dental school gonna be busy...?

[wuyide]

what does everybody think... will you be dedicating more time, less time, or about the same amount of time as you studied during your undergrad?

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[Yellow Snow]

My bro is a 4th year at USC and he doesn't seem busy at all, nor did he as a 1-2year. I am a post-bac taking the prereqs (Ochem, Physics and my last Bio) right now and I study way more than him.

But I have heard USC is on the lighter side and that some schools are brutal. In general I think that people study more in d school than in undergrad.

 

[gator1210]

Ya, it does depend on what school it is. If you wanna coast by getting Cs or get As and specialize? And time management skills. I hope to have a social life, but we shall see.

 

[Rezdawg]

Is it harder than undergrad? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Is it busier than undergrad? Yes, no doubt.

 

[brainfreeze]

I've spoken to students at UCLA and OHSU who said they practically live at the school. I, for one, am not planning to have much of a social life for 4 years.

I would really worry about any future dentist who just planned on "getting by."

 

[drhobie7]

I've spoken to students at UCLA and OHSU who said they practically live at the school.

This is true. But you're in good company.

 

[Sprgrover]

what does everybody think... will you be dedicating more time, less time, or about the same amount of time as you studied during your undergrad?

If you think that you will be devoting at least the same amount of time as you did during your undergrad during your first two years you are in for a very, very, big surprise (unless, yes, you are at USC, which has a very different program than the other dental schools). Some of you are perhaps studying for finals/midterms right now and things are pretty hectic with juggling time for class, studying, and whatever else is going on in your lives. That same stress and sense of being perpetually pressed for time is the same thing you will experience in dental school, except rather than lingering for a couple of weeks it goes on for months and months. It's exhausting, to say the least. Take a look in the dental forum and pull up some threads by OMFS residents that have done both medical and dental school and you'll soon realize that the lion's share of them would rather repeat medical school then dental school. If you are bright enough to get into dental school then you are bright enough to survive, but be prepared for a rough and bumpy process. Learn to manage your time early on, develop effective study habits, try to make some time for yourself, and make friends out of your classmates and especially learn to lean on them and let them lean on you.

 

[crazy_sherm]

Depends on where you went to undergrad and which dental school you're attending. For me, I would say conceptwise, UOP is cake compared to what I had to try and learn/understand at Cal. Loadwise, it's about 3 times as much work however. You have to learn to be efficient with your time, which means getting the most that you can out of lecture, so you don't have to waste time re-reading material that's already been covered. It helps tons if you have awesome hand skills... I don't, so most of my time is spent in lab rather than hitting the books. I think the average non-gunner here spends roughly 60-70 hrs/week doing school related stuff.

 

[wuyide]

thanks for all the replies. it seems like there's quite the variety of schedules/dedication/cirriculum out there.

 

[jk5177]

try to make some time for yourself, and make friends out of your classmates and especially learn to lean on them and let them lean on you.

I like this.

 

[aphistis]

Is it harder than undergrad? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Is it busier than undergrad? Yes, no doubt.

 

[TylerDMD]

I went to a great undergrad, worked my butt off, majored in the hardest thing possible, graduated #2 in my class of 1000, and got a 23 on the DAT.

Dental school makes all this look easy. I work probably 2-3x as hard as I did in undergrad.

Yes, it's that hard, so just be ready for it. Give up on the idea of getting "A's" and be OK with just surviving, otherwise you'll got crazy.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

I noticed that Tufts students work extremely hard and have a lot more class and lab hours than other schools, simply becuase Tufts makes it their goal to send graduates right into private practice feeling prepared (During the opening lecture, they said there are around 3x more class hours than the nat'l average). Also, there are things like a 4-year Practice Management curriculum and lots and lots of practical experience. I asked several of the students what the student dynamic is and what they do for fun, and they all said "er...we study! " So they're quite stressed and overworked, but it comes at the reward of being ready when you graduate! So it's a matter of priority for what type of program you want.


Also, I still have the belief that if balance is something important in your life, like it is with mine in a huge way, anyone can plan ahead and organize one's schedule to include a good mix of work, study, play, relaxation, self-time, etc. etc. As we all know from undergrad, some people got 20 ulcers studying their asses off and pulling all-nighters once a week and got a 2.5 Others seemed more relaxed and were party animals and pulled 4.0.

It's firstly a matter of how you plan your schedule and how to space everything out, and also a matter of how efficient you are when you actually sit down to study.

 

[jk5177]

(During the opening lecture, they said there are around 3x more class hours than the nat'l average).

I like to know where this statistic is from.

 

[teefRcool]

What i don't understand if USC is sooo kick back why are u all not going there. Isn't less studyng BETTER or are all of you in love with studying and getting knowledge when u are going to become dentists aren't you guys probably only going to use 10 percent of it an 100 percent of clinical experience (since they got the pbl, u pay more money to study less, isn't a few more 100k worth the less studying?). So did you guys choose to go to a school and pay less but instead work harder. A little confused, on why people dodge USC. Sorry i'm applying next year i always keep seeing people saying its relaxed and stuff and people keep dodging it. No matter how crappy the curriculum less work is less work in my book, in the end ur getting the same paper as everyone else. USC's stats aren't low either so i don't get it. Could someone elaborate.

 

[StarGirl]

What i don't understand if USC is sooo kick back why are u all not going there. Isn't less studyng BETTER or are all of you in love with studying and getting knowledge when u are going to become dentists aren't you guys probably only going to use 10 percent of it an 100 percent of clinical experience (since they got the pbl, u pay more money to study less, isn't a few more 100k worth the less studying?). So did you guys choose to go to a school and pay less but instead work harder. A little confused, on why people dodge USC. Sorry i'm applying next year i always keep seeing people saying its relaxed and stuff and people keep dodging it. No matter how crappy the curriculum less work is less work in my book, in the end ur getting the same paper as everyone else. USC's stats aren't low either so i don't get it. Could someone elaborate.

i don't know anything about U$C but I know I didn't go there for my own reasons (partly pbl, and partly cause I don't think their program was as strong as I would have liked, and partly cause I'm biased to the Trojans)... but why would you pay 100K more so you can get out w/o the max knowlege you can get out of dental school? You're a doctor, you're going to be expected to know a LOT. I think you should go to the best program that will challeging you to your max capacity! Learn what you can, do what you can... and get the most out...
if you want an easy way out, don't come to Columbia.

 

[teefRcool]

i don't know anything about U$C but I know I didn't go there for my own reasons (partly pbl, and partly cause I don't think their program was as strong as I would have liked, and partly cause I'm biased to the Trojans)... but why would you pay 100K more so you can get out w/o the max knowlege you can get out of dental school? You're a doctor, you're going to be expected to know a LOT. I think you should go to the best program that will challeging you to your max capacity! Learn what you can, do what you can... and get the most out...
if you want an easy way out, don't come to Columbia.

Sure studying is challenging but not everyone wants to get challenged by the same thing. To you maybe you like getting challenged at school, you have a better time management for studying, or better at learning facts, studying hard. Me i'm not much of a studier but more of a street person, street is where i liked to get challenged. I don't really agree about expected to know a lot. But what you are expected to do is to fix their teeth the best way you can. I can explain chiral centers to my patients all day and i'm sure they could care less as long as i coudl do the job properly.

My teacher went to the best school say harvard and got her phd doesn't mean she can teach. Sure its all in her head but who says she can explain the material.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

I like to know where this statistic is from.

Yeah, it struck me as odd, too! But that main guy person...I never even got his name! The one that did the main curriculum/financial lecture before and after lunch. He said it.

 

[aphistis]

Sure studying is challenging but not everyone wants to get challenged by the same thing. To you maybe you like getting challenged at school, you have a better time management for studying, or better at learning facts, studying hard. Me i'm not much of a studier but more of a street person, street is where i liked to get challenged. I don't really agree about expected to know a lot. But what you are expected to do is to fix their teeth the best way you can. I can explain chiral centers to my patients all day and i'm sure they could care less as long as i coudl do the job properly.

My teacher went to the best school say harvard and got her phd doesn't mean she can teach. Sure its all in her head but who says she can explain the material.

If you want a job where you don't have to know a lot and can just common-sense your way through the workday, you're looking at the wrong career. It looks to me like you're really lowballing the amount of knowledge necessary to be a competent dentist, and your patients are the ones who will pay for it.

 

[Rezdawg]

(During the opening lecture, they said there are around 3x more class hours than the nat'l average).

Thats pretty impressive...21 hours of lecture a day! Those kids are machines.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

Thats pretty impressive...21 hours of lecture a day! Those kids are machines.

haha, don't look at me! Ask them! I was pretty incredulous, too.

 

[pOiiMiiOq]

i would be scare if i was your patient. But who knows, maybe you can learn the "basics" of dentistry without studying, but the odds of that is...slim. And undergrad is different than dental school (i don't think you would have to explain chirals, btw), they're putting 4 years into one field -- so it must be important, wouldn't you think?

i still think USC is good though, i DoN't think it's TOO kickback, so don't get your hopes to high.

 

[pOiiMiiOq]

Sure studying is challenging but not everyone wants to get challenged by the same thing. To you maybe you like getting challenged at school, you have a better time management for studying, or better at learning facts, studying hard. Me i'm not much of a studier but more of a street person, street is where i liked to get challenged. I don't really agree about expected to know a lot. But what you are expected to do is to fix their teeth the best way you can. I can explain chiral centers to my patients all day and i'm sure they could care less as long as i coudl do the job properly.

My teacher went to the best school say harvard and got her phd doesn't mean she can teach. Sure its all in her head but who says she can explain the material.

that previous post was for teefrcool by the way.

 

[Utes]

Mark is the guy that you're thinking of at Tufts. I didn't hear him say what you heard him say. I heard him say that todays dental students are in class 30% more than dental students were 20 years ago. I also heard him say that Tufts does way more emergency medical training than other schools.

I was there for the Nov 18th interview.

 

[Sprgrover]

...Yes, it's that hard, so just be ready for it. Give up on the idea of getting "A's" and be OK with just surviving, otherwise you'll got crazy.

Yes, indeed.