Transcription
Hey everybody! With all the dental school interviews coming up, I thought it would be great to talk about the top questions that dental schools like to ask you and the perfect ways to respond to them. So, if you want to see that, keep on watching!
I know it's so exciting, and congratulations if you got invited to some interviews. Um, your hard work has paid off, and dental schools noticed you. That's amazing! So now it's your time to prepare yourself for the interview. I know many students are like, "You know what? Oh, I'm not worried about the personal interview. I'm more worried about the bench exam." And that could be a mistake. So, you first got to figure out what kind of dental school it is and what they want to see from you.
So, there are two types of schools. The first type of school wants you to have excellent hand skills, and they usually have the bench exam first. So, it's mostly a two-day interview process. They would have a bench exam first, and the second day would be a personal interview. Those schools just require you to just excel at the bench exam, do everything perfectly. And they do this on purpose because they know they're not going to teach you that much, um, on a mannequin during their program. So, they want you to be excellent already in terms of hand skills.
The second type of dental school usually has their personal interview first, and the bench exam would be the second day. Those schools really care more about what kind of person you are and if your personality would fit to their school, uh, and to their community. They don't really care much about your hand skills, so you don't have to worry too much about their bench exam. They tend to teach you a lot during their dental program, and you would most likely be working on a mannequin first before you get introduced into clinics.
No matter what school invited you to an interview, you still have to be ready. You got to be prepared, not only for the bench exam but also for your personal interview. Do yourself a favor, start practicing and rehearsing early on. Make a list of all the questions that dental schools like to ask and write down your perfect responses in bullet points. As soon as you have your perfect responses, you can start practicing in front of a mirror. You can also record yourself, and afterwards, you can rewatch the footage and make sure you improve, move on your presentation, let's say.
So, just think about it: Who are you as a person? And what really led you to this point? Not only dental-related but also in your personal life. If you can really convey that, and if they see you as a person and see you as a good person, they will very likely invite you. And, um, this is the [Music] goal.
The very first question they love to ask is, "Tell me more about yourself." I know it's a, a really common question that you usually hear, but to have the perfect response, it really takes some time to think about it. That's why you got to be prepared, and that's why you got to write it down beforehand. So, tell them something that they haven't heard before. Tell them something that they haven't read in your statement of purpose or in general in your application. It has to be something new.
So, they usually printed out your application, um, your statement of purpose, all of that, and they have that in front of them. They know, they know when you graduated, they know where you graduated from, where you're from, but they don't know who you are as a person. So, present your story in a new way. Make it interesting. Make it so interesting that they will just remember you from that one highlight or from that story that you told them, right? Make it captivating, something like a good show that they watch on TV. And again, practice it a lot. It shouldn't sound rehearsed. It shouldn't sound like, um, you learned it by heart, but still, you know, you are ready for this question, and you have thought about it, and that's, that's what you should show them.
Another good question, which is also linked to that, um, is usually, "What's your weakness?" Okay, you got a good strength, but what's your weakness? You might be bad at waking up early. Okay, tell them that you, that this is your weakness, but never just leave it like that. Turn it around and make it into something positive. So, yeah, I'm bad at waking up early, but, you know, I really worked hard on it, and I just set myself 10 alarms, and I'm never late for anything, just because I trained myself to, you know, turn my weakness into a strength.
The second question that usually follows after you introduce yourself a bit is going more into the dental experience that you got. So, the first question, um, you know, talk a little bit more about your hobbies and, um, who you are as a person, um, what you like to do outside of dentistry, something that they will remember. And at that second part of the interview, they usually ask, um, dental-related stuff. And there, you just should think about what is the most impressive things that you have done so far? What are you most proud of? Um, maybe there's something that you, I don't know, got an award for, or maybe some research that you have done, or maybe just, um, some personal relationships that you could make, uh, in the dental field or with patients, something, um, that you just like the most about dentistry and your dental experiences so far. But also, don't overdo it. Keep it short and sweet. As I said, they have your application in front of them. They know where you worked as a dental assistant, where, or where you shadowed, but what's the highlight of all of it? And like, the most impressive thing that I haven't heard [Music] before.
So, the third part would be to turn the interview around. Okay, you have talked about yourself quite a bit now, but now you should turn it around and make it more about your interviewer. So, if you know who your interviewer is, you could actually be a little stalker and look the person up. Maybe, um, see what they are specialized in, or, um, you know, what their hobbies are. Dental schools usually have their faculty listed on their website, and they have like a little bio there where they just talk a bit about, um, where they're from and what they have done so far. So, you could read that. If you're lucky enough to know who your interviewer is, and then you basically just turn it around and ask the interviewer, "So, what is, what's your favorite part about being here at the school? And what do you most like about the city? I have never been here before." And, um, you know, "What is your most favorite thing to do on the weekends?" You know, and then when they tell you something interesting like, "Oh, I like to, you know, go to a theater," or "I like to go to concerts," and you're going to be like, "Oh, you like music? Me too!" Or, "Yeah, oh yeah, I like theater too." Whatever. So, and then you kind of turn it around and make it more about the other person. Uh, they feel a little bit more important, and it's just basic psychology. People like to talk about themselves. So, make it a little bit more about [Music] them.
So, the very last part of the interview is the same, no matter where you're getting interviewed. Everyone is going to ask you that: "Do you have any more questions?" Yes, you do. You always have more questions because you're so interested, you're so excited about being at this interview that you just, you know, you want to know it all. Okay, so write down some questions that you could ask. Uh, not questions that, um, are related, you know, to the interviewer, because we already did that. We already turned the interview around, and, you know, we focused on the interviewer. Now, you're going to ask some meaningful questions that are regarding the dental school, the program. And for that, you also have to do a little bit of research. So, um, read up on the website of the dental school, what the program includes, what is maybe not included. You could ask all about, um, you know, some subjects, or, or in general, the students that are attending the school. You know, there are a lot of things that you could ask. So, you know, and you just want to have some meaningful questions because that's the last impression that you give them. You already started with a good impression, you want to finish with this, like, very good impression as well.
Every person who tells a great story doesn't just come up with it. They have usually prepared for that story or to tell that story multiple times. And you have to be a person like that too. You have to be a great storyteller, and you got to captivate your audience, which is the interviewer. So, yeah, this is basically it, guys. I wish you the best of luck. If you have any questions, leave them down below, and I will see you in my next video. Bye! [Music]