (not in a toxic or bad way). Students are generally happy to help each other out and share notes/resources.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
No, but if you ask around someone will definitely share their notes with you.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
Some classes take attendance but most do not.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
Yes, teachers are very responsive and helpful for the most part.

13. What is the drop out rate?
I think only two people in my class have dropped out. We had four or five in total fail classes and then fail remediation who then were given the option to drop out or repeat the year. Definitely higher than average due to covid.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
Yes, there are tutors for the academic classes that are free, and you are automatically assigned one if you score poorly on an exam in your first year. The student health insurance has really good rates for therapists in the area, and many students take advantage of this.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
Neither was available to us

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
In between D1 and D2, you will do a 10-week mentorship program where you will shadow and assist in a dental office. It's an amazing opportunity with lots of free time, and most students (including myself) took boards then. This will change with INBDE though.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
No, but we got a discount on the NBDE mastery deck which was a great resource. Classes are enough to pass the NBDE.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
No, but I had tons of free time during my APEX program and no classes during that time.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
At home or at the school library. There isn't a lot of study space on campus.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
The school will assign you patients and you can recruit people if you want, but I haven't had any issues getting my requirements done with the patients I've been assigned. The school also does all scheduling.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
Requirements have been changing due to covid. You have to do a certain number of formative procedures (based on completion) and summative procedures (which are graded). Clinic is divided into group practices, and your group practice leaders do a good job of making sure you get enough patients to finish your requirements on time.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
Best: Most of the professors are very dedicated, and I am getting a great clinical education.
Worst: The school has a bit of a sink or swim mentality, so if you are struggling a lot, you'll probably end up relying on other classmates because the school doesn't offer many resources.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
You'll do rotations in oral surgery, radiology, pediatrics, and emergency. In regular clinic, you'll get experience in perio, operative, endo, and pros. You'll place at least one implant and you can do crown lengthening if you ask.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
Rotations are done at school or next door at BMC. Our community outreach programs have been paused due to covid, but normally you can volunteer at Rosie's Place, which is a women's shelter. You'll place your first sealants on children at a nearby school, and provide oral health education to kids at elementary schools around Boston.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
No dress code for D1/D2, and you wear scrubs in clinic.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
Yes, everyone is generally friendly, and you will have close friends in your class.

27. What student organizations are most active?
ASDA, SNDA, and ADEA are active. They have lots of activities, networking events, and educational events.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
The neighborhood is not good, and housing can get expensive but it's easy to find. I definitely recommend living with other students. Outside of the South End, Boston is awesome! There is lots to do, and it is a great student town. There are rivers and beaches nearby too.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
I wish the administration was more approachable.

30. Any last words or advice?
BU definitely has its flaws, but I am happy here and I am getting a great education. And Boston is an awesome city! Good luck with your decision 🙂

 

[emk1217]

Here you go!

1. Name of Your Dental School
Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
D3. We are the last year that is taking NBDE part 1/2, so you would take the INBDE.

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
No more than 2 in a week and that's when it's busy. (So not block schedule)

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
Anatomy in D1 had the most material to learn but it was very interesting!

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
Oral biology and Geriatrics are easy material and easy exams.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
Most classes have a recommended textbook, but 99% of classes you can rely on lectures alone.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
You can get any of the textbooks as paper or electronic. I prefer electronic.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
Letter grades

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
No sabotaging but some students are competitive (not in a toxic or bad way). Students are generally happy to help each other out and share notes/resources.

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
No, but if you ask around someone will definitely share their notes with you.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
Some classes take attendance but most do not.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
Yes, teachers are very responsive and helpful for the most part.

13. What is the drop out rate?
I think only two people in my class have dropped out. We had four or five in total fail classes and then fail remediation who then were given the option to drop out or repeat the year. Definitely higher than average due to covid.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
Yes, there are tutors for the academic classes that are free, and you are automatically assigned one if you score poorly on an exam in your first year. The student health insurance has really good rates for therapists in the area, and many students take advantage of this.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
Neither was available to us

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
In between D1 and D2, you will do a 10-week mentorship program where you will shadow and assist in a dental office. It's an amazing opportunity with lots of free time, and most students (including myself) took boards then. This will change with INBDE though.

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
No, but we got a discount on the NBDE mastery deck which was a great resource. Classes are enough to pass the NBDE.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
No, but I had tons of free time during my APEX program and no classes during that time.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
At home or at the school library. There isn't a lot of study space on campus.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
The school will assign you patients and you can recruit people if you want, but I haven't had any issues getting my requirements done with the patients I've been assigned. The school also does all scheduling.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
Requirements have been changing due to covid. You have to do a certain number of formative procedures (based on completion) and summative procedures (which are graded). Clinic is divided into group practices, and your group practice leaders do a good job of making sure you get enough patients to finish your requirements on time.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
Best: Most of the professors are very dedicated, and I am getting a great clinical education.
Worst: The school has a bit of a sink or swim mentality, so if you are struggling a lot, you'll probably end up relying on other classmates because the school doesn't offer many resources.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
You'll do rotations in oral surgery, radiology, pediatrics, and emergency. In regular clinic, you'll get experience in perio, operative, endo, and pros. You'll place at least one implant and you can do crown lengthening if you ask.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
Rotations are done at school or next door at BMC. Our community outreach programs have been paused due to covid, but normally you can volunteer at Rosie's Place, which is a women's shelter. You'll place your first sealants on children at a nearby school, and provide oral health education to kids at elementary schools around Boston.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
No dress code for D1/D2, and you wear scrubs in clinic.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
Yes, everyone is generally friendly, and you will have close friends in your class.

27. What student organizations are most active?
ASDA, SNDA, and ADEA are active. They have lots of activities, networking events, and educational events.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
The neighborhood is not good, and housing can get expensive but it's easy to find. I definitely recommend living with other students. Outside of the South End, Boston is awesome! There is lots to do, and it is a great student town. There are rivers and beaches nearby too.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
I wish the administration was more approachable.

30. Any last words or advice?
BU definitely has its flaws, but I am happy here and I am getting a great education. And Boston is an awesome city! Good luck with your decision 🙂

Thank you so much for sharing your personal experience, this was very informative! I’m very excited to attend GSDM in July!

 

[AnotherGuyWithQuestions]

1. Name of Your Dental School
University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
D3. Last class to take NBDE 2.

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
Usually we had all finals in 1 week for midterms or finals but some professors were willing to move exams to spread things out and make it better. A few classes had 3 exams throughout the semester. Tons of quizzes in D2 and D3 year.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
Idk you'll get different answers from everyone. Biochem (Oddly specific questions on exams), Head and Neck (So much material), or Pharmacology (tons of memorization) are popular answers.

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
Anything that concerns "patient centered care" or evidence based dentistry. There's not much to complete and we have way too many classes like this tbh. They could easily cut some of them.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
Depends on the class but usually lecture ppts or documents. Dental anatomy and endo were textbook heavy.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
Up to you. Personally I've never bought a book. You can always find free electronic copies online and we're in enough debt as is.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
Letter grades. Some classes are plus/minus (Need 93+ for an A).

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
Every class is different and has its own personality. Most classes have gunners at the start but usually calm down once you get into the nitty gritty of dental school. Once we got deep into 1st year and into 2nd year out class stuck together and tried to help each other out. At this point in 3rd year we're all united in our mutual hatred of dental school (you'll understand someday).

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
Not sure which services this is asking about but most people download OneNote from microsoft and use that to upload ppts to take notes on and draw on.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
Depends on the class/professor. More mandatory ones at the beginning.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
Depends on the professor. Usually approachable though.

13. What is the drop out rate?
None of us have dropped out. Most other classes have low drop out rates too usually.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
Yes but I'm not too sure about the details. The faculty aren't going to let you struggle without intervening.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
Pretty much everyone passes boards. Pitt deserves criticism for their lack of clinical experience available to students but they certainly do a great job preparing us for boards. If you don't pass it's because you didn't put in the work.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
August after D1

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
I don't think so. Dental decks and class notes. That's all you need.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
We had August off after D1.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
I studied at home usually but depended on the test. Some people study in groups at the library or around campus. Probably similar to how people have always studied.

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
We sometimes struggle to find patients but we don't have to do too much to get them scheduled. The "Patient Experience Specialists" schedule them for us. We can request appointments but we can't schedule ourselves.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
This is the part where most of us get frustrated at Pitt. Our clinical requirements are... well.. a joke. 2 crowns, 2 endos, 2 complete dentures, 2 RPDs, fillings are dependent on RVUs not number of fillings. Some people still struggle to get those prosth requirements but everyone graduates. Some people do more but that is all dependent on how lucky you were with getting assigned to a good clinical partner with a lot of patients.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
The best part is the professors. Most of them are very helpful in clinic and we learn a lot from them. Many of them were in private practice for years. The worst part is we can't get enough experience and things are not run efficiently. There's extra hoops to jump through for all procedures and they are really annoying. For example, they don't have a prosth faculty in the Treatment planning area, so we have to schedule separate prosth consults in another part of the school to finish treatment plans. It's really annoying and wastes our time and the patient's time.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
Pitt has all of the specialties so it's easy to shadow and get experience in any of them.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
We have clinical rotations every other week in D3 year (Emergency/radiology, oral surgery, Special Needs [unique to us], etc). We have community service requirements for D1 and D2 and we have a separate clinical rotation requirement for D4.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
Technically scrubs and white coat but everyone only wears scrubs.

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
Yes. Our class is very close and we spend a lot of time together outside of school.

27. What student organizations are most active?
ASDA

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
Finding housing near the school or in the area isn't difficult. There are some neighborhoods to avoid but overall the area is very safe. Ask around before you move in/pick a place.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
Prosth faculty loves to take non-complicated cases away from students to give them to grad prosth and perio loves to make treatment plans way too long to the point where patients stop coming. There's just a lot of things the school could streamline to make patient care much more efficient, but god forbid they listen to our ideas.

30. Any last words or advice?
Overall Pitt is a good school, GREAT if you want to specialize, but if you want to maximize your clinical experience for becoming a GP, this probably isn't the place for you.

 

[Ho5i]

can someone please do Temple?

 

[rafacena]

Can someone do University of the Pacific, Meharry, U of New England, and both of the NC schools?

Edit: Deleted UW, they don't really take many non WICHE students.

 

[Endeross]

Update to my previous post from 2018 as I have now just graduated (2021) from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)
1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Oregon Health & Science University

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
-> 2021, I took the part 1/2.

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> Midterms

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Three were the hardest, Anatomy (FOCA), Integrated biosciences (IB) , and Pharmacology. They're hard because its a lot of information, quickly

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> Anything clinic based. They're easy because they're fun and applicable

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->Powerpoints made by professors (from textbooks, that you get access to)

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
->Electronic. I never used them. Maybe 10-15 times I went in and read stuff from the books in the 4 years at school. I could almost always get information for exams from powerpoints and recorded videos

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
->Pass/Fail. There is a still a percentage rate for classes, and if you get over 93% in a class you get an "honor". Class rank is established based on who has the most "honors". Honors are called "letter of commendation" or LOC for short.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
->Everyone helps out. Few gunners

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
->Our class had a few people that took notes and we had a group sharing passion for anki decks and quizlets that were passed around.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> "yes"

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> Very approachable for the most part

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> My class started with 76, and 68 graduated. Many of those that didnt graduate with my class are part of the next year graduating class and were held back either for personal reasons (death in family, pregnancy/kids etc) or due to academic problems

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
->Yes, plenty to those that try to use it. Tutors, mental health help, etc. We have a great academic affairs

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> I believe that only 1 person in my class failed the first boards exam, and didnt hear of anyone failing the second one. My understanding is that NBDE1 is 95% pass over the last 5 years at the school and NBDE 2 is similar

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> I took it prior to entering clinic full time in 3rd year (near the end of 2nd year).

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> Yes, it was pretty meh. We had mandatory required practice tests. You had to take at least 2 of them, and pass at least one of them. They were pretty rough, but I guess it worked? I remember being disgruntled about it but at this point its in the past.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> Yes, we had a summer session to study for the first national boards. No blocked off time for the 2nd but I just studied during fall break and took it after. The second boards were easier IMO.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> Home, Study Library, open rooms, at friends houses. I usually studied in the study library

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
->I mean, I was done with requirements 2 months prior to graduation so I suppose it worked out? I worked hard for that and finagled a bit to make it happen by sharing patients with classmates in my 4th year.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?
->Minimums? have to complete competencies after achieving some threshold minimums: The minimums are 6 crowns, 10 class 2 composites, 6 class 3 composites, 4 endos (at least 1 being a molar), 10 arches of remo. The hardest things to complete for most classmates overall were endos I suppose. My numbers were (not including external rotations) 11 crowns, 14 class 2s, 12 class 3s, 5 endos, 12 arches of remo, 50ish exos (5 were surgical). On my external rotation I did 2 crowns, 60 direct composites, 5 endos, 60 exos (15 were surgical) and like 1 arch of remo.

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
->Best: Endo department is great, wonderful classmates and clinic instructors are amazing an caring and really want to help you learn and succeed.
Worst: admin often micromanage way more than necessary.

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
->Plenty. I think of my graduating class we have a lot of students going into specialities. Off the top of my head we have the following students (of our graduating 68) going directly into speciality residencies: 2 ortho, 3 pedo, 2 surgery, 1 pros, 3 perio. That's about 16% of the class that I know of.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
->previous years (pre covid) were 2 months of external rotations at community outreach programs and 1 week in a clinic that caters to primarily patients that have AIDS. They were wonderful and really helped build confidence in clinical ability depending on where you went.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->Scrubs all 4 years any time you are in preclinic or clinic. No bright colors

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
->Loads

27. What student organizations are most active?
->ASDA, the DELTS

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
->Location of the school is fine. Central enough in Portland, but housing isnt cheap nearby. Safety is good around it.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
->Lower Tuition, Administration that didnt micromanage loads.

30. Any last words or advice?
->Make great friends and share study materials. Build a class that helps eachother like ours did. It really helped and our class had a lot of teary eyed folks at graduation when it settled in that we may never have the chance to be surrounded by so many high functioning achievers again for the rest of our lives. It was like a family and we took care of eachother and if you do that in your group, you'll have a fantastic experience.

 

[n1mZ]

Can someone do NYU?

 

[flowerbomb18]

QUESTION PLEASE- I am applying to a speciality and GPR/AEGD and since some of my LORs are tailored towards my speciality, my teachers said they will write a new LOR that’s more generalized for my GPR/AEGD programs. To do this they said I need to send my LOR request on pass with a different email. What does that mean??

 

[happysmilz]

Hey! The following questions apply to all residencies and ANY input is much appreciated- Let’s say you have chosen your #1 residency program and want to write a letter of intent declaring that you are their #1 rank choice:

A) Should I send an LOI only to Dean and Thank You Letters to all the other faculty/residents?
B) How long should the letter be?
C) Any good examples?

Thank you 🙂

 

[Rfrosty]

1. Name of Your Dental School
-> Temple (The Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry).

2. Your Year (Are you taking NBDE Part 1/2 or the INBDE?)
-> D3 or D4 (to be anonymous I'm just gonna leave it at that)

3. What is your examination schedule like? Block Schedule (midterms and finals week) or several every week?
-> Typically blocks but it depends on the class. Some classes did weekly exams/quizes and some did an exam every 3-4 weeks.

4. What is the hardest class? Why?
-> Didactic - Systems pathology 1 and 2. Calculated the averages between the two classes. Avg ppts/wk = 11. Average slides/ppt = 56. Number of ppts/exam = 44. # of exams = 2 (once every four weeks). You cover every organ system in detail in 16 weeks. It is an absolute nightmare. If you mess up one exam you're screwed.
-> Preclinical - Restorative Dentistry III (Fixed and removable prosthodontics). You had 14 weeks to complete the following:
Fixed : 5 crown preps; 1 crown prep + impression; 1 crown prep + provisional; 1 bridge (#3-#5) + provisional; 2 crown preps + polycarbonate temporary crowns (pre-fabricated shells)
Removable : Complete denture wax-ups (lingualized scheme).

Practical exams : 1 hour and 30 minute time limit each. Automatic-failure criteria present. # of retakes permitted = 1. Failure of more than 1 practical (regardless of final grade) = automatic failure of the course.
Fixed : 3 crowns and 1 bridge
Removable : Custom tray fabrication; Record base + occlusal rim fabrication; Maxillary and mandibular anterior teeth wax-up (and in RD IV you have a similar practical where you have to wax up all the posterior teeth, have the correct occlusion, and festoon the denture all in 1.5 hours so that class isn't much better.)

5. What is the easiest class? Why?
-> As previous posters have stated, classes like ethics, community health, and things that were just once a week classes about vague/general topics were P/F or easy A's.

6. Are class notes based primarily on textbooks? Or based on lecture powerpoints made up by professors?
->Power points mostly. The lecturers recommend books (some were even evil enough to ask questions from them not found on the powerpoints). I rarely used the textbooks and everything was peachy.

7. Are traditional (paper) textbooks used or are they electronic? If electronic, do you prefer traditional textbooks?
->Whatever you prefer, but you have to pay for it or pirate it.

8. What is the grading system? Pass/Fail/Honors? Letter Grades? Percentages?
-> Percentages. Most of the time the cutoffs are 0.5% lower (i.e. 89.5% = A) but that's always at the instructors discretion.

9. Are your classmates generally gunners and try to sabotage each other? If not, is the culture one where everybody tries to help everybody out?
->Do I believe my classmates would actively sabotage each other? Maybe one or two but that's not bad out of 140-ish people and even then it would have to be someone they really disliked. There are gunners--some covert, some overt. Do people help each other out? Yes and no. Usually people stick to their own groups and those groups help each other out. Some groups have access to useful sources/previous exams not released by academic affairs that others don't know about. Who you know can give you a huge advantage. Every now and then people share notes, sources, and helpful tips. If you talked to most people one-on-one more often than not they would help you if you asked. I just keep my head down, stick with my people, and avoid drama and gossip. Don't say more words than you need to, be very aware of who is around when you're saying certain things, and don't talk behind peoples backs. For whatever reason, after college a fair amount of dental students tend to regress back into high-school students (not just Dental school, really any graduate education field).

10. Is there a notetaking service for lecture available?
-> Hahaha. No. They're recorded though.

11. Is class attendance mandatory?
-> Prior to COVID not unless it was a lab, seminar, or stated to be mandatory. There were classes where attendance were not "mandatory" but if you didn't go, you had the possibility to miss a pop quiz worth between 1-5% of the grade. After COVID the administration made classes mandatory without asking our feelings on it. A lot of the instructors still make it optional/optional but with pop quizzes. I can't really speak for all of them but I'm sure there's 1 or 2 instructors are using this policy to force their students in at 8:00 AM on a Friday with the threat of failure or reporting to academic affairs.

12. In general, are teachers approachable for questions? Or are they for the most part very busy and unreachable (research, etc...)?
-> It just depends. The didactic professors were usually great to reach for help outside. The preclinical instructors fell into a few groups : Those that would help you any time of day and even go out of their way to do so; those that would help in class only; those that weren't helpful at all and didn't appear to try. Find the good ones. They'll make it obvious in the first 5 minutes which category they fall into.

13. What is the drop out rate?
-> I cannot think of anyone who dropped out of my class. But my class is large so I just may not have noticed. Maybe 1 or 2 repeated a year.

14. Are there any resources to help students who are struggling, academically or otherwise?
-> Sure. I've never sought them out or know anyone who did so I can't speak to how effective they are.

15. What is the % first time board pass rate? What is the average score (if available)?
-> Not sure.

16. When do you take the NDBE Part 1? ** changing with the integrated boards **
-> Blank

17. Does the school offer classes/review sessions to prepare for Part 1?
-> I don't think so.

18. Do you get a block of time off before boards to study? If so, how long? If not, do you have to study simultaneously with classes?
-> Yesn't? We get time off but it comes from personal time away from the clinic (10 days max/year). Prior to this most students used their winter break to study for boards. There is no summer vacation after your first year to study for it. There aren't even breaks between semesters--just weekends.

19. How and where do most students study for classes?
-> The medical school library, the student faculty center, or at home I'd imagine. Really nowhere in the school to study as of now (they are doing construction on the 4th floor but I'm not sure how many study spaces they intend to add if any.)

20. Are patients readily available to fulfill clinical requirements or do you have to do a lot of work to get them in? Do you find/schedule them on your own?
-> You'll get patients out the wazoo. Whether or not they'll be helpful for you getting requirements completed is the real problem. If you need 3 crowns to graduate and all you keep getting assigned are denture cases and prophy's then you might as well have 0 patients.

21. What are the clinical requirements to graduate? (number of crowns, fillings, etc...) Is it reasonably attainable or pretty difficult? Or is it competency based?

Clinical requirement AND Competency based the numbers below will be based on the absolute lowest passing grade requirements (Grade of C)
-> Restorative clinic : DEPENDS ON YOUR LUCK AND/OR WHO YOU KNOW.
20 Class II direct restorations (any combo of amalgam or composite)
15-20 composite restorations that are not Class II (I, III, IV, V)
9 arches of removable (at least 1 must be a complete denture; at least 1 must be a metal framed RPD, the rest can be any combination)
12 units of fixed (at least 1 must be CAD/CAM; at least 1 must be an implant restoration)
30 case completes (meaning you have to do a comprehensive exam on the patient, prophy, all restorative work, 6 month hygiene recall, and all planned treatments must be completed)

-> Perio Easy to get the prophy's. SRP's and treatment completes depends on your patients (if they don't come back for re-evaluation and a recall appointment after that, you're screwed)
Completion of 2 probing and subgingival calculus detection competencies
10 Prophy's
12 Quads of SRP + completion of re-evaluation to count towards your requirements
2 non-surgical periodontal treatment completes (SRP, Re-eval, and recall appointment)

-> Oral surgery clinic - EASY
First 5 IAN blocks under direct supervision of faculty
Minimum of 10 patients requiring surgical or non-surgical extraction
Minimum of 6 nitrous oxide administrations
You'll need at least 20 extraction to get these and the necessary point value to pass the course (2 points per extraction). Nobody struggles to get extractions here. You'll likely have an A in oral surgery half way through your first year in clinic.

-> Admissions clinic EASY
6 complete oral exams (at least 2 ASA II or above)
-> Emergency endo clinic HARD
3 emergency endo treatments (pulpotomies, debridement, etc.)
1 complete endodontic treatment

-> Pediatric/Infant care clinic MODERATELY EASY
3-5 operative procedures
Stainless steel competency
Sealant competency
90 points worth of procedures in the pediatric clinic (comp exams, periodic exams, prophy, fluoride, fillings, sealants, etc.)

22. What is the best and the worst thing about clinic at your school?
-> Best part - You'll never be hurting for patients (just certain requirements/patients who can pay for the treatment both you and them need),
-> Worst thing - The lab we work with is awful and a lot of our really good faculty have left or are leaving. Internal politics can be annoying. It takes 15-30 minutes to get a start swipe just to look in my patients mouth (sorry couldn't just pick one.)

23. What types of opportunities do students have to explore different specialties?
-> You have rotations in the different specialty departments (OS, ER endo, Pediatric) EXCEPT ortho. The people who run the ortho clinics want nothing to do with the undergrads. You have 1 session in the screening clinic for an hour and then they never want to see you again. Endo also doesn't really want anything to do with undergrads, but at least they let us into the ER clinic. In the graduate endo clinic all you can do is assist the grad student (required to do 2). Same with the perio clinic except you have to do 4. Never looked into any other opportunities. There are interest clubs and the like.

24. What are rotations like? Do you have community outreach programs?
-> OS rotations simple extractions under nitrous sedation (sometimes they will let you do a surgical extraction if they trust you). Peds depends on the day, you do pretty much everything a practicing pediatric dentist would do. Most times you get Frankl 3 or 4 patients, every now and then you get a Frankl 2 and below and you never to look at a child again. Infant care rotations are more annoying than anything but easy. Admissions rotations be prepared to be reprimanded for something by a certain faculty who I won't name. Funny guy but he will assume you're doing something stupid (50/50 chance he's right most times) and then he'll give you a hard time about it. Then he'll blame the school but still be yelling at you. Actually like the guy to be honest.

25. What is the dress code at your school? Scrubs? For what years?
->
Dental students : Scrubs. All years. Light blue.
Post-Bac students : Green.
Graduate students : Black

26. Is there much camaraderie between students in the same class? Do students generally associate with each other outside of school?
-> It really depends on the year. In general dental school is cliquey, you find your group, you hang with them inside and outside class. Everyone else you're usually cordial with/acquainted. People get along well but we're not all buddy-buddy with each other. To this day I still see people who are in my class that I've never seen before.

27. What student organizations are most active?
-> Don't know and don't want to.

28. What are your opinions on the location of the dental school? Is finding housing an issue? Is safety an issue?
-> Do not live near the school unless you would like to be in a high crime and run down area. I lived near the school for a year. It was pretty bad. As soon as it got dark out I was at home. No good areas to walk. People asking you for money. Shooting happening a couple blocks away regularly. 15 year old kid shot and killed right outside my apartment. Finding housing is fine. It's Philly so everything is expensive. In broad daylight safety is not usually an issue near the school. At night Broad street around the school is safe enough but you wouldn't catch me hanging around there once the sun goes down. The surrounding area has a high rate of crime. If you have common sense and situational awareness you'll be fine.

29. What is one thing you would change about your school?
-> The prices. Recently the administration decided to raise the price of an initial appointment from $157.00 to around $700.00-800.00. The students and faculty didn't like it so administration backed down but they plan to put it back into effect next year from what I understand. If patients have insurance it's fine (but also not because milking insurance companies is something I don't want to be a part of and when they deny pre-auths for crowns and SRP's then what?). But it will basically eliminate cash patients/treatments insurance won't cover. Really plunges a dagger in the whole "serving the community" thing.

30. Any last words or advice?
-> I would go elsewhere if possible. Yes, Temple is stated to have a strong clinical program. I agree mostly because there's a large patient pool. However, quantity of experiences =/= quality of experiences. With the number of good faculty steadily declining, the changes being made to patient fees, the lab constantly giving back inadequate work that needs to be sent back 3 times, and an administration that pretty openly cares more about lining their own pockets than educating the students, you should maybe question whether or not you're getting a clinical education as good as what Mr. Brian Hahn will tell you when you come to interview here.

 

[n1mZ]

30. Any last words or advice?
-> I would go elsewhere if possible. Yes, Temple is stated to have a strong clinical program. I agree mostly because there's a large patient pool. However, quantity of experiences =/= quality of experiences. With the number of good faculty steadily declining, the changes being made to patient fees, the lab constantly giving back inadequate work that needs to be sent back 3 times, and an administration that pretty openly cares more about lining their own pockets than educating the students, you should maybe question whether or not you're getting a clinical education as good as what Mr. Brian Hahn will tell you when you come to interview here.

Thank you so much for this! I visited temple and it seemed like a really good school, but the clique-yness and raising prices for low income patients is really making me think twice.

 

[Malik_den]

30. Any last words or advice?
BU definitely has its flaws, but I am happy here and I am getting a great education. And Boston is an awesome city! Good luck with your decision 🙂

Thank you very much, exactly what I needed now.

 

[dmd21]

Can someone do U of Utah please? Thank you!!

 

[Malik_den]

Can someone do U of Utah please? Thank you!!

What do you mean?
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Med advisor and editor that provides health essay examples for the students at pre-schools https://writix.co.uk/essay-examples/health . Graduated from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Have solid experience in general medicine. Had a dream to be a surgeon but realised that general medicine is more fit for me.

 

[dmd21]

What do you mean?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Med advisor and editor that provides health essay examples for the students at pre-schools Health Essay Examples - Writix.co.uk. Graduated from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Have solid experience in general medicine. Had a dream to be a surgeon but realised that general medicine is more fit for me.

I was wondering if a current dental student (or graduate) at the U of Utah could answer the questions above 🙂

 

[thatgirl143]

Can someone do UCONN?

 

[Kenshen]

Can someone do UCSF please?