The Life of a D1

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I was wondering what the day to day life of a D1 is.. What time do classes start? Are they back to back? What time do you get home? When do you study? What do you do for fun? Etc Etc.

Also, people always say that the tuffest part of dental school is getting in (vs. getting thru).. Now that your in.. do you think thats true?

 

[MarquetteDental]

I was wondering what the day to day life of a D1 is.. What time do classes start? Are they back to back? What time do you get home? When do you study? What do you do for fun? Etc Etc.

Also, people always say that the tuffest part of dental school is getting in (vs. getting thru).. Now that your in.. do you think thats true?

classes start at 8am, classes are back to back (but sometimes there are breaks and you dont NEED to go to all the classes), supposed to get home at 4-5pm but as a D1 sometimes you go home at 3. Study whenever, if youre like me the night before for easy classes and use the weekend for the harder ones, and fun drink??

 

[scottyhoop]

Classes on a typical day start at 8 and go til noon. Usually lecture classes such as micro, perio, etc...Lunch from noon to 1, Operative lecture from 1-2, then in the sim lab until 5 doing amalgam preps/restorations. Some days we get out of there a little early, some days a little late. Our schedule changes quite a bit thruout the semester so that's just an example. After school I come home and screw around/eat until 9 or so. Then either read over stuff from that day or look ahead at the stuff for tomorrow until 11 or so then hit the sack. I usually get up early and spend about 4-5 hrs studying Saturday and Sunday morning so I have the rest of the day free. That changes if exams are coming up as I will put a few more hours in each day if I feel I need it. So far it hasn't been horrible, but I think the toughest days are yet to come.

Scotty

 

[scottyhoop]

Forgot to add that getting thru is very doable. I'm getting mostly A's and some B's. No C's yet thankfully. I don't plan on specializing and I have a family so I really make myself spend time with the kids every day even if I'm not ready for an upcoming exam. If you plan on specializing and aren't a genius you will have to put in more hours to make sure you get the grades you need. I still want good grades, but they aren't my top priority. One of my professors told us a story about a dental student a few years back that never once checked his grades the entire 4 years he was in dental school. (Yes...it is supposedly very true according to this prof) His priority was learning the material and he felt if he did that, the grades would be there. Pretty cool outlook. While I do check my grades, I will not check my class rank or my GPA as they are pretty much useless in my case. Getting in was hard, and getting out is going to be just as hard, if not harder, so be ready to work!

Scotty

 

[Thaxil]

There are a few things that will consume your life in dental school: lab work, school work and classes. Dental school was not a pleasurable experience for me. I studied continuously because I wanted the grades and was not going to screw up as I had so many times in the past. I was fortunate that I rarely spent time in sim lab practicing cavity preps as so many others did. If you have reasonable hand skills, you are blessed and double your free time. In the end the hard worked paid off with 94 boards, but decide not to specialize.