Texas A&M D3 Ask me anything

[Advance]

Current D3. If you have any questions about A&M our curriculum, clinic or dental school in general I’d be happy to answer!

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[AppalachianDentalBoy]

Pros and cons? Best and worst thing about the school?
How does it compare to the other two Texas schools?
What is the culture like?
Are the clinical requirements easily attainable or is it stressful to get enough to graduate?
Do you plan to specialize, and do students at A&M have a good shot?
How do you think A&M compares regarding specializing to the other two schools in TX?

 

[clark5013]

scholarships?

 

[Advance]

Pros and cons? Best and worst thing about the school?
How does it compare to the other two Texas schools?
What is the culture like?
Are the clinical requirements easily attainable or is it stressful to get enough to graduate?
Do you plan to specialize, and do students at A&M have a good shot?
How do you think A&M compares regarding specializing to the other two schools in TX?

Oh, just a disclaimer. The school is about to undergo a major curriculum overhaul so this stuff might not be accurate by the time some of y’all start school or clinic.

Pros:
-Take NBDE early
We take NBDE 1 during the summer after D1 so the info is fresh.With integrated boards now I guess this won’t matter.
-Good patient pool
Generally don’t have to worry about finding your own patients
- Higher clinical requirements than other Tx schools
I don’t know of the exact numbers of procedures that the other schools have to complete but if I recall correctly we do about double the amount of removable cases that Houston does.

Cons:
-Excessive lab work
This combined with a lot of clinical requirements means you do ALOT of lab work. I used to think this was a pro before I started dental school but I find it to be more of an annoyance now.

I’d have to say the best thing would be the amount of exposure we get in the clinic. Lots of D4s feel comfortable jumping into practice immediately after graduation. The worst thing id say would probably be the lab work. There have been many nights this past semester where I should have been studying for an exam that I had the next day but instead I spent my evening setting teeth for a try-in.

I can’t really compare A&M to the other schools since I don’t know how their school or clinic operates. I also haven’t had a chance to talk to any students at other schools to get their input so I can’t comment on that.

Overall the school is pretty laid back. Just like any school there are nice people and people that aren’t very pleasant to be around. The most important thing is that you at least have one person in your class that you feel comfortable around. Going through D-school solo can be rough.

Yeah getting requirements is pretty stressful. The school tries to match up patient needs and the students requirements when assigning patients but sometimes things change. But generally if you stay busy during clinic you should be able to get them done.

I don’t plan on specializing. D1 year I was thinking about OMS but that quickly changed my first semester of dental school. Students at A&M definitely have a shot at specializing though. The ability to specialize has less to do with where you go and more to do with how you perform. Just be near the top of your class and you will be fine. (Easier said than done )

This is completely anecdotal since I don’t know the specialization rates at the other schools but I can’t imagine that specialization rates would differ much between the Texas schools.

scholarships?

The school does offer scholarships. The most common one is usually given D1 year to incoming students it was about 8k or so. Periodically the financial aid dept sends us emails about scholarships we can apply for as well. There might be more scholarships for very high academic performance but I wouldn’t know anything about that 🙄.

 

[ddsloading]

What ultimately made you decide on attending TAMU?

 

[GR1222]

How much did you study on average a week your first year? I’ll be attending this coming year and honestly preparing for the worst lol

 

[Advance]

What ultimately made you decide on attending TAMU?

I was accepted to 6 schools and A&M was the cheapest option and that’s really the primary reason I chose to attend. I’m a huge advocate of choosing the cheapest option.

How much did you study on average a week your first year? I’ll be attending this coming year and honestly preparing for the worst lol

Congrats on your acceptance! D1 year was pretty hectic when it came to exams. How much I studied really depended on how many exams I had that week. I usually only studied the night before most exams honestly. I did devote a little more time to gross anatomy, physiology and dental anatomy though. For quizzes I would usually study the morning of.

There were crazy weeks where I would have 5 exams 2 quizzes and a practical. On these weeks I just didn’t get much sleep. My schedule would be like leave school at around 5pm. Go home and study from 7pm-2am. Wake up at 5am to study for the quiz. Then head to school around 7:30am. Then rinse and repeat M-F. Weeks like this were rare though. And you get used to the constant exams after a while.


With D1 though it just really depends on your professional goals and how good you are at memorizing powerpoints. If you’re planning on specializing keep your grades as high as you can. If you plan on being a GP save yourself the stress and don’t freak out over every B or C you make.

 

[GR1222]

I was accepted to 6 schools and A&M was the cheapest option and that’s really the primary reason I chose to attend. I’m a huge advocate of choosing the cheapest option.




Congrats on your acceptance! D1 year was pretty hectic when it came to exams. How much I studied really depended on how many exams I had that week. I usually only studied the night before most exams honestly. I did devote a little more time to gross anatomy, physiology and dental anatomy though. For quizzes I would usually study the morning of.

There were crazy weeks where I would have 5 exams 2 quizzes and a practical. On these weeks I just didn’t get much sleep. My schedule would be like leave school at around 5pm. Go home and study from 7pm-2am. Wake up at 5am to study for the quiz. Then head to school around 7:30am. Then rinse and repeat M-F. Weeks like this were rare though. And you get used to the constant exams after a while.


With D1 though it just really depends on your professional goals and how good you are at memorizing powerpoints. If you’re planning on specializing keep your grades as high as you can. If you plan on being a GP save yourself the stress and don’t freak out over every B or C you make.

Thanks! Super helpful!! I know the grading scale is not all that great but aside from that, are the exams more or less difficult than undergrad? Or is it just pure memorizing like you said but a lot more information.

 

[Faefly]

How you doin

 

[Advance]

Thanks! Super helpful!! I know the grading scale is not all that great but aside from that, are the exams more or less difficult than undergrad? Or is it just pure memorizing like you said but a lot more information.

Yeah I’m not a fan of the grading scale either.
It’s really just pure memorization. For most tests the answers can be found word for word on the PowerPoint. For me I feel like the exams aren’t really too difficult. It’s just the fact that you have so many exams so frequently that gets most people. In undergrad you just have more time to devote to studying because you’re taking less classes and spend much less time in actual school.
Then as the years go on you have to throw extra things on top of studying. D2 they slam with with lab work and you still have exams. D3 you get clinic, lab work and exams.

How you doin

You know, just living my best life

 

[Ricer7]

Hi! I'm currently living in El Paso and starting applications this spring, hoping to get in to A&M. I took the DAT last week and these were my scores:

AA - 20
PA - 20
BIO - 20
O CHEM - 19
GEN CHEM - 18
TOTAL SC - 19
QR - 19
RC - 24

Do you think these scores are competitive for A&M? My overall GPA is 3.86 and my science GPA is a 3.75. I would totally study more and take it again in 3 months before applications, but I have 10 month old twins, so if I don't have to I would obviously rather not. I am currently not planning on retaking it, based on talking to other people, but I was just hoping to get your opinion! Thank you!

 

[Advance]

Hi! I'm currently living in El Paso and starting applications this spring, hoping to get in to A&M. I took the DAT last week and these were my scores:

AA - 20
PA - 20
BIO - 20
O CHEM - 19
GEN CHEM - 18
TOTAL SC - 19
QR - 19
RC - 24

Do you think these scores are competitive for A&M? My overall GPA is 3.86 and my science GPA is a 3.75. I would totally study more and take it again in 3 months before applications, but I have 10 month old twins, so if I don't have to I would obviously rather not. I am currently not planning on retaking it, based on talking to other people, but I was just hoping to get your opinion! Thank you!

20 is a solid score. Especially paired with that GPA it’s definitely competitive. I personally wouldn’t bother with a retake. Nothing is guaranteed though. Apply broadly just to be safe.

Good luck!

 

[Ricer7]

I'm just wondering what a typical day in your first year was like? Lecture wise. How long were you there? Were lectures recorded to be watched later? I'm applying this cycle, and I have 1 year old twins, so I'm just getting a feel for different schools. Thank you!

 

[Advance]

I'm just wondering what a typical day in your first year was like? Lecture wise. How long were you there? Were lectures recorded to be watched later? I'm applying this cycle, and I have 1 year old twins, so I'm just getting a feel for different schools. Thank you!

If you want to attend every class expect to be there from about 9-5 M-Th. Friday’s the D1s get out at noon but sometimes they have clinic rotations scheduled on fridays from 1-5.

I personally didn’t go to class very often during D1. I found myself skipping class to sleep in then catching up on the lecture recordings later. I found this to be much less stressful and much more efficient. If you decide to skip classes I guess you could probably manage being there about 4 ish hours a day. Some days you might have dental anatomy lab and gross anatomy lab on the same days. In which case you would be there pretty much all day. Really only the laboratory classes are mandatory D1 year.

By the time you start the curriculum will probably be very different though, so take everything I’m saying with a grain of salt.

 

[Hopeful Pre-dent2022]

Current D3. If you have any questions about A&M our curriculum, clinic or dental school in general I’d be happy to answer!

Is it possible to work 10 hrs/wk during your first 2 years of dental school?
Thanks in advance.

 

[CongeeMango]

Is it possible to work 10 hrs/wk during your first 2 years of dental school?
Thanks in advance.

Don't see why you can't but also don't see why you should when class is 8 to 5 everyday.