"Toughest" dental schools...

[The Wop]

Call me lazy, selfish, whatever, but I want to kill myself as little as possible in d-school. I want to specialize, but not in one of the super-competitive specialties. I want to do well and compete, but I want to have a life. I'd also like to stay in touch with friends and family from home.

Can anyone comment in general, or even on the following schools?

Michigan, Detroit Mercy, Temple, Pitt, Tufts, BU, Nova, Marquette, Louisville, Case.

I know this is kind of a lame thread, but I'd really like to get some sort of idea of what awaits.

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[MD2b20004]

Call me lazy, selfish, whatever, but I want to kill myself as little as possible in d-school. I want to specialize, but not in one of the super-competitive specialties. I want to do well and compete, but I want to have a life. I'd also like to stay in touch with friends and family from home.

Can anyone comment in general, or even on the following schools?

Michigan, Detroit Mercy, Temple, Pitt, Tufts, BU, Nova, Marquette, Louisville, Case.

I know this is kind of a lame thread, but I'd really like to get some sort of idea of what awaits.

I can only comment on twi of the schools you listed above because I had friends graduate from both. U of Michigan is no joke (so take it as tough). Marquette is pretty laid back, you can have a life and get drunk and heck my friend who was a Dental Hyg. even worked part-time. Basic Sciences, first two years are very doable with spare time, just a bit more credits than your undergrad courses and frankly from what I hear not to hard either. But can not comment on the rest because I do not have any info on them, but maybe some other SDNers can fill you in.

 

[MD2b20004]

Call me lazy, selfish, whatever, but I want to kill myself as little as possible in d-school. I want to specialize, but not in one of the super-competitive specialties. I want to do well and compete, but I want to have a life. I'd also like to stay in touch with friends and family from home.

Can anyone comment in general, or even on the following schools?

Michigan, Detroit Mercy, Temple, Pitt, Tufts, BU, Nova, Marquette, Louisville, Case.

I know this is kind of a lame thread, but I'd really like to get some sort of idea of what awaits.

I can only comment on two of the schools you listed above because I had friends graduate from both. U of Michigan is no joke (so take it as tough). Marquette is pretty laid back, you can have a life and get drunk and heck my friend who was a Dental Hyg. even worked part-time. Basic Sciences, first two years are very doable with spare time, just a bit more credits than your undergrad courses and frankly from what I hear not to hard either. But can not comment on the rest because I do not have any info on them, but maybe some other SDNers can fill you in.

 

[drhobie7]

UCLA is very tough. Don't know about those other schools. But they sound chill.

 

[dexadental]

I think any dental school is tough, but just getting by and doing the bare minimum is probably not so hard in all of them. Specializing in perio requires a board score of 85+ and probably you should be in the top half of your class...I've been considering perio just because it seems neat to me, but I know a lot of people talk smack about it on the boards. It is a pretty non competitive speciality. Of course it should get harder to specialize as dental schools up their admission requirements...means more competition in your classes.

 

[armorshell]

I think any dental school is tough, but just getting by and doing the bare minimum is probably not so hard in all of them. Specializing in perio requires a board score of 85+ and probably you should be in the top half of your class...I've been considering perio just because it seems neat to me, but I know a lot of people talk smack about it on the boards. It is a pretty non competitive speciality. Of course it should get harder to specialize as dental schools up their admission requirements...means more competition in your classes.

.

 

[rocknightmare]

this has to be the most wickest threadi have seen in a long time.. and since i can't sleep when i have the boards tomorrow i am going to respond from the known fact about dental school.

no dentall school is easy b/c they all have the same curriculum to teach ADA approved. now your rank may be higher at some school than others but that still doesn't mean squat if you don't do well on your boards.. and you can't do well on the boards unless you did some quality time studying.. so my advice??

forget about specializing have a life..

 

[unlvdmd]

I have to say that the "easiest" dental school is the one that requires you to do the least about of bull ****. Yes, they all teach you the same information. We all take the same boards. You will have an easier time at the school that isn't having you run around like you head cut off and jumping through hoops, i.e. UNLV. They require us to do ZERO labwork. None, zip, ziltch. It's optional. That is part of their philosophy: in the modern era of dentistry, the practioners don't do their own lab work anymore. If you want to learn how, be their guest. There are people willing to show you. And we learn the process of "why things don't fit, etc" But when people talk about "staying after school till midnight to finish lab work" I have no clue what that is like because UNLV SODM is a ghost town after 6pm. So that extra time can be spent having a life, or studying more to get better grades to be at the top.

 

[drhobie7]

FYI: all schools do not teach you the same thing. While there are standards for accreditation, that does not mean curriculums are standardized. Curriculums vary greatly.

 

[dat_student]

UCLA is very tough. Don't know about those other schools. But they sound chill.

nah, UCLA = piece of cake

Call me lazy, selfish, whatever, but I want to kill myself as little as possible in d-school. I want to specialize, but not in one of the super-competitive specialties. I want to do well and compete, but I want to have a life. I'd also like to stay in touch with friends and family from home.

Can anyone comment in general, or even on the following schools?

Michigan, Detroit Mercy, Temple, Pitt, Tufts, BU, Nova, Marquette, Louisville, Case.

I know this is kind of a lame thread, but I'd really like to get some sort of idea of what awaits.

I think you should add UCLA to your list.

 

[rocknightmare]

FYI: all schools do not teach you the same thing. While there are standards for accreditation, that does not mean curriculums are standardized. Curriculums vary greatly.

umm maybe you are right.. but wouldn't you say laterspinal tract at one school is the same at another??

 

[syn_apse]

another great thing about unlv is that you can forge your faculty member's signature -- don't worry about getting caught, they don't seem to care

 

[kato999]

The first year is by far the hardest at ASDOH, and I can tell you that it was still much easier that the first year at Michigan, (my brother goes there) for what that's worth.

 

[mahya]

I have to say that the "easiest" dental school is the one that requires you to do the least about of bull ****. Yes, they all teach you the same information. We all take the same boards. You will have an easier time at the school that isn't having you run around like you head cut off and jumping through hoops, i.e. UNLV. They require us to do ZERO labwork. None, zip, ziltch. It's optional. That is part of their philosophy: in the modern era of dentistry, the practioners don't do their own lab work anymore. If you want to learn how, be their guest. There are people willing to show you. And we learn the process of "why things don't fit, etc" But when people talk about "staying after school till midnight to finish lab work" I have no clue what that is like because UNLV SODM is a ghost town after 6pm. So that extra time can be spent having a life, or studying more to get better grades to be at the top.

but talking to one of my friends attending UNLV, she says that they have lab works plus classes..how can it be no lab work?>????

 

[1FutureDDS]

nah, UCLA = piece of cake



I think you should add UCLA to your list.

Um, because you have knocked away a few years at UCLA yourself right?
Class of 2010 good luck!

 

[dat_student]

Um, because you have knocked away a few years at UCLA yourself right?
Class of 2010 good luck!

yes C/O 2010. I'll be in deep trouble. Hopefully I won't have to study 24/7 just to pass my classes

 

[The Wop]

Thanks for the candor.

Geeze, I'm almost hoping I DON'T get into Michigan, as horrible as that might sound. I know if I get in that's where I'm going. Whatever, AADSAS still hasn't mailed my app yet.

 

[1FutureDDS]

yes C/O 2010. I'll be in deep trouble. Hopefully I won't have to study 24/7 just to pass my classes

Exactly, class of 2010. You stated that UCLA is "cake", when you haven't even started.

 

[dat_student]

Exactly, class of 2010. You stated that UCLA is "cake", when you haven't even started.

ok, it's probably "very tough"

 

[dat_student]

Thanks for the candor.

Geeze, I'm almost hoping I DON'T get into Michigan, as horrible as that might sound. I know if I get in that's where I'm going. Whatever, AADSAS still hasn't mailed my app yet.

You shouldn't be afraid of anything. If you really like Michigan apply to Michigan. If you keep telling yourself something is "very tough" or "super competitive" it'll become tough & "super competitive". Apply to the schools you really like and do your best. Don't worry about anything else.

 

[ObviousGuy]

another great thing about unlv is that you can forge your faculty member's signature -- don't worry about getting caught, they don't seem to care

BWaahahahahaHAhahaHAHAhahHAHAHAHAhaHahahAHHA

 

[Biogirl361]

You shouldn't be afraid of anything. If you really like Michigan apply to Michigan. If you keep telling yourself something is "very tough" or "super competitive" it'll become tough & "super competitive". Apply to the schools you really like and do your best. Don't worry about anything else.

That is easy to say before your first year of dental school

I was a 3.8 student in college and I found my first year at michigan dental to be by far the most difficult educational experience i've ever had, much tougher than I ever imagined it would be and 100x tougher than college. You can definitly pass and still have a life if you have good organizational and time management skills, but I'm confident most of my classmates would agree it was definitly no piece of cake!

 

[unlvdmd]

but talking to one of my friends attending UNLV, she says that they have lab works plus classes..how can it be no lab work?>????

Of course we have "sim-lab." But we are not required to do castings or any of that type of lab work. Just cutting preps and filling. The exercises that required a crown to be made, the staff does it for us if we just invest it. We are able to watch it all, but we didn't have to. So we pretty much get all of our sim lab work done during class time.

 

[unlvdmd]

another great thing about unlv is that you can forge your faculty member's signature -- don't worry about getting caught, they don't seem to care

Best of both worlds baby!

 

[DIRTIE]

Of course we have "sim-lab." But we are not required to do castings or any of that type of lab work. Just cutting preps and filling. The exercises that required a crown to be made, the staff does it for us if we just invest it. We are able to watch it all, but we didn't have to. So we pretty much get all of our sim lab work done during class time.

Don't know who you are, but I don't agree with you. I think it is difficult here, especially when I speak to friends at other schools. Who does your sim lab work? What are you talking about.

 

[psiyung]

The office I work in has a periodontist on staff. He's not the coolest guy but he does cool stuff

like what, prophies?

 

[unlvdmd]

Don't know who you are, but I don't agree with you. I think it is difficult here, especially when I speak to friends at other schools. Who does your sim lab work? What are you talking about.

Have you ever talked to people at other schools or read posts here about students staying at school till midnight to get lab work done? Is our school even OPEN past 9??? If you can't get your simlab work done during class(one prep, MAYBE 2 in 3 hours with no anesthesia/tongues/saliva)... you better pick up the pace. I have found in my experience that people like to parade their school around as being sooooo hard when in reality its not that bad. I just don't buy it with UNLV, but thats just my opinion though. We're all different.

 

[armorshell]

like what, prophies?

Trust me, I would love nothing more then to give him every kind of crap about being a super hygienist.

But alas, he does lots of cool stuff with implants, endogain and oral path.
Yesterday he removed a fibrous growth from this woman with a canker sore the size of a quarter

 

[diagnodent]

Good luck to all of you who know nothing about lab work. Lab work is extremely important, it teaches you more than you realize. When you're a young inexperienced dentist and need to communicate with the lab what are you going to do. There are so many dentists who think lab work is for the uneducated lab tech and they just need to do the dentistry and everything will be fine. When I was in school I did castings looking for imperfections and what those imperfections meant later on. Don't go to a school where they require zero lab work.

 

[unlvdmd]

I agree with you 100% (other than not going to a school that doesnt' require it). Its up to US at our school to take advantage of what is available. Would you be stupid not to? Of course! It's just nice to do it on my schedule.

 

[MD2b20004]

You shouldn't be afraid of anything. If you really like Michigan apply to Michigan. If you keep telling yourself something is "very tough" or "super competitive" it'll become tough & "super competitive". Apply to the schools you really like and do your best. Don't worry about anything else.

I agree, just go with the best school is for you. No one can give you a definitive or exact answer because no one went to all the dental schools to experience them. It's just like Organic Chem. when I was a freshman, everyone blabbed how hard it was and how tough it was, etc... that it intemidated me and made me feel that I wont do good when I get to it. So I started off the class scared and doubting my abilities, that caused a B- in OrgoI, after I put my anxieties aside and was like wait, this crap is not hard, it's all relevant, needless to say I A+ Orgo2 without too much effort. Do not go into a program with anxiety, just believe in yourself and your credentials and work your hardest and you will succeed at any school you decide to go to. Do not think EVERYONE at Harvard is a GENIOUS and people at your state school are marginal, a school doesn't create or degrate IQ.

 

[fightingspirit]

I want to specialize, but not in one of the super-competitive specialties. I want to do well and compete, but I want to have a life. I'd also like to stay in touch with friends and family from home.
.

i dont beleive that anyone can or deserves to have it all, including you and me.

 

[The Wop]

I totally agree with everyone who said if you go into it with the right mindset anything is possible.

Have any of you read Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz? That is a major point made in his book. If you think something is difficult then it will be. My advisor said she is worried about me taking 3 science classes next semester. She just made it more difficult for implanting that negative belief into my head. Beliefs, not willpower, drive ones actions. If you believe orgo is impossible, it will be impossible. But, thinking rationally, orgo is not impossible, as we see others around us doing it and succeeding. Once we dehypnotize ourselves from false beliefs (orgo impossible, dental school too-challenging) we can do anything.

 

[DIRTIE]

Have you ever talked to people at other schools or read posts here about students staying at school till midnight to get lab work done? Is our school even OPEN past 9??? If you can't get your simlab work done during class(one prep, MAYBE 2 in 3 hours with no anesthesia/tongues/saliva)... you better pick up the pace. I have found in my experience that people like to parade their school around as being sooooo hard when in reality its not that bad. I just don't buy it with UNLV, but thats just my opinion though. We're all different.

what schools take biostats, spanish, nutrition(maybe some), integration seminars until it makes you want to barf, critical thinking, proffesional portfolio, and every other class taught by the professional department. We just have a lot of bull crap that you have to wade through to get to the real stuff. Yes way more than at other schools, they just touch on a lot of this stuff in other classes, instead of having an annoying seperate class for every little topic. I would much rather spend more time doing preclinical things like lab work than wasting my time trying to get ethics shoved down my throat.
Yes I agree, I am able to get most of my work done at school, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a test or quiz or two every single day.
Then we also go year round every single year. Now that is fun.

 

[dexadental]

This is probably true, but taking three sciences is pretty tough, trust me on that...I took 4 the spring semester of my last year in college...hardly survived. There is such a thing as advice, people are not always trying to implant ideas in your head, but sometimes just trying to help.

 

[dontbam]

i volunteered at the ucla dental school and let me tell you their first two years is crazy. It's basically 8am - 5pm of class with 1-2 hours of break monday-friday. Classes per quarter end up being equal to 35 units of regular undergrad classes. Final weeks is one week long consisting of 14 finals..lol Just by looking at the dental schools, i could tell they were all tired as heck

 

[Lesley]

i volunteered at the ucla dental school and let me tell you their first two years is crazy. It's basically 8am - 5pm of class with 1-2 hours of break monday-friday. Classes per quarter end up being equal to 35 units of regular undergrad classes. Final weeks is one week long consisting of 14 finals..lol Just by looking at the dental schools, i could tell they were all tired as heck

Hi, Dental school is very hard. If you want to look at the curriculums of dental schools, many are available on line. Temple Dental School and University of Washington, for example, are very forthcoming. They include their summer sessions. It is a mind boggling number of courses plus there are labs. Junior and senior year you will have courses and clinic, another balancing act. It is nothing like college, no matter how hard you worked in college, it will be more challenging. But you can do it. Just approach it one day at a time. If you were accepted, you have the ability to do well. They choose carefully. Good Luck.

 

[jk5177]

UCLA is very tough. Don't know about those other schools. But they sound chill.

Ditto.

 

[jk5177]

what schools take biostats, spanish, nutrition(maybe some), integration seminars until it makes you want to barf, critical thinking, proffesional portfolio, and every other class taught by the professional department. We just have a lot of bull crap that you have to wade through to get to the real stuff. Yes way more than at other schools, they just touch on a lot of this stuff in other classes, instead of having an annoying seperate class for every little topic. I would much rather spend more time doing preclinical things like lab work than wasting my time trying to get ethics shoved down my throat.
Yes I agree, I am able to get most of my work done at school, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a test or quiz or two every single day.
Then we also go year round every single year. Now that is fun.

Well, consider UCLA, we have evidence based dentistry, geriatric dentistry, patient management, dental ethics, and bunch of other stuff in our regulare science courses which we are taught that we won't ever need (the details of classical pathway in immunology). Wait, we have summer school after first year, probably you too.

 

[jk5177]

i volunteered at the ucla dental school and let me tell you their first two years is crazy. It's basically 8am - 5pm of class with 1-2 hours of break monday-friday. Classes per quarter end up being equal to 35 units of regular undergrad classes. Final weeks is one week long consisting of 14 finals..lol Just by looking at the dental schools, i could tell they were all tired as heck

There you go. That is a good description. So then people start cutting classes, because half of the classes are sort of bs that could be learned without actually attending. But in another perspective, the laboratory portion of the course isn't that bad, to me, it is the science classes that kicks my butt, such as neuroanatomy. Do I complain about my school? No. I'm loving it. Every single moment. It's a rhythm that one just go through. There's no ifs or but's. Jsut do it. What else would I be doing with my life that would be more useful? Dating? Spending money on girls? Watching ridiculous Hollywood films that are made purely for earning rather than creativity?
Some 2000 applicants, and only 88 matriculate. I'm ecstatic no matter how difficult school becomes. If they want me to go from 6 am to 8pm, I do it.

 

[dat_student]

There you go. That is a good description. So then people start cutting classes, because half of the classes are sort of bs that could be learned without actually attending. But in another perspective, the laboratory portion of the course isn't that bad, to me, it is the science classes that kicks my butt, such as neuroanatomy. Do I complain about my school? No. I'm loving it. Every single moment. It's a rhythm that one just go through. There's no ifs or but's. Jsut do it. What else would I be doing with my life that would be more useful? Dating? Spending money on girls? Watching ridiculous Hollywood films that are made purely for earning rather than creativity?
Some 2000 applicants, and only 88 matriculate. I'm ecstatic no matter how difficult school becomes. If they want me to go from 6 am to 8pm, I do it.

I agree, just go with the best school is for you. No one can give you a definitive or exact answer because no one went to all the dental schools to experience them. It's just like Organic Chem. when I was a freshman, everyone blabbed how hard it was and how tough it was, etc... that it intemidated me and made me feel that I wont do good when I get to it. So I started off the class scared and doubting my abilities, that caused a B- in OrgoI, after I put my anxieties aside and was like wait, this crap is not hard, it's all relevant, needless to say I A+ Orgo2 without too much effort. Do not go into a program with anxiety, just believe in yourself and your credentials and work your hardest and you will succeed at any school you decide to go to. Do not think EVERYONE at Harvard is a GENIOUS and people at your state school are marginal, a school doesn't create or degrate IQ.

I agree 100%. yes, just believe in yourself and do your best. Don't think any program is tough or impossible. Don't be afraid of anything. If others can do it you can do it too.

 

[unlvdmd]

Well, consider UCLA, we have evidence based dentistry, geriatric dentistry, patient management, dental ethics, and bunch of other stuff in our regulare science courses which we are taught that we won't ever need (the details of classical pathway in immunology). Wait, we have summer school after first year, probably you too.

Yeah, I figured someone would confirm my thoughts and post this. The first year you think you know everything about how a school should be run (I did, we all do). but then you get a little time in the system under your belt and realize there is a lot of the same crap at every school. The third years know more than me as a second year, etc etc... After talking to multiple other students at multiple other schools is when you can form an opinion that is valid enough to be said that has some substance.

 

[drhobie7]

i volunteered at the ucla dental school and let me tell you their first two years is crazy. It's basically 8am - 5pm of class with 1-2 hours of break monday-friday. Classes per quarter end up being equal to 35 units of regular undergrad classes. Final weeks is one week long consisting of 14 finals..lol Just by looking at the dental schools, i could tell they were all tired as heck

I think this is characteristic of most dental schools, except perhaps the 14 finals...and it's actually 12, and that's only winter quarter of 2nd year, the rest of the time it's around 8 or 9. We do have a difficult didactic education. Clinically, we do a lot of removable (10.5 arches: 4 CD, 4 RPD, 1 ID, 1 Reline, 1 elective), which is always a challenge. I feel confident saying removable is the least fun aspect of dental school. This was true of pre-clinical dentures and it's true of clinical requirements. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to do removable labwork. That would definitely make things easier. But I do think it is valuable....jut not for me 'cause I'm going into surgery.

 

[dat_student]

....'cause I'm going into surgery.

nice

 

[Fulcrum77]

UoP is a piece of cake. You should definitely apply here. I have so much free time it isn't even funny.




I'm going to head back to waxing up #10, in between studying for an anatomy/histology quiz, dental anatomy quiz, and restorative quiz. I might squeeze in a few preps on #19 and #31 and finish up some maxillary and mandibular impressions. I LOVE Saturday nights!


I forgot to mention that I just finished my second week here. I hope that helps!

 

[ItsGavinC]

I have to say that the "easiest" dental school is the one that requires you to do the least about of bull ****. Yes, they all teach you the same information. We all take the same boards. You will have an easier time at the school that isn't having you run around like you head cut off and jumping through hoops, i.e. UNLV. They require us to do ZERO labwork. None, zip, ziltch. It's optional. That is part of their philosophy: in the modern era of dentistry, the practioners don't do their own lab work anymore. If you want to learn how, be their guest. There are people willing to show you. And we learn the process of "why things don't fit, etc" But when people talk about "staying after school till midnight to finish lab work" I have no clue what that is like because UNLV SODM is a ghost town after 6pm. So that extra time can be spent having a life, or studying more to get better grades to be at the top.

Ditto with Arizona. We have a private professional lab in our clinic building that does our labwork.

Staying after is unheard of in pre-clinical years, and most of us are out the door at 3:30-4pm during clinic days.

 

[ItsGavinC]

UoP is a piece of cake. You should definitely apply here. I have so much free time it isn't even funny.

Once again, ditto Arizona. Our TYPICAL schedule for the D2 year was lab/lecture from 8:30-11:30. That's it.

 

[hpets]

Hi, Dental school is very hard. If you want to look at the curriculums of dental schools, many are available on line. Temple Dental School and University of Washington, for example, are very forthcoming. They include their summer sessions. It is a mind boggling number of courses plus there are labs. Junior and senior year you will have courses and clinic, another balancing act. It is nothing like college, no matter how hard you worked in college, it will be more challenging. But you can do it. Just approach it one day at a time. If you were accepted, you have the ability to do well. They choose carefully. Good Luck.

hey stupid question, but i don't most schools have a summer term?

 

[Lesley]

hey stupid question, but i don't most schools have a summer term?

Hi hpets,

I started Temple in 78. At the time, there were no required courses the summer between D1 and D2. However, I now see some summer courses listed between D1 and D2. I don't know if they are optional. That first summer I worked, full time, in the physiology department for Dr. Tansy, now Dean Tansy, compiling data on his department's experiments on mice. It was a great job, and the mice were very cute. Dean Tansy is a very nice guy. The school is lucky to have him.

The summer between D2 and D3 was broken in half, the first half was from May to July, a two week break when the school was closed, and then a shorter half from August-September. These summer sessions were optional, although upper classmen told us it would be impossible to graduate on time if you did not attend at least one of these sessions. The summer sessions were not included as part of the regular yearly expenses, so there were additional tuition charges for summer sessions. I don't know if this has changed.

I worked in the financial aid department, which should be of no suprise to many of you, for the first part of the summer between D2/D3, about 8 weeks, and only went to the second, shorter summer session. Many of my classmates went to clinic all summer. As it was optional and I was very short on funds, I chose to work. I knew I was behind when I started August, so I hit the pavement, clinic, running. I graduated and passed my boards on time regardless.

I think many of the schools now have mandatory summer school requirements starting as early as the summer between D1/D2. So, you're ability to work or relax, for some of you, during the summer is hindered. I think the internet is great. I applied to my two state schools only, was accepted to both in December and made my decision based on proximity. What did I know? What could I compare it against? You have a lot of information available to you, although that does mean a lot more leg work to sort through it all. There are a lot of factors to weigh.

I have looked at UOP and think if dental schools are going to make you attend during the summer, on any level, maybe it would be productive and beneficial too, to graduate a year earlier. If I were going now, I would definitely be looking at UOP. California weather wouldn't be hard to stomach either. Lesley

 

[ElCubanito]

Meharry Students take their Part 1 boards after their first year. Imagine? Wao.