D1 starts in less than a month and I'm nervous

[Biodentist]

As the title states, I'm about to start my D1 year in roughly 3 weeks. After having some personal struggles at the start of undergrad, I went absolutely balls to the walls my last two years and managed to get myself into dental school without needing a post-bacc/masters or gap year. I'm super relieved and have finally been able to do a lot of things I missed out on, like having a free summer, going on road trips during the semester, and not living in constant fear before every exam knowing that it influences the chances of making it in my career.

But as the program gets closer, I'm getting pretty nervous. I've been dealing with a lot of imposter syndrome and those exam fear feelings are coming back. My parents are both successful people (PhD NASA engineer and NP) and they're constantly telling me how I need to do well in dental school now. That I should maintain as close to a 4.0 as I can in the event I decide to specialize and that I still need to grind. But I'm not sure if that's realistic or feasible for me. I feel a little burned out and I'm scared of the difficulty of the curriculum, since it's a doctoral program after all. I've heard from tons of people that the first two years of dental school are absolute grinds where they throw 20+ credits of hard sciences at you and each class has hundreds of powerpoint slides of exam content. I took a graduate/med school class like similar this past semester and got an A, but it required me asking for notes and previous exams from people.

And that brings me to people. I'm going to a state where I don't know anyone and although I have a lot of my classmates added on social media, I've never met any of them. I was pretty alone my first semester of college and didn't start making friends until my second semester. Plus since I'm younger relative to a lot of my classmates (age 22), I'm worried I'll get shunned and I'm also worried about the sabotaging gunner type people.

What can I do to succeed academically without burning out and feeling miserable? I would appreciate any sort of advice on how I can have a good start to D1 and a good experience overall.

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[Ivy.ch]

As the title states, I'm about to start my D1 year in roughly 3 weeks. After having some personal struggles at the start of undergrad, I went absolutely balls to the walls my last two years and managed to get myself into dental school without needing a post-bacc/masters or gap year. I'm super relieved and have finally been able to do a lot of things I missed out on, like having a free summer, going on road trips during the semester, and not living in constant fear before every exam knowing that it influences the chances of making it in my career.

But as the program gets closer, I'm getting pretty nervous. I've been dealing with a lot of imposter syndrome and those exam fear feelings are coming back. My parents are both successful people (PhD NASA engineer and NP) and they're constantly telling me how I need to do well in dental school now. That I should maintain as close to a 4.0 as I can in the event I decide to specialize and that I still need to grind. But I'm not sure if that's realistic or feasible for me. I feel a little burned out and I'm scared of the difficulty of the curriculum, since it's a doctoral program after all. I've heard from tons of people that the first two years of dental school are absolute grinds where they throw 20+ credits of hard sciences at you and each class has hundreds of powerpoint slides of exam content. I took a graduate/med school class like similar this past semester and got an A, but it required me asking for notes and previous exams from people.

And that brings me to people. I'm going to a state where I don't know anyone and although I have a lot of my classmates added on social media, I've never met any of them. I was pretty alone my first semester of college and didn't start making friends until my second semester. Plus since I'm younger relative to a lot of my classmates (age 22), I'm worried I'll get shunned and I'm also worried about the sabotaging gunner type people.

What can I do to succeed academically without burning out and feeling miserable? I would appreciate any sort of advice on how I can have a good start to D1 and a good experience overall.

A couple thoughts…

- You’re 22. Time to get your parents out of your psyche. You’ll realize soon that your parents - despite meaning well - sometimes don’t know what they’re talking about. What they said has merit, you should try to get good grades, but don’t take this as a requirement that makes you otherwise a failure. I wouldn’t even tell them your grades in dental school. I’ve used this analogy before, but I’ll use it again. Dental school is like running a marathon for the first time. People around you are going to tell you about what mile pace you should set, which parts of the course require an extra push, when to take a drink… Just run. You have no idea what it’s like, so all this analyzing and anxiety right now is useless. Just be ready to run. Give your best effort, and the clock at the end of the race says what it says.

- Go on a trip. Mexico sounds nice. DC sounds cool. Cape May seems relaxing. Or just kick it in your neighborhood pool. Just chill until dental school. I spent every day at the beach before school.

- Dental school is tough. But it’s fine. 95% of people graduate, which is saying a lot considering some of the people they let through. You’ll be so busy that you won’t have time to dwell on how busy you are.

- No one knew anyone before school started. Go to all the parties and social events the first 2 weeks. You’ll be fine. Most of us were loners in college. You’ll find some of the best friends of your life.

- Your age doesn’t mean anything. There were students in their 30s and 40s and it made no difference.

 

[Cubelife]

Fellow incoming D1 here. I totally feel you about being a bit nervous, but you deserve this! You've put in so much effort to get here, so own it. Don't run away from it. As a young adult, you really have to learn how to filter out what your parents say sometimes. Neither of them have degrees in dentistry, so I wouldn't let them pressure you into thinking that you have to do something that you don't want to.

As far as not knowing anyone, we're in the same boat. See if your class has a group chat and simply ask if anyone wants to meetup for drinks or food. I guarantee you at least 3 other people will be willing to meetup. Now you have 3 friends before the first day of class...

 

[Biodentist]

A couple thoughts…

- You’re 22. Time to get your parents out of your psyche. You’ll realize soon that your parents - despite meaning well - sometimes don’t know what they’re talking about. What they said has merit, you should try to get good grades, but don’t take this as a requirement that makes you otherwise a failure. I wouldn’t even tell them your grades in dental school. I’ve used this analogy before, but I’ll use it again. Dental school is like running a marathon for the first time. People around you are going to tell you about what mile pace you should set, which parts of the course require an extra push, when to take a drink… Just run. You have no idea what it’s like, so all this analyzing and anxiety right now is useless. Just be ready to run. Give your best effort, and the clock at the end of the race says what it says.

- Go on a trip. Mexico sounds nice. DC sounds cool. Cape May seems relaxing. Or just kick it in your neighborhood pool. Just chill until dental school. I spent every day at the beach before school.

- Dental school is tough. But it’s fine. 95% of people graduate, which is saying a lot considering some of the people they let through. You’ll be so busy that you won’t have time to dwell on how busy you are.

- No one knew anyone before school started. Go to all the parties and social events the first 2 weeks. You’ll be fine. Most of us were loners in college. You’ll find some of the best friends of your life.

- Your age doesn’t mean anything. There were students in their 30s and 40s and it made no difference.

I like the marathon analogy a lot, I've never heard of it put that way but it helps put things into perspective. I'm just the type of person who gets anxious going into things blindly because of the fear of messing up (shoutout to mom and dad lol). But I really appreciate all of the advice, I'll take it all into account. I'm going to grind my tail off so I can have a comfortable life after school.

Fellow incoming D1 here. I totally feel you about being a bit nervous, but you deserve this! You've put in so much effort to get here, so own it. Don't run away from it. As a young adult, you really have to learn how to filter out what your parents say sometimes. Neither of them have degrees in dentistry, so I wouldn't let them pressure you into thinking that you have to do something that you don't want to.

As far as not knowing anyone, we're in the same boat. See if your class has a group chat and simply ask if anyone wants to meetup for drinks or food. I guarantee you at least 3 other people will be willing to meetup. Now you have 3 friends before the first day of class...

You're absolutely right, I'm just screwed in the sense that I have some pretty big shoes to fill but despite that, my dad always tells me I'll be better off than him since my starting salary is essentially his career end salary (NASA doesn't pay as much as you'd expect lol). And I'm already in the class group chat, I just need to ask. Good luck to you as well!

 

[PerioDont]

As the title states, I'm about to start my D1 year in roughly 3 weeks. After having some personal struggles at the start of undergrad, I went absolutely balls to the walls my last two years and managed to get myself into dental school without needing a post-bacc/masters or gap year. I'm super relieved and have finally been able to do a lot of things I missed out on, like having a free summer, going on road trips during the semester, and not living in constant fear before every exam knowing that it influences the chances of making it in my career.

But as the program gets closer, I'm getting pretty nervous. I've been dealing with a lot of imposter syndrome and those exam fear feelings are coming back. My parents are both successful people (PhD NASA engineer and NP) and they're constantly telling me how I need to do well in dental school now. That I should maintain as close to a 4.0 as I can in the event I decide to specialize and that I still need to grind. But I'm not sure if that's realistic or feasible for me. I feel a little burned out and I'm scared of the difficulty of the curriculum, since it's a doctoral program after all. I've heard from tons of people that the first two years of dental school are absolute grinds where they throw 20+ credits of hard sciences at you and each class has hundreds of powerpoint slides of exam content. I took a graduate/med school class like similar this past semester and got an A, but it required me asking for notes and previous exams from people.

And that brings me to people. I'm going to a state where I don't know anyone and although I have a lot of my classmates added on social media, I've never met any of them. I was pretty alone my first semester of college and didn't start making friends until my second semester. Plus since I'm younger relative to a lot of my classmates (age 22), I'm worried I'll get shunned and I'm also worried about the sabotaging gunner type people.

What can I do to succeed academically without burning out and feeling miserable? I would appreciate any sort of advice on how I can have a good start to D1 and a good experience overall.

You have been selected because you can make it through.

My biggest advice would be try to move at least 1 week+ before you start school and make friends with your classmates, but also some upperclassmen.

Find a D2, D3 and buy them lunch. Ask them the best methods for getting through (and for old exams/notes) and doing well. They will be your #1 resource for doing well in school.

I started dental school younger than you, it makes literally zero difference. Don't talk too much about it, might turn off some people. You are all there to learn and are starting from the beginning.

 

[HatInTheCat]

TL/DR: just show up and do your best. Your feelings are valid, but enjoy the process! Congratulations!

 

[axiumgod]

Dental school isn’t that bad, try to enjoy the ride

 

[New_Vegas]

Find a D2, D3 and buy them lunch. Ask them the best methods for getting through (and for old exams/notes) and doing well

Cheater.
/s

 

[New_Vegas]

Don't worry about making friends. It will just happen. It's impossible not to. But, if you want to specialize, it may be a good idea to limit social interactions a bit in the first two years. LOL, I'm not kidding. I did, and it helped me finish in the top ~5% lol. The party animals quickly found it hard to be extremely social and do well in school.

 

[Biodentist]

TL/DR: just show up and do your best. Your feelings are valid, but enjoy the process! Congratulations!

Will do and thank you!

Dental school isn’t that bad, try to enjoy the ride

So people like you do exist lmao, thanks for the encouragement.

Don't worry about making friends. It will just happen. It's impossible not to. But, if you want to specialize, it may be a good idea to limit social interactions a bit in the first two years. LOL, I'm not kidding. I did, and it helped me finish in the top ~5% lol. The party animals quickly found it hard to be extremely social and do well in school.

I’m not a super bubbly person so that won’t be a problem. Plus I’m used to that since there were many times in undergrad my roommates would throw ragers at the house and I’d be upstairs studying microbio or something lol. But I’d finish up and join them afterwards

 

[New_Vegas]

Will do and thank you!

So people like you do exist lmao, thanks for the encouragement.

I’m not a super bubbly person so that won’t be a problem. Plus I’m used to that since there were many times in undergrad my roommates would throw ragers at the house and I’d be upstairs studying microbio or something lol. But I’d finish up and join them afterwards

Good. Then if you want to specialize in something, shoot for the stars. Finish in the top 5% and apply for ortho or omfs

 

[Biodentist]

Good. Then if you want to specialize in something, shoot for the stars. Finish in the top 5% and apply for ortho or omfs

The only speciality I see myself doing is endo tbh. Again being completely honest, my goal is mainly practice ownership as a GP and doing a ton of CE to get good and things like molar endo. But it’s not a bad idea to keep the doors open.

 

[PerioDont]

The only speciality I see myself doing is endo tbh. Again being completely honest, my goal is mainly practice ownership as a GP and doing a ton of CE to get good and things like molar endo. But it’s not a bad idea to keep the doors open.

As you grow through dental school and esp clinical practice your opinions on what you like and don't like may change.

Just like you said, try your best in school and keep an open mind.

 

[ssm38]

Before starting dental school, I was a nervous wreck. I moved to a state 12 hours away from home to go to school and I knew nobody. However, during my time in school, I met some of my best friends in life and went on a ton of adventures!

My advice is this: Don't pre-study anything - enjoy your time before you start school. Learn to cook different types of meals or you'll be eating out a lot and spending $$. Be sure to have a healthy balance of academics, social life and sleep. Don't try to cram everything in the night before and stay on top of your course material. Go out to parties with your classmates. Try to figure out quickly if you want to specialize and get involved in extracurricular activities, research, volunteer and externships. Otherwise, just focus on clinically relevant material and don't worry about trying to pull a 4.0. It's not the end of the world if you fail something - I failed an exam and a practical and still made it into orthodontics. Make a ton of friends and take full advantage of the last 4 years you'll be in an environment surrounded by some of your closest (future) friends. I never thought I'd say it but I already miss dental school life and I graduated 2 months ago (the fun with friends part, not the academics)!

 

[d9m7]

how’s it going?? i’m starting in less than 2 weeks!

 

[2thDoc11]

how’s it going?? i’m starting in less than 2 weeks!

Lol starting Tuesday over here

 

[Biodentist]

Update (hopefully not gravedigging): School has been going a lot better than I expected. It's definitely very hard, I won't deny that. In class 45 hours/week and then there's studying to do on top of that. But my grades have been surprsingly high but that's probably because I feel like I spend most waking hours studying/in class. I go out much less than I did in undergrad, I spend many more weekends inside studying than out having fun. I will also say the curriculum is kind of annoying, with learning some useless undergrad BS such as metabolism, learning how to identify abnormal EKGs and diagnose them, etc.

It has been pretty crazy so far, like some of you said. Someone already left the program, almost half the class has tutors because they failed an exam, I know of a handful of people who have failed EVERY SINGLE exam so far. But I will say tons of people piss and moan and also exaggerate how bad it is, espcially on this forum. I'm not denying the difficulty of a DMD/DDS program, but if you put in the necessary work you will get out on the other side. I've found complaining all the time doesn't get your anywhere.

I'm very appreciative for all of your advice, it definitely help to make sure I didn't fall into the camp of people who've failed so far. But I understand failing is a part of the process and my time will come eventually