What you should read the summer before dental school!

Now that is a vacation!

"What should I read the summer before dental school?" I am not sure why I get asked this question all of the time but it is probably because pre-dental students hear how much work dental school is and they want to get the "edge" on the class.

What should a pre-dental student read before dental school? I would read any and all instructions sent to you by the dental school you were accepted by, especially information sent to you by the financial aid office. I would also read the contract for your new house, or apartment.

I would NOT read anything pertaining to your upcoming classes! First off, each teacher is very diverse in the way that they teach and test. It is difficult to study for a subject without any kind of direction. Secondly, the amount of material covered in a few weeks will be more than you will want to cover during your summer break (Check my post out about material on a single test and see for yourself ). The class will be caught up with you in no time. The only difference is that you are now going over a fourth of the material, for your first test, for a second time and they are going over it for the first time with memories of the best summer vacation ever!

Does this mean you shouldn't do anything. No, like I said make sure you have all your paperwork turned in, immunizations done, housing set up and anything else you need to do before you get too busy. I would also recommend getting yourself organized. Figure out your schedule and contact an upper classman or two that can give you some advice (someone at the school should be able to hook you up if your class does not have a Facebook group). Maybe he/she will even give you some notes on a thumb drive that you can download and get organized. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on this but maybe just a few hours.

Spend as much time as you can golfing, water skiing, wake boarding, relaxing, and having fun as possible. There is going to be time for some fun in dental school but not quite to the extent of a summer vacation.

Prerequisites for Dental School

Prerequisites for
Dental School

Each Dental School Has Their Own Prerequisites

        Does this mean that you are going to be in school, the remainder of your life,
trying to complete the prerequisite courses for all the schools you want to apply to? Of course not! However, because each school does have slight variations of the requirements it is important that you check with each school to see the exact requirements. Preferably, you will want to do this sooner than later so that there will be no surprises when you decide to put in your application. There is no need to call every school asking for these. Each school has them posted on their website so that they are easy to access. The following is a list of general requirements including needed courses.

General Prerequisite Courses

2 Semesters (3 quarters)- English

2 Semesters (3 quarters)- Physics

2 Semesters (3 quarters)- General Biology

2 Semesters (3 quarters)- General Chemistry with a Lab

2 Semesters (3 quarters)- Organic Chemistry with a Lab

Depending on the school there may be other courses required such as; Biochemistry, Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, Biochemistry, Psychology, and Microbiology just to name a few.

Some schools will also have a separate list of recommended courses. Taking those courses will help prepare you for dental school. It is not that feasible to complete all of them but taking some of them may help increase your chances of getting an interview.

Along with the prerequisite courses most dental schools look for someone that has or will be completing a four year degree. They may also list a minimum credit limit such as 120 semester credits.

Letters of Recommendation

Most schools require 3 letters of recommendation that may come from science professors, dentists, or community/religious leaders. Some of the schools will require at least two letters from science professors while others will have a different combination that is required. Check with each school in order to be certain of how many of each letter you need.

Dental Admissions Test (DAT)

The DAT is required for all schools and will play heavily on whether you are a competitive applicant or not. The DAT is scored on a scale from 1 to 30. The average score according to the ADA is an Academic Average (AA) of 17. This does not mean that 17 is the average score for students getting into dental schools. Each schools average is different but generally a competitive score is a 19.

What is included on the DAT?

Subject	Number of questions	Time per Subject
Tutorial		15 minutes
Survey of Natural Science	100	90 minutes
Biology	40
General Chemistry	30
Organic Chemistry	30
Perceptual Ability Test	90	60 Minutes
Keyhole	15
Top/Front/End	15
Angle Ranking	15
Hole Punch	15
Cube counting	15
Pattern Folding	15
Optional Break		15 Minutes
Reading Comprehension	50	60 Minutes
Quantitative Reasoning	40	45 Minutes
Post-Test Survey		15 Minutes
Entire Test	280	5 Hours

The following link to the ADA has resources posted that will help you to orient yourself to the DAT. I highly recommend reading the sources before beginning to study. A few important ones include DAT User’s Manual and Reference Texts. http://www.ada.org/3746.aspx

Dental School Schedule, Not all work!

Is dental school all work? Of course it's not! Yes, there is endless amounts of studying and occasionally an all nighter but there is also plenty of time for fun. So, what does my schedule look like in a typical week at dental school? Here it is!

Monday

   I wake up at about 6:50 a.m. which gives me enough time to throw on my scrubs, make a lunch, and grab a breakfast. By 7:25 a.m. I am out the door and on my way to school. I live about 15-20 minutes away from school. I car pool with some of the other D1 students that live in my neighborhood which means I only drive 1-2 times a week. The official school day starts out at 8 a.m. with a Biology module such as cardiovascular system, or respiratory system. This only lasts 50 minutes which is just enough time for me to start waking up. 
   At 9 we have what is called PBL (Problem Based Learning) where we are in groups of 6-7 students and we read over cases and essentially learn things. This is supposed to be scheduled until noon. Does it last that long? NO. The current group I am in only takes about an hour (there are groups that take the entire time). That means I can hit the library by 10 or 10:30 a.m., allowing me 30 minutes for SDN (studentdoctor.net), facebook, blogging, or whatever else I can think of, and another 2 hours for studying and lunch.
   By the time 1 p.m. rolls around I am ready for my lab classes to begin. Luckily there is only about an hour or so of lecture and then the remaining time is used to work on projects. I usually get done around 4 p.m. or so but it is scheduled until 5 p.m.
   Time to go home! Or if you are a real stickler you can stay at the library and get some more studying done but 9 times out of 10, I choose to go home. If I get out of lab early (around 3 or 3:30) I will go to the boxing gym for a couple hours and if not I will go home eat some dinner and enjoy my time with the family. If I don't get too tired I might sit down and do some studying.

That is my typical Monday.

Tuesday

   Tuesdays class will not start until 2 p.m. I know, I know, how can they give us the half a day off every Tuesday? It is supposed to be reserved for independent research, a.k.a, studying things we talked about in PBL. How many of us are at school by 8a.m.? Maybe one. Otherwise we start trickling into the library around 10 a.m. or 12 a.m. Personally I go in around 9 or 10 because this is the best time for me to get studying done.
   Class then begins at 2 p.m. and is supposed to last until 5 p.m. Depending on who is giving the lecture will determine whether we get out early or not. I usually count on getting out around 4p.m. but every once in a while we get out later.
  Once again if I get out early I go to the gym, if not, I go home. I usually get good quality studying in earlier in the day so I can relax a little Tuesday nights. I still may pick up the books for an hour or two.

Wednesday

   Instead of rewriting everything, I am going to refer you back to Monday because it is pretty much the same schedule. However, our morning class that started at 8 a.m. actually lasts until 11:50 a.m. which means we do not have PBL. Otherwise, everything else is the same. Biology in the morning and lab in the afternoon.

Thursday

   Exactly the same as Monday.

Friday

   Exactly the same as Tuesday.

That is pretty much my school week. Test weeks differ in the fact that I actually spend more time studying and less time playing. Here at IUSD we have our exams for all our classes compiled into one exam every 2 or 3 weeks. The tests cover a wide scope because they include all the current classes and modules we are taking. It may seem painful but makes for a relaxing week after the test. Some of you may be wondering if I really go to the gym every day. No, I make it to the gym 2 to 3 times per week for about 1 to 2 hours each time.

The Weekend

The weekend starts the second I get out of class on Friday. Usually, Fridays are reserved for spending time with my wife and kids or with friends. Rarely will I do any homework on Friday unless I am swamped.

Saturday is also pretty laid back. Wake up around 8 a.m. and do some chores around the apartment (sometimes) and get a little studying in. Go to the gym at 1 p.m. and get home at 3 p.m. Spend the rest of the day with my wife and kids unless it is the week before a test, then I utilize the time for studying.

Sunday I reserve for church and family. This means I do not have to think about school at all. This is definitely a nice break for me and allows me to get rejuvenated for the next week.

I made it sound like I don't study very much, but trust me, there is plenty of studying happening. Every other week it seems to be pretty intense. I just want to let you know that dental school is not all about work but there is some time for fun. Check out the DentalDat forum to see some of the fun things I have done while in dental school!

The school work can be fun sometimes too! Check out this class presentation made by some of my classmates. We were doing presentations on diseases and they were assigned bio-terrorism. The first video shows the entire story (watch it the first time). The second video is just the music video they made. hope it makes sense. ENJOY!

FULL Length Video (Inludes introduction to music video)



MUSIC VIDEO ONLY



Disclaimer: Remember if you are wanting to specialize you will have to put in all the time you can to studying. Everyone is different and every school will be different. I am not at the top of my class but I am not at the bottom either. Pretty average!