How is Your D1 Year Going?

[SmileItsLife]

For all the current D1's: How has your year been going? As expected? Better? Worse?

Just curious....

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[PreDentRN]

I would say my first semester is going as expected to better than expected. It is a higher academic workload than I am normally used to but I have found my footing and gotten into a rhythm much better than I expected. Now, at my school this is the semester that has the most free time of any semester, but it is still 26.5 hours in a semester, so it is not exactly "light academic work." However, it has not been anything I haven't been able to keep up with

 

[ProspectivePostPreDent]

So far so good, but first block is just med school here; in a couple weeks, we're getting hit with a bunch of dental classes on top of it. I'll reserve judgement until then.

 

[DentalNucleicAcid]

It's more fun than undergrad The pressure of "trying to get into dental school" is no longer there and no more DAT etc. Now we're all just struggling together to get by and it's kinda nice haha. The biggest misconception I've came across so far is that you have to study everything (or almost everything) every day. You study exam by exam. So you can dedicate 2-4 days per exam without worrying about other exams most of the time. Idk how it is in other programs but there's never 2 exams on the same day and rarely 2 exams that are spaced out less than a day (usually two) apart.This is because there's communication between professors from each class and the program director, whereas in undergrad your immuno professor can care less that you have an anatomy exam on the same day as their's. One of the reasons dental school is seemingly harder (so far at least) is that there's more exams to study for, imo. And you have to balance lab (hand skills) with didactic now, it's no longer just book work. But overall, similar difficulty but more bursts of high pressure studying and less sleep.

 

[Faux]

Got a few more months left under my belt until I graduate but I still think undergrad was harder than dental school, especially physics and general chemistry. I think the DAT was far harder than any exam I've taken since. I'm sure its an unpopular opinion. The issue with dental school is that its just a lot of material and time management.

To be fair , I did take a year off before school and was completely fine getting a 3.0 every year. So I had energy in the tank, nor did I have aspirations in becoming a oral surgeon.

 

[Life of Pablo]

I really like dental school and all my classmates. It's crazy how smart and hardworking everyone is. It definitely humbles you.

 

[briank99]

At NYU with a 1.5hr commute and its killing my grades. Holding a B in my science stuff but just bombed a recent exam and trying to figure out what to do. I want to do OMFS but at this rate it wont be a option.

 

[DentalNucleicAcid]

At NYU with a 1.5hr commute and its killing my grades. Holding a B in my science stuff but just bombed a recent exam and trying to figure out what to do. I want to do OMFS but at this rate it wont be a option.

check out fifteenblades for some advice, OMFS resident from NYU

 

[DynamicDental]

At NYU with a 1.5hr commute and its killing my grades. Holding a B in my science stuff but just bombed a recent exam and trying to figure out what to do. I want to do OMFS but at this rate it wont be a option.

I feel you. I have about 1-1.5 hour commute one way as well. It has proven to impact my grades as well. It certainly can be discouraging.

 

[Sweet_Tooth]

Not that well tbh. I'm still struggling in comparing myself to others. For our didactic science classes, multiple people are literally complaining about how they were one point away from an A while I'm just happy I'm getting a B and not a C. Hopefully it shouldn't be an issue because I'm probably not interested in specializing, but I don't want to be at the bottom of my class either seems like everyone is smarter than me...and also I'm struggling a bit with the handskills/lab too, I've had to come early/stay late multiple times/have turned in things late/too close to the deadline and I guess I'm just worried for upcoming semesters, I really need to get on top of things--this Thanksgiving break I'm going to reflect on my performance and come up with a game plan for the winter semester, I feel like I wasn't ready and was still in the process of transitioning/getting used to being in this new environment and that affected my attitude and performance

Also don't appreciate how similar to high school dental school is, I wasn't expecting that lol. I guess I'm kinda anti social being stuck with the same people for 4 years is something I didn't anticipate would be a problem for me, but it kinda is lol. I dislike the cliquey environment and sometimes feel like I need a break from hanging out with my class mates. Tbh I dont really hang out with them much outside of school, thankfully I have some non dental school related friends in the area and I find myself wanting to spend more time with them...idk if this is good lol

 

[SmileItsLife]

Not that well tbh. I'm still struggling in comparing myself to others. For our didactic science classes, multiple people are literally complaining about how they were one point away from an A while I'm just happy I'm getting a B and not a C. Hopefully it shouldn't be an issue because I'm probably not interested in specializing, but I don't want to be at the bottom of my class either seems like everyone is smarter than me...and also I'm struggling a bit with the handskills/lab too, I've had to come early/stay late multiple times/have turned in things late/too close to the deadline and I guess I'm just worried for upcoming semesters, I really need to get on top of things--this Thanksgiving break I'm going to reflect on my performance and come up with a game plan for the winter semester, I feel like I wasn't ready and was still in the process of transitioning/getting used to being in this new environment and that affected my attitude and performance

Also don't appreciate how similar to high school dental school is, I wasn't expecting that lol. I guess I'm kinda anti social being stuck with the same people for 4 years is something I didn't anticipate would be a problem for me, but it kinda is lol. I dislike the cliquey environment and sometimes feel like I need a break from hanging out with my class mates. Tbh I dont really hang out with them much outside of school, thankfully I have some non dental school related friends in the area and I find myself wanting to spend more time with them...idk if this is good lol

Comparison is the thief of joy. I'm not in dental school, but I relate to this post so well. The classes in my major are really small, so I take the same class with the same 20 students each semester. Everyone in my upper level of chemistry class seems to know and remember everything after being taught once especially this one guy. I just don't know how they do that-- like how?

I've come to realize that we all just have different strengths, and I just have to up my own game and learn how to study more efficiently and more in general.

Hopefully, it gets better for you academically and socially...

 

[fit2]

Dental school is nice. It’s busier (so harder) than undergrad and you learn a lot of stuff that’s super interesting and integrates fairly nicely. Every school hasn’t problems so of course there’s some negatives. But overall people are great and it’s so nice to be around driven people (like everyone!)
Start off on a good foot and don’t discouraged because of one negative event. Also be dynamic in how you study, with your schedule, managing time because you have to react fast and implement changes see if they work! I’m living the dream, feels nice to finally do something you been planning for 4+ years.
No way it’s as bad as a lot of people say (but I guess I’ve never been in the shoes of someone who is close to failing...that can happen but those are more select cases, like people out of school for a while, not managing time well, not getting things done when you have to). I still have hours to my day if I wanna just binge a show or hang out with friends. But it is wise to get in a rhythm and try to study somehow regularly. Same as others posted, the best thing so far for me was studying for each exam as it comes but if I have the discipline to put study blocks in the am before classes, that would be amazing. I’ll see how I feel next semester haha now just gotta get through finals and crazy as it sounds first semester will be over (this will probably be the fastest time in your life..:they -the school- feel bad if they know you’re not stupid busy)

 

[GoldenCrown]

I don’t know why I’m frustrated at grades. Everyone gets 100 or above on all exams no matter how hard exams are. Everyone is just so smart. And I’m here in the 80s, maybe mid 90s if I study hard enough. I’m trying to not compare my grades with my classmates but it’s discouraging to be somewhere in the middle or bottom list. This is for the basic sciences. My grades on practicals in sim lab are great. Anyone else on the same boat?

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

I don’t know why I’m frustrated at grades. Everyone gets 100 or above on all exams no matter how hard exams are. Everyone is just so smart. And I’m here in the 80s, maybe mid 90s if I study hard enough. I’m trying to not compare my grades with my classmates but it’s discouraging to be somewhere in the middle or bottom list. This is for the basic sciences. My grades on practicals in sim lab are great. Anyone else on the same boat?

I promise that's not actually the case. One of the D'18s told me when I started that everyone in D-School "blows smoke". Truer words were never said.

I had a friend of mine who went on and on about how they "crushed" our first gross exam. They got something like a 75%, which for them may very well have been crushing it.

Moral of the story, keep swimming and you may be surprise when class rank comes out. I was.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[GoldenCrown]

I promise that's not actually the case. One of the D'18s told me when I started that everyone in D-School "blows smoke". Truer words were never said.

I had a friend of mine who went on and on about how they "crushed" our first gross exam. They got something like a 75%, which for them may very well have been crushing it.

Moral of the story, keep swimming and you may be surprise when class rank comes out. I was.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I know what you’re saying but I can’t help comparing myself to others and it brings me down and makes me feel like I suck. Frustrating when someone didn’t study and get a high grade and you’ve practiced/studied hard and end up with a subpar grade. Ugh.

 

[fit2]

I don’t know why I’m frustrated at grades. Everyone gets 100 or above on all exams no matter how hard exams are. Everyone is just so smart. And I’m here in the 80s, maybe mid 90s if I study hard enough. I’m trying to not compare my grades with my classmates but it’s discouraging to be somewhere in the middle or bottom list. This is for the basic sciences. My grades on practicals in sim lab are great. Anyone else on the same boat?

There are some tests where people actually failed (biochem prof retired last year so we had a bunch of researchers teach the course. We had 9 instructors :| and learned the most random things in detail that we totally don’t need to know. But yes I feel your “frustration” cause averages are high 80’s most of times. Just remember you have many driven people so that makes sense. But also don’t get discouraged because
1. You take so many credits in d school so you’ll actually average your good and bad grades. Just try to work your hardest in each class and whenever you don’t get a good grade don’t get hung up on it. It’s easy to but just remember you have hundreds of tests left in d school lol
2. Remember d school is not just academics. It is in first 2-3 years but hand skills and people skills will also pay off when you are an upperclassmen. Some of the people in my class I bet will struggle with some of that. So just remember some might do better now but struggle later.
3. Remember there’s always gonna be a few insane people in your class. They probably don’t represent majority but most likely everyone will talk about their achievement. Don’t get caught up by people doing well just try your hardest and most importantly look forward and be dynamic in your study. I know it sucks to tweak things but if you’re able to adapt fast you’ll do better

 

[GoldenCrown]

There are some tests where people actually failed (biochem prof retired last year so we had a bunch of researchers teach the course. We had 9 instructors :| and learned the most random things in detail that we totally don’t need to know. But yes I feel your “frustration” cause averages are high 80’s most of times. Just remember you have many driven people so that makes sense. But also don’t get discouraged because
1. You take so many credits in d school so you’ll actually average your good and bad grades. Just try to work your hardest in each class and whenever you don’t get a good grade don’t get hung up on it. It’s easy to but just remember you have hundreds of tests left in d school lol
2. Remember d school is not just academics. It is in first 2-3 years but hand skills and people skills will also pay off when you are an upperclassmen. Some of the people in my class I bet will struggle with some of that. So just remember some might do better now but struggle later.
3. Remember there’s always gonna be a few insane people in your class. They probably don’t represent majority but most likely everyone will talk about their achievement. Don’t get caught up by people doing well just try your hardest and most importantly look forward and be dynamic in your study. I know it sucks to tweak things but if you’re able to adapt fast you’ll do better

Well-said, thank you!

 

[Life of Pablo]

There are some tests where people actually failed (biochem prof retired last year so we had a bunch of researchers teach the course. We had 9 instructors :| and learned the most random things in detail that we totally don’t need to know. But yes I feel your “frustration” cause averages are high 80’s most of times. Just remember you have many driven people so that makes sense. But also don’t get discouraged because

Gotta love it when there's no communication between lecturers and they end up all presenting very random, incoherent topics