sjdent - Hard means having to take an excess of 20 credit hours at once. Gone are the days when you balanced organic chemistry with a blow-off class in world music. Now, just about every class requires some effort and memorizing. This semester we have 26.5 credits and that number just doesn't phase me anymore. I was definitely a paper and essay writer at a small college. Now in dental school my classes all consist of two scantron multiple choice exams, a mid-term and a final. That's been kinda rough only b/c multiple choice can be unforgiving at times and sometimes they like to pull the multiple-multiple questions. But I learned quickly that classes have very little to do with understanding (unlike college) and are all about memorizing and regurgitating a packet of notes and studying old exams. Even the National Boards consisted of studying the released exams!
Your question is not ridiculous. When I started first semester, I only wanted to pass Gross. After the first exam, I realized I was capable of passing with more than a C, and I studied hard for the B. After that, I changed my outlook on dental school classes to the following. Aim for the A. Doesn't matter how hard the subject or what people say about the teacher, aim for the A. This way, many times you will succeed and get the A and feel proud. But sometimes you will stumble yet most likely end up with the B, which is still very much more respectable than failing. Don't even let yourself think you will fail. But if you find yourself in danger in any class, GET HELP!!!! Don't wait for finals, start in October if you think you can't handle Histo or Biochem. There is nothing wrong or shameful in asking for help and getting tutoring to make it through a class. Hey, it's much better than repeating the year b/c you failed one class.
I find myself often talking my friends out of thinking they will fail or only aiming for a C b/c they are capable of so much more than that. Aim higher and you won't be disappointed. Of course, you can't be all talk, you have to work very hard too with this attitude, memorizing and reading the lectures and putting your time in lab, but I think it works well for me and my friends. True, the last person in the class is still called doctor, but may not get that coveted residency spot in Boston and have to settle for rural Vermont instead (no offense to people in rural Vermont). Teachers often tell you "10 years from now, your grades won't matter." They're right - stuff I did in high school certainly doesn't matter anymore, but meant a lot when I was trying to get into the college of my choice. Next year when I apply to post-grad, grades matter so I don't really buy that. (Now if only they would hurry up and send us our board scores.....)
So did school really take over your life? For me it did, but in a good way! When my non-dental friends ask me what I am up to, I don't have much to tell them b/c almost everything I do is dental related. But my dental experiences include not only class, exams, and lab work, but also being involved in yearbook, newsletter, ASDA, research, and the benfits of each of those activities. Since first year, I've been to San Diego, Orlando, Connecticut and am headed to Portland and NYC this semester. They have all been fabulous dental related experiences in ASDA and research (and all funded by the school!!!). I am having a busy life in dental school, but very varied and beyond the classroom and am happy with it.
"My med school friends always laugh at me going dent. One says her dental school friends are always going out on the weekends while they're stuck studying every day of the week. "
HAHAHAHAHA - this is not the case at the SUNY medical schools (at least Buffalo and Syracuse). If I had a dollar for each night I studied while my med student roommate went out the past two years, I would have a nice $500 scholarship. A hard schedule for them was having a micro exam on Wednesday and and Pathology exam the following Friday (NINE DAYS after the micro test). Man would they complain about what hell the next two weeks were going to be! Meanwhile, the dental students quietly studied for the SAME exams administered on the same days, and also dealt with numerous quizzes and practicals and lab projects in the dental classes during the same two weeks. We wanted to complain, but we didn't have time to complain b/c we were too busy studying for some quiz. So don't let the med students bully you. We have it worse the first two years, but they pay for it in their third year (and the hellish residency AFTER med school).
vixen - I really like UB dental. I am definitely happy here (even though my class drives me nuts sometimes, I still love them all). I like the classes, the faculty, the facility, the students, the opportunities I've had, and the low cost is an added bonus. The only problem I have isn't even with the dental school, it's just Buffalo. Then again I've lived here for many years and am itching to go somewhere new. My classmates from downstate don't mind their four-year-stay so much and say it's a better study environment here since there are less distractions. I don't mind scheduling my patients, I just pray they will come in or else I am screwed out of the points for that day. The clinics are so clean and bright and everyone has their own permanent chair for two years. I am really looking forward to clinic this year!
To what UBTom said, I liked second year better b/c there wasn't as many lecture classes. First year, I wasn't interested in learning about Neuroanatomy or Physiology, that's why I liked it second year when I got to take the laboratory courses in Fixed and Removable. Wax-ups (carving) are one of my faves, b/c I take them home and do them in front of the TV (they require very little brain input). And I was there when UBTom clocked the all-nighter. Don't be scared, it didn't have to be an all nighter. We had four days to submit this complicated operative project, so you theoretically could have done it a few hours a day for four days. But some of us figured we might as well do the all nighter so we could spend the other three days studying for finals. Also there were tons of laboratory steps that could have gone wrong, and having something go wrong on the fourth night would have had really horrendous consequences....
