What is USC's pbl REALLY like?

[Jalah]

I am having a hard time understanding what it's like to be a dental student at USC. If they don't have lectures, are they always just in PBL groups every day? How do they learn new material if no professor is lecturing?

Any info about USC PBL would be much appreciated / or if you are actually a student there, what is it like?

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[887194]

When I interviewed there, the student ambassador told me they have regular lectures and they incorporate PBL cases into the curriculum. It's not 100% PBL.

 

[Illstartmydiet2maro]

There is actually NO lecture for the regular science classes like (micro, immuno, histology, physio) you learn the material through PBL sessions.. so theyll give you a case study about a patient and within it while you do your research diagnosing the patient you will learn all you need to know about the topics of micro, histology, physio, etc. Sounds weird because how can you POSSIBLY get all the info from a case study... BUTTT the students there and the doc i shadow say that there is a "study guide" that gets passed around generation to generation lol kind of sketch i know, but basically has all the topics and exact info you need for the exams..

as for the LECTURES. those are onllllllly specifc to what you do in the lab, and sim labs. so essentially you get lectured on all the hand skills and then go into the lab and have notes on how to do everything also videos of ur professor doing it.

its mainly for the first two years that your doing PBL. its annoying meeting with your group making sure everyones schedules fit. there is also a dr/proctor with you guys grading and trying to help out. its kind of a curriculum where your on your own. you wont be spoon fed all the info you need for exams, its up to you to study and get all the essential material down.

 

[Medin2017]

Would not recommend PBL. Check the med forums for their take on it. Like 99% of the posters who go to PBL schools absolutely hate it. Looks like a system where if perfectly executed it could be decent but usually is just an incredible waste of time.

 

[ncide]

Not at USC but at VCU, the vast majority of our courses are lecture based with very few PBL courses. The PBL courses are most universally disliked.

I'd hate to go to a school where the science courses are PBL.

 

[FanOfCostco]

Not at USC but at VCU, the vast majority of our courses are lecture based with very few PBL courses. The PBL courses are most universally disliked.

I'd hate to go to a school where the science courses are PBL.

Should you hate to go to a school where you come out with around 600k in debt more??

 

[frozenicecreamDMD]

not bashing USC or anything but imagine that you have close to 100k a year just to study on your own with some proctor?

on the side note, PBL is a very cheap way of teaching.

 

[887194]

not bashing USC or anything but imagine that you have close to 100k a year just to study on your own with some proctor?

on the side note, PBL is a very cheap way of teaching.

A disadvantage of PBL for schools is it requires more human resources on a general note, thus costing more.

 

[liuan]

not bashing USC or anything but imagine that you have close to 100k a year just to study on your own with some proctor?

on the side note, PBL is a very cheap way of teaching.

I'm an undergrad at USC taking several pre-dent minor courses at the USC dent school. I hear ppl saying the same thing a lot, i.e. it's nonsense to pay so much for self-taught courses... but what I saw at the dental school is kinda different. Last year I had this old dentist as my dental histology professor who was also leading PBL sessions for dent students. When he lectured, it's just reading off the slides, but I happened to see their PBL session and it was a lot more dynamic. At least for the 10 min I was there, the professor had comments for probably each student who spoke up (they've done the research at home and were discussing some diabetic case). it was clearly a lot more mind consuming for the professor than to simply reading the slides.....
Back to what you said, yes I am concerned about it too!!! USC is becoming the most expensive dent school this year, why do they need this much money?? However based on what I saw, the professors might just well deserve higher salary cuz they wneed to guide and engage in the group learning. but again, I only saw 10min of the 2year pbl curriculum... do you have more info? is PBL actually a sheer self-teaching scam??

 

[ncide]

I'm an undergrad at USC taking several pre-dent minor courses at the USC dent school. I hear ppl saying the same thing a lot, i.e. it's nonsense to pay so much for self-taught courses... but what I saw at the dental school is kinda different. Last year I had this old dentist as my dental histology professor who was also leading PBL sessions for dent students. When he lectured, it's just reading off the slides, but I happened to see their PBL session and it was a lot more dynamic. At least for the 10 min I was there, the professor had comments for probably each student who spoke up (they've done the research at home and were discussing some diabetic case). it was clearly a lot more mind consuming for the professor than to simply reading the slides.....
Back to what you said, yes I am concerned about it too!!! USC is becoming the most expensive dent school this year, why do they need this much money?? However based on what I saw, the professors might just well deserve higher salary cuz they wneed to guide and engage in the group learning. but again, I only saw 10min of the 2year pbl curriculum... do you have more info? is PBL actually a sheer self-teaching scam??

PBL works well in certain situations. Like in lab when you work with your hands and you learn how to work on cases and how to treat cases clinically. You can have fellow classmates and upper classmates show you the tricks of the trade, with the professors there to guide you.

But having other people in your class teach you pharmacology or microbiology? Most of this material needs to be memorized through rogue memorization, and having a professor presenting important information is more efficient than having your roommate trying to do the same.