ttt Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 I just got accepted into dental school and seeing how most of the threads here are about admission into dental school, I figured a thread like this might be helpful to people like myself who really don't know much about what the process is like inside dental school. I'll start with some questions I have myself. Also since I'm going to U of A, maybe input on some of these from current/past U of A students might be helpful. Thanks! 1. How long is the academic year? What sort of breaks do you get for winter, misc. holidays, summer, etc. 2. Are classes given grade letters or all pass/fail? I've heard both 3. How many hours of labs/lecture/tutorial activity are there in a typical week? 4. Do most of your marks come from tests, or a combination of tests and assignments/labs? 5. Is it possible to find a decent amount of free time with the workload, for either just social events or extracurricular activities? 6. Do most people live on rez or apartments close by to campus? 7. Are dentistry groups (since usually much smaller than other programs) really tightly knit? Like do you spend a lot of time together and go out for events together? The student that was interviewing me said that it can vary but usually the groups are tightly knit 8. Is a laptop necessary/recommended? Do most people take notes in notebooks or on PPT slide printouts? 9. I've heard we have to do an insane amount of readings to keep up. Is this just exaggerated or true? I'll add more questions as I think of them, but I think this is good to get it started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramster Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 I would really love these answers aswell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seabreeze Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 ya can anyone chime in on these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mare Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Dalhousie University: 1. First year: First term = Sept 2 – Dec 12, 2008; Second term = Jan 5 – May 26, 2009. Three weeks off at Christmas, one week off for Spring Break in late February, three months off between first and second year (three months off between second and third year, one month off between third and fourth year). We have the typical holidays like Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, etc. 2. We are given letter grades. 3. Approximately 30+/- hours/week in total (including lectures, labs, clinic, etc). Expect to be at school from 8am to 4:30pm most days (some days start later and/or end sooner), with at least one hour for lunch. 4. The breakdown of marks depends on the course. Some are totally based on tests/pop quizzes/exams, others are based on lab or clinic work/pop quizzes/exams, and some have assignments making up a portion of the overall grade. 5. Most of my class seems to find the time to do the extra-curricular activities they enjoy (such as dance lessons, music lessons, sports/intramurals, working out at the gym, etc) and/or social events (mostly on the weekends). It all depends on your study habits though. 6. I don’t know of anyone that lives in residence, so I would have to go with most people living in apartments/condos close to the school. 7. As a class of 36 people, we definitely spend a lot of time together during school and after school socializing – we make an effort to see each other over the summer break as well, so I’d say we’re a pretty close group! 8. Dal has a mandatory laptop program as they’re trying to move to a paperless operating system – so you pay your tuition and show up on the first day and you’ll get a sweet MacBook Pro loaded with about 80 textbooks (no more back-breaking heavy textbooks for us!). Some people take notes on the PPT slides on the computer, we still get paper handouts for some classes and/or some people will print off the slides before class, or take notes on loose leaf – so you can do whatever works for you. 9. With 12+ courses going on at one time, there is an insane amount of potential reading you can do. I read somewhere on these forums that “dental school is like undergrad on steroids” and I couldn’t agree more! You’ll wonder how you ever complained about 5 courses and 5 exams during undergrad exam week. But, everyone gets through it with a little effort – so don’t worry about that. Your study habits that got you in will get you through it too, so don’t forget to make time for a little fun 10. Tuition and fees for first year DDS were approx. $25,000. Tuition remains at about $15,000 every year, but the fees decrease a bit from $10,000 each consecutive year. The fees include the laptop, a city bus pass and Dalplex gym pass. Batteries... err I mean living expenses... not included. Anymore questions? I’m happy to help! M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan1580 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 ahhh great news "potential readings". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramster Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Dalhousie University: 1. First year: First term = Sept 2 – Dec 12, 2008; Second term = Jan 5 – May 26, 2009. Three weeks off at Christmas, one week off for Spring Break in late February, three months off between first and second year (three months off between second and third year, one month off between third and fourth year). We have the typical holidays like Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, etc. 2. We are given letter grades. 3. Approximately 30+/- hours/week in total (including lectures, labs, clinic, etc). Expect to be at school from 8am to 4:30pm most days (some days start later and/or end sooner), with at least one hour for lunch. 4. The breakdown of marks depends on the course. Some are totally based on tests/pop quizzes/exams, others are based on lab or clinic work/pop quizzes/exams, and some have assignments making up a portion of the overall grade. 5. Most of my class seems to find the time to do the extra-curricular activities they enjoy (such as dance lessons, music lessons, sports/intramurals, working out at the gym, etc) and/or social events (mostly on the weekends). It all depends on your study habits though. 6. I don’t know of anyone that lives in residence, so I would have to go with most people living in apartments/condos close to the school. 7. As a class of 36 people, we definitely spend a lot of time together during school and after school socializing – we make an effort to see each other over the summer break as well, so I’d say we’re a pretty close group! 8. Dal has a mandatory laptop program as they’re trying to move to a paperless operating system – so you pay your tuition and show up on the first day and you’ll get a sweet MacBook Pro loaded with about 80 textbooks (no more back-breaking heavy textbooks for us!). Some people take notes on the PPT slides on the computer, we still get paper handouts for some classes and/or some people will print off the slides before class, or take notes on loose leaf – so you can do whatever works for you. 9. With 12+ courses going on at one time, there is an insane amount of potential reading you can do. I read somewhere on these forums that “dental school is like undergrad on steroids” and I couldn’t agree more! You’ll wonder how you ever complained about 5 courses and 5 exams during undergrad exam week. But, everyone gets through it with a little effort – so don’t worry about that. Your study habits that got you in will get you through it too, so don’t forget to make time for a little fun Anymore questions? I’m happy to help! M Thank you honestly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovely09 Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 I guess you forgot the whole tuition fee.How much is the estimated tuition in starting dent admission?Including the things you need to support your studies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mare Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 ahhh great news "potential readings". Well ok, they're "required" readings... you can tell how I feel about some of those Haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan1580 Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 haha nice i adhere to that philosophy as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mare Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 I guess you forgot the whole tuition fee.How much is the estimated tuition in starting dent admission?Including the things you need to support your studies. I added a little #10 for tuition fees in my initial response Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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