USC students - thoughts on PBL

[wpeck]

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What are your thoughts on PBL? Effective? Time consuming?

 

[drengineer]

yeah i would like to know this too.

 

[SC-Z]

HAHA. This will be fun.

 

[TeethVader]

Personally, I would love to have a blend of PBL and lectures. 100% PBL is definitelly not the way to go

 

[STARCITY]

What are your thoughts on PBL? Effective? Time consuming?

PBL would be a nightmare and boring as hell.

Who wants to set in PBL by themselves for 4 hours or more a day.

It sucks.

 

[ShawnOne]

Time consuming? No, not nearly as time consuming as lectures. Effective? Only if you're self motivated and have tons of discipline. The problem is that its too easy to get through without much studying and still pull A's and B's. I've noticed that I only learned (remembered) subjects that I was really interested in (i.e. I know next to nothing about biochem or histology, and lots about restorative dentistry/dental anatomy, analgesics and sedatives ). Would I like to have some lectures? I think they would help, but I doubt I'd be awake/alert long enough to benefit from them.

I am a second year and we recently we took a mock board exam. I took the exam without preparing and I was pretty disappointed. I've heard those who plan to specialize and have been studying their decks and BRS books did well. I realize that I have a looong way to go between now and July, but on the bright side, PBL has made me confident that I can teach myself everything and do fine.

Would I do it over again if i could? Yes, although sometimes I wish I went elsewhere when i see my tuition statements.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[STARCITY]

Time consuming? No, not nearly as time consuming as lectures. Effective? Only if you're self motivated and have tons of discipline. The problem is that its too easy to get through without much studying and still pull A's and B's. I've noticed that I only learned (remembered) subjects that I was really interested in (i.e. I know next to nothing about biochem or histology, and lots about restorative dentistry/dental anatomy, analgesics and sedatives ). Would I like to have some lectures? I think they would help, but I doubt I'd be awake/alert long enough to benefit from them.

I am a second year and we recently we took a mock board exam. I took the exam without preparing and I was pretty disappointed. I've heard those who plan to specialize and have been studying their decks and BRS books did well. I realize that I have a looong way to go between now and July, but on the bright side, PBL has made me confident that I can teach myself everything and do fine.

Would I do it over again if i could? Yes, although sometimes I wish I went elsewhere when i see my tuition statements.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I think PBL blows and I dont know many 22 year olds that have enough motivation in dental school to do it.

 

[wpeck]

Time consuming? No, not nearly as time consuming as lectures. Effective? Only if you're self motivated and have tons of discipline. The problem is that its too easy to get through without much studying and still pull A's and B's. I've noticed that I only learned (remembered) subjects that I was really interested in (i.e. I know next to nothing about biochem or histology, and lots about restorative dentistry/dental anatomy, analgesics and sedatives ). Would I like to have some lectures? I think they would help, but I doubt I'd be awake/alert long enough to benefit from them.

I am a second year and we recently we took a mock board exam. I took the exam without preparing and I was pretty disappointed. I've heard those who plan to specialize and have been studying their decks and BRS books did well. I realize that I have a looong way to go between now and July, but on the bright side, PBL has made me confident that I can teach myself everything and do fine.

Would I do it over again if i could? Yes, although sometimes I wish I went elsewhere when i see my tuition statements.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Does USC still score well on national boards even with the PBL approach?
How much time is then spent in class on average per week in the 1st 2 years and how much time is spent outside studying on aveage?

Thanks.

 

[ShawnOne]

I think PBL blows and I dont know many 22 year olds that have enough motivation in dental school to do it.

Thats probably because you havent started dental school yet and you dont know squat about the capabilities of your future classmates. The days where you were surrounded with a bunch of slackers and you were the #1 student are over. Picture the top 5 students in your undergrad courses, now picture a room full of those people, THATS who you will be surrounded with. Mark my words, you will be humbled once you meet your classmates.

Let me also add that while we may take advantage of the autonomy PBL offers, most realize that we are going to be responsible for the material and if we skimp over it now (perhaps because we need time for lab work or family or whatever) we will have to work hard and make it up in time for boards.

And by the way, some of the most brilliant people in my class are 22 year olds.

 

[TeethVader]

What concerns me about PBL is the lack of direction we have in some material we're covering (especially important material such as dental subjects). Just today, we had a small lecture on sealants and we were all happy and I guess hungry for a lecture and we at last had somebody who answer all our questions.
What frustrates me is the fact that I teach myself everything and paid a lot for it; carrying the USC brand is definitely costly.

 

[ShawnOne]

Does USC still score well on national boards even with the PBL approach?
How much time is then spent in class on average per week in the 1st 2 years and how much time is spent outside studying on aveage?

Thanks.

This was sent to the student body by our dean...

* The 100% PBL Class of 2005 ranked in the 3rd Quintile, and the 100% PBL Class of 2006 ranked in the 5th Quintile on Part 1 of the National Boards. The academic performance of our PBL dental students places USC within the top 10 schools in the nation by this metric (Office of Outcomes Assessment, October 2004).

* Recall that the USC School of Dentistry traditional program full class ranked in the 1st Quintile from 1991 thru 1998 on Part 1 of the National Boards (50th out of 54 dental schools).

* From 1997-2002, the small demonstration pilot PBL Program scored in the 5th Quintile every year.

In the first 2 years, you have case 3 days/week @ 4 hours/session. After each session, you will need to make a "learning packet" you will share with your group (~1-2 hours/packet) You will then need to learn the other 7 packets made by your groupmates. That time will depend on your prior knowledge, the subject, and your ability to obsorb it. Like I said before, PBL gives you autonomy, so if you dont spend the time to learn the stuff when you first received it, you will need to spend the time in the future.

 

[ShawnOne]

What concerns me about PBL is the lack of direction we have in some material we're covering (especially important material such as dental subjects). Just today, we had a small lecture on sealants and we were all happy and I guess hungry for a lecture and we at last had somebody who answer all our questions.
What frustrates me is the fact that I teach myself everything and paid a lot for it; carrying the USC brand is definitely costly.

Hi Vader,

I can relate to what you are saying and I know exactly how you feel. I can only say that it will get a little better as time goes. 🙄

As far as dental topics, I know how it feels when you just want to ask a question, and you want somebody to "give you the answer"... What you will come to realize is that the answer you get will depend on who you ask. For example, the answer you get from a public health dentist will differ from the answer from a restorative dentist. Or the answer from a one endodontist will differ from the answer from another endodontist!! (this one kills me!) So basically, what I am saying is dont look to be lectured and just accept it as fact. Dont just look for somebody to tell you the answer, because different people will give you different answers based on their own philosophy. Ask different people, take all those answers, do your own research, and come up with your own answers. the PBL way

 

[Future DDS]

I just heard from a USC dentist said that the school is changing the 100% PBL to somewhat a mix of PBL/lecture. Can someone comment on this if this is true? How much percentage is PBL portion? and lecture portion?

thx!

 

[TeethVader]

I just heard from a USC dentist said that the school is changing the 100% PBL to somewhat a mix of PBL/lecture. Can someone comment on this if this is true? How much percentage is PBL portion? and lecture portion?

thx!

I hope its true man!! That way we'll have classes coming next year, Yuhu!!!!

 

[HuyetKiem]

I just heard from a USC dentist said that the school is changing the 100% PBL to somewhat a mix of PBL/lecture. Can someone comment on this if this is true? How much percentage is PBL portion? and lecture portion?

thx!

Hm... are they trying to steal the idea from Case Western ? Hybrid PBL 😀 😀 😀

 

[losingfaith27]

What are your thoughts on PBL? Effective? Time consuming?

Most are not motivated enough to benefit from PBL. Doing well in PBL does not equate to being a solid student either (I know someone who did fine in PBL and did poorly on the boards, barely passed part 1 and failed part 2). There is so much to learn in dental school, PBL allows one to basically slack off. Even if you like the subjects you will tend to slack off when going to the beach is an option. Why pay out 70 grand a year to have the blind teach the blind. So to answer your Qs, effective-no, time consuming-probably not. If PBL was such a great thing you would think more schools would be doing it, but that isn't the case. Don't go there if you have other options.

 

[dds0610]

What are your thoughts on PBL? Effective? Time consuming?

Effective if your self motivated, as time consuming as you want it to be, I have a few friends that are second year's at USC who seem to like it and they did pretty well on their boards too. Like any other system you'll get out as much as you put in. There are only 2 schools that use it anyways, USC and Harvard, so if you like the teaching style I would say go for it, if not you'll prolly hate it since it's so diff than the normal lecture style.

 

[QCkid]

Hm... are they trying to steal the idea from Case Western ? Hybrid PBL 😀 😀 😀

Actually Dr.Schuller came from Harvard and is the man who instituted the current program. He is leaving at the end of this year for the National institutes of health and is supposed to be gone for a year on sabbatical. Its possible that their could be a reformation of the program but I doubt pbl will go away. In fact I think pbl is worthwhile the way it is but you benefit from lectures on the basic sciences in the first trimester to sort of even the playing field and bring everyone up to snuff.

As far as slacking off, yes you can do that. The people that get on here and tell you how great it is and how much free time they have are generally identifying themselves as such. On the other hand I know somepeople who have worked their behinds off and could pass boards with good scores right now without much extra effort. Another plus to USC ( don't know how many other schools do this) is that in your first year your doing phys-evals, taking x-rays, and doing sealants on patients. By the begining of your second year your in clinic doing perio (prophys and SC/RP). You also start oral surgery and anasthesia both of which give you the opportunity to give anasthesia to patients and extract teeth. AS I was told my first day in oral surgery, "See one, do one, teach one."

 

[USCtrojan]

PBL is great, but I don't know about USC after 4 years of hell