Interview: Asking Questions

The interview is a very important step in the application process. Just think of it this way. If you are invited to an interview this means that you are good enough for their school, or at least on paper you are. The admissions committee wants to see if you are all that you say you are on paper. More than likely you wrote a good personal statement, presented yourself well through out the application, and not to mention your statistics were where they needed to be. However, the question remains; Can you present yourself well in person?

I have already written a few posts that may help you succeed at your interview. These include "Potential Interview Questions for Dental School", and "Dental School Interview: Dressing for the Occasion".

Another important aspect of the interview is asking questions. The admissions committee wants to see that you are genuinely interested in being admitted into the right dental school for you. They want to see that you have researched the school and have taken the time to figure out what is important for you to know about their school. With this said, it take time and effort to ask good solid questions. Trust me, you don't want to be the person caught with their pants around their ankle when the interviewer says "Why don't you go read our website and find out about our school?" or "Why don't you read the handout we just went over?". Now that could be embarrassing.

I created a summary outline of things to think about when asking questions.

• Avoid asking questions that can be found on the schools website. This means that you are going to need to go onto the schools website and read as much as you can before the interview. Find out about the schools curriculum, the mission statement, and whatever else you can find. 

• Don't ask questions that have been answered in the presentation. I suggest making a list of questions before the interview. These questions can include anything that is not located on the website. If you talked with a current student you can create questions based on your conversation. Have this list handy for the presentation and cross out any question that is answered. At this point you can create follow up questions to ask the presenter, the tour guide, or your interviewer. This will help you stay awake during the presentations and show that you are attentive to what is being said. 

• Ask questions that help you to know if the school is right for you! This is going to take even more effort on your part because you need to know what you want out of a dental school. You may want to know what types of aides that they provide for students in order to help them excel . 

Asking the right questions can be difficult. You do not want to ask questions just to ask questions. However, when you do ask questions you want it to be well thought out. Questions that require the person on the other end (interviewer or presenter) to repeatedly say that they don't understand what you are trying to ask them, is not a good way of leaving a good impression on them. 

Below I have come up with a list of possible questions that you may want to ask during your interview. For some schools these questions may be totally appropriate while other schools may provide the information on their website or during the presentation. 

1. What types of thing does the school do in order to keep students involved in community service?
2. When does clinical experience begin? How soon is patient contact?
3. What types of clinical experience will I have as a first year dental student?
4. When do students generally take boards? 
5. Is there time set aside for students to study for the boards?
6. How do students get patients for clinic? 
7. Does the school schedule patients for you or are the students responsible for finding and scheduling their own patients?
8. One of the goals of Specific Dental School is to attract qualified professors. What does the school do to get the professors they do and how will they continue to draw such professors to the schools?
9. As a professor/faculty member what aspects of this school made you want to teach/work here? If there is something you would change about the school what would it be?

There are a lot more questions that you can ask. These are examples, and by no means are they perfect examples, but they are here to try and get you to think outside the box. Feel free to comment and add any questions that you have come up with.

*I will be adding more as time permits!

Potential Interview Questions for Dental School

Whether you have one interview or seven interviews it is important to be prepared for each one. Each school has slightly different interviewing styles and favors certain types of questions, whether that be ethical, critical thinking, or "get to know you" questions. While preparing for your interviews take the time to go to the schools website and read the information given about the school. You do not want to be "caught with your pants down" when you ask a question to one of the faculty and they say "why don't you go read our website?". In the same instance one of your interviewers may ask a question that is easily answerable if you do a little research about the school. If for nothing else, being prepared will put your mind at ease and make the interview that much less stressful!

There are a few things that you need to be able to do well at the interview in order to be successful. Some of these include, but are not limited to:

• Present yourself with professional appearance
• Be courteous/professional 
• Be on time
• Use please and thank you
• Use correct title (Mr., Mrs., Ms, Dr. etc...) 
• Avoid yawning/sleeping during presentations
• Avoid removing yourself from a presentation (unless medical emergency). Time is generally given for bathroom breaks or go before you get there!
• Do not interrupt others while they are speaking  
• The list goes on...
• Ask genuine questions ("Interview: Asking Questions")
•  Don't ask questions that have been answered in the presentations
• Create a list of questions before the interview and check them off as the presentations are given. 
• Avoid asking questions that can be found on the schools website
• Ask questions that help you to know if the school is right for you!
• Be prepared to answer questions
• Be aware of time when answering questions
• Give a 2-4 minute answer on detailed questions such as tell me about yourself or why this school? The interviewer will prompt you if they want more than what you have given them.
• 1 word or 1 sentence answer usually we be inadequate to answer questions effectively
• You do not have to answer immediately!
• Don't rush into answering a question immediately. 
• If you are not prepared for the question use a small amount of time to think and formulate a response (5-30 seconds should be plenty). 
• Practice answering questions
• Create a list of common questions and formulate answers to these questions (list is presented below)
• Be sure to practice answering the questions out loud! Find a spouse, sibling, friend, pet or mirror to practice answering the questions to. This will help you to answer the questions smoothly and with confidence
• There maybe some questions that you want to have "canned" or in other words memorized. However, practice answering these questions in a way that it does not appear to be a memorized answer. The interviewer wants to know that you are human!

If you can do the four things listed above you WILL have a successful interview! In order to further help you to prepare I have come up with a list of common interview questions. These questions should help get you started but I would also recommend trying to find questions that are asked at the specific school you will be interviewing at. 

Potential Interview Questions

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Why should we choose you? What do you bring to the incoming class?
3. Why School that you are interviewing at ? 
4. What are your strengths/weaknesses?
5. Why are you interested in dentistry? Why are you a good fit for dentistry?
6. Are you a people person? How do I know?
7. Why did you choose to get a _Biology___ degree?
8. Tell me about your academic background and explain the gaps in your education. (Do not voluntarily talk about negative academic history during interview, only if they bring it up.)
9. How do you handle constructive criticism?
10. Talk about your shadowing/dental experiences.
11. Can you explain the leadership positions you listed?
12. What will you be doing in 5 or 10 years? Where do yo see yourself in 10 years?
13. What will you do if you do not get in this year?
14. Where does ____ fall in your dental decision (1st, 2nd, etc) and what do we need to do to entice you here over other schools?
15. Are you organized? How is your time management?
16. Why did you become interested in dentistry?
17. What makes you stand out from other candidates?
18. What do you see as some of the negative aspects of dentistry?
19. What can you tell us about the curriculum at this school?
20. What qualities make a good dentist?
21. Talk to us about __(manual dexterity activities listed on application)__.
22. How do you know you will succeed in dental school?
23. Would you consider yourself to be "good" with your hands?
24. Given that you have a wife and 2 kids do you think you can be successful in dental school?
25. What do you do in your spare time?
26. What activities do you do for fun?
27. Why did you change your career from ____ to dentistry?
28. If you are working in a group and some one is not doing their part, what do you do?
29. What did you not like about your shadowing experience?
30. Do you think that current technology is absolutely essential to practice effective dentistry?
31. What are some current issues that exist in dentistry today?
32. What is something you have done that shows you have compassion for others?
33. What are your study habits like? How do you study?
34. What is a cavity (or other things related to dentistry)?
35. What leadership positions have you held? What did you learn from that position?
36. If there is a weakness in your application what would you say it is?
37. What leadership qualities do you have? Please give an example.
38. What do you like best about dentistry?
39. Would you offer free dental work to someone who couldn't pay for it? 
40. What sets you apart from other dental school applicants?
41. How many other schools have you interviewed at and which one have you liked most?
42. How many schools did you apply to? Follow up: Why did you decide to apply to so many schools?
43. Why did you decide to apply so late in the cycle? (I was asked this question in one of my interviews. I applied early June but did not complete my DAT until August 28, thus making my application complete sometime early September. Let them know that I wanted to do well on the DAT the first time around so I took the time that I thought I would need)
44. Please explain any poor grades that you received. (Don't offer to talk about them unless they ask you.)
45. We see that you took a ceramics class. Tell us about it. 
46. What types of books do you enjoy reading? 
47. What was the last book that you read?

*** Questions in blue were added as of July 29th ***

These are just a handful of potential interview questions that I came across while preparing for my interviews. I will continue to add to the list as time permits. With that said, if you have additional questions that you came across on the Internet or in your interviews feel free to post them in the comments section and I will add them to the list!

By sharing additional questions everyone can be that much more prepared. Also, if you are struggling to come up with an answer feel free to voice the concern. It is not a great idea, nor ethical,  to copy someone else's answer but I will be able to give some ideas in order get you rolling!

Dental School Interview: Dressing for the Occasion

The interview is a very important part of making it into dental school. Depending on one's statistics, application essays, personal statement, letters of recommendation, and number of dental schools that they applied to will determine the number of interviews that they receive.

Once you have obtained an interview it is very important to make the best of it. Perhaps, the simplest part of all is coming to the interview prepared to make a good first impression. The schools know that once you are in dental school you will come "casually" dressed sometimes scraggly hair, wrinkly clothes, and all the other things that come along with staying up late and waking up early. However, admissions wants to know that you put forth an effort to look your best for the occasion and that you actually care about getting into dental school. Remember, if you are not prepared someone else will be.

1. Haircut
For some this is a no brainer but for others (first hand experience on my interview outings) they simply forget that their hair affects the way they look. I know I am not speaking to any of the ladies out there, so for you men, if you wear your hair longer be sure to at least get a trim and make it look good. The bedhead look just does not cut it at important interviews.

These would be two examples of acceptable hair styles. Of course, you are not limited to these two hair styles but I think you get the point, clean, nicely styled haircuts.

Hairstyles that resemble this in any way shape or form would be considered unacceptable for an interview!

2. Clothing

Being dressed properly is another big part of looking good. I am not here to advocate the $1,000 suits or $500 dresses. Many of you may already have suits/dresses that are interview appropriate. If not, don't worry about buying the most expensive or nicest suit you can find . In fact, look for a cheep suit/dress that fits your budget but still looks nice (Easily find a suit around $100 or less, I know I did). Remember, they are not judging you on how much your clothing cost but they do want to see that you are put together and look professional.

What do men generally wear to the interview?
The large majority of men are wearing suits to their interviews. It seems like occasionally you will see someone with a nice pair of slacks, a dress shirt, and a tie but if you want to look like you are at the top of your game then wear a suit. It doesn't really matter what color the suit is (within reasonable limits of course). If you want to make it easy on yourself find a dark navy blue, or black suite. Other colors such as different shades of brown, blue, charcoal, and greens are also acceptable.

The following suits would be perfectly acceptable for an interview

In my humble opinion suits that were popular back in the 70s are probably not all that acceptable at an interview. If you want to try it because that is who you are then I guess that is up to you. I would also avoid other flashy suits as shown in the following pictures.

Also note that just because you have a $200 pair of jeans, it does not mean they are interview appropriate. Everything has its place but I would stick with a suit, dress shirt, and a tie. 

What do the women generally wear to an interview?

This is a little bit more of a complex question, at least for me. However, the majority of the ladies at my interviews were wearing either a dress, skirt and blouse, or dress suit. It seems like there is an unlimited number of acceptable combinations for women and that is probably why they take so long to choose an outfit.   I am no expert on women's clothing, however, I would recommend something that is conservative in colors and modest in cut. Also, remember that many of the schools give tours so you will want to wear shoes that are comfortable enough to walk/stand in for at least an hour. 

These are only a few examples. I know that you ladies are more than capable of finding appropriate attire for your interviews. If I say much more than I already have concerning womens clothing, I am afraid I will be speaking beyond my limits. 

NOTE: Mainly for all of you men out there. Remember to iron your clothing, polish your shoes, and brush your hair for your interviews. As competitive as dental school is becoming you cannot afford to not get accepted because you did not put the effort in to look good. Just because you have a DAT of 22 and a 3.8 GPA, does not guarantee you a spot. The interview can make or break your application. Your first impression could be the deal breaker. Good luck!