NdnDntst1 said:
Do yourself a favor and go to Louisville. IUSD is the most crappiest institution I've ever seen. The administration is run by non dentist deans which sucks for the students b/c they have no clue what student's have to go thru thus they make decisions that are favorable to them. PBL sucks, especially at IUSD.
Check out your own post history. You think every dental school sucks.
To the OP, IU is fine. I can't say how it compares to Louisville, but I'm glad to be here, and you're talking about a *very* big difference financially when you look at the total cost of education at each school.
IU does devote a lot of time in the preclinic lab courses, but I think it pays dividends in terms of improved clinical skill. Just as an example, my class had a 95% first-time pass rate for the sim-unit portion of the NERB (the most popular licensing exam) this year, and 100% after the second attempt.
It's probably worth pointing out that I'm complimenting the lab curriculum *very* grudgingly, because I was one of the head-smart, hands-dumb people who completely sucked at lab work at first. I had to work my tail off for a year and a half before I finally got good with my hands. My work now looks as good as any of my classmates', but if IU hadn't made me work so hard early on I'd probably be a disaster in the clinics.
PBL is a pain. Some people like it, but I never did. It's a hassle, but you learn pretty quickly how to do it efficiently so it doesn't cut too far into the rest of your time.
Lack of administration interest in solving student body problems was a problem at IUSD for a long time, but it's come a long way in the past couple years. Dr. Kasberg, the same extremely nice guy you'll be working with on interview day, is the dean of student affairs, and you'll never meet anyone more energetic about making a school better for its students. Since he took the job, several new policies have been implemented, and old policies amended, to improve IUSD's student-friendliness.
Dental school will be a bear no matter where you go, but I'm glad I came to IU. It's definitely not perfect, but I'm getting a dental education I feel like I can rely on to get me started in the real world. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.
