4 out of the 8 students are from Eastern Washington. The other 4 are from the west side.
School year is definitely longer for the RIDE program. We started August 10th and don't get out until June 10th. I think Seattle started sometime in the middle of September and I think they get out in May. We haven't interacted with the seattle students in person at all. So we have our own orientation here in Spokane with the WAMMI students. I have really enjoyed having classes with the medical students. There a good group of people and it is nice to see what they go through in comparison to us.
I'm only in my first quarter but her are some pros and cons as I see it.
Pros:
1) Dental anatomy with only 8 students and 2 teachers. One of the teachers is Dr. McCoy who is somewhat of a legend in dental anatomy at the UW. Super friendly and helpful and really wants us to succeed.
2) Cost/quality of living: much cheaper here, no traffic, ect
2) Brand new facilities: The anatomy lab is brand new with downdraft hoods (awesome), and the buildings and classrooms in general are new and nice.
3) Make good connections with the professors and Directors. They all want this program to be a success so they are well vested in us and our success as students. A lot of our courses are just the 8 of us with a professor. It is SUPER nice. Lecture is more conversational and we get to really focus on stuff that we don't understand. You can't beat that ratio of student to professor.
4) Rotations: If all goes as planned, we should have our competencies passed by the summer after our 3rd year. This means we can full on Practice dentistry in rural clinics. This will hopefully put us ahead in our clinical skills upon graduation. We spend up to 6 months at clinics - no fighting for patients or chairs. I feel like it will pretty much act as a residency.
5) Tight group: The 8 of us are all pretty tight and it is fun being in a group like that.
6) Specialties: This one is up in the air right now for us. Some of us feel like because our course load is bigger that we may not be getting as high of grades as we otherwise could. So it could put us at a lower rank in the class. HOWEVER, we are in a special program with a more rigorous curriculum, and we have very close connections with our professors. So these factors could to our favor if we decide to specialize.
Some Cons:
1) Heavier Course Load: Right now we have approximately 8 to 10 hours more class time per week than Seattle. That is just in class, not including study hours.
2) Longer Academic Year
3) Mandatory RUOP: This one could go either way. I have heard from last years students that some really enjoyed the experience and others said it was glorified shadowing and very disorganized. I think they are really trying to iron out the kinks this year though. So I'm optimistic.
4) Moving: Obviously you are going to have to move a lot more.
Just some thoughts. I hope it helps. I really wish the UW would educate their prospective studens more on what this program actually consists of. It would help everyone know if they want to commit to it. This is actually why I decided to start my blog, to give a more realistic view of what the program is all about. Tell your other predent UW friends, I think it will help clear it up a bit.
All that being said - I don't think any of us would change our decision to be in the RIDE program thus far. We all really enjoy it and each others company. Good times.
Brad
