Hey, can you please give us some tips about this interview? I do not think I am going to be able to go Friday either. Thanks
I'm assuming it hasn't changed much from last year when we had 4 MMI tables. Basically, Friday is an optional intro day. You show up, meet some potential classmates, meet some current students, meet a couple professors, and tour/get a feel for the school and the campus. It's very relaxed, and it's not gonna hurt you if you can't go. Saturday is the big day, and you're gonna wanna show up extra early, cause you have to find parking and it's not at the dental school, it's on the other side of campus. But again, it's relaxed, a lot more than my VCU interview last year was.
You show up at the hotel, they have refreshments to help calm your nerves, they introduce themselves again. Then, you split into two groups, and one group interviews 1st. They take you upstairs, split you off into lines of 4 people, and you go into your respective room. Each room has 2 lines, but within your own line, there are 4 tables you rotate between. You have 15 minutes/table, and that 15 minutes goes by super quickly. There are 2 tables with dental students, and 2 tables with professors. Before sitting down at the table, you get a few minutes to read a bio about the person(s) you're about to talk to, to get some background to help with the conversation. And each table truly is like a conversation. A couple of the tables have a specific question (like "you have to give a patient bad news, what do you do?"), but for the most part, they aren't super structured. I talked to one table about how I enjoy indoor rock climbing and another table about how I was turned off of dentistry for a long time because I'd undergone so much painful dental work.
It's actually kinda fun, you'll do great. Just make sure to introduce yourself at each table, smile the whole time, and thank them afterward. Also, drink water between each one so your throat doesn't get dry (they have water in the room). AND ASK
PERSONALIZED QUESTIONS (that's what the bios are for). If you can get them talking about themselves, you're golden. The people at each table have looked at your app and have it in front of them, but they only asked me questions about my essays/ECs when I was interviewing. I don't think the people interviewing you really care about your numbers, unless something really stands out. Side note: with 7 other people in the room talking (the dividers don't really help with sound), make sure you get good at drowning out other noises.
After that (or before, if you're in group 2), your entire group does an anything-goes Q&A with current students, where you can literally ask about anything since there isn't anyone in the room but students and your fellow interviewees. And then, once everyone is done, you get a pretty good free lunch.
