Its the end of my 3rd year in dental school at SC. I was a non-science major coming in so of course I was very worried about boards since you don't learn anything in PBL. Studying for boards was very frustrating b/c we never learned biochem, histology, etc. So I would just sit there trying to read a biochem book but after the 4th chapter it made no sense to me. I was soooo frustrated. I didn't want to specialize so it made things a little better. But I still wish that I had a chance to do better if I had the correct foundation that should have been provided by SC. After I got my results I did better than I thought and somehow biochem was my highest score. I have no idea how that happened. Point is if you want to do exceptional on your boards this is not the school for you, b/c you have no way of really competing with the nation when your school doesn't teach you anything.
Moving on to the clinic.. I have basically been on the clinic floor for the past year. When I was studying for boards I thought that was the worst, but I really had no idea what was coming to me. There is no sense of professionalism at this school. If your a girl and happen to be sleeping with the faculty then you will most likely graduate on time. But for the rest you are faced with sexually charged comments from old nasty dentists whom you must just sit and listen to b/c you are trying to graduate too. And if you want to complain then good luck who do you complain to? Nothing gets accomplished, and you will be blacklisted b/c all of the faculty somehow end up knowing whats going on b/c they are constantly chatting about specific students when they really should be "teaching".
Besides that the main problem that every pre-dental student should ask dental schools that they are interviewing at is "WHAT IS YOUR GRADUATION RATE?" the second most important question is what are your board scores? (keep in mind that board scores are not solely based on the school, there are people in our class that did particularly well, I think one person got a 98) But graduation rate is completely out of your hand. Only 36% of the 2007 class is graduating on time. There are multiple reasons why this is true. Too many to explain here but I will mention a few.
1. Not enough faculty coverage for the number of students that are permitted to be on the clinic floor
2. The majority of the faculty that is on the clinic floor does not have the authority to sign off on fixed work so you end up prepping a crown with one faculty in one appt take a final impression on your 2nd appt and then send the lab work out. Then you spend a day or two trying to track one of the five faculty who do have the authority to sign it off only to have them tell you that there needs to be adjustments made. Then you bring the patient back but unfortunately the faculty who can sign off is rarely ever teaching on the clinic floor. Do this 5 + times until your patient gets completely fed up and doesnt want to come back.
3. So many requirements: 30 fixed (crowns), 9 removable arches, etc..
4. Soo many comp exams on live patients who must qualify for these exams. The faculty grading are nearly impossible to pass, and it is soooo hard to find pts that qualify. Every day we are bombarded by seniors emailing us looking for compable crowns. They are more like begging us for these crowns.
5. Again not enough faculty to sit your patient down and do the work
6. Last week attempted to take a final impression of a crown. RDA left early (the person who takes the impressions). Tried to get the material needed from the dispensary but guess what they were all out. Brought patient back tonight only to beg every single faculty on the clinic floor to please cover me. I explained that I dont need there assistance I have everything signed off. I just want to get a final impression. But after one hour of running around that didnt happen. Had to send my pt. home. Apparently, 2 faculty just decided to cancel their night chairs, and of course nobody bothers to tell the poor dental students!!
Anyways, there are soooo many other reasons why this school is absolutely the most chaotic, bull****, school. We dont even become great clinicians b/c we spend at least over 60% of our time trying to figure out how and when we could possibly bring our patients in with the few chairs that do exist. Do yourself a favor, dont go to this school, go somewhere where you actually have a chance of learning and becoming a better dentist. Go to a school where the dean is approachable and cares what is happening to his students. Our dean will never dare walk through the clinic floor. I think he is too scared. All he would see is the majority of the students standing on line for instruments/supplies, miserable as hell. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions. Dont forget ask about the graduation rates. b/c whats the point of getting into a specialty only to find out that you arent graduating on time and you will have to defer it if they will allow you to. And trust me spending most of your time worrying about graduating on time is a very miserable way to live.
