It's Official (almost)

First off, it's that time of year when students are getting their HPSP acceptances to congrats to you out there that got one!  For those interested, it's never too early to find a recruiter!!! Check out the top of my blog for info on how to get in touch with a recruiter.

Now to the post...

In approximately 6 weeks, I will officially be a 4th year dental student!  That means I will have trudged through 3 grueling years, or 2 grueling years and 1 not-so-grueling year, to make it this far.  I can finally have a legitimate excuse not to study (senioritis of course) and I'll start thinking very seriously about life after dental school.

Of course, my journey is unique, as many of you know.  I'm on the HPSP scholarship, which means I have a secure future and a guaranteed income for the next 4 years (5 if you count AEGD) after I graduate in May of 2014.  But nevertheless it's an exciting and scary time of transition and change when I slowly morph from a student to a doctor.  It truly is a blessing that I've made it this far.  Since about 2008, this is what I wanted to do with my life and I'm so fortunate that things have worked out the way they have.  I got the AF HPSP, got into dental school on my first try, and here I am.  I've "thought" about being a 4th year for so long that it seemed like it would never happen.  Well, it is and it's coming very soon.  My wife and I are both nervous and excited for what lies ahead!

In a way, my mind is already in the 4th year because yesterday we were sent out summer schedules.  Here at OU, the transition between years takes place between spring and summer.  Here's the breakdown of my summer schedule:

*Clinic slots are 3 hours long.  AM = 9am-noon, PM = 1pm-4pm

Monday AM - Clinic

Monday PM - Clinic

Tuesday AM - Clinic

Tuesday PM - Clinic

Wednesday AM - Clinic

Wednesday PM - Clinic

Thursday 8-10am - Endo III, 10-12am - Restorative III

Thursday PM - Clinic

Friday AM - Clinic

Friday PM - Clinic

So... lots and lots and lots of clinic.  Finally!  This is what I signed up for!  For those keeping score, clinic times are in 3 hour blocks.  So that means I have 27 hours of clinic every single week.  Not too bad.  That's approaching a full time job!  I'm very excited about this.  I'm sure the Fall and Spring semesters coming up will be equal or greater than that.

If you've been keeping up with my older posts, our school is transitioning right now.  Dedicated schedulers, re-imagined clinic structures and physical remodeling are transforming OU.  My class is catching the brunt of the changes for better and for worse, but that's life.  We are actually pretty far behind right now in general in terms of our clinical experience, but hopefully we can make it up this coming year. 

I haven't yet received my AEGD packet to apply for that, but when I do I'll be sure to post about it.  No other AF news right now.  I am currently in the middle of my 45 day ADT.  Pay bump, love it!

Also, I've found out we can take NBDE Part II at the end of our summer session (last week of July) and I'm probably going to take it as soon as I'm allowed.  Which means I've already started studying... no!!!  It's true, I'm slowly making my way through First Aid right now.  A neat side note, I'm attempting to go all digital this time.  Basically I won't use any pre-printed notes or books to study.  I make jot my own notes down but I'm using digital versions of all textbooks, dental decks, and old exams to prepare.  I have an iPad and use Dropbox regularly so that's going to be my main mode of study. It's part convenience and part experiment (and part me not wanting to buy anything). So I'll be posting about that and letting you all know how that goes.

That's all for now, as always, email me if you want to chat about dental school or the Air Force HPSP!

Turning on the Motor Again

The title of this post is both literal and figurative, because as the new semester starts, it's time to get back into pre-clinic (the literal part) and it's time to get my brain back in school mode (the figurative part).  Last semester was pretty crazy, but it's awesome to be done with NBDE part 1 and also have another hard semester under my belt.  This semester is different than 2nd year spring semesters in the past because we have a redesigned pharmacology class that's being taught early (now instead of 3rd year fall or spring) and not much was taken away to make room for it!  That basically translates into a harder than usual 2nd year spring semester, which in turn means that hopefully from here on out things will be smooth sailing.  Implantology is our last pre-clinical class and we have that in the fall so that will be nice to be done and ready to treat patients full time until I graduate!  I can't believe how far I've come because it seems like I started dental school (and this blog) just yesterday.

As for the Air Force, things are going great.  I got my ADT orders, and I was actually emailed in advance asking what date range I wanted to do!  That was very nice because it let me dictate when the best time for me was.  The only stipulation is that I can't be out of the country during those 45 days, so I picked a time when I'm in school anyway so it won't be a factor.  I finally bought some books that I'm actually going to be using, but I haven't found time to scan the receipt and send my reimbursement package into the Air Force yet.  I'm still averaging about 2-3 weeks from the time I submit to the time I get the money in my account which I'm very pleased about.  They're very efficient at that (and everything honestly).  I have no plans to attend COT this summer, again, because we have 8 weeks of summer school and no time works for me to attend any of the 4 week COT sessions because I never have that much time off.

On another note, I got engaged last Saturday the 21st!  We'll probably get married this summer so that will be a big fun life changer.  She is graduating nursing school this year and it's crazy to think that one day I'll graduate dental school and never have to go to school ever again (unless I specialize, but we'll see about that)!

As always, feel free to tweet or email me with questions!

The busier it is, the faster it goes

The title pretty much says it all.  This is a busy semester... and that's an understatement.  My goal is to take boards on Nov 23 and I'm still on pace for that.  But with all of our new pre-clinic classes, some of them pushed a year ahead (from fall of 3rd year to fall of 2nd year, where I am now) we have really been slammed with a lot of lab work.  It's just not practical to finish it all during class most of the time so I have to spend some outside time working on lab projects when I would rather be (and when I say "rather be" I don't mean I would "enjoy" it!) studying for boards.  Not to mention we have Etiology & Pathology of Disease plus Systemic Pathology, both tough classes in their own right.  The good thing, though, is that all of that information is on boards so when I study for those, I can count it as boards study as well!  I'm plowing through the dental decks right now and I'm trying hard to keep up my pace.  I've done all the Bio/Phys cards at least twice, and nearly all of the Anatomy cards twice.  I have yet to look at dental anatomy because I think I could literally sit down one weekend and knock that out with no trouble.  I'll start nailing the Micro/Path cards soon since those classes are both about halfway over.  Then, I hope to only do review questions for about 2 weeks leading up to the test, tie up any lose ends, and pass this sucker!  Boards is sort of the big black cloud hanging over this semester and my goal is to take it ASAP and be done.  The earliest we are allowed to take it at my school is the Monday of Thanksgiving break, so Nov 21.  I figured Nov 23 was a good date because then I can still have Thanksgiving to spend with my family.

On the Air Force front, not much new is going on.  Those two reimbursements I talked about in my last post (or tweet, can't remember off the top of my head) are done and I've got nothing pending there.  Still glad to be out of the tuition discussion as many of my classmates were talking and complaining about the tuition increases for this year.

Well, sorry it took so long for me to cook up another post.  I've been pretty slammed lately.  I'm trying hard to get back to your emails on time but I know I've let a few slip by so I apologize!  I know it's that time of year for applying and getting your applications for the HPSP rolling so don't hesitate to e-mail or tweet me with questions!

A new chapter... with a lot more instruments

Since my last post, a few things have happened.

Summer session ended. It was alright, but could have been more productive since our schedule wasn't that hard but it was still stretched to 8 weeks. But the new curriculum is an ongoing process so they'll make changes next year I'm sure.

Also, school started up again (after a 3 week break) this Monday. It's going to be a busy semester, but in a very different way than my 1st semester was busy. This semester, we are basically 8am-5pm every day except Friday, where we end at 2pm. Half of our classes, if not more, are clinic or pre-clinic which means much less "homework" and studying. However, with such a packed schedule, the days don't feel much shorter than they did before. I'm sure I'll be in my groove in a couple of weeks and it will all be fine. I truly am excited to start doing more dental things, that part is great!

As far as the Air Force, I sent in a reimbursement for health insurance and my NBDE registration. The health insurance went through fine last year, so I don't expect any bumps this time. However, I've never done an NBDE reimbursement (obviously...) so this one is new. I'll be sure to let you all know once that finally comes through.

Well that's about it for now... I didn't get very in-depth with anything, I know, but right now we are just getting the wheels turning so I'm sure I'll have more to say in a couple weeks.

Oh, as it turns out, the Air Force recently altered their fitness requirements. You can see them here: http://www.au.af.mil/au/holmcenter/OTS/documents/SCORECHARTS_AFI10-248.pdf

As always, feel free to email me with questions or hit me up on twitter!