What to Expect in your First Year of Dental School

In approximately 49 days I'll begin Dental School. I'm extremely excited! nervous and a bit anxious. The exciting classes is what I'm most looking forward to. However, dental school requires long hours of school, long hours of study and as a first year student, getting used to the rigor and adjusting to the varying personalities of the dental school colleagues, I'm sure will be challenging to deal with.
The first year of Dental School is mainly composed of lectures, labs and pre-clinical activities focusing on the basic sciences and dental materials. The structure of classes in dental schools vary but are similar in that they usually span a total of 8-9 hours daily. You will also probably have to put in at least 3-5 hrs endless amounts (what was I thinking?) of studying after wards.

Courses usually taught during the first year include (depending on school):
Introduction to Medicine
Biochemistry
Gross Anatomy
Anatomy Dissection
Microbiology
Radiology
Histology/Embryology
Restorative Dentistry (lecture + lab)
Physiology
Occlusion
Dental Materials, etc

Of the above, I'm mostly looking forward to Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Occlusion and Restorative Dentistry. Perhaps I'll take a liking to other of the above listed courses. Perhaps I'll lose one of my most liked...
So what should we expect in our first year? Expect a deviation from the norm. You will be transitioning from undergraduate to professional school. There will be lots of competition, and to keep up we have to put in adequate amount of time and effort in order to make the transition easier on ourselves and to ensure a successful journey in this process. Equally important in this process is knowing the type of learner that you are. Recognizing that professional school requires a lot of adjustments, understanding how you learn and what works for you will serve as a platform with which you can spring from in your quest for continuity beyond your first year.

Best of luck to all of us!!