Interview Thread [Questions, Suggestions, Thank You letters]

[DrTacoElf]

I propose that we start a thread covering all aspects of "The Interview" suggestions you guys have, as well as potential questions (especially the hard ones)

Questions I Have
Do you think its mandatory to write thank you letters after an interview? Is email appropriate? Or is stationary a must?

My Contribution -- many are straight from the interview feedback on this site
Ambition for Dentistry
? Why do you want to be a dentist?
? Tell me something not in your application.
? What is the best part of dentistry?
? What is the worst part of dentistry
? Do you have any family members that are dentists?
o Has this influenced your decision to pursue a career in dentistry?
? Why do you want to go back to school?
? What do you have to offer to the dental profession?
? When did you realize dentistry was for you?
? Why not medicine?
? Why should we choose you over someone with better stats?

This School
? Would you prefer to attend an instate school?
? What would you do if you were accepted at both ____ and _____ afterall it would be cheaper right?
? What do you look for in a dental school?
? Why _______ School of Dentistry?
? Do you have any questions for me or about the school?
? Are you familiar with what a dental student does?
? Do you know anyone that attends this school?
? Is this school your first choice?
? What do you look for in a dental school?
? What can ____ do that other schools can?t
? What other schools have you applied to?
o Are they all your number 1 choices too!
? What schools did you apply to and why?

Character/Values/Family
? Who are you and what got you here?
? Have you ever failed?
? What is your best quality?
? What are your goals?
? What was your childhood like?
? What is your motivation for the future?
? What do you have to offer colleagues, friends, family, our school?
? What are your goals outside of dentistry?
? What is your level of cultural competency
? How would your friends describe you?
? Tell me something that you are proud of about yourself.
? How do you handle criticism?
? What are your weaknesses?
? What are your strengths?
? Give me 3 adjectives to describe yourself.
? Was was your most enlightened moment?
? How would your friends/relatives describe you?
? Tell me about your family
? Who is most important to you?
? Do you have any role models or heros?
? What do your parents do?
? What don?t you like about yourself?
? What is the most difficult thing you have had to face in your life?


Ethical/Dental Issues
? Where is dentistry Headed?
? What do you think of 9-11?
? How would you explain to a 5 year old you needed to drill his/her teeth?
? How will you make dentistry accessible to underserved areas?
? Biggest change in dentistry over the last ? century?
? Do you know about HMO/PPO/EPO/FFS
? What type of practice to you plan to run?
o Will you accept HMO/PPO/EPO?
o If yes ? what about $
o If no ? what about helping individuals in need
? Say a train was speeding towards a fork in the track. One side of the fork was an alternate route and has not been functional in 10yrs. A boy is playing on that side. The other side of the fork is functional and has fifteen people on the track. You only have time to let one group know that a train is coming. Who would you try to save?
? Have you ever cheated?
? Do you foresee volunteering your services
o Do you feel obligated to do this?
? How would you handle a situation in which you made a mistake?
? Are you aware of the effects of nitrous oxide on a baby?
? How would you handle it if you knew a classmate was cheating?
? What are a patients rights in terms of confidentiality?
? You have a drunken patient with 3 knocked out teeth, do you treat him?
? Do you think dental/healthcare is a right or privilege?
? How would you go about treating a patient with HIV?
? How do you feel about treating uninsured or indigent patients?
? What do you think about stem cell research?
? A pregnant teenager talks to you about what she should do but doesn?t want to tell her parents? What should you do?
? What is the biggest problem facing dentistry today?
o How would you remedy it?
? What do you think the role of government should be in healthcare?
? What do you think about socialized care?
? What would you say to a patient that wants you to date the procedure as being done today even though it wouldn?t be scheduled for 2 weeks?
? Why are so many people not getting dental care?
o How would you remedy this?
? Does the government have a right to fluoridate water?
? Do you have any comments about dentistry in general?
? Do you think managed care presents a threat to dentistry?

Leadership/Teamwork/Drive
? Have you ever had to explain to a low socio-economic person why they had to do something?
? If you were in a group project and one student didn?t do his work what would you do?
? Do you work well with others?
o Examples
? Tell me about a time you overcame an obstacle?
? What are your ambitions?
? Do you consider yourself a leader
o Give some examples where you acted as one
? What was a big challenge for you in the past 4 years, how did you handle it?

Healthcare/Volunteer Experience
? Dental instruments/procedures
? What do you know about the dental profession?
? Where have you volunteered
o What did you learn?
? What do you like/dislike about the dental offices you have been in?
? Have you ever had an experience with someone with an illness?
? Tell me about your experience with Dr. X.
? What shadowing/dental experience do you have?
? What service activities are you currently involved in?
? What dental procedures have you seen?
o Explain in detail
? Most interesting chairside experience you have had?
o Funniest chairside experience you have had?

Qualified
? Why should we pick you?
? What manual dexterity skills do you have or what do you do with you hands?
? Convince me that you are a good candidate.
? Why are you qualified to be here?
? How did you study for the DAT?
? What do you think about PBL?
? How do you learn?



Money
? What is your dream car?
? What would you do if you had 1 week to live?
? If you could have dinner with one person (non-family) who would it be?
? If you could have dinner with one person who would it be?
? What would you do with 1 million dollars?
? Would you still pursue dentistry if it only paid $25000?
? How will you set your fees?

Future Life Plans
? What would you do if you couldn?t be a dentist?
? Where do you want to practice?
? Do you want to specialize, why or why not?
? Where do you see yourself in 5/10/15/20 years?

Extracurricular
? What are your hobbies/activities?
? What do you do for fun?
? What do you do to relieve stress?
? What does your lab do?
o How is this significant?
? Tell me about your undergraduate research.
o How is this significant?
? What will you give back to your community?
? What has your community given to you?
? What community service do you have?
? Tell me about yourself
? What is your favorite book/movie/
? What is the last book you have read?
? What do you normally do when you hang out with friends?
? Are you in a relationship?

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[Bickle]

What happened to the other interview thread you made?? Where ever it is, I put a couple of good links on there. Check it out.

 

[DrTacoElf]

What happened to the other interview thread you made?? Where ever it is, I put a couple of good links on there. Check it out.

Found it

My personal opinion is that you cant prepare enough for any type of interview. Many have the philosophy of going into an interview with little to no preperation in order to sound spontanious and unrehearsed. BS! Prepare prepare prepare!

Heres a link to common dental interview Qs:

http://www.predental.com/traditionalquestion's.htm

and

http://www.predental.com/OtherQs.htm

 

[JRogoff]

My personal opinion is that you cant prepare enough for any type of interview. Many have the philosophy of going into an interview with little to no preperation in order to sound spontanious and unrehearsed. BS! Prepare prepare prepare!

For my first interview i spent days perparing, and you know what, it couldn't have gone worse. I was so nervous that i would forget all the things i wanted to talk about and the conversation was filled with ums and uhs. I think what you're suggesting is the worst thing you can do. You need to go into interviews being yourself, not some tape recorder that spits out prepared answers to the common questions they ask. The interview is more of a conversation, not a verbal test. Spitting out prepared answers makes the conversation very awkward, for you and your interviewer. To make a long story short, from my second interview on they couldn't have gone better. My suggestion to you is to do what everyone on SDN suggests, just be yourself! Interviews are not as tough as they seem. As soon as you go on your first one you will see exactly what i am talking about. If you follow my advice or not, good luck come interview day!

 

[Bickle]

For my first interview i spent days perparing, and you know what, it couldn't have gone worse. I was so nervous that i would forget all the things i wanted to talk about and the conversation was filled with ums and uhs. I think what you're suggesting is the worst thing you can do. You need to go into interviews being yourself, not some tape recorder that spits out prepared answers to the common questions they ask. The interview is more of a conversation, not a verbal test. Spitting out prepared answers makes the conversation very awkward, for you and your interviewer. To make a long story short, from my second interview on they couldn't have gone better. My suggestion to you is to do what everyone on SDN suggests, just be yourself! Interviews are not as tough as they seem. As soon as you go on your first one you will see exactly what i am talking about. If you follow my advice or not, good luck come interview day!

JR,

Those were my comments, not Dr. Taco's. I've heard opinions like yours an endless amount of times, and I still stick to what I said. Personally, knowing what you want to say and where you stand on certain issues allows me to relax. The more I prepare, the more natural/relaxed I feel.

 

[DrTacoElf]

JR,

Those were my comments, not Dr. Taco's. I've heard opinions like yours an endless amount of times, and I still stick to what I said. Personally, knowing what you want to say and where you stand on certain issues allows me to relax. The more I prepare, the more natural/relaxed I feel.

I agree with both actually, having 5 med school interviews under my belt.

Here is what i think it is imperative to know
1) Why dentistry
2) Why X School
3) Some Dental Ethics and issuse affecting dentistry
4) Yourself and what You have done over the years
5) If you do those first 4 you won't really be all that nervous.

P.S i'm certainly not memorizing answers i'm just turning them over in my head now so that i will have some idea on interview day should it ever come

 

[JRogoff]

JR,

Those were my comments, not Dr. Taco's. I've heard opinions like yours an endless amount of times, and I still stick to what I said. Personally, knowing what you want to say and where you stand on certain issues allows me to relax. The more I prepare, the more natural/relaxed I feel.

Whatever make you feel more relax diring the interview is what you should do, everyone is differnt. The only thing that Dr. Taco can do is see for himself. If preping excessively doesn't work the first time, just don't do it the second time around like i did. Only expierence will tell you what works.

 

[JRogoff]

Here is what i think it is imperative to know
1) Why dentistry
2) Why X School
3) Some Dental Ethics and issuse affecting dentistry
4) Yourself and what You have done over the years
5) If you do those first 4 you won't really be all that nervous.

Did you apply to Arizona? If so they will throw you for a loop because they definetly go way beyond the scope of those questions.

 

[DrTacoElf]

Did you apply to Arizona? If so they will throw you for a loop because they definetly go way beyond the scope of those questions.

Nope how do they throw you for a loop, i'd be interested to hear

 

[JRogoff]

Nope how do they throw you for a loop, i'd be interested to hear

Out of respect for their application process, i'm not really at liberty to say.

 

[DrTacoElf]

Out of respect for their application process, i'm not really at liberty to say.

Oh yeah i remember reading that they preserve the same types of questions from year to year. Thanks Anyway

 

[JavadiCavity]

I agree with JRogoff about being yourself and being relaxed. I've tried both ways, and I've never been impressed with the rehearsed/planned repsonse method. The problem with prepared responses is that they sound like everyone else's.

From my interviewing experiences in the past, the most successful interviews were the ones where both the interviewer and I had a discussion rather than a question/answer session. The only way I found to do that effectively was to connect with the interviewer within the first minute and then let the balance of the interview run its course.

Lastly, if you are prepared/rehearsed, what happens if they through you a question, as JRogoff suggested, that you had never considered? I think many of these interviewers can see right through us. So, it's better to be unique and original.

 

[JRogoff]

^^^

Exactly my thoughts. Rehearsed answers don't let you connect with your interviewer, which i think is exactly what they are looking for.

 

[Bickle]

I agree with JRogoff about being yourself and being relaxed. I've tried both ways, and I've never been impressed with the rehearsed/planned repsonse method. The problem with prepared responses is that they sound like everyone else's.

From my interviewing experiences in the past, the most successful interviews were the ones where both the interviewer and I had a discussion rather than a question/answer session. The only way I found to do that effectively was to connect with the interviewer within the first minute and then let the balance of the interview run its course.

Lastly, if you are prepared/rehearsed, what happens if they through you a question, as JRogoff suggested, that you had never considered? I think many of these interviewers can see right through us. So, it's better to be unique and original.

Who said you have to deliver your answers as if they have been thought through at an earlier time?? By all means talk in a conversational tone, I'm not saying you should have a 5 minute speech laid out for each and every question they may ask. But DO have an idea of what you would like to portray. That in itself takes a good deal of prep work. And if they do throw something at you from left field, be glad that you prepared and did well on the other questions so you have a little wiggle room for the unexpected ones.

In the end, you DON'T want to sound like a robot. But look at it this way. If you could have either sounding like a robot or fumbling over your answers and not really answering the questions, which would you rather have?

 

[Bickle]

^^^

Exactly my thoughts. Rehearsed answers don't let you connect with your interviewer, which i think is exactly what they are looking for.

Thats people skills, I'm not talking about that. Its hard to practice those, thats mostly god given, or charm.

 

[JavadiCavity]

I realize that intense preparation for interviews is highly recommended from career counselors, etc., but my question is this: What do you really need to prepare? All of the answers to their questions ought to be second nature already, right? For example:

Q: "Why do you want to attend this school?"

Hmmm....shouldn't you already have figured out why you wanted to attend before applying?

Q: "Why do you want to go into dentistry?"

If you don't know this already, then . . . ???


I will concede that I've heard of a couple of schools that ask questions like the one below that require some preparation, but I think these are hard to plan for in advance unless you know the school may be asking it.

Q: "Tell me why or why not you think it is unethical for dentists to not be required to accept Medicaid."


Your point is well taken, and if detailed preparation like DrTaco outlined above is what makes you feel the most comfortable at the interview, then you should pursue that course. After all, being comfortable at the interview is paramount.

 

[Bickle]

I realize that intense preparation for interviews is highly recommended from career counselors, etc., but my question is this: What do you really need to prepare? All of the answers to their questions ought to be second nature already, right? For example:

Q: "Why do you want to attend this school?"

Hmmm....shouldn't you already have figured out why you wanted to attend before applying?

Q: "Why do you want to go into dentistry?"

If you don't know this already, then . . . ???


I will concede that I've heard of a couple of schools that ask questions like the one below that require some preparation, but I think these are hard to plan for in advance unless you know the school may be asking it.

Q: "Tell me why or why not you think it is unethical for dentists to not be required to accept Medicaid."


Your point is well taken, and if detailed preparation like DrTaco outlined above is what makes you feel the most comfortable at the interview, then you should pursue that course. After all, being comfortable at the interview is paramount.

Preparation will allow you to give thoughtful answers to those questions.

Why do you want to go this school? You better have a good answer and not some generic one you could use at any school.

Why do you want to be a dentist? You better have an ORIGINAL answer and relate it to yourself, not an answer that could be used by just anyone.

A question I got was where do you see dentistry going in the next 25 years? Sounds tough, but with all my prep I covered it and had a pretty good answer. Thank god for that!!

Again, do what works for you. But dont be surprised if your stumped by a question and sitting there like a ******* with nothing to say if you didnt prepare.

 

[JRogoff]

Sorry, DP.

 

[JRogoff]

^^^

I definetly agree, most of the questions they ask you should be no brainers like "why do you want to be a dentist. On the other hand i do see where someone would want to be prepared for the ever so popular question of "what are your three best and three worst qualities." This one is though on the spot, but i did manage to answer it pretty well without preparation.

 

[JRogoff]

But dont be surprised if your stumped by a question and sitting there like a ******* with nothing to say if you didnt prepare.

I don't think this could happen if you go into the interview confident of yourself and confident of the fact that you want to become a dentist. But thats just the way i viewed it.

 

[Bickle]

Ok, what do i care? Do what you want. Good luck.

 

[JRogoff]

Ok, what do i care? Do what you want. Good luck.

I really don't care either, i'm not going on any interviews anytime soon. I was just trying to give an alternative interview strategy to yours. In the end i do agree with you, do what works for you.

Oh, and i agree with you on something else, Vote Kerry!

 

[Bickle]

Oh, and i agree with you on something else, Vote Kerry!

Word