2nd Year 1st Semester Finished

Time is flying, I see last post was an entire semester ago.

This semester we had the following courses:
Indirect Restorations Lecture
Indirect Restorations Lab
Removable Restoration Lecture
Removable Restorations Lab
Pathology
Microbiology
Oral Sciences and Preventative Dentistry
Integrated Practice
Rotation
Local Anesthesia

I felt like this was a pretty easy semester, just because the lab work was more, and the sciences were less.  I think I spent more time at school, but less time studying.  Overall my grades are improving as school gets easier/I've figured out how to play the game of dental school.  I think this semester I spent 40-50 hours a week at school, which was pretty consistent throughout the semester.  I studied 2 Saturdays during the semester, but didn't waste any time at all while I was at school.  We had our first patient for a cleaning, which was fun.  I was able to perform a cleaning on a second patient.  We also gave each other injections of local anesthesia, which was also a highlight of the semester.  Looking forward to studying a little for 2nd year boards next semester hopefully taking them a little earlier in the summer than if I just started after the semester was over.  Overall I would say dental school is very relaxing and easier than a full time job.

1st year finished

I finished the 1st year, we have 6 weeks of summer school, but it's technically part of the 2nd year.  Overall I would say this semester was easier than the first, just because I got in the groove a school a little more and  knew what to expect.  My GPA was a little better this semester than last also, although most people seem to indicate the GPA goes up a little each semester.  What was important to me was I wasn't close to failing anything, which made finals a lot easier, as I didn't have to perform to pass any class.  I think I averaged 40-50 hours of school and studying a week, with a rare occasion (2-3) of studying a few hours.  We were able to learn about amalgams, resin composites, and glass ionomers.  This semester was 21 credit hours.  Next fall's load will be 24.5 credits, although that is down from 27.5 for the previous class.

Spring Extention includes the following classes.

Clinical Dentistry I
Nutrition
Immunology
Direct Restorations
Direct Restorations Lab
Head and Neck Clinical Dentistry

It looks like we'll be in class/lab ~ 30 hours a week.

1st Year 2nd Semester almost finished

It's getting closer to the end of the 2nd semester.  This semester has been a little easier than last semester because I am a little more familiar with what is expected, and the time commitment required.  We have a physiology class that meets once a day, and we have 8 testes during the semester, so every couple of weeks we have to study ~10 hours to prepare for the test.  The next hardest class is probably direct restorations, because there is quite a lot of lab work that has to be done in and out of class.  I haven't been hitting home runs in any class, but I've set myself up to get better grades than last semester depending on the outcome of the next few weeks' tests.  I would say this semester has been more even workload during the semester, there are never any big tests, just a lot of them.  I have usually spent on average two nights a week at school until 7-8 pm, and the rest of the nights I'm home by 5 pm.  I've studied 2-3 weekends this semester.  Given my commitments with my wife, 3 kids, and part time job, I feel like I'm meeting the expectations I set for myself before school started.

1st Year 2nd Semester typical day

I've really enjoyed this semester.  A lot like from High School to undergrad, I'm figuring out the transition from undergrad to Dental School.  It is comforting to have a semester behind me in that I know what to expect on the tests as far as detail and depth of information.  I've gotten into my own comfort zone of studying, which is 100% individual studying up to a day before the exam, then I get together with a friend and go over the material to make sure we're not missing anything.  Although the semester looked daunting at first, we actually have 3 1/2 days away from classes to study, so I've been able to use that to keep caught up.  Our afternoons are dedicated to clinical tasks, which makes the semester really enjoyable.  We're starting to do amalgam preparations and restorations, which is pretty interesting.  This semester has quite a few more tests than last semester, but again there are very few comprehensive tests and instead of huge gross anatomy tests we have smaller physiology tests.  I usually am to school by 8 or 9 am, and am home by 5 or 6.  I spend every minute I can at school studying if I'm not in class.  I usually take 1/2 hour lunch instead of the hour scheduled.  I usually will stay later the day before a test doing the group studying.  Besides that I haven't had to study much on the weekends or at night.

What it takes to get into Dental School

My only qualification for this posting is that I am in Dental School, not that I figured out the secret of getting into Dental School.  My first year applying, 2008, I applied for 8 dental schools, got 2 interview invites and no acceptances.  The second year I applied for 8 schools, got 3 interview invites and 2 acceptances.  I did absolutely nothing different between the 1st and second years of applying.  I've talked to other students about the process and here are my takeaways.

It's a numbers game.  ASDOH, one of the larger private dental schools, receives over 5000 applications for their 100 spots.  They interview approximately 400.  There is less than a 10% chance if you apply, you'll get interviewed, and after that, there is only a 30% chance you'll be accepted.  There are 12,000 applicants/year for 4,000 dental school spots throughout the country.  Every single fellow applicant I met at interviews was a very personable, friendly, probably intellectually gifted person with a unique story.  All of this boils down to numbers, there is no way admissions committees pick the best 100 students out of an application pool of 5000 for their school.  Your DAT, GPA, extracurricular, and interview score will get you an acceptance into a school if they are high enough.

Here is what I currently think the minimum for getting into Dental School.

In state residents:
3.3 GPA Science
3.3 GPA Total
19 DAT
Extracurricular activities and dental shadowing

Out of state residents:
3.5 GPA Science
3.5 GPA Total
20 DAT
Extracurricular activities and dental shadowing and a compelling story

A person with these stats should be able to get into a dental school if they apply to 8 schools or more.

1st year 2nd Semester

Another full work load.  Here are the classes we'll be taking

Physiology
Oral Radiology
Neuroanatomy
Community Dentistry
Case Studies
Oral Histology
Fixed Restorations
Occlusion
Integrated Dental Practice

All of the 2nd year students say this semester is easier, but it's looking to be more of the same or maybe even a little harder.  The entire week is filled with classes, except for a half a day off, which seems like more than last semester.  We'll be in class 30.5 hours the first block then 33.5 hours the second block.  I do get the feeling that we're transitioning more to actual dentistry instead of the core sciences.

Typical 1st Semester 1st year day

There are actually 2 types of days during the 1st semester, a test week day, and a non test week day. Since there is a test once every other week, there are about as many of each type of day. 

Non test week day:
Wake up at 6:45 to get ready to go to school and be there by 8 am class.  4 out of 5 days I'd be wearing scrubs because I'd either be in the Gross Lab or the Pre Clinic lab doing wax ups.  Usually there's classes in the morning, Gross, Gross Lab, Histo, Histo Lab, Dental Anatomy, or Dental Anatomy Lab.  The afternoons would be filled up with Gross Lab, Dental Lab, or some type of smaller class like Biochem, Bio Materials or Case Studies.  Each class was mostly a powerpoint presentation with a ton of information read to you that was also found in the packet given at the beginning of the semester.  Each day was 6 hours of class or lab and I'd usually study about 3 hours in addition to that.  1/2 day a week was time off, so I'd use that to study. I would usually put in 40-50 hours on this type of week.  Usually to school by 8 am or 9 am and home by 5 pm or 6 pm.

Test week day:
Our schedule was pretty well coordinated between classes, so we rarely had multiple tests on any single week or day.  When we did have tests, I would usually do the absolute minimum in the other classes and shift all of my studying to the class with the test.  I usually studied maybe an hour more per day than on a non test week.  I would usually put in 50-65 hours on this type of week.  Usually to school by 8 am and home by 6 pm or 7 pm.  I've been to so much school in my life, that I really wasn't stressed out about any test or class during the semester.  I would say  my stress level was quite a bit less than what it was during undergrad, because in undergrad you needed to get the top scores in order to be competitive to get into dental school.  Dental School affords you the real opportunity to really learn what you'll use the rest of your life, so it's more of wanting to learn the material for life, rather than for the upcoming test.  This I felt was the reason I felt less stress before tests than during undergrad.

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.