1st Semester Finished

I finished my first semester. Here are my takeaways.
1. Gross Anatomy wasn't as bad as I had feared. By the end of the semester, I could easily eat food in the gross lab.
2. Dental school is probably 20% harder than an undergrad semester. There is just a lot of information to absorb. One nice thing is there is no homework or papers, just tests. I was pleasantly surprised that there was only one comprehensive final out of the 7 or so classes I took.
3. I had never skipped classes in undergrad, but had always wanted them to video record the classes. Dental school gave me that chance to skip school as all of the classes were video or audio recorded. This was invaluable as I was able to watch class during my most convenient time.
4. Rumor has it next semester is better than this one and that every year gets better. I'm still enjoying Dental School.

Starting 2nd block exams of 1st semester

I've started the 2nd block of exams for the first semester. I've mostly done individual studying this time instead of group study, just because I think at times it's faster. I also believe it's hard to find someone with your exact same style given the plethora of information you can absorb. For example, histology would give you a book full of information. Within that book, some of the people who are trying to get straight A's in school will try to memorize all the information. Others are just trying to get by with the time they are willing to commit to school. Other's don't care to get A's, and are just concentrated on learning what they feel is important. So within all of these types of people, it's hard even from class to class to find someone with your exact interests on what they want out of the class. My experience has been that the people who do really well in their area, aren't usually the highest grade people, they are mostly people that have an intense curiosity about a subject that drives them to continue on after others have lost interest. I'm mostly trying to study the most with what time I have and try to concentrate on what I feel is important to my career.

1st Rounds of test over

I completed my first round of tests which included Dental Anatomy, Biochem, Histo, and Gross Anatomy. I felt like I studied pretty hard, about the time you'd put in for a final at undergrad and received an 88 in Dental Anatomy, 88 in Biochem, 76 in Histo, and 75 in Gross Anatomy. I felt that was not too bad given my lack of knowledge in any of these courses coming into Dental School. Looking forward, our schedule gets a lot busier, so less time to study. I'm hoping this first round of tests will allow me to be able to breath a little easier on some of the finals. I would say I've been spending ~50-60 hours at school going to class/studying. I was somewhat bumbed at my Histo grade, but then I thought to myself, it's not the end of the world that I don't know the difference between a monocyte and a lymphocyte.

Gross Anatomy

1st day of the highly anticipated Gross Anatomy. More scare talk of how hard it's going to be. I was not as nervous as I thought I'd be after initially seeing the cadaver, although the face and hands are not exposed yet, and we only worked on the back. I would have to say it is quite weird, somewhat interesting, not too bad as far as smell. I think it's quite an opportunity to see something not many get to see. I'll probably be glad when it's over, but will be better for the experience of doing it.

In general the classes are fast paced, a little more high level than what I've done in the past. We'll see how detailed they expect us to be on the actual exams. Overall I think it'll be fast paced and overwhelming at times with quantity of work expected out of us.

1st Semester Schedule

Here is my first semester schedule. Mornings start at 8, 9, or 11 am, afternoons are done at 3, 4, or 5 pm. I counted a total of 27 hours a week in some type of class or lab. I think I have 22 credit hours this semester. I'll figure the real work load out a little better in the coming months.

First Week

Orientation with lots of social events. Am starting to recognize faces, and names of maybe 15 of the 90 class members. Warnings are that it's going to be a tough long marathon. Also found out that the Cost of Attendance is a hard cap that they won't be able to increase just because I have a family of 5. I'm trying to figure out the balance I'm going to need between school/work/family. I think that'll only play out when I get into the actual work load.

Almost ready to start

It's been quite a long road here. Buying a house here in NY saved me 20k in tuition the first year, but like a lot of things in life, didn't realize how much work it was.

If I look over the past 3 months.

1. Buying the house (A ton of paperwork, no less that 30 separate faxes)
2. Selling 2 houses in Colorado (Again, ton of paperwork, taking losses just to get rid of them)
3. Moving across the nation (The easiest part of it, expect the truck loading)
4. Unpacking, not too bad
5. Endless paperwork for little things to get into school.

I guess chalk it all up to the reason not everyone becomes a dentist.

Getting ready to move

I spent the day packing and organizing for the move on the 19th of June from Phoenix, AZ to Buffalo, NY. I'm feeling a little apprehensive given that I'll be giving up a couple of great work at home jobs to live off of student loans for 4 years. Feeling a little stressed about how to do it financially, balancing pressures of dental school and having a family with 3 kids. I'm sure like most things in life, it'll work itself out. My cousin Phil was able to do Medical school and have kids, so it has been done before.

Buying a house

Question most asked by me is why dentistry? Being a little bit experienced in the business world I knew there were some things I wanted from my dream job.

1. Control my own destiny as far as making choices, where I live, who I work with, being forced out of a job as I get older.
2. I want to live in a smaller city.
3. I want to be in a job that my kids could work with me.
4. I love a great smile.

I made my choice largely from two experiences, watching my wife's smile and self esteem being transformed by excellent orthodontic and dental care. Second, I was working for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii and met a guy in his mid 40's with my exact resume, graduated in accounting then got an M.S. in Information Systems. Upon graduation he got into what was then a hot company in the early 90s, Corel and worked tirelessly for them. He was a very nice guy, seemed very capable, but being in his mid-40s and having to move because the company he was working for was laying off, had to take a business analyst position at a reduced salary. So in the end, I'm hoping dentistry will give me a chance to be my own boss, do great work for people, and have time and location flexibility.

First Blog Entry

Starting a blog to fill in the gaps of what it takes to become a dentist. I've been working towards becoming a dentist for a while, so thought other's might want to hear my journey.