- Joined
- Dec 11, 2015
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 28
Hey everyone,
Just to introduce myself, I'm a dental student getting towards then end of my education at Louisville (ULSD). I just wanted to give an honest perspective of the school: things I like, things that are frustrating, etc. Here goes.
Overview of the program:
-First year: Heavy didactics (Microbiology, Gross Anatomy, Head and Neck Anatomy, Biochemistry, Histology, Physiology) and a decent amount of lab work (Simulation drilling/filling). A bunch of other courses too, but these are the main ones. It's a tough year.
-Second year: Heavy didactics (General Pathology, Pharmacology) and heavy lab work (Crown and Bridge, Dentures, Removable.) And a bunch of other classes too. Considerable tougher than the 1st year.
-Third year: Clinic every day (Spend one week in general dentistry clinic, the next week in a specialty clinic, then your back in general, then specialty...etc.) Heavy didactics (yes, still...more General Pathology, Clinical Pharmacology, and Oral Pathology (the hardest class at ULSD) as well as one really heavy lab course. I think this is the most difficult year of all.
-Fourth year: Clinic every day (same setup as third year). Few classes, no lab courses. One month externship basically wherever/whatever you want to do in dentistry (general, OS, perio, etc.). An easier year, but it can be stressful making sure you're done with all of your requirements.
Positives:
-Very heavy didactics (Especially pathology!!). So you will know your stuff inside and out by the time you graduate.
-We kill NBDE I and II here...(seems pretty rare to not pass the first time)
-Get to work with specialists every other week (we have all the specialties).
-Labs are open all the time, so you can work on projects as longs as you need to.
-Simulation teeth are free! (well, you pay a big lab bill at the beginning of the year, but you can use as many of them as you want to practice drilling on.) I know some other schools make you pay for every plastic tooth (and I literally have gone through several thousand simulation teeth).
-Clinic faculty is generally very good (there are always a few that you avoid, but I like the great majority).
-Large list of clinical requirements (should be pretty competent/confident when you're done).
----Operative (drill and fill), Crown and Bridge, Oral medicine, Perio (SRPs), Endo, CD, RPD, Oral surgery, all have requirements (A TON of general practitioner experience, so this is a really great school if you want to be a GP).
-School assigns you patients (you don't have to go out and find them on the streets, like you do at some other schools!)
-Awesome facilities!!
-ULSD has quite the reputation out in the real world (I didn't know this before I went there). Whether you're going into specialty, military, GPR, AEGD, etc., people will be like, "Oh, you went to Louisville? That's a really great school!" Guarantee it.
-A lot of ULSD students who apply for specialty get to go where they want.
-The students here are really cool. No gunners that I know of (there are people who want to specialize, but they will still help others out).
Negatives:
-Very heavy didactics (especially pathology). Sometimes I think we spend so much time worrying about the next pathology (or other didactic) test that we spend less time on dental classes. It's too much. We're not training to be pathologists here, but the pathology faculty doesn't seem to get that. And pathology sort of ruins everybody's GPAs (hardly anyone gets an A...lots of C's). I would be willing to bet that this is the most pathology-heavy program in the country.
-Some of the didactic faculty members are fairly unapproachable, so I never even think about asking them questions. But the dental faculty members are OUTSTANDING!, so that sort of makes up for it.
-The school increased enrollment from 80 to 120 a few years back...while I personally haven't had a problem with patient flow, I know some of my classmates sometimes have an empty chair because they "don't have enough patients". Patient flow is definitely tighter than it used to be. Basically, you have to be very proactive and talk to staff members to find the patients that you need. You're in charge of getting the requirements done on time, so you just need to remember that from the get-go. It's up to you to get done on time, no one is going to hand you anything.
-There are problems with administration here, and we've lost/are losing a few really good dental faculty members because of it. The administrative faculty doesn't seem to care about anything except for themselves...I don't know many of the details, but some student's and it seems like a lot of the faculty are really fed up with the administration. Apparently administration "knows best" and any suggestions for them usually fall on deaf ears. BUT, this hasn't affected me much, and unless you are into school politics, it likely won't affect you. I just keep my head down and work hard, even if things that administration has done don't logically make sense.
Overall:
-So there are a ton of things I appreciate about ULSD, and only two things that annoy me (pathology and administration)...I can deal with that.
-I just want to give you an idea of how highly I value this school: I was accepted at 10 schools (my state school, other state schools, some Ivies). I would without a doubt choose Louisville again. You get such a great education here, and the clinical education is top-notch. It's everything I need to be a successful dentist in the real world.
If you've been accepted, congrats! If you are on the waiting list, I hope you get in here! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Best of luck to you all!
Just to introduce myself, I'm a dental student getting towards then end of my education at Louisville (ULSD). I just wanted to give an honest perspective of the school: things I like, things that are frustrating, etc. Here goes.
Overview of the program:
-First year: Heavy didactics (Microbiology, Gross Anatomy, Head and Neck Anatomy, Biochemistry, Histology, Physiology) and a decent amount of lab work (Simulation drilling/filling). A bunch of other courses too, but these are the main ones. It's a tough year.
-Second year: Heavy didactics (General Pathology, Pharmacology) and heavy lab work (Crown and Bridge, Dentures, Removable.) And a bunch of other classes too. Considerable tougher than the 1st year.
-Third year: Clinic every day (Spend one week in general dentistry clinic, the next week in a specialty clinic, then your back in general, then specialty...etc.) Heavy didactics (yes, still...more General Pathology, Clinical Pharmacology, and Oral Pathology (the hardest class at ULSD) as well as one really heavy lab course. I think this is the most difficult year of all.
-Fourth year: Clinic every day (same setup as third year). Few classes, no lab courses. One month externship basically wherever/whatever you want to do in dentistry (general, OS, perio, etc.). An easier year, but it can be stressful making sure you're done with all of your requirements.
Positives:
-Very heavy didactics (Especially pathology!!). So you will know your stuff inside and out by the time you graduate.
-We kill NBDE I and II here...(seems pretty rare to not pass the first time)
-Get to work with specialists every other week (we have all the specialties).
-Labs are open all the time, so you can work on projects as longs as you need to.
-Simulation teeth are free! (well, you pay a big lab bill at the beginning of the year, but you can use as many of them as you want to practice drilling on.) I know some other schools make you pay for every plastic tooth (and I literally have gone through several thousand simulation teeth).
-Clinic faculty is generally very good (there are always a few that you avoid, but I like the great majority).
-Large list of clinical requirements (should be pretty competent/confident when you're done).
----Operative (drill and fill), Crown and Bridge, Oral medicine, Perio (SRPs), Endo, CD, RPD, Oral surgery, all have requirements (A TON of general practitioner experience, so this is a really great school if you want to be a GP).
-School assigns you patients (you don't have to go out and find them on the streets, like you do at some other schools!)
-Awesome facilities!!
-ULSD has quite the reputation out in the real world (I didn't know this before I went there). Whether you're going into specialty, military, GPR, AEGD, etc., people will be like, "Oh, you went to Louisville? That's a really great school!" Guarantee it.
-A lot of ULSD students who apply for specialty get to go where they want.
-The students here are really cool. No gunners that I know of (there are people who want to specialize, but they will still help others out).
Negatives:
-Very heavy didactics (especially pathology). Sometimes I think we spend so much time worrying about the next pathology (or other didactic) test that we spend less time on dental classes. It's too much. We're not training to be pathologists here, but the pathology faculty doesn't seem to get that. And pathology sort of ruins everybody's GPAs (hardly anyone gets an A...lots of C's). I would be willing to bet that this is the most pathology-heavy program in the country.
-Some of the didactic faculty members are fairly unapproachable, so I never even think about asking them questions. But the dental faculty members are OUTSTANDING!, so that sort of makes up for it.
-The school increased enrollment from 80 to 120 a few years back...while I personally haven't had a problem with patient flow, I know some of my classmates sometimes have an empty chair because they "don't have enough patients". Patient flow is definitely tighter than it used to be. Basically, you have to be very proactive and talk to staff members to find the patients that you need. You're in charge of getting the requirements done on time, so you just need to remember that from the get-go. It's up to you to get done on time, no one is going to hand you anything.
-There are problems with administration here, and we've lost/are losing a few really good dental faculty members because of it. The administrative faculty doesn't seem to care about anything except for themselves...I don't know many of the details, but some student's and it seems like a lot of the faculty are really fed up with the administration. Apparently administration "knows best" and any suggestions for them usually fall on deaf ears. BUT, this hasn't affected me much, and unless you are into school politics, it likely won't affect you. I just keep my head down and work hard, even if things that administration has done don't logically make sense.
Overall:
-So there are a ton of things I appreciate about ULSD, and only two things that annoy me (pathology and administration)...I can deal with that.
-I just want to give you an idea of how highly I value this school: I was accepted at 10 schools (my state school, other state schools, some Ivies). I would without a doubt choose Louisville again. You get such a great education here, and the clinical education is top-notch. It's everything I need to be a successful dentist in the real world.
If you've been accepted, congrats! If you are on the waiting list, I hope you get in here! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Best of luck to you all!
