How to survive dental school?

[license2kill]

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For those who have already gone through the first year of dental school, I am wondering how the first year will be like? Will it be hell? I am all the more worried because I have a wife and son by my side.

I will be starting at Colorado in the fall and I am a bit nervous to say the least. It seems that Colorado makes students take the boards after year one. I guess that equates to cramming all the science knowledge in one year. Is this a good thing?

Any advice for surviving the first year would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

 

[Lidopaine82]

For those who have already gone through the first year of dental school, I am wondering how the first year will be like? Will it be hell? I am all the more worried because I have a wife and son by my side.

I will be starting at Colorado in the fall and I am a bit nervous to say the least. It seems that Colorado makes students take the boards after year one. I guess that equates to cramming all the science knowledge in one year. Is this a good thing?

Any advice for surviving the first year would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

1. show up
2. put forth effort

 

[tinman831]

All the information that a dental student needs to take part 1 is given in courses during your first year. I would have liked to take part 1 after first year when the information is fresh rather than wait a year and forget it all.

 

[carbide]

I'll let you know in July after boards if it is a good thing! It has not been hell in the least. Sometimes it sucks but it is pretty chill for the most part. Cramming anatomy which consisted of neuro/gross/histology all into 10 weeks was pretty intense but doable. A number of my classmates have families and seem to do just fine. If you stay on task there should be time for both.

So to break my D1 experience down:

Fall=1st half there was a lot of free time. 2nd half anatomy which progressively got worse until christmas. If you are trying for a top grade anatomy can be really stressful right at the end.

Spring=Way easier than all of fall semester imo. Lots of free time. Tests seem to come in waves. so you do nothing for a couple weeks then study hard.

Colorado is great school congratulations!

 

[license2kill]

Thanks for the info guys. I have been focusing on getting in for a while so I do not know much about dental school post acceptance. Hopefully Colorado would be similar to your experiences.

 

[Sajitude]

For those who have already gone through the first year of dental school, I am wondering how the first year will be like? Will it be hell? I am all the more worried because I have a wife and son by my side.

I will be starting at Colorado in the fall and I am a bit nervous to say the least. It seems that Colorado makes students take the boards after year one. I guess that equates to cramming all the science knowledge in one year. Is this a good thing?

Any advice for surviving the first year would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

D1 year is by far the hardest academic year of my life so far. You will study harder than you ever have and you will be looking forward to the year ending. Many deadlines will seem unrealistic and some classes may be frustrating. With that said dental school is one of the most amazing experiences of my life and would do this year all over again if I had to. D1 year ends in a month for me.

The only advice I would give or can give is just do your best and don't try to be the best. You are only capable of so much and that may mean you will be number 1 or 80/80 regardless just give it all you have and enjoy the ride.

 

[prOMFS]

For those who have already gone through the first year of dental school, I am wondering how the first year will be like? Will it be hell? I am all the more worried because I have a wife and son by my side.

I will be starting at Colorado in the fall and I am a bit nervous to say the least. It seems that Colorado makes students take the boards after year one. I guess that equates to cramming all the science knowledge in one year. Is this a good thing?

Any advice for surviving the first year would be greatly appreciated. 🙂

FIRST of all, CONGRATS on your acceptance to Colorado. SECOND, yes...D1 is hard, but "doable". THIRD, It is way much better to take the NBDE 1 after D1, since you don't have to wait up 2 full years to cram up all the DENTAL DECKS (biochem, physio, anat, pathology) from classes you probably will take on your first year (this is true if your school offers all the basic sciences courses on the 1st year)

What awaits you is a lot of sacrifice, lots of COFFEE, COKES, but you'll do fine.

 

[license2kill]

thanks guys. Just give it my best shot and enjoy the ride!

 

[peola16]

Confession: I'm a dental school "widow" if your wife can just prepare herself for not having a whole lot of help from you, can get used to doing things on her own, has other things outside of your relationship to keep her occupied, you should be fine. I moved across the country with my husband, left family, job, friends, all of it -- but watching him get to do what he's always wanted to do and seeing how happy he is makes it all SO worth it.

Anyway -- my point is, if she's prepared and has accepted that it will be hard on her and your child, she'll start ahead of the game. We've seen a few couples not make it already, but I came into it knowing it's only 4 years and then the rest of our lives are going to be pretty great. Luckily for me, my career took off too, so I'm pretty busy! Oh and every once in awhile, remind yourself to thank her and do some things that show your appreciation. It will go a long way 🙂

 

[NVM3]

First year was the worst frickin year ever! I live in the midwest, SO, I woke up and got to school when it was dark, I left school at 5 when it was dark, and on top of that it was cold! Then in the spring semester, it was just as horrible except I got to see the sun. Horrible, horrible, horrible. 😱 Good luck!

 

[Drill Doc]

Dental school is like the 50 yard dash. Look left, look right, BANG... It's over.

 

[haisha ni narou]

Redbull and Monster got me through my first year of school.

 

[Oracle DMD]

i didn't think D1 was that bad. the material wasn't hard but boy oh boy there was plenty of it haha. #1 show up #2 study on the weekend #3 be a good time manager and you'll cruise right through 1st year.

 

[electron]

From my experience, D1 is as hard or as easy as you want it to be. If you are the type that wants nothing less than superb grades it can add stress and hard work to the mix.

If you don't worry about grades and are looking only to pass, dental school is actually extremely easy.

 

[DCRedskinsRule]

From my experience, D1 is as hard or as easy as you want it to be. If you are the type that wants nothing less than superb grades it can add stress and hard work to the mix.

If you don't worry about grades and are looking only to pass, dental school is actually extremely easy.

I'm not sure if I agree with "extremely easy" but electron is definitely right about his point. The volume of information is essentially impossible, but if you're not gunning towards the top and focus more on learning and understanding the concepts to make sure you actually KNOW the information instead of just memorizing every detail to get every single point, the first year of dental school is definitely do-able.

 

[Drill Doc]

D1 year is by far the hardest academic year of my life so far. You will study harder than you ever have and you will be looking forward to the year ending. Many deadlines will seem unrealistic and some classes may be frustrating....

Wait until second year and then get back to us...

 

[makushin]

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