General dental school interview questions

1. What are your three greatest strengths?

2. What are your three greatest weaknesses?
3. What are your hobbies or interests outside of dentistry?
4. What dental program are you interested in pursuing?
5. How did your friends or family react to your interest in dentistry?
6. What would make you happy 10 years from now?
7. What do you do to manage stress?
8. Tell us about an experience that made a significant impact on your life?
9. What have you read recently that changed or impacted your worldview?
10. What extracurricular activity had the biggest impact on you during your undergraduate
education?

Questions about experience and background

1. Tell us about a time when you had to take on a leadership position to solve a problem.
2. Being a dentist requires good hand-eye coordination. Do you have any relevant
experience related to dexterity?
3. What made you choose your undergraduate major?
4. What achievement are you most proud of accomplishing?
5. What undergraduate class challenged you the most and how did you adapt to meet that
challenge?
6. What is your experience with dentistry and what has it taught you about the profession?
7. What strategies do you use to study and prepare for exams?
8. Describe a mistake you made and how you resolved it.
9. Tell us about a time when you faced a personal conflict and how you overcame it.
10. How can you explain this weakness or inconsistency in your academic background?

In-depth interview questions

1 How do you think the dental profession has changed over the last 25 years?
2 What are some common issues the elderly face in terms of dental health?
3 As a practitioner, what strategies would you use to help your patients manage the cost of
services?
4 When you think of the future, can you picture any other careers where you could achieve the
same goals or find the same satisfaction?
5 What clinical populations do you see yourself working with as a dentist?
6 What would you do if a patient you know to be low income and who could not pay for
services in the past scheduled an appointment at your practice?
7 In your opinion, what would be the qualities of the ideal candidate for our program?
8 A patient who hasn't been to the dentist in over a decade comes to see you and presents
with a significant number of issues. Where do you start?
9 What technological developments do you look forward to the most in dentistry?
10 How would you respond if you discovered a colleague overcharges patients and
misrepresents service fees on patient bills?

 How do your experiences align with our school's mission statement?

 What do you expect to be the biggest issues the dental industry faces in the next 10
years?
 How would you respond if a patient came to you with moderate dental pain but refused
to have an X-ray taken because they believe X-rays are harmful?
 Tell me about yourself.
 Why dentistry?
 Why do you want to become a student here? Why this school?
 What’s a recent time you failed?
 Why should we choose you over someone else?
 Favorite dental procedure?
 Tell me about a recent interpersonal conflict you’ve been in?
 What’s something that isn’t in your application you want me to know?
 Tell me about xyz extracurricular experience? (Open file interview)
 Which of your college courses interested you the most?
 What do you do in your spare time?
 Why did you choose the undergraduate school you went to, and if you could, would you
do anything differently?
 What do you do to destress?
 What course that you’ve taken was most academically challenging for you?
 Who’s an influential person in your life?
 What are three things you want to change about yourself?
 What do you want me to say about you to the admissions committee?
 Why not medicine?
 What would you do if you couldn’t be a dentist?
 What do you feel are the most important qualities in being a good dentist?
 What do you think you will dislike the most about dentistry?
 What do you think you will like most about dentistry?
 Tell me about a time you told a lie?
 Describe your method of learning. How does this fit with this dental school?
 How will you handle the stress of dental school?
 How do you align with the school’s mission statement?
 What do you think will be your greatest challenge in completing dental school?
 If you’re not accepted, what will you do?
 Describe yourself in one sentence.
 If you’re accepted here and your state school, which would you pick?
 What do you think sets our school apart?
 Walk me through this part of your personal statement? (Open file interview)
 What sets you apart from other applicants?
 You’re distracted during an important presentation. What do you do?
 How do you think the dental profession has changed over the last 25 years?
 What is the biggest challenge facing dentistry today?
 What do you think is the future in dentistry?
 What makes a great leader?
 What is your ultimate professional goal?
 You find out a friend of yours cheated on a dental school exam. What would you do?
 Explain why flossing is important to someone who speaks English as a second language
and hasn’t flossed before.
 If you are accepted into two dental schools of your top choice, what would you do to
make up your mind?
 What are your top three strengths? (Have “greatest strength” and “top three” both
prepared)
 What are your top three weaknesses? (Have “greatest weakness” and “top three” both
prepared)
 Where do you see yourself in ten years?
 What motivates you career wise?
 How would your friends describe you?
 How do you relax? What do you do for fun?
 What’s your career look like 15 years from now?
 Tell me about a typical day for a dentist.
 What’s one part of your application you’d like us to overlook?
 A patient who may have a dental infection is refusing x-rays. What would you do?
 A patient constantly shows up late for appointments. How would you handle it?
 How would you deal with a patient with a dental need that is unable to pay?
 Tell me about a recent mistake you made.
 How have you improved your manual dexterity?
 Describe a challenge / adversity you’ve faced?
 What is your recent favorite book, tv show, movie, or podcast?
 What would you do if you weren’t accepted to dental school this cycle?
 Describe what you believe the characteristics of the ideal dentist are?
 What are you most excited about for dental school?
 Tell me about an ethical conflict you were involved in / witnessed?
 Where else have you interviewed?
 If you’ve interviewed elsewhere, how does our curriculum compare to theirs?
 What would you do if you had unlimited money?
 How many schools did you apply to?
 Do you have a favorite musical artist?
 Where have you interviewed so far? Follow up: What was the interview at xyz school
like?
 A friend of yours calls letting you know her grandmother was just diagnosed with
terminal cancer. You have a major exam tomorrow. What would you do?
 Who is someone you look up to?
 If you were a dental instrument (ie. a tool used in dentistry, like a drill, mirror, etc.),
what would you be?
 Tell me about when you showed leadership during xyz experience? (Open file interview)
 What uniquely do you think you will contribute to the class?
 How can we address the dentist shortage in rural areas?
 Tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news?
 Tell me about any awards you’ve won.
 You are seeing a patient who is requesting a second opinion. You disagree with the
diagnosis the original dentist gave. What do you do?
 Describe a negative experience you have witnessed while shadowing?
 Tell me about a time you went above the call of duty?
 What do you think I should ask you?
 Everyone has a role in each class. one could be a class clown, another can be the class
president. What role do you think you will fill?
 What do you think it will be like to live here?
 The tuition and living expenses at our school are expensive. How do you think about the
financial implications regarding which dental school you choose?
 What do you think a negative aspect will be if you choose this school over others?
 How do you approach multitasking?
 If you get accepted to every dental school you apply to, how do you decide where to
go? (More direct version to be prepared for: “Where would you choose?” or “Are we
your top choice”)
 What do you look for in a friend?
 Two group members are disagreeing and it’s preventing you from progressing on your
project. What would you do?
 What’s your favorite dental instrument and why?
 Describe how a dentist does a filling? (You don’t need to get overly technical, just be
prepared to walk through the basic steps)
 Describe how a dentist does a crown prep? (You don’t need to get overly technical, just
be prepared to walk through the basic steps)
 Describe how a dentist does an extraction? (You don’t need to get overly technical, just
be prepared to walk through the basic steps)
 Do you know any current students here? If so, what have they told you about their
experience?
 Tell me about your family?
 If you could describe our dental school in five words or less, how would you describe it?
 Tell me about how you think about reputation?
 What are your thoughts on cosmetic dentistry?
 Was there a light bulb moment where you decided you wanted to be a dentist?
 We do xyz at our curriculum (unique things like problem based learning, biomed
curriculum etc.). How do you think you’ll do with that?
 If you had to change something about yourself, what would it be?
 Tell me about this hobby. (Open file interview)
 What do you do for fun?
 Why do you think you can do dentistry for the next 40 years?
 Why should we pick you over a student with similar stats?
 Who is the dentist you are closest to? Tell me about them / that relationship.
 What’s something you’re proud of?
 What are your thoughts on relocating to come to our dental school?
 How do you handle conflict?
 Describe your personality to me?
 If you could change anything in the admissions process, what would you do?
 How do you think the transition from college to dental school will be like compared to
the transition from high school to college?
 What role does meritocracy play in dentistry?
 Tell me about a crisis you’ve faced.
 What have you done to ensure you can handle a large course load?
 What role does research play in dentistry? Have you done any?
 Do you plan to specialize?
 What is your greatest achievement?
 What do people get wrong about you?
 What was your favorite class you’ve taken?
 What’s been the biggest accomplishment you’ve made in personal development
recently?
 What do you think of plagiarism?
 What don’t you like about our curriculum? What is your favorite part?
 What have dentists you’ve shadowed complained about in the profession?
 What do you want me to remember about you?
 Are we your top choice?
 Why did you major in xyz?
 How much does a filling cost approximately? How much is a crown approximately?
 What’s a good deed you’ve done recently?
 What do you think is the weakest part of your application?
 If you don’t get into dental school this year and need to take a gap year, what would you
do?
 What can you tell me about being a dentist besides the actual clinical dentistry?
 Tell me about a time you weren’t reliable.
 What questions do you have for me?
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