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Everything is bigger in Texas.
Specialties getting more Competitive?
- Thread starter Waitlisted2009
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Everything is bigger in Texas.
People (especially pre-dents) need to chill out and hit their books, instead of obsessively analyzing the difficulty of getting into specialty programs. Many of my classmates who used to discuss the competitiveness of getting into specialty programs during the first year, are having a hard time passing the courses now. Yet, they were the ones who always bragged about how they want to get into "Ortho", lob lob lob lob lob. You know, There is this section on facebook called "About me". One of the girls had written an entire paragraph about how she is so determined to get into Ortho, even before school started. The poor girl failed gross in the first quarter, followed by Oral Path. Being curious about things is cool, but being overly obsessed can distract you from the main goal. The amin goal is to study the basics of dentisty as well as one can. Some of my classmates don't even want to know a thing or two about Prostho.
If you don't agree with what I say, ask the "school admin" above my post.
If you don't agree with what I say, ask the "school admin" above my post.
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I dunno man - being obsessed with my main goal sure helped me survive those endless tests of useless facts we were bombarded with! TNF-alpha and integrins, anyone? There was too much extra garbage we were bombarded with that had no relevance to clinical dentistry; I personally don't give a damn about 30s or 50s ribosomes or siRNA's, but wanting to specialize badly helped me give a damn at the time. Having the main goal of studying the basics of dentistry would have had my eyes glazed over or surfing Facebook during micro lectures instead of studying.
I agree though that people should keep quiet about their goals and be able to love general dentistry should they be unable to get into their chosen specialty. 4 years ago I was a strong believer in "where there's a will, there's an A" and that anyone could do it; now after seeing exactly what you just discussed, I'm not sure that's entirely true in dental school. Many people in my class told me, "I wanted to specialize in X, but then after the first few micro tests, that was over." I think some people genuinely worked extremely hard but were unable to memorize the boatloads of information thrown at them in dental school.
I do think most people could do it if they slaved away like I did, though. So get to work, gunners, and stop reading SDN!
Doc, being obsessed with your goal is the coolest thing ever, but it's different from obsessively analyzing things, which almost cannot be analyzed. By "The basics of dentistry", I basically meant all the courses at dental school. It's cool to have a goal, such as getting into Ortho, and that will certainly encourage you to do well in every single relevant or irrelevant course to dentistry. I'm just saying, once you get accepted to dental school, don't let discussions such as, is P/F school better than graded schools?, Do Ivy League students have an advantage for getting into specialties?, are especialties getting more competitive?, ... distract your mind. Try to do well in all your DS courses, rock your board, do EC activites, and you'll definitely get to your goal, if you are not one of those people who by no means are able to "memorize the boatloads of info thrown at them in DS".
With regards to your second paragraph, I believe there are people who can get the A, but don't get it due to lack of effort. There are people who put much more effort, yet they can't get it (they either don't have the talent, or don't use the right techniques). There are people who neither can, nore put the effort, and very few who can get A's with much less effort.
I like your "Stop reading SDN!" advice. I'm glad I didn't get to know about SDN until recently (I'm a second year). However, I'm pretty sure I would have found a way to dodge this cool website for my own good. All I'm saying is that predents and freshmen would be better off, if they didn't occupy their mind with these kind of rootless topics. Just check out the "nationalized health care" thread. 12 out of 27 posts are by pre-dents. No one has seen the bill yet; however, pre-dents are freaking out about losing their potential income of so many unlearned skills,which take 4+ years to learn.
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I disagree with all the "Ditch SDN" stuff. I'm glad I've had this website around through my dental school years. Despite the fact that 90% of this website is mindless ranting, trolls, jokes or hopeless predent sufferings, the other 10% makes it all worth it. Staying on top of the latest dental happenings, and great gems like the "New Practice Blog" thread are priceless.
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So, Thomas Edison's words, "There is no substitute for hard work," stands for over a century? Surprise... So to the incoming class who wants to specialize, get use to 6 pm to midnight (and later) shifts, back to back, month to month while your DS buddies are tailgating, cheering on the Patriots or at the bars. This cannot be true.
