I am looking into the Lecom Dental program. I wanted some feedback on how the PBL is and what the weekly schedule is typically like for D1 and D2. Thanks!
LECOM Bradenton
- Thread starter Kendygo
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Weekly schedule typically 8AM-4PM in class/lab give or take. Varies based on a grouping system in place, what classes/block you are in.
PBL to sum it up is case study based learning. Its a lot more interactive than traditional learning and has its pros and cons. Pro's is that you learn the material really well, cons is that it is not the most efficient way of learning. I personally like it over having to go to multiple lectures. There is a lot of group interaction and reading involved. Instead of going to a separate anatomy, biochemistry, pathology, histology, neurology, etc lectures, you learn them all simultaneously and have one giant test three times a semester.
The test are not very hard to pass...even though it seems that they would be...and you learn the material way better than chugging lectures. I did a much more comprehensive guide on the lecom 2023 page
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PBL to sum it up is case study based learning. Its a lot more interactive than traditional learning and has its pros and cons. Pro's is that you learn the material really well, cons is that it is not the most efficient way of learning. I personally like it over having to go to multiple lectures. There is a lot of group interaction and reading involved. Instead of going to a separate anatomy, biochemistry, pathology, histology, neurology, etc lectures, you learn them all simultaneously and have one giant test three times a semester.
The test are not very hard to pass...even though it seems that they would be...and you learn the material way better than chugging lectures. I did a much more comprehensive guide on the lecom 2023 page
*** The Official LECOM Class of 2023 Interview/Acceptance Thread ***
Hi , when did you apply if you don't mind me asking July 31st
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You’ll often hear about judging the “vibe” of a school during interview season. My intention here isn’t to turn you off, but I and many others I’ve spoken too that visited felt LECOM had about the weirdest vibe of any school. A big part of that was the PBL curriculum, which most (not all) students seemed to say: you may get used to it, but you never like it. Again, not trying to slam it, but they have a different philosophy. Some people love it. It’s polarizing, so I just think it’s good to know going in that it may be different than you expect and that may be a good thing for you, but maybe not.
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One thing I will add is that I know lots of schools claim they have superior clinical experience but LECOM imo is superior in that starting D1 year you are working on patients. In other schools from what I hear you may assist but at LECOM as a first year student I was in the clinic doing hygiene as the actual student doctor. It was MY patient. Second years are doing fillings in the clinic and third years do it all.
From what I am aware of no other school is trusting their D1's and D2's to do actual work on patients. By the time we hit the clinic in our third year we are already extremely comfortable with working on actual humans not just manequins. The staff at LECOM actually trusts you.
There are D1's at our school who have already dome simple extractions because our oral surgeon at the school is a firm believer that to get good at something you actually have to do it. So if he is helping a D3 extract a tooth and a D1 is around he will make the D3 switch out if they have already done plenty and will train the D1 to extract. Tell me one single school where youve heard that happen.
Not going to tons of lectures allows us more time in the clinics either as a student doctor or as an assistant.
Also our staff is pretty receptive to changes, when we want something changed as far as didactics go, we usually get our way.
So if I am being completely honest what would I say about my experience at LECOM so far? I wouldnt choose any other school over it because although I am positive that there are other schools that have better didactic curriculum, I truly believe with all my being that LECOM has the best clinical experience. From our sim lab instructors to our clinic preceptors and specialists.
I think our diactics are great because it really makes you think in terms of clinic. They way PBL is designed is so that you spend more time on actual things you might see as a doctor in your office. You spend more time learning medication interactions, treatment planning based on highly prevalent diseases, etc.
We may spend less time on biochemistry, anatomy, and histology but honestly after you take your boards youre gonna forget that stuff anyways and trust me...boards are designed to where its almost hard to fail.. so going to a school with a superior biochem instructor vs one that is just acceptable is not going to make a big difference. Im not saying that LECOM is bad for boards either...our pass rate is almost perfect. But at the end of the day I'd would rather pick a school that trains and reinforces me to understand what medications and conditions a patient might have that might cause them to die in my chair from a shot of lidocaine rather than make sure that I know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
From what I am aware of no other school is trusting their D1's and D2's to do actual work on patients. By the time we hit the clinic in our third year we are already extremely comfortable with working on actual humans not just manequins. The staff at LECOM actually trusts you.
There are D1's at our school who have already dome simple extractions because our oral surgeon at the school is a firm believer that to get good at something you actually have to do it. So if he is helping a D3 extract a tooth and a D1 is around he will make the D3 switch out if they have already done plenty and will train the D1 to extract. Tell me one single school where youve heard that happen.
Not going to tons of lectures allows us more time in the clinics either as a student doctor or as an assistant.
Also our staff is pretty receptive to changes, when we want something changed as far as didactics go, we usually get our way.
So if I am being completely honest what would I say about my experience at LECOM so far? I wouldnt choose any other school over it because although I am positive that there are other schools that have better didactic curriculum, I truly believe with all my being that LECOM has the best clinical experience. From our sim lab instructors to our clinic preceptors and specialists.
I think our diactics are great because it really makes you think in terms of clinic. They way PBL is designed is so that you spend more time on actual things you might see as a doctor in your office. You spend more time learning medication interactions, treatment planning based on highly prevalent diseases, etc.
We may spend less time on biochemistry, anatomy, and histology but honestly after you take your boards youre gonna forget that stuff anyways and trust me...boards are designed to where its almost hard to fail.. so going to a school with a superior biochem instructor vs one that is just acceptable is not going to make a big difference. Im not saying that LECOM is bad for boards either...our pass rate is almost perfect. But at the end of the day I'd would rather pick a school that trains and reinforces me to understand what medications and conditions a patient might have that might cause them to die in my chair from a shot of lidocaine rather than make sure that I know that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
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