I'm going to post some stuff on my experience with books because it might be helpful to some of you. This is all just based on my experience, so don't come to lynch me if I'm wrong! Maybe I should remain anonymous, just in case.
Just a caveat: If they start getting their questions from some sort of test bank for certain courses for your year (which is a rumor going around), then you'll most likely need the book for that course. If they use a test bank for any course, it would be a major change from the way things worked for my year. The way that they ran things for us was like this: For each course you'll have several professors teaching, and each professor would write about 4-5 questions per lecture they taught (usually based on powerpoints or straight from old tests), and so the tests were all a compilation of a bunch of professor's own written questions. This is why studying powerpoints was way better, because each professor put what they thought was important on the powerpoint. I'd definitely try to find out if they're writing their own questions, or drawing them from a test bank.
There is a campus bookstore, but they never had any used books whenever I went there, so you'll be paying full price. I'd check out eBay and other auction sites if you want a good deal. I probably could have saved a bunch of money by doing that more often.
This is according to your
textbook list:
Cell and Molecular Biology:
This is a new class and new textbook, so I can't say. Dr. Bashirelahi, who's running the course, was in charge of our biochem course last year, and that was the one course where you truly had to have the book. Even still, Dr. B was the only professor whose material you had to read the book for - the rest were straight powerpoints.
Microbiology and Immunology:
They've changed the required book for this class. Our book was almost
completely useless (and I think I spent over $100 on it). Again, if they're using a test bank, chances are you'll need the book. For our micro course, though, all you needed to do was memorize the powerpoints and old tests.
Gross Anatomy:
For this course,
definitely buy Netter's
Atlas of Human Anatomy. The rest of the books are optional in my opinion. It looks like they've lumped histology into your anatomy course (histo was a separate course for us). The anatomy/histo courses are run by professors who are retiring after your year, and they've been running the show pretty much the same for the past 30-35 years. What you'll want to study for this course are the notes that were put together by some third years - two third year girls compiled AMAZING notes on all the lectures and sold them to our class for $10 a pop. They were worth way more than that! I'm sure they'll get passed around on a CD for your class. If you memorize their notes, you'll be in good shape for anatomy.
I spent $75 on the
Essential Clinical Anatomy book, and barely cracked it open. I also spent a chunk of change on the
Textbook of Head and Neck Anatomy, and still didn't get much use out of it. There are some good tables for the cranial nerves in that book, though.
I also bought most of the histology books, but Dr. Gartner tests straight from his lectures, so attend his lectures and take good notes and you won't need books. Dr. Gartner wrote the books for his course, so he IS the test bank.
Neuroscience:
The Purves neuroscience book was a good buy. If you get this one before anatomy, it'll help out when Dr. Meszler teaches you about the autonomic nervous system in that class. I also bought the
Color Textbook of Histology, but NEVER used it once! The same third year girls compiled notes for this class as well - they weren't as useful as they were in anatomy, but they still helped.
Physiology:
This is an interesting one. Dr. Bennett, who runs the course, will tell you that you MUST buy and read the book. Here's my experience: I spent about $120 on the book, barely read it, studied powerpoints and old tests, and got an A.
Principles of Scientific Evidence:
DON'T BUY THIS BOOK.
Foundations of Clinical Dentistry:
This is your big fat course for the year - it was 9 credits for us. Here's my experience: I bought the Wheeler's and
Fundamentals books, barely read them (I think for the first test maybe?), and still got an A. 2/3 of this course is graded based on your practical (hands-on) work - only 1/3 is didactic. Still, though, the didactic part is definitely important, but powerpoints and old tests were the way to go for our course.
For this class, the texts all directly apply to dental practice, so technically they could all be useful for you when you're practicing. Also, the "Diagnostics and Prevention" course is brand new, so I don't know for sure.
General Pathology:
You can get this book for cheap, and it's (somewhat) useful for the course, so you might as well buy it. I got mine for about $30.
Perspectives in Oral Health Care:
Don't buy.
Basic Science of Periodontal Disease:
New course director, and new book (I think). I didn't buy any books for perio and did well, though. The woman who's your course director tested from her powerpoints for us.
The Profession/Professionalism:
You need to read the BLS book, but you can check it out either at the dental school resource center or at the library. However, this one's a cheap book, and it's got timeless advice on saving lives, so I'd buy it. Don't buy the ethics book (that sounds kind of shady on my part, doesn't it?
).
Radiology:
I spent a lot of time reading the book, but it seems like attending lectures and taking careful notes was the most important thing by far. Dr. Otis will assign you TONS of reading, so I guess it's a decent buy. This book is also required for second year.
Hopefully that helps - feel free to PM me if you've got any other questions.
