IUSD info Please

My pleasure.

First year is mostly a matter of adjustment, and in my experience there are primarily two kinds. Everyone in dental school was pretty successful in college, and the new little-fish-big-pond mentality is what takes the most getting used to. The first kind is for people who have excelled all their lives and continue excelling in dental school. The issue for these folks is that dental school requires a lot more effort to do well in, so it's easy to (incorrectly) feel like you're not quite as sharp as you used to be. On the other hand you have folks like me, who did well in college but for whom continuing that trend requires more effort than it's worth. If you want to be a general dentist, you can worry less about grades and more about learning. For me, the biggest issue is getting the occasional pang of obligation to be doing as well in school as I always have. Then you get over it.

I actually don't know this off the top of my head, but I do know we don't routinely make the top ten. OTOH, I don't think we have much trouble with people not passing either. Our class is taking a lot more initiative toward boards than the ones immediately preceding us, but board performance is mostly up to the individual anyway.

Buying a laptop is mandatory. Buying their laptop is not. If you're comfortable buying your own computer, or bringing one from home, you'll be fine. I bought a Gateway and have had no trouble. The only thing you absolutely *must* have is wireless capability.

If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Good luck!

 

Bill. I would like to hear your comments about laptop.
While I interviewed in IUSD, the student told me laptop
was not that useful. Since USC and IUSD are PBL schools,
do you think I should buy one? USC does not require
students to buy, but I would like to know if it really helps.
Thanks.

 

1st off, wish you the best of luck farmgirl. i hope we become classmates soon.


now, i just received the laptop info from iusd and they did mention that you can buy from whoever you want. Bill, do you recall how much your laptop cost you from gateway? also, what are you doing this weekend ? i'll be there Thu-SUN if you wanna hang out.

 

Personally, I get a lot of mileage out of my laptop. It's listed as a requirement for school, and while I can't think of many, there are a few instances (viewing exam images, occasionally needing them for PBL) that not having one could be troublesome. Especially placed alongside the rest of the cost of your dental education, no-frills laptops are inexpensive enough that I'd recommend going ahead and getting one. If you're comfortable ordering one yourself, great; or if you'd like, I'd be more than happy to help you pick one out. Bottom line, yeah, you should probably go ahead and get one if you decide to attend IUSD.

 

I think, with all the accessories, mine totaled up to $1400 or so. I could've gotten a less expensive one and still been fine, but I'm enough of a computer nerd that I went ahead and got a system with a little more muscle.

As for this weekend, I'd love to get together for a while! I have a couple friends from undergrad I get together with every Friday. We usually (sorta) watch a movie, order some pizza, and tip a few brewskis. It's low-key, but a good time. Sound OK to you?

 

Bill. Thanks for your reply. I agree with you that lapton
could help learning and discussion especially about the
images. Thanks!

By the way, which model do you have?

 

Yeah, there's a list of software you should have installed for school, but the university will supply it to you for next to nothing. It's $5, and it comes with maybe a dozen useful programs (Winzip, Winamp, Adobe Acrobat, and some others). Plus, IU is in bed with Microsoft, so you can get any MS products dirt cheap, or even download them from the network for free. When you're getting the laptop, don't pay extra to get any software included, since you can get everything you need MUCH cheaper on campus.

 

I can't remember the model number I have, but it's a 2.2GHz Celeron, 384MB RAM, 40GB drive, 15" screen, CD-RW. Gateway was running a sale when I bought it. I got an awesome deal.

 

hey Bill, the plan def sounds good. i'll call you on Fri.

 

here is the laptop info that IUSD sent me.
DELL LATITUDE D600 RECOMMENDED.
CPU PIV 2.0 GHZ
SCREEN 14.1 IN ACTIVE
MEM 512MB RAM
HARD DISK 40.0 GB

CD-R/DVD-ROM
MODEM 56K V90
INTEGRATED WIRELESS OR WIRELESS CAPIBILITIES VIA WIRELESS CARD

NETWORK CARD 10/100 ETHERNET ADAPTOR
OPERATING SYS WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL
OFFICE SUITES MICROSOFT OFFICE XP OR MICROSOFT OFFICE 2003


ANY LAPTOP THE STUDENT ELECTS MUST MEET OR EXCEED THESE SPECIFICATIONS.



iusd will also config any other notebooks for a fee of $150. tech support will be free if purchased through iusd. if not, then tech support will be avail for $75/hour.





hope this helped a little.
oh one more thing for you Bill. how come you noone has created student website for iusd?

 

Yeah, I got the same warning. To my knowledge, nobody actually enforces the minimum requirements. You could wait until you got here and ask the people in the office what the *actual* policy is, as opposed to the official one. You won't need the laptops for the first several weeks.

And, we do have student websites. I'm the webmaster for the first-year class, but they're kept on the school intranet so they're private. I'm considering moving ours to some public webspace I own, to eliminate some technical headaches. If I do that, I'll post the address here so people can visit if they want.