is it normal to hate your dental school?

[dentaldream78]

just curious about this. I am talking to current students and one of the schools I am considering has so many students saying they hate it and they bond with their class about how much they hate the school. I am not getting the same vibe from the other school I am talking to students at, but I just wonder if I haven't talked to enough people at that school to know if they all hate it there too. Would you say that no matter where you go you will hate it in general (especially admin) or is it just certain schools that have a much more negative environment than others?

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[Mr.Smile12]

There's riffing on your school to build a sense of comraderie against a common straw man/person. And then there's really "hating" the school. Obviously I can't tell which it is from the description.

Personally, I want to be around people who are positive and motivated. These will be people I'm going to see in clinic and future professional meetings, not to mention alumni events. For the next 30 years.

 

[Ivy.ch]

Yes

 

[PerioDont]

Yes

Truth right here

 

[TanMan]

just curious about this. I am talking to current students and one of the schools I am considering has so many students saying they hate it and they bond with their class about how much they hate the school. I am not getting the same vibe from the other school I am talking to students at, but I just wonder if I haven't talked to enough people at that school to know if they all hate it there too. Would you say that no matter where you go you will hate it in general (especially admin) or is it just certain schools that have a much more negative environment than others?

Absolutely. And before you graduate, if they ask for your contact info, don't give them any real info. I gave them fake information and haven't been contacted for any donations ever since. My classmates have been bothered constantly for money. Going to dental school made me realize how much better they treated us in undergrad.

The administration and faculty had absolute contempt for us. They can have their favorite teacher's pet(s) donate money to their school. For me, they can GFY.

 

[2TH MVR]

Wow. I never hated my dental school. Of course I went to a nice, small midwestern, state school located in a small college football town. For the most part ... I respected all my instructors and attendings. School is what you make of it.

 

[Teeth and Titanite]

I think it depends on the school. I have not heard any of my classmates express hatred for our school yet and the environment has been much more respectful than we expected going in. No school is perfect and ours isn't either, but it's still not that bad. There are also anomalies like me who love the school lol.

 

[somefuturedoc]

Yeah pretty much everyone hates our school.

 

[John Muir]

Sounds like you are talking about University of Michigan…
I think some dental schools are hated more than others.

 

[charlestweed]

It’s normal because of the rigorous dental school course load and tough graduation requirements. Unlike medical and other health professional schools, dental students have to find the right patients, who need certain dental procedures, to fulfill the requirements for graduation. But like 2THMR, I don’t hate my dental school. Actually, I am very proud to be a graduate of all the schools (undergrad, dental, and ortho) that I had attended. Since my dental school is a public university that is relatively famous (both in academic and sports), a lot of predents who live in SoCal wish they can get in here. When I was a 2nd year dental student, the school won the NCAA basketball national championship title. I felt very fortunate to get an acceptance here.

Many here have complained about their classmates and professors. I didn’t have any of these problems. I guess it’s because I was (and still am) an introvert person. The less people I had interacted with, the less chance I ran into a problem with them. My closest friends were my 4 roommates, who were also my classmates. They had helped me a lot.

 

[Firik]

Schools need to make it a priority to transition from preclinic into the clinic. Just focusing on getting perfect preps and learning pros steps is not even close to reality. Educating in the use of software, going through difficult preps or pros cases, managing difficult patients, etc is what you face daily. There should be a course to address most of the issues going on in the clinic. It would be nice for faculty from each specialty to create cases based on real events to address the most common issues and obstacles in treating patients, then offer tips/solutions. I understand everyone should learn from their practice, but knowing them would help provide better patient care and more confidence to the student.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Schools need to make it a priority to transition from preclinic into the clinic. Just focusing on getting perfect preps and learning pros steps is not even close to reality. Educating in the use of software, going through difficult preps or pros cases, managing difficult patients, etc is what you face daily. There should be a course to address most of the issues going on in the clinic. It would be nice for faculty from each specialty to create cases based on real events to address the most common issues and obstacles in treating patients, then offer tips/solutions. I understand everyone should learn from their practice, but knowing them would help provide better patient care and more confidence to the student.

I've been out of the classroom for a while so I don't know how changes due to the INDBE are making this more likely for the transition. Can someone comment?

 

[sobertiger]

Schools need to make it a priority to transition from preclinic into the clinic. Just focusing on getting perfect preps and learning pros steps is not even close to reality. Educating in the use of software, going through difficult preps or pros cases, managing difficult patients, etc is what you face daily. There should be a course to address most of the issues going on in the clinic. It would be nice for faculty from each specialty to create cases based on real events to address the most common issues and obstacles in treating patients, then offer tips/solutions. I understand everyone should learn from their practice, but knowing them would help provide better patient care and more confidence to the student.

I wish they had an archive of videos for all the procedures. I often had to rely on youtube videos to show me the way.