I am doing a research paper and would love some starting points on issues that students face. This could be grand-scale things or minor changes! Much appreciated xx

Hi everyone, long story short I am a Medical Recruiter that specializes is HPSP scholarships for Dental and Medical school. 4 year scholarships deadlines are coming up. Army is due January 16th, Navy is due January 15th and Air Force is January 24th. If you are wanting the scholarship you need to look through your emails and contact a recruiter TODAY. There is a lot that goes into these packets and I’ve already sent people to recruiters that can move faster than me because I simply can’t move fast enough. If you have any questions go ahead and hit me up in the comments.

Hello,

I’m reaching out for my friend, who is an out of state student and is unable to pay for her tuition due to funds. The school is unable to help her in any way, and she hasn’t been able to apply for loans due to not having a co signer. She’s paid for everything so far out of pocket and her main source of cash has been depleted due to unforeseen conditions. What are the options she can go for?

Please help! Thanks

A warm welcome to all incoming dental students. Congratulations on your acceptance. I'm sure you all have many questions and we'll do our best to aggregate them here. I'm going to make this a weekly thread every Monday.

I was wondering if anyone is a part of the NHSC scholarship. I recently got into dental school and I am looking into scholarship opportunities that is not military/army related. Based on what I have read NHSC does not seem to be army related. If anyone can confirm that for me that would be great. Also, when do you apply for this scholarship? I will be starting dental school in August 2025.

So today it was my CD prosthodontic practical examination. I am not just awfully slow, but for some reason very anxious and inattentive.
They professor started the exam by saying “Right side everybody, set the right side”. Someone around me asked? Which side? i told them “Right side”. Then mid exam, wtf I HAVE SAT THE LEFT SIDE TILL CANINE Despite being relatively late and fucking slow and I tried to calm myself and my professor told me it is okay.
I finished the test, if a completely unfinished rim, not sure about the alignment. Tried to make it look good but for some reason Ignored prioritizing the critieria, and ended with an ugly denture, with unsure allignment I am really embarrassed, I didn’t even tell anybody what happened with me.
I was on the top of my class 1st year, probably because I was a house locked loser. i just can’t handle social life, practicals and theory. I cannot fucking focus on all that. This is really throwing me off, I feel like I know what to do and I work so hard to be prepared but I am inherently a slow and not suitable for work.
I suffer as I always leave labs late, always stay in tests till the end, i used to not care but now I am seeing how much occupied I am, and how much I am losing knowledge (skipped 3 lectures wft???) and overwhelmed I am compared to others. I know they say don’t compare yourself, but I literally spend so much more studying than the average student. Yet I never come to exam fully prepared, and I seem to always have a problem prioritizing common sense important topics, today RIGHT AFTER my practical I had a conservative dentistry theory exam, and I swear I only reviewed like 65% of the material. When I have plenty of time I manage to get high marks but this kind of pressure is making me feel, “Oh you weren’t doing great, and you are neither a good student, you just overcompensated by knowing everything”. I am desperate to the point I today was hyper fixating on trying to make my first psychiatrist appointment ever earlier so maybe they can diagnose me with an attention disorder.
I am feeling like a failure in most aspects of my life. Literally my sense of safety is depending on this appointment

I will be a 4th year student soon, and i want to spend my time attending conferences, workshops, etc. (preferably in europe and the middle east) I attended AEEDC 2024 in dubai last year, and im blessed to have those money to be able to travel and attend many more. I know they aren’t 100% beneficial but id rather attend something like that during my vacations rather than just rest and sit around.

Hii guys I just want to discover new books about all dental

possibly a dumb question but i’ll be starting dental school in the fall and was wondering if some schools offer us free/cheaper treatment or dental insurance as a student? i don’t have dental insurance and usually pay oop but wanted to get my wisdom teeth out soon. so wondering if i should wait until school starts in case i can get it done for cheaper. thanks!!!

I’m a bit confused about loans…what do they cover?

do they just cover tuition? what about food and other misc expenses?

Currently a D1. I know I want to do general and NY requires residency. Do I need to build up my CV with clubs and extracurriculars? Currently I have very minimal involvement because I was just adjusting to dental school.

What should I focus on the next two years? Do I need leadership/volunteering/etc?

3rd year dental student, saw an ad of an exocad course in my area. Question is will i benefit from it? Since the world is heading towards digital dentistry, will it help me as a general practitioner in the future?

I was curious if anyone could give insight on the cost of applying for residency. Is it similar to applying to dental schools with schools charging for primary and secondaries equaling to ~$400/ea? I see some students apply to up to 40 programs which will really add up, also what’s a typical amount of interviews you may receive and how many of these interviews are in person as traveling costs would also factor. What’s an estimate on total costs? TIA.

Hi,

I‘m finishing dental school soon and I‘ve come to realize that I can‘t really see myself working as a dentist for various reasons. I‘m obviously going to finish my degree but I‘m curious if someone has got some ideas or if someone here has a dentistry degree but has a different career now? I‘m pretty interested in economics and business, I was thinking of maybe doing a bachelors in that kind of direction? Are there masters I could do that don’t have something to do with health/medicine? I really don‘t know what to do haha. :(

Tia

edit: I‘m studying in europe in case it is relevant

Hi! I’m an international student in Taiwan. I’m really interested in orthodontics. So I plan to apply for ortho programs in the future. I heard that ortho programs are quite difficult to get into, especially in the US. Can anyone give me some advice on what matters the most to the program directors e.g. gpa, research backgrounds, etc. Huge thanks!

Hoping to hear from any alumni about their experience!

I am a current second year and I wanted to see how competitive the 2 year dental school army HPSP scholarship is. I had a 3.4 undergrad gpa and now I have a 3.07 dental school gpa. I guess I am looking for information on what they look for in new applicants. Thank you in advance.

Any insite on what this method is called. I see my classmate typing side by side during class in Excel. Is this anki or outline. I recently found out that making my own note outline works better for me cause I put in mnemonics and words I understand also realized I can type faster now before I just used my ipad but now i prefer typing in points to my powerpoint during lectures

Is it possible to work part time in UPenn dental school? Anything I must know? I just want some money to make sure I have my monthly expenses covered

I need teeth for my course this upcoming semester at school.

I asked a local dentist and they lost the jar, then asked a local oral surgeon who “doesn’t recall the conversation” - such good luck 🙃

So now I’m in a bind. Anyone have any suggestions or advice??

Edit - I leave for school in three days and have no ideas 😭

I’m interested in trying to get the HPSP scholarship to pay for dental school, but I want to specialize in OMFS. How likely is that to work, and what does the typical timeline look like?

Hey everyone, I just got a pair of Orascoptic Ergo loupes and noticed something that’s been bugging me a bit. When I look through them, I see two black circles around the viewing area – almost like I’m seeing the edges of the optics or the frames in my peripheral vision. The magnification and clarity seem fine, but I’m not sure if this is normal or if it means something’s off with the alignment or fit. Has anyone else experienced this with their loupes? I’d appreciate any insight. Thanks!

Please ask all of your questions regarding specific schools and the experiences of current students here. If you're looking for opinions on which school to choose (USC vs NYU vs etc), this is the place.

Any other posts about current student experiences from prospective students or crowdsourcing which school to go to will be removed.

Studying has never really been my thing. I’ve been an auto mechanic for the better part of a decade and I got into dental school with a 3.3 GPA. My real strengths are people skills and hand-eye coordination. I can fix anything, and make it look pretty. And I can talk to anybody.

In terms of dental school prep, I have worked with each speciality and am deeply interested in periodontics, and am aware of the performance and competency required to even qualify for a specialty program. I took a gap year to work for a perio/endo clinic and improve my GPA with community college bio classes. Iwas able to restructure my study habits enough to earn all A’s in those courses. Besides the given strong emphasis on study habits and understanding material, what should I be focusing on to give myself the best chance at specializing? I am perfectly happy to be a general dentist, but I specifically enjoy assisting with implants and am fascinated by tissue histology.

Any sort of insight would be welcome, I’m currently examining all sources and putting together pros/cons lists and loose financial plans along with an educational roadmap for myself

Hey guys, life is great after school. Ask me questions and I’ll hype you up to be a dentist

Hello everyone. My preclinic is Almost Over, i screwed up way too much in the meantime. I always have problems with endo, I am too slow and I do a lot of mistakes especially with access cavities. With restorations I always struggle doing good contacts, there is always too much excess height and my tooth prep is way too bad. Etc. Etc. We are expected to do a root canal and 3 restorations by the end of year and I have no idea how I will pull it off. Are these feelings normal? How did you start Feeling Confident in your abilities?

Hi everyone, I’m a dental student and I have a brand new Lumadent Prolux battery (2 pack) and light for sale if anyone is interested. I honestly just want to get it off my hands because I changed loupes brands and was never able to use it. They mount on Orascoptic tempo frames. Please message if interested!

I’ve found the use of Anki to be very time consuming and not all that worth it(unless my technique isn’t quite right) But I spend about three/four hours listening to a one hour pre recorded lecture and adding notes to the PowerPoint we’re giving whilst making Anki cards at the same time. I remember from last year, each lecture had about 50 flashcards and we did 4 modules of 30 lectures so I had a lot to go through, and I wasn’t sure I was retaining and understanding it all, often missing out some key bits which then popped up in exams I know a couple of people who use notion and find it more efficient but im not too sure how that differs much from Anki At the moment I’ve switched to using good notes to annotate the PowerPoints using the lecture recordings. But that’s as far as it goes and I know it’s not good enough for active recall and spaced repetition so I need some help Any tips on alternative study methods or how to be more efficient with Anki? Thank you