Stage 1: Complete

Well, I did it! Today I took my anatomy final and I am officially done with my first class of dental school. It was a bit weird because I've pretty much been doing nothing but anatomy for a bit over a month so it seemed to come to a very abrupt end. I don't have my scores from my test yet, but I'm almost 100% certain that I'll end with a B in the class. I needed a 98-100% to get an A, so I can bet that didn't happen. We start up again August 18th will our fall classes, so I have a small little break and I hope to let of some steam and just hang out (and maybe study ahead?) until then.

A quick word about grades for everyone...

I was the kind of guy that HATED getting B's in college and I managed to stay in the A range all but twice. In dental school your mindset has to change a little because it's just not the same game anymore. Not only are your classmates far more intelligent/hardworking than your peers in undergrad, there is more material in less time and it's often more difficult. You've made it to dental school, and now all you have to do is pass to become a dentist. If you get bent on getting A's, you'll kill yourself trying to get them. Now, with that, you need to do your VERY BEST to get good grades if your intent is to specialize. As another side note, getting a C is alright, but odds are you know much less than people making A's and B's and thus, theoretically, they'll be a better dentist. In reality though, just relax and do your best. Remember, your best is ALWAYS good enough!

My 3rd reimbursement came in the other day (for health insurance) as well as my 2nd stipend. All of my tuition/fees for the fall have been deferred and everything is still running unbelievably smoothly. I had my doubts coming into this thing, but I'm truly blown away with how great the Air Force has been. I just e-mailed out a reimbursement for my fall semester books so I'll keep you all updated on how that goes. So far, it looks like it's taking roughly 20 days to get money from a reimbursement from the time I send it to AFIT and the time the money appears in my bank account.

(AFIT stands for Air Force Institute of Technology. They are my point of contact while I'm on scholarship. In other words, they handle everything other than my stipend stuff)

Off to do a whole lot of nothing for a while!