1 semester of dental school done, 8 more to go!

I've finally recovered from the hangover that finals week left me in after 3 days of laying around on the couch. For the first time in my life these past 2 weeks, I went about my day dragging my feet, praying that lecture would never end. Mainly because that meant another endless night of meticulous studying for finals. This may have been the first time in a very long time that I finished a test and felt like I was now leaving the fate of my grades to God. Not to say that I did poorly this semester but simply that for the first time in my college career I felt out of control... But before I explain anything about school I figured I'd start this post with highlights from this past month. Early this month, Regan and I went to the Drake concert and I'm disappointed to admit that it was worse than the Goo Goo Dolls concert we went to at Case!!! The opening act consisted of multiple local rappers that were atrocious and Drake kept talking to the crowd, "blah, blah, blah". For being a huge fan I was extremely disappointed. Another fun thing I did was participate in a mouth guard lab where I learned how to make custom fitted mouth guards. For atheletes, there are some pros and cons.  The upside is comfort and safety. You're AT LEAST 6X  more likely to receive a concussion with an over the counter product but you pay a lot more, roughly $150+ vs $20 for the professional one. So pick your poison. And last but not least, I'm officially CPR certified! Your in good hands if the opportunity presents itself but lets pray for both of our sake that it doesn't.

[Now back to school but proceed with caution.... I'll try to avoid excessive gory detail]

...Pre-dental students listen up because I about to give you the single most important tool necessary for accomplishing your goals in dental school: time management. I may have already hinted at this in previous posts but I cannot explain to you how crucial it is. Time management and a strong will are a two item recipe for success when coupled, like: Simon and Garfunkel; Scooby and Shaggy; Batman and Robin. A useful study tip I've learned  regarding time management and studying for finals is that you have to strategically divide your time studying certain topics in one class, as well as strategically divide time among classes. For example, I had 4 finals this past week: Preventative Periodontics, ACE Public Health Dentistry, Oral Histology and Heart & Lung in Health and Disease. The majority of our classes are arranged in that we have one main course director and then a multitude of guest lectures from dentist, to medical doctors, to pharmacist, and specialist that are better suited in that particular field. So in a class like Heart & Lung we had a total of 47 hours of lecture divided differently among each lecturer who then submit a number of questions proportionate to their class time. Its important you focus your study time on the lectures with the most hours.. which doesn't necessarily mean it had the largest amount of material or the most difficult. For instance, in Oral Histology we had loads of detail regarding tooth development but we also had 4 hours of lecture from a pathologist that covered roughly 200 slides of  >50 something different diseases and disorders. There was only 10 questions on that material out of 50 total, so what do you do about that when studying? If your me, you spend an hour on that the day before the test (clearly not enough) and go to bed with your hands and feet pre-tied together for the exam in the morning. The biggest take-away message I received this semester is to study often, study the right material, and prioritize what's important.... Which also means more delegating in student council.... jk.... but not really :-D

In the professional community they say that the hardest thing about the journey is getting into school and I whole-heartedly agree. Even with a 3.8 GPA, 90th percentile DAT, and LOADS of extracurricular activities/volunteer experience your still not guaranteed a seat with the dental school of your choice or a seat anywhere for that matter! So once your in, your in which explains why most dental students choose to cruise by and enjoy their lives in school while doing enough to pass. In parting, before I throw myself upon my big comfy couch I will share the one thing I learned about myself from finals week and its that I don't want to specialize. At least at this point in time... but I hope you've enjoyed my blog so far. I'll be adding one more post about our Healthy Smiles Sealant Program which lasts for 2 weeks starting next week and ends for X-mas break which commences on Dec. 9th. Adios muchachos!

My professional mouthguard with flare to intimidate the competition

First time in the ortho clinic placing sealants on our partners

You can't see it real well but we're all have our guards in

Not sure if I've posted this but they're pretty enough to post more than twice

A molar cookie. compliments to Niki

Regan and I nose bleed at the concert

This is probably how I always look

A group of 12 of us went to the Monsters hockey game. There was a group of 26 really loud students behind us.. turned out to be the Med students from our school. Small world.... or small arena? 

Selling this if anyone is interested. I'll make you a deal, I promise!

A CPR class pic I stole offline

Sealants!