Indiana's PBL?

[s0chon02]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

So I have an interview there next wednesday.
What is the deal with PBL(problem based learning)? I've read a few posts on this subject, and understand that you learn through cases.

I've heard that they ask you about PBL during your interview. Would they ask about your general knowledge about the system or would they actually present a simple dental related case, and require you to make hypotheses accordingly?

Anything I should be aware of before I head up north? Any inputs appreciated!! 👍

 

[Regmata]

They will present you with a dental related case, often a small paragraph accompanied by a picture and then they will ask you to pretend to do PBL with them. In other words, you don't have to completely diagnose the problem on your own, but they do want see that you are able to intelligently add to a PBL session. You don't really need to know much, just some medical lingo and I would have a minimal background knowledge of oral pathology...not much, but you may want to at least be able to discern between a benign and malignant lesion...

If you want to learn a bit more about PBL before heading to the interview, just search it in google and read up on it. There is plenyy of information.

Don't worry too much about it, it was actually kind of fun.

 

[Chrono1984]

I interviewed there last year, and they didn't ask me about PBL at all.

 

[jeezy]

They will present you with a dental related case, often a small paragraph accompanied by a picture and then they will ask you to pretend to do PBL with them. In other words, you don't have to completely diagnose the problem on your own, but they do want see that you are able to intelligently add to a PBL session. You don't really need to know much, just some medical lingo and I would have a minimal background knowledge of oral pathology...not much, but you may want to at least be able to discern between a benign and malignant lesion...

what do you mean by discern? the only think i know is that benign is the better of the two (noncancerous)

 

[Regmata]

what do you mean by discern? the only think i know is that benign is the better of the two (noncancerous)

Just one of the many reasons you get to spend 4 years in dental school...btw, I was kidding about my interview there. I cannot imagine an adcom expecting students that they interview to know much if anything about dentistry, aside from what they have witnessed shadowing. I was asked how I felt about PBL, I explained my understanding of it, I asked them to give me an example of how it actually works and then we talked about it for a second...just be familiar with the concept

 

[jeezy]

whew, dont play with me like that!

 

[s0chon02]

Scared me there for a second, Regmata.

Thanks for the input!

 

[GrumpyDDS]

So I have an interview there next wednesday.
What is the deal with PBL(problem based learning)? I've read a few posts on this subject, and understand that you learn through cases.

I've heard that they ask you about PBL during your interview. Would they ask about your general knowledge about the system or would they actually present a simple dental related case, and require you to make hypotheses accordingly?

Anything I should be aware of before I head up north? Any inputs appreciated!! 👍

First of all, don't make IUSD your first choice dental school.
The PBL curriculum here is not as bad as dnetal schools such as USC. But we have exams twice a semester called "triple jump exams" where you sit one-on-one with a professor and you go through the steps of generating a hypothesis, doing research, making learning issues, making knowledge gaps, coming back and showing the professor what you've researched on, and evaluate your self. In other words, you have to tell the examiner what are your strengths and weaknesses. Doesn't sound to hard ey?

Well, the thing I hate about triple jump is that around 30% of your class will FAIL that test.

In addition, IUSD has a lot of old facility. IUSD was supposed to build a "new" dental school by 2010. But that plan won't happen and flew out the window after the cheating scandal this past May. Why? Because IU headquarteres in bloomington won't give any fundings to the dental school.
In addition, I've heard from other classmates and other dental students that the school doesn't receive enough donation from alumni. Hmmm, makes you wonder how "happy" we are to be at IUSD.

So I'm telling you all, don't make IUSD your first choice dental school. Sorry to sound negative, and I'm pretty sure some of you guys here are or were impressed (depending on whether you had your interview) by the school or facilities. But if I were to go back in time, I would have chosen another dental school.