Download AED Meeting Minutes

AED Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Speakers: Dr. Perng-Ru Liu and Dr. Filler

Christen began the meeting – talked about listserv. If you would like to receive emails about upcoming AED
events, meetings, and other professional opportunities, please subscribe to the AED listserv (directions available
on the AED website).

AED National members DO need to turn in a membership form each year, but do not need to pay the $10
associate member due. If you are an associate member, we are still receiving membership forms and dues
(checks only) and t-shirts are still being sold.

Mrs. Childress gave a couple of announcements and reminders:
o
She is offering a “Stay on Track Seminar” in November for all sophomores (freshmen are welcome to
attend as well). In the seminar, she will be discussing the many different steps you need to take in order
to get into professional school and when you should take them. The seminar will inform you of how to
get into professional school and how to be a competitive applicant. Also in the seminar, Mrs. Childress
will be discussing the PPAC process. PPAC is a committee that compiles letters of evaluation for
professional schools (it’s not required, but very strongly preferred). The PPAC process will be changed
soon – details on this topic will also be addressed at the seminar.
o
Don’t forget that in the spring we will be holding Mock Interviews for all professional schools. Details
will be announced at a later time.

Kayla (Publicity Coordinator) spoke about the new publicity committee. The publicity committee is a group of
students who will help the publicity coordinators put up AED signs before the meetings. If you are interested in
being a part of this committee, you may sign up for a slot at each meeting and it will count as one volunteer
point.

Melissa (Volunteer Coordinator) reminded those who signed up that the Storybook Farm event is next Thursday,
September 17 from 3-5. If you sign up for any event please GO to it; or at least let someone know that you
cannot make it. There are many people who would love to have your spot. Some upcoming events:

o
G.U.T.S. (K-12 science outreach program) coming up Tuesday, September 15 6-8pm
o
Community Market October 6 1:30-4:00pm
Bhaven introduced one of our speakers: Dr. Steve Filler, Director of Admissions at the UAB-School of Dentistry.
He gave a very important summary of how to get into professional school:
o
Academic record – How well you have done academically (overall pattern of your record). They will take
into consideration course load, difficulty of class, school class is taken at, and major.
o
Admissions test (MCAT, DAT, PCAT, etc.) – DO WELL! Professional schools don’t like to see that you’ve
taken it many times, so be sure you practice a lot. If you have to take it again, then do it, but keep in
mind that some tests (like the DAT) you can only take a certain amount of times. The # 1 reason that
students don’t get into Dental school is because their DAT scores aren’t high enough.
o
Shadowing – Shadow a variety of settings, and shadow the opposite of what you think you want to do
(you never know, you might surprisingly like it more). The admissions committees look for the “breadth
and depth” of your knowledge of the field.
o
Letters of Reference – objective process (via PPAC)
o
Interview – dress well, try to be yourself and relax – they just want to get to know you and see how you
would fit into their school and into the profession as a whole.
o
Extracurricular activities – They like to see that you are involved in things outside of the classroom, but
at the same time they don’t want to see that you are involved in everything. You must play an active role
and be involved in the organization you are a part of – even if that means you must be in fewer
organizations. They also like to see that you are in organizations that help other people. They want to be
able to see that you really do care about people and your community. You need to have the heart for itbut don’t fake it.
o
Personal Essay – There are plenty of people who are more than happy to help you improve your essay
grammatically and content-wise.
***Statistics for UAB School of Dentistry: 800 applications received, 120-130 interviewed, 55-60 to fill class
Avg. GPA 3.6-3.7; Avg. DAT score 19-20 (17 or lower probably won’t get interviewed)

Speaker Dr. Liu, professor at UAB School of Dentistry, began his presentation: Introduction to Dentistry
o
Dentistry deals with evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of diseases or disorders of the
oral cavity and any adjacent surfaces.
o
Dr. Liu talked about the Dental school classes and labs and showed many interesting pictures of the
equipment and facilities. As a student there you get to participate in a lot of hands on work.
o
He spoke about many different dental specialties:
 Endodontics – root canal treatment
 Orthodontics and Dentofacial orthopedics – braces
 Pediatric Dentistry – work with children’s teeth
 Periodontics – surrounding of teeth (gum, dental implants)
 Prosthodontics – crowns, dentures, partials
 Nasal or Auricular prosthesis – restoration or rehabilitation of specific organ
Modern Dentistry (fields that have been improving and increasing in the past 10 years): Spoke in detail
about Tooth Whitening, All-Ceramic restoration, Computer generated restorations, Dental implantology.
o
o
Implant Dentistry – no decay in tooth; may fracture, but stronger than a real tooth. Bridges require the
adjacent teeth to be shaved down, and other options require retainers – implants are better.
o
Showed many interesting cases of patients’ teeth he has had to restore.
*Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 7:00 in the SCA*