Transcription
And you want to know five major reasons why people don't get invites or don't get accepted and they get rejected. Well, this is the right video for you. If you don't know who I am, my name is AJ William. I'm a foreign-trained dentist, just like you, who applied to dental school back in 2019. Got accepted to four schools. Back then, went to Colorado and graduated in '22. But over the past six years, I have worked with more than a thousand students through this CAPT process, and I helped many people get accepted. And in this video, I wanted to talk about those five big things that cause a lot of problems in people's lives when they, when it comes to applying to this CAPT process.
So, CAPT is a portal through which our foreign-trained dentists like me, when we pass our exams and we apply to these different schools. And the cycle starts on March 3rd of every year. So, right now, we are in January, and in about two months, this CAPT cycle is gonna start. The number one mistake I will tell you that a lot of students make is that they don't create a timeline plan. They don't have a big strategy of what is going to happen during this CAPT. They think they're just gonna give their exam and apply to school and get accepted. Well, it doesn't work that way. It's the US, and everything's complex up here. Number one thing, you want to, you want to make sure you pass your INBDE and your TOEFL exam on time. That's the number one thing.
The second thing I'm gonna tell you, and which I tell my own students in my fellowship program, students, students that work with me every year, is that you need to create a strategy. You need to create a timeline plan. So, you want to pass your board exam, you want to pass your TOEFL exam. Then you want to list at least 15 to 20 schools where you want to apply. And then you need to write down which schools do you want to apply. I have a three-hour video that I'm gonna put in the description, which helps you with schools to apply and which schools not to apply and how to look at it. But what you want to make sure is that you write down all of that on a piece of paper. Which schools you want to apply. And then you need to have a plan. Which people are gonna write your letters of recommendations, your LORs. You need to prepare your personal statement before March 3rd. So you are ready. You want to prepare your resume part. And then when the March 3rd starts, then you have to send all your board exam, uh, results to CAPT. You have to send your TOEFL. You have to upload your LORs. And sometimes your recommender is back in Cuba, Venezuela, India, Pakistan, Middle East, and your dean doesn't have time to upload it. And then it causes a lot of delay. So, all of these issues or things have to be planned right now in January. So, you are ahead of time. So, number one mistake that most people make is that they are sitting idle. They don't know what to do when the cycle starts, and they have no plan or map of this situation. That's the number one mis- mistake that they make.
The second thing that they end up doing. The second mistake which I have seen is even though some people have a very good application, really good TOEFL score, have clinical skills, have done shadowing, have done preceptorship, worked as a hygienist, did a master's, was a specialist back home. Everything looks magical. Personal statement is night. But they apply late. A lot of schools are on a rolling basis. Rolling basis means first come, first serve. So, when the March 3rd cycle starts, you want to apply early because the school wants to get done with admissions. More schools accept for Californian schools, UCLA, USC, UERJ. The other schools like Buffalo, NYU, UPenn, Rutgers, uh, Tufts, they want people to apply soon. They want applications to come in soon. So, they can get done with it and finish their process. But when you apply late, maybe you have the best application, your personal statement is gold, you have the best TOEFL score. You are like the golden boy or the golden girl with the best scores and everything. But because you applied late, they already selected their students for the interview. And now most probably, you won't get a chance. And I was one of those people. I applied to Boston like three days before the deadline, and they never considered my application, and I wasted my $300 at that time. So, the second mistake I have seen in people is applying late. So, you want to be prepared. You want to have a big strategy of the system, and you want to apply on time.
The third thing I'm gonna tell you is that a lot of foreign-trained dentists like us, they undermine the importance of personal statement, supplemental questions, the ability to write in a professional way in the US. They undermine the importance of it. In your application, your exams matter, your TOEFL score matters, but the way you write your application, the way you write your words, the way you write your personal statement, the way you email schools, the way you communicate in your interview, that really sets you apart. Most of us immigrants don't understand that there are certain professional words. There are certain professional language that is used in the US. For example, a lot of candidates will message me, "Oh, can I crack this exam?" Well, I, I tell people, like, the word "crack" or "hack" is a very negative term in the US. You, in the US, they will say, "Oh, I found a loophole in the taxes. I found a loophole in the system. I found a loophole in the state law." They would like the word "loophole," but they won't like the word "crack" or "hack" that most people use in other countries like India. Now, to put it in context, like I come from Pakistan. We use the word "theory," but when I came to the US to a dental school, the word is "didactic." So, when you write in your email, in your personal statement, in your supplemental questions, "didactic" rather than "theory," the school will understand that this person knows the American dental academic system, and it sets you apart from the rest of the people. So, knowing how to write your personal statement, and there are videos on my personal statement on my channel. I'm going to try to put them in the description as well. But knowing where to write your personal statement is one of the key things. And then on top of it, your resume, filling in your CAPT portal, and then your supplemental questions. So, that's the third mistake that most of the people make is undermining the importance of communication, writing, and the way you speak in a professional manner.
The fourth thing I would say that a lot of candidates. So, I have a fellowship program where I work with candidates start to the end. I help them writing resumes, help them with personal statements, with filling in the CAPT portal. I help them with, uh, supplemental questions. I help them with, uh, preparing for KIRA, MMIs, interviews. I help them with everything. But what I don't do is bench exams. For that, I have a collaboration with Dr. Dogans, and they get a 10% discount with Dr. Dogans. So, that's what happens. So, now, the thing that I have seen is that, if you are not preparing for your bench exam early on, you are, you are not gonna be good enough. Imagine, a bench exam is something like a hard skill, like playing guitar, like pulling out a tooth. And if somebody has been doing it for the past two, three years, well, he's gonna be way better than you are. And when it comes to the bench exam, well, in interview prep, I can prepare you in one day. I can tell you how to speak confidently, how to tell your story to sound confident, right? But when it comes to your bench exam, well, either you are good or you are not good. And somebody who has practiced more hours than you is most probably gonna be better than you. So, one of the biggest mistakes I have seen that a lot of students make is that they wait till the last hour to prepare for the bench exam. What you want to do is prepare for your bench exam skills early on. You prepare for war in time of peace. That's how you become good. So, you want to practice early on. Start practicing now. If you need to take a bench exam course, you should. I personally have a collaboration with Dr. Dogans. So, people who take services with me, I offer them that 10% discount at Dr. Dogans. But there are other people as well. You can go to other places and get that preparation and then keep practicing at home.
The last final thing I'm gonna tell you that I have seen a lot of mistakes, and I get mostly people who have applied for two or three cycles, and then they come to me for coaching, is not getting the right guidance at time. Understand that dentistry, or the dental profession in the US, is all about time. You want to get in the profession when you are young, and you want to retire when you are young. Because if you don't, physically, it's so much taxing. Like I have practiced, I have been practicing in the US since January 23rd. It's been like three years, right? But I feel like I have been practicing for 10 years. It's just physically, you have to see so many patients, you have to work so much. You have to deal with the legal issues. You have to keep up with the patient charts, with the post-op complaints. Then if you buy a practice, you take CE courses. There is like so much work you have to do that physically it crushes you. And I am, I am telling you out of experience. So, what I suggest people, if you are gonna apply for it, yes, apply. But go all in. Whether even if it costs you more money, it's fine. Just go all in. And then, so you go in, you make money while you are young, and you retire early as well. So, the one of the biggest mistakes I have seen is people waste their two years or one year just trying to figure out what does the CAPT portal look like. How does it feel to apply? And I tell people, either don't do it, or if you are gonna do it, do it with a plan, do it wholeheartedly. And that's where guidance comes in. And I am not just trying to serve myself. If you have a friend who is in a dental school, if you have a professor, if you have some other person who is willing to guide you, good enough. And some people in my, uh, friend list message me that I just watched all of your YouTube videos and I learned so much from it that they were guidance, guidance in itself, which is good enough. More power to you. But then there are people who reach out to me for personal guidance, who need, need more support. I provide a fellowship program, and right now the cost of it is $5,500, which is gonna be increasing in the next month. So, in the fellowship program, I help you throughout your whole process until you get accepted. Whether it takes three months, whether it takes three years. My plan is not to make you wait till three years. My plan as a coach is to support you, guide you, so you get accepted to a dental school as soon as possible. That's my job. Well, God is the one who gives you success. You need to be determined, and I am gonna support you as a coach. And in the next coming months, I am hiring more team with me. I am creating a system that's gonna help me, but obviously, that's gonna increase my cost as well. Currently, at this time, if you are watching this video in January of 2026, I do have the price blocked in at $5,500, and you can pay in installments. If you are interested, but except for that, I, if you, if there is a financial issue, there is a lot of videos on my YouTube channel that you can watch. You can prepare for them. I have even posted videos of testimonials of interviews of people who have worked with me, and they will guide you or tell you how was their experience. And if you have any more questions, you can write in the comment box. Please like the video, that encourages me to make more videos like this for people like you. I love what I do. Trust me. I love working with CAPT people. This is what keeps me happy, keeps me alive, keeps me young at the age of 35. And if you like my content, do hit the like button. Follow me on Instagram because I am doing a free Q&A session on January 11th. We'll see you hopefully soon in a more meaningful video. Thank you.