Tips to Manage Dental School

Tips to Manage Dental School

When you are fully dedicated to something that seems so overwhelming and long, things can quickly become out of hand if you let it. You spend long nights studying and early mornings sometimes studying too; sometimes you run on nothing more than three cups of coffee. We get it—school is hard. In the long run, though, it will be worth it. We wanted to compile a few tips that will help you get through dental school with a little less stress and a lot more success.

Study Smart

When we say “study smart,” we don’t mean study longer. We mean that we know it’s easy to get distracted. A recent study showed that students typically only spend about 65% of the time dedicated to studying actually studying. The rest of the “study time” gets devoted to distracting social media or texting. If you want to succeed, then devote your study time to only studying. That way you can get done faster and become more efficient.

Make Each Day Count

Even though eventually you might burn out, try to mitigate the negative effects of stress and burnout by making sure that you do something positive each and every day. If you spend a whole two days in bed watching a show because you just can’t bear to look at your textbook anymore and you feel too overwhelmed with assignments, you are only hurting yourself. Even if you can’t pull yourself to study, do something that will keep up your spirits, your mood, and your mind. Go for a run, exercise in some way shape or form, and try to get a good night’s sleep.

Don’t lose sight of the big picture. It’s easy to start looking at all the things on your plate right at this moment but realize you are working towards bigger goals. Form longitudinal relationships with your faculty, this will help you unimaginably in the future. Networking with your professors is something that will keep you sane as well as help you in your career.