Bryan's Post

This is Bryan Swanson's review of the quarter and his picture. Thanks Bryan!

This first quarter in the RIDE program has had its ups and downs. However, like many things in life, it has turned out well in the end and I feel like I have learned a lot from the experience. I have been asked, "If you were to do it all over again, would you do RIDE?" My response for the first quarter is yes, but the answer to that question will have proper perspective only after I have graduated. My answer after this quarter is yes because of the many highlights and benefits I have seen so far. My highlights, in no particular order, include:

• The class, not only the size, but this particular class is full of some extremely talented people from whom I have learned a lot. The class works well as a team and we all receive as much attention from our professors as we each need to succeed.
• Working with our dental anatomy instructors was great this quarter. I won't say they made it easy, but their critique resulted in fantastic improvement in our waxing and knowledge of dental anatomy.
• Intro to Clinical Medicine (ICM) has made my list because the patient interviews at the hospital, which is unique to RIDE, kicked me out of my comfort zone, gave me confidence in a health care setting, and I improved my data collection skills.
• The intro to clinical dentistry (ICD) class allowed me to begin my clinical skills early - I have to say it was way awkward at first because I didn't know how to sit and especially had trouble probing pocket depths on the distal of 2nd molars!
• Anatomy at the Riverpoint campus is amazing! The facilities were nice and our professor was a magician when it came to finding any structure.
• I honestly enjoyed most classes most of the time, and I did learn a lot.

These are some of the major highlights from my first quarter. I did mention there were downs with the ups. For example, the quarter is very long (early Aug. - mid Dec.) and I was getting worn out by Thanksgiving, which happened to be when we had our 4 busiest weeks. There were many days I stayed on campus till 8, 9, or 10 during those busy weeks. I didn't realize how hard the first quarter would be. I had moments when I was frustrated and overwhelmed, but now finals are over and I couldn't be any happier or more biased about the quarter being great!

Bryan Swanson