Summers off?

[Aestheticbrah]

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Please note down the dental school that you go to and how long summer breaks you guys get at the end of each school year.

Just wondering because if I had to choose between UoP and another dental school this would be a BIG factor. Why do 4 years all round curriculum when you can do 3.

 

[bigstix808]

Please note down the dental school that you go to and how long summer breaks you guys get at the end of each school year.

Just wondering because if I had to choose between UoP and another dental school this would be a BIG factor. Why do 4 years all round curriculum when you can do 3.

lol... summers off... go to med school.

 

[CMistry]

At Maryland we get 3 months off after freshman year (you must take your NBDE 1 exam at some point though), and one month off the following two summers. It makes for great vacations but I definitely see your point with UOP.

 

[Aestheticbrah]

At Maryland we get 3 months off after freshman year (you must take your NBDE 1 exam at some point though), and one month off the following two summers. It makes for great vacations but I definitely see your point with UOP.

Wow! There's so much variation in schools!

 

[Kahr]

Midwestern AZ:

D1 - May 20th - Aug 23rd (Must take NBDE part 1 this summer following first year)
D2 - May 19th - Aug 22nd
D3 - May 26th - Jun 5th, Aug 18th - Aug 22nd
D4 - June 10th commencement

All approximate and tentative breaks.

http://www.midwestern.edu/Glendale_AZ_Campus/Academic_Calendar.html

 

[Aestheticbrah]

Midwestern AZ:

D1 - May 20th - Aug 23rd (Must take NBDE part 1 this summer following first year)
D2 - May 19th - Aug 22nd
D3 - May 26th - Jun 5th, Aug 18th - Aug 22nd
D4 - June 10th commencement

All approximate and tentative breaks.

http://www.midwestern.edu/Glendale_AZ_Campus/Academic_Calendar.html

I am not sure I understand this. So D1 gets a break from May 20th to August 23rd, D2 gets a break from May 19th to August 22nd etc? I thought Midwestern had 4 quarters? Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer...hence its an all year round school?

 

[Kahr]

I am not sure I understand this. So D1 gets a break from May 20th to August 23rd, D2 gets a break from May 19th to August 22nd etc? I thought Midwestern had 4 quarters? Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer...hence its an all year round school?

If you're honestly having trouble understanding/believing what I said, then I highly recommend clicking on the link I posted and reading in black and white the academic calendar.

 

[Aestheticbrah]

If you're honestly having trouble understanding/believing what I said, then I highly recommend clicking on the link I posted and reading in black and white the academic calendar.

Oh ok. I understand now. So Midwestern has breaks after D1 and D2 but D3 and D4 are all year round clinical.

 

[sugartooth]

My school didn't have summer breaks. Depending on what year you were, there were 1-2 weeks in May, 1 week off during the week of July 4th, and 2-3 weeks in August. Summers off in dental school? If I'm paying $40k a year for school, I sure as hell want them teaching me things during summer, too! You have to remember that graduating dental school isn't like graduating high school - you actually have to take what you've learned from dental school and use it make a career for yourself in the real world. Squeeze every ounce of knowledge you possibly can out of it, you'll need it when you are done!

 

[diasIItema]

$40 k a year for school? I'm in-state for my school and pay nearly double that. I'll happily take summers off, personally. We get summer off after D1, but we started in June and not August, so really we fill up four years and four summers.

 

[UCSD6]

Remember that schools with summers off, don't make you pay for the summer off. Schools charger per semester/quarter, so if you have summer semester off you year of tuition is cut down by 33.3% I believe this is one of the cases that many schools don't offer summer off, too make sure to maximize there profits. Remember that education is a business.

 

[Michael Scarn]

Pacific gets summers off. 1 month off for summer. 2 weeks for Christmas and 1 week between the other two quarters.

 

[sugartooth]

I guess my point was not necessarily how much you are/aren't paying for school, it's how much of an opportunity you have/don't have to learn in school. Your career is going to depend on how much you can take away from dental school - it isn't like high school or undergrad where you cram info in, take the exam, and then as long as you pass it doesn't matter what you remember. Patients at the dental school might be understanding if you don't know something or are unsure, but patients in private practice certainly aren't. I went to a school that even has a reputation for producing dentists that are clinically excellent/ready for practice, and I'm still astounded at how much I've learned since I've been out of school.

If you go to any school (3 year, 4 year, summers off, summers on, whatever) and think that you are going to graduate knowing all there is to know, you've got another thing coming. Which kind of led to my point that I'd go to the school that you can learn the most from - I'd rather go 4 years year-round than 4 years with summers off, because you'll have learned & have that much more experience from the "extra" time spent in school.

 

[UCSD6]

all dental schools will prepare you for the bare minimum, to pass your boards. Some are more proactive in there education and learn more in dental school, while some do the bare minimum to get by. Either way, your learning doesn't stop in dental school, that is where it begins. You will learn much more when you get out.

 

[jpark1800]

I guess my point was not necessarily how much you are/aren't paying for school, it's how much of an opportunity you have/don't have to learn in school. Your career is going to depend on how much you can take away from dental school - it isn't like high school or undergrad where you cram info in, take the exam, and then as long as you pass it doesn't matter what you remember. Patients at the dental school might be understanding if you don't know something or are unsure, but patients in private practice certainly aren't. I went to a school that even has a reputation for producing dentists that are clinically excellent/ready for practice, and I'm still astounded at how much I've learned since I've been out of school.

If you go to any school (3 year, 4 year, summers off, summers on, whatever) and think that you are going to graduate knowing all there is to know, you've got another thing coming. Which kind of led to my point that I'd go to the school that you can learn the most from - I'd rather go 4 years year-round than 4 years with summers off, because you'll have learned & have that much more experience from the "extra" time spent in school.

knowledge is NOBODY's property..and especially not the property of these corrupt educational institutions.. If you want to learn something you can always learn something without the help of these schools. Go to the school that you feel comfortable with. And personally I would go to school with the summers off, to study for boards and actually enjoy what little is left of your youth life

 

[1docholliday]

Re: Midwestern AZ
Between 1st and 2nd year we get May - Aug off.. in that time period you're required to take the NBDE1. The rest of the breaks are only two weeks long and you work through clinicals. So, in May of your second year, you get 2 weeks, then re-enter as intro to clinical and you begin working. So, yeah, just summer off b/w 1 and 2. Hope that clarifies that. I am a student here, so no need to argue that point.

 

[Muggsy Bogues]

Just go to Pacific. Three years, get it over with.

It's not like you're going to have a summer vacation at most other schools anyway.

Wish I would have considered UoP.

 

[Muggsy Bogues]

lol... summers off... go to med school.

Whoa whoa whoa but a lot of them do "research" in their summers.

*Post-doc sips coffee and laughs at med student running all his Westerns for him*