What do you like least about your school?

[ThrowAway99]

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What do all of you dislike the most about your schools? Inadequate clinics? Uninterested professors? Easier than you could have imagined? Throwaway accounts encouraged.

 

[periopocket]

Bump

 

[thewobblytooth]

the weather in michigan sucks

 

[hellopeople]

the weather in michigan sucks

+1

Sent from my LG-MS690 using Tapatalk

 

[MatthewLeeDDS]

I think it would be the academic mindset of a lot of our faculty. So many of them have never been in private practice and have almost no concept of our time or the patient's time being of any value. They'll spend an inordinate amount of time talking about irrelevant things or creating elaborate systems for getting things graded and checked off. Many of them seem more interested in coming up with more creative hoops to jump through. We have a guy that recently came in and is completely changing the mindset at this school. It's so obvious he was in private practice because he focuses on the patient first and foremost and then helps deliver information in a way that is practical and helps us become more competent dentists. Our school is going through massive changes and will be going through some unbelievable physical renovations as well starting in a couple months. The future is extremely bright for my dental school and its been fun to be a part of the old way while watching the new philosophies take hold.

 

[Duriel]

8am classes 😴

 

[Lethstang]

1. learning outdated information. you spend alot of time learning the rubber damn, and never getting exposed to an isolite.
2. Learning superfluous subjects - many hours of your life spent learning stuff you simply dont need to know to practice. Dentists are the most over educated cats around.
3. Mandatory attendance - d school is an 8-5 job.
4. patients who wont pay so your classmates have to stick around for another 4 months after graduation. Because your life should put on hold because of patient finances.
5. Embarrassing classmates - while the majority are smart, well put together people, there are always 1-2 who slip in. You look at them during lecture and you just think "how did I possibly end up in the same place as him".

However, on the whole my school is a good experience. Very competent instructors, good environment, lots of experience. Im very glad to have gotten in.

Uni of TN

 

[7 Iron]

I think it would be the academic mindset of a lot of our faculty. So many of them have never been in private practice and have almost no concept of our time or the patient's time being of any value. They'll spend an inordinate amount of time talking about irrelevant things or creating elaborate systems for getting things graded and checked off. Many of them seem more interested in coming up with more creative hoops to jump through.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Except at my school apparently it is not going to change! LOL

 

[bsp1013]

I think it would be the academic mindset of a lot of our faculty. So many of them have never been in private practice and have almost no concept of our time or the patient's time being of any value. They'll spend an inordinate amount of time talking about irrelevant things or creating elaborate systems for getting things graded and checked off. Many of them seem more interested in coming up with more creative hoops to jump through. We have a guy that recently came in and is completely changing the mindset at this school. It's so obvious he was in private practice because he focuses on the patient first and foremost and then helps deliver information in a way that is practical and helps us become more competent dentists. Our school is going through massive changes and will be going through some unbelievable physical renovations as well starting in a couple months. The future is extremely bright for my dental school and its been fun to be a part of the old way while watching the new philosophies take hold.

Thought this was about nova until I read the getting better part.

 

[EpicDentist]

Bump.

 

[Shunwei]

I am from UCLA. Many of the things I dislike about the school probably apply to some degree to all schools, but here goes:

1. Weak clinical curriculum: There will always be diehards from the school who will defend this, but honestly I think the clinical part is weak. Pts are hard to find, requirements (particularly operative) is lower than many schools except for the ridiculous and outdated ones in dentures. Some instructors are good but many clearly don't give a crap.

2. Faculty: Some faculty members are great (I really liked the endo people), but there are some who are there clearly because they can't make it in the real world or they love the power-tripping in the academic environment. Lots of favoritism present especially by the current chair of the restorative department.

3. Academic curriculum: While in theory sound, the main didactic courses they have over there (called Systems) is confusing and unorganized. These are the courses really necessary for Board exams but yet I personally found that I didn't get very much out of them. Decks were more useful for the Boards than trying to review old information from these Systems classes.

4. Expenses: While a state school, the tuition at UCLA went up every year I was there and is now no cheaper than many other private ones. Not to mention that you will be living in one of the most expensive areas of CA (Westwood LA) where expenses are skyhigh.

5. Cutthroat and annoying classmates: You are probably going to get these anywhere, but UCLA has a reputation as a "specializing school" so a lot of my classmates were extremely ambitious and cutthroat. Cheating was abound and backstabbing commonplace.

Just my 2 cents as a graduate of the school.

 

[bdental2013]

bump

 

[alxspider]

I am from UCLA. Many of the things I dislike about the school probably apply to some degree to all schools, but here goes:

1. Weak clinical curriculum: There will always be diehards from the school who will defend this, but honestly I think the clinical part is weak. Pts are hard to find, requirements (particularly operative) is lower than many schools except for the ridiculous and outdated ones in dentures. Some instructors are good but many clearly don't give a crap.

2. Faculty: Some faculty members are great (I really liked the endo people), but there are some who are there clearly because they can't make it in the real world or they love the power-tripping in the academic environment. Lots of favoritism present especially by the current chair of the restorative department.

3. Academic curriculum: While in theory sound, the main didactic courses they have over there (called Systems) is confusing and unorganized. These are the courses really necessary for Board exams but yet I personally found that I didn't get very much out of them. Decks were more useful for the Boards than trying to review old information from these Systems classes.

4. Expenses: While a state school, the tuition at UCLA went up every year I was there and is now no cheaper than many other private ones. Not to mention that you will be living in one of the most expensive areas of CA (Westwood LA) where expenses are skyhigh.

5. Cutthroat and annoying classmates: You are probably going to get these anywhere, but UCLA has a reputation as a "specializing school" so a lot of my classmates were extremely ambitious and cutthroat. Cheating was abound and backstabbing commonplace.

Just my 2 cents as a graduate of the school.

Are you guys not P/F? Why would people be so competitive? And cheat?! Seriously?! Why would someone do this? They are just cheating themselves and their patients.

 

[Shunwei]

Are you guys not P/F? Why would people be so competitive? And cheat?! Seriously?! Why would someone do this? They are just cheating themselves and their patients.

The P/F system means nothing in practice, because most schools who do this almost always have an Honors option attached to it., when I was there at UCLA we had an EPR option for almost every class which was given to the top 10% of every class; for people who want to specialize, their recommendation letters from the school can include the number of EPRs to possibly signify that they did 'well' academically. Just this year I heard that UCLA went formal wih this and adopted a P/F/H system like Columbia. To me this is really no different than a grades system, except for maybe some people prefer to see a clean P instead of a number (I.e. 76%) that mean the same thing only less sexy.

The cheating is prevalent at all of the dental schools, not just at UCLA. People have to realize that dental students come from a wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and most people are by nature prone to cheating. At my school, my classmates freely passed around materials that were on exams and also about Boards. It's hard to ferret these cheaters out because its hard to trace these materials and in any case would probably involve too many people that would make the school look bad. The administration ostensibly is against this but in reality adopts an open-one-eye, close-one-eye attitude. The assistant dean for student affairs at the school, Dr. B***s, even tried to rationalize the behavior by saying that "good people do bad things in desperate times." I'd say its showing ones true colors when the going gets rough.

By my estimation there were very few, if any, of my classmates who did not cheat. I have my vices but I really despise cheating because to me a person who does it is giving a tacit admission that he/she isn't good enough to do the job without resorting to such behavior--I.e. a loser. And it will definitely affect how you treat your pts as well.

 

[jeffity]

I don't know how I'd cheat if I even wanted to. It's like taking the DAT every time you take a test. Passing down old exams doesn't exist.

 

[Tely]

bump, please tell us more...

 

[Boston88]

I think it would be the academic mindset of a lot of our faculty. So many of them have never been in private practice and have almost no concept of our time or the patient's time being of any value. They'll spend an inordinate amount of time talking about irrelevant things or creating elaborate systems for getting things graded and checked off. Many of them seem more interested in coming up with more creative hoops to jump through. We have a guy that recently came in and is completely changing the mindset at this school. It's so obvious he was in private practice because he focuses on the patient first and foremost and then helps deliver information in a way that is practical and helps us become more competent dentists. Our school is going through massive changes and will be going through some unbelievable physical renovations as well starting in a couple months. The future is extremely bright for my dental school and its been fun to be a part of the old way while watching the new philosophies take hold.

This is one thing that really bugs me about my school (Tufts).

 

[Bereno]

I don't know how I'd cheat if I even wanted to. It's like taking the DAT every time you take a test. Passing down old exams doesn't exist.

Same here... all of our exams are on the computer with randomized answers, etc. Not too much cheating here at UConn methinks, but I could be wrong

 

[punchdrunk7]

An entire year of general pathology!

 

[toothexplore]

I can't help but be jealous of you 8am class attenders. Our classes run 740-5 and 90% of us commute, including me across the border daily, so I'm up before 6am to go to school.... also I concur about Michigan weather sucking a LOT, having to go on the freeway in bad weather exacerbates this 100x. Because UDM expanded their class so abruptly, everything is pretty unorganized and everyone is trying out this inaugural curriculum that is just killing us all

other than that i'm pretty happy with everything else LOL

 

[diasIItema]

How much the students complain about everything

 

[periopocket]

Bump...please tell us which school to!

 

[Muggsy Bogues]

How much the students complain about everything

This. I feel bad for our Student Affairs department and our class officers. All they do is hear complaints. Dental school isn't that bad.

 

[vlaura0214]

1. learning outdated information. you spend alot of time learning the rubber damn, and never getting exposed to an isolite.
2. Learning superfluous subjects - many hours of your life spent learning stuff you simply dont need to know to practice. Dentists are the most over educated cats around.
3. Mandatory attendance - d school is an 8-5 job.
4. patients who wont pay so your classmates have to stick around for another 4 months after graduation. Because your life should put on hold because of patient finances.
5. Embarrassing classmates - while the majority are smart, well put together people, there are always 1-2 who slip in. You look at them during lecture and you just think "how did I possibly end up in the same place as him".

However, on the whole my school is a good experience. Very competent instructors, good environment, lots of experience. Im very glad to have gotten in.

Uni of TN

I'm not sure if I should be worried about #4 since I am attending UT Memphis this fall. Haha D:

 

[Zelrond]

Im in second yr and we seem to be doing a lot of social science and psychology stuff. Its taking up so much of my time and i feel depressed when doing it. Sometimes i feel like im studying social sciences instead of dentistry

 

[dentalWorks]

What do all of you dislike the most about your schools? Inadequate clinics? Uninterested professors? Easier than you could have imagined? Throwaway accounts encouraged.

the price tag

 

[thewobblytooth]

Michigan: did i mention the weather is terrible? just yesterday the weather was nice, sunny, and warm. today it went from storming rain, to a blizzard.

 

[dentalWorks]

Michigan: did i mention the weather is terrible? just yesterday the weather was nice, sunny, and warm. today it went from storming rain, to a blizzard.

lol yep... detroit mercy main campus sent us a text message... all evening classes after 6pm were cancelled.

Its okay tho, spring is right around the corner, outta no where, we are going to have a 70 degree day, watch, just give it couple weeks.

 

[thewobblytooth]

lol yep... detroit mercy main campus sent us a text message... all evening classes after 6pm were cancelled.

Its okay tho, spring is right around the corner, outta no where, we are going to have a 70 degree day, watch, just give it couple weeks.

if you ever have the urge to come to ann arbor, we'll grab a couple drinks 👍

 

[oiuuiooiuuio]

Having our summer taken away because we "have the chance" to participate in some "cutting edge research!" with the nurse practitioner students and learning how inter-professional education will cure the world of under served populations.

 

[CharlieMurphy32]

that it hasn't been shut down yet.