Dental School vs Undergrad

[ShawnOne]

Ok guys/gals,

This poll is to determine how you feel about dental school vs undergraduate studies.

Please choose the one that best applies.

Also, feel free to post any comments.

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[Supernumerary]

My grades are definitely declining in dental school, but it's got very little to do with the material. I've just made a conscious decision to spend more time with my family and less time memorizing all the useless material they throw at us.

You're at school for ~8 hours every day. And if you want A's you have to spend another couple hours at home memorizing pages and pages of stupid things like "the lysine residue at the 93rd position of hemoglobin causes a 65 degree twist in the protein structure creating a hydrophobic pocket that allows the molecule to effectively bind blah blah blah..."

But if you only want a B or C you just have to go to class, review your notes before the test and remember what hemoglobin does and why it's important. If I ever need to know exactly which amino acids in which position cause hemoglobin to function, I'll look it up. All those people who memorized pages and pages of drivel are going to purge it about 90 seconds after the test is over anyway; there's no way it's going to make them a better dentist. I guess it's just what the school has to do to separate the intelligent and driven from the merely intelligent.

 

[critterbug]

This is a GREAT thread for us pre-dents. I hope more dental students vote and share their experiences.

 

[aphistis]

Supernumerary's response is right on the money. A few months ago, I saw a post that I didn't understand at the time, but now makes a <em>lot</em> of sense.

"The greatest day of my dental school career was the day I stopped worrying about grades and started concentrating on becoming a good dentist."

I do as well as I can in class, but I only work on it as far as it doesn't interfere with the rest of my life. If a handful of gunners in my class need 98% exam averages to affirm themselves, I won't get in their way.

 

[Apoptosis]

My grades have been better in D-school. Pretty much first year was a review of all the classes I took in undergrad with more detail of course. So far the second year, the only new class that I've never been exposed to was radiology. To all you pre-dents out there, take as many biochem, cell bio, anatomy, embrology, histology, microbiology etc classes you can. It will make first year very manageable and give you time to practice on your dental classes.

 

[drPheta]

Originally posted by Apoptosis
My grades have been better in D-school. Pretty much first year was a review of all the classes I took in undergrad with more detail of course. So far the second year, the only new class that I've never been exposed to was radiology. To all you pre-dents out there, take as many biochem, cell bio, anatomy, embrology, histology, microbiology etc classes you can. It will make first year very manageable and give you time to practice on your dental classes.

Pre Dents take this advice to heart. Those classes will make dental school soooo much more manageable.

My grades are better in D-school. Not because it's easier. It definitely is much more work to be done in much less time than undergrad. I've just been very lucky with my study habits.

It also helps that I enjoy this so much that studying isn't too much of a burden. It still sucks, but the gross lab and the dental anatomy is fun...so far. I have only 3/4 of a semester to base my thoughts on, so we'll see how I turn out in the future.

Either way, I push myself to be the best dentist possible, and I take pride in getting the grades I've gotten in dental school.