And so it begins

Well, I've got my first 3 weeks of dental school under my belt and it has certainly been an interesting experience. One of the things that surprised me most was how young I was compared to my classmates. I came to dental school straight out of college but most (and when I say most, I mean about 45 of the 60) have taken at least 1 or 2 years off, probably half are re-applicants, and many are in their late 20's or early 30's. This really surprised me because I had always assumed it was normal to go from college to dental school. I feel very fortunate to have made it this far so early in my life.

Another thing that I've been doing is my anatomy class. We take anatomy in the summer (from about July 1 to August 5) so it's pretty crazy. We got quick lectures on arms, legs, and back, but will only be tested on material covering the thorax, abdomen, pelvis, head, and neck. Our first test was a few days ago (thorax, abdomen, pelvis) and so far I only have my results from the lab practical. It was a standard dissection lab where we rotate through and identify structures on a human body. I've never been good at this, I much prefer the more "problem solving" type learning rather than memorizing type stuff and I ended up with a C on this part. I was a bit shocked at first because it had been about 2 years since I made a C on a test. One thing I remember coming into dental school was all the students really emphasized the fact that grades are not the most important thing in school (unless you intend to specialize) and I'm still coming to terms with this. Not that it's ok to do poorly all the time, but that you just have to accept what you get and move on because when it comes to it, you'll be a dentist regardless. I hear this our most difficult class the first year so I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm glad I got that first test out of the way because now I know what worked and what didn't when trying to cram a huge amount of information in my brain for a test in just 8-10 days. Besides, I feel better about the biochemistry/neuroanatomy, etc. type classes coming up because I've never been much of a 'lab' guy. I'm ready to start doing some dentist stuff! I'm sure it will all work out, and I feel much better about the written portion of the test that we took that same day. Still waiting on the results for that part, I'll tweet that in a day or two when we get the scores. Hoping for an A!

As for the Air Force HPSP, all of that is going well. I got a reimbursement rejected last week for not giving adequate proof of who my insurance was purchased from, but I plan to e-mail a credit card statement in a few days which should clear that up with no problem.

I finally got a regular stipend payment on the 15th of July, and it was exactly what I expected. It was $1030 (half of the monthly $2060) minus some taxes. Came out to about $930. One thing I have loved about this experience is how little I've had to do. I literally had to do nothing to get the school and the Air Force on the same page, the Air Force handled all of that for me. I have already verified that my bursar tuition/fees were covered by the Air Force and I have had absolutely no hiccups with the finances at all. More importantly, the Air Force treats me with as much respect as I treat them, and I take this relationship very seriously. It's great to have such an organized and professional group of people on your side. I couldn't be happier with my decision up to this point.

As you might have seen, I haven't done COT yet but will be going next summer. Just a reminder for anyone looking into what that's like. I'll let you know in a year!

More on that really quick. If you are selected on a 4-year scholarship, you're expected to go to COT before your 1st year unless you have a scheduling conflict with school. Well I did have a minor (it was an informal welcome dinner type thing, not nearly as critical as I had expected) conflict and got COT moved, but in hindsight, I wish I would have gone to COT this summer before school. I think I would have felt more like a part of the Air Force team and it would have been a good kickstart to dental school. I also loved having the time off, but right now, part of me wonders if waiting on COT was the best move. I'm sure it's not a big deal either way, however, it would have been nice to get paid a few thousand $ for that and feel more like a part of the Air Force.

That's all for now... I'll probably update again when anatomy is over around August 5th! School starts up again on August 18th (weird timing... I know) so I'll have a little break before my ~25 credit hours come crashing down on me.

Don't hesitate to e-mail me if anyone out there has questions about the program or dental school!

Reimbursements and the days ahead...

A lot has happened since my last blog post a few months ago, and a lot is about to come my way. I'll go one by one, starting with the Air Force stuff, and then narrow down to some odds and ends I've been doing. Then I'll close with what's to come... enjoy!

First off, the Air Force.

2 things I need to cover here. For those awarded a 4-year scholarship, Commissioned Officer Training (COT) is supposed to happen the summer before their first year. For 3-year scholarships, COT happens after the last year. For me being on a 4-year, mine was supposed to be this summer. However, the dental school I'm attending starts so early (I'll talk about that soon) that COT would have ended too close to the start of school so it was deferred to next summer, between my 1st and 2nd year. So you'll have to wait another year to hear all about that!

Now about reimbursements and dealing with AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology, where the people you'll be in contact during your scholarship work, located at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio). Let me say that dealing with AFIT has been one of the easiest, quickest, and overall amazing experiences I've ever had. The people working there are extremely fast at responding to e-mails, accommodating my needs, and making things absolutely clear. It truly has been a joy to have my questions answered so quickly and to deal with such professional people. One of the best parts is about reimbursements. When I was awarded the scholarship, I was under the impression that I would need to mail my reimbursement packages to the Air Force base, which would be a big pain, and if anything was wrong, I'd have to mail it in again. Well all those worries went away when I was informed that reimbursement packages can be submitted by e-mail! It was such a relief, because they respond so quickly to my e-mails, I could get almost immediate confirmation that my package was accepted or what needed to be altered. Huge weight lifted off my shoulders. For those that are wondering what a 'reimbursement package' is, it's fairly simply. If I buy something the Air Force will pay for, lets use my textbooks as an example, then I go buy the books and then assemble what's known as a reimbursement package. A reimbursement package is simply 4 things, proof of requirement (I have to prove that my dental school makes me have what I'm asking to be paid for), proof of purchase (basically a receipt or a credit card statement), an AFIT form 31 (this is where you list everything you are buying and total it up for the AF), and an EFT form (a form where you verify who you are with SSN and signature and give the AF the bank account # where you want them to direct deposit your money). All in all, reimbursements are much easier and smoother than I could ever imagine, one of many reasons I am very happy with my choice so far! My first reimbursement was submitted by email around May 22, and my account had the reimbursement money in it on June 15. Only about 3 weeks! I was very impressed.

Secondly, about what I've been up to since my last post.

I went and paid for my scrubs! Cost me about $250 and the Air Force actually doesn't cover the whole cost of that, but it's enough! They cover basically everything else in full.

I got health insurance through the dental school which the Air Force will pay for too, awesome!

I finally got my military ID and have gone over to Tinker a few times. It's pretty weird still to think I'm in the military because I haven't really done any 'military' type stuff yet.

I think I've got all the teeth I need. I almost had 100 at least check and I've got a bit more than that so I'm sure I hit my mark. I hear we don't need them until spring anyway so I'm considering the possibility of continuing to collect them this fall.

Class starts for me on June 29, so I've got all my anatomy books ready to go. We take anatomy by itself from June 29 to about mid-August, so it's going to be pretty intense. Once it hits mid-August, anatomy ends and we start in on our normal 24-25 credit hour schedule... ahh!!!

For now, that's all I can remember. School starts for me next Tuesday... wish me luck!

waiting...

Well, not much has been going on this last month. I should be getting my military ID soon, so I'll be able to head over to the base and get some tax free shopping whenever I decide I need something big enough to justify getting it tax free! Which will probably be everything.

Anyway... I'm required to collect 100 intact human teeth for dental school and I believe I'm almost there. About 2 weeks ago I went out to all the offices (4 total) that I dropped jars off at and had the following count at each one: 4, 4, 20, 45. So I took the jar with 45 home with me (the solution was pretty murky), emptied it out, put them in my own little jar at my house, and ran it back over to them the next day. I left the other 3 at the offices because the solution was still clear and there was no reason to waste a trip home and back just to unload some teeth. I also have a jar at a local free clinic with about 12. So the tooth quest continues...

Other than that, I'm just waiting a few more days for that 60 day mark to hit so I can get some stuff taken care of so the Air Force will reimburse me. Oh, and I may need about $800 of work done on my car... luckily I have a pretty good job right now and I'm blessed to have a car as it is. So despite the big bill that is staring me down, I'm just smiling and plugging along.

Should be hearing from me again in a couple of weeks at the latest...