Ahhh the bitter tongue and attitude of a 2nd year!! You know you're dealing with a second year when it's all death and gloom. Nothing to fear future SBDM people it's just the product of a rough year in dental school. Perhaps, maybe FightingSpirit is a little upset that he/she is in SB or even in dentistry for that matter. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt. However, I do agree with one thing Fightingspirit said.. Do come to SB and talk to as many people as you can! I'm sure you will hear plenty of people say they love this place.
On a more positive note I would like to lend my impression of stony Brook from a soon-to-be 4th year's perspective. Here it is in a nut shell:
1. First year is spent at the hospital taking classes with the med students. For the most part it is ok. They don't pay much attention to us and sometimes even forget that dental students are in the crowd.. Don't get your panties in a bunch about this.. We'll be laughing later when we have an easier, more fulfilling life.
2. Second year is rough! But it is also you're first real year of dental school. You are learning (and doing in clinic!) so many really cool things. In case you didn't know this, I'll tell you now.. Nothing about dentistry is HARD -- nothing will be above your head. There is just a lot of work! Nothing good comes easy.
3. Most of the faculty is really good. The curriculum is pretty well spread out and covers all the bases. You will do fine on the boards. Fightingspirit was right when he said that schools like Columbia and Uconn teach you for the boards and probably do it better than SB.. BUT, SB students do great on the boards! On average 15-20% of the class specializes (not GPRs) and gets into the programs of their choice!
4. Even though a GPR is now mandatory in NY to get licensed you will still be better off coming from a school with a strong clinical background. For instance, some schools make you do a minimum of 7 crowns between 3/4yr and at SB you have to do 26! This is only one example. Also, when you are in residency no one is holding your hand and watching over your back like they are when you are a dental student.. So it pays to get as much experience as possible before residency
5. WE HAVE LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of patients. Not just medicaid patients! This means you get to do real dentistry.. Stuff you will be doing on the outside.. Not just extractions and dentures...
6. 3rd year is pretty great and a far cry from the rigors of 2nd year. You get a ton more clinical experience than you did in second year and become more proficient in all aspects of dentistry. In 4th year this only gets better.
7. As for specialties we have Ortho, Pedo, Endo, Pedo at the school. There is plenty of opportunity to assist and spend time visiting these programs if you are interested in them. There is no OS program at the school but there is a OS suite with attending faculty and residents -- WHERE all surgical procedures at the school are completed. They also hold a Journal Club every week.. So, I don't see where it is hard to get info or experience in OS if that is your cup of tea. I know of two people in the graduating class going into OS programs. And lets not forget about externships and internships. If you want to specialize you gotta play the game and make yourself into a good candidate.. Meaning good scores, grades, desire and interest!
Ok, now I am bored of writing.. If anyone has questions feel free to message me and I'll do my best to get back to you. Just remember don't pay much attention to the rantings of a select few people..
Happy days...
lol.....curious to know who you are.... u did not need to discredit me by personal attacks though. you could have just presented rebuttals without the smearing in the first and last paragraphs. whatever....it's all good. i'll make this as brief as i can.
1- i did not say that sb dental is a bad school so your pride should be well-preserved; no need for subtle-but-not-so-subtle insults. but sb dental has flaws and it would be bizarre not to admit that. you are depicting an overtly +ve picture of stony. that is not right!
2- second yr is not just rough. it is messy, inherently disorganized, and counter to what you said, not all the bases are covered at all. i am done with my second yr and i have yet to take an official class in cariology. our professors do a magnificant job at explaining salivary function and collagen metabolism but no one has actually bothered to teach us sclerotic dentin vs frank carious material. no one! classes are extremely compressed n order to prepare students for early placement in clinic, which flies in the face of learning! th boards will be pass/fail; however, one must not ignore the fact that buffalo gives 8 weeks of study time for their kids while us poor bastads had to fight tooth and nail for 3 weeks.
3- it is true that 20% specialize but it is not true that they get into the programs of their choice. cannot say much about the class of 2007 but i can say a couple of things about the class of 2008. it's not really about the number of those who specialize. it's about those who want to and dont get it. in terms of ortho, 2 people got what they want, and those were the top of the top. one student wanted ortho and was also top of the top. the student did not make it. imho, that student was perfect. it's sb dental that limits the student's time that could be used to buttress resumes and stand out! in terms of OS, 4 people applied. one did not make it whatsoever. another one got way less than what they deserved. that student was also la creme de la creme. the other two made it. one of them, who was also an awesome applicant, told me specifically with their own words that they were "mocked at several interviews for being from stony". let lightening strike me dead if i am lying. and if i can garuantee 100% that you're not forwarding my posts to faculty and the rest of your classmates, i would reveal other things but i won't. given our school's sickening gossipy small class environment, who knows what gets in the hands of faculty. even a fart gets reported at our school. let's not go there...lol...
4-in terms of externships, before you consider them, perhaps you wanna check out our academic calnder and clinical requirements. maybe you'll get an idea of how much SIGNIFICANT externing you can actually do. again, let us not go there....
5- in terms of "playing the game"...i dont understand you. i am sorry you consider this a "game". board scores are not part of a "game". they are pretty straight forward if the poor sb student has a bit more time to prepare for them. in terms of grades, you are right. it is a game. after all, if you can memorize old exams like a droid and recite them like a sheep, you win. god forbid you try to understand what's goin on. whatever....you are right about second year being rough. i have more realistic descriptions though. how about: an orgy of academic sadism, a passive-agressive form of psychological torture; torment.
6-as far as this:
"Even though a GPR is now mandatory in NY to get licensed you will still be better off coming from a school with a strong clinical background. For instance, some schools make you do a minimum of 7 crowns between 3/4yr and at SB you have to do 26! This is only one example. Also, when you are in residency no one is holding your hand and watching over your back like they are when you are a dental student.. So it pays to get as much experience as possible before residency"
i totally agree! but again, this is great for those who wish to be high-tax-bracket GPs who do anything and everything in their future practices, as i have repeatedly said. however, 26 crowns is a disaster for those who have to hustle their patients to get to pay for them and for those who need time off for some research or externing to butress their applications for something other than gp. residents from other schools who come to sb to do their gpr or os have repeatedly comented on how long sb keeps some of their 4th years before they let them go. again, let lightning strike me and split me into 2 if i am lying.
in conclusion, most people who come to sb dental have a pretty good idea of what they want and what they're gettin into. but if there are people out there who are only in it for the affordability, i hope they take a closer look at what they're about to get themselves into before they take the plunge. nothing wrong with that. when people know all this, then it's better for both the applicant and the school itself.
peace. i used up all my break time for the day.
