11 Pointers on Interview

Personally, I was about to piss in my pants when faculty started pulling people out for their interviews. I was so scared that my hands were shaking and I knew people could hear my heart beat out loud. Once I got in the room, man it completely different. I was relaxed, calm and composed. They really don’t grill you, but it sort of depends on who you get. Did I scare you? Hahaha relax.

Here are few pointers, question that you might want to consider before you go:

1. Dress professional, but nothing like GQ or model type. It states that you are a professional and you want to be one and it shows respect.
2. Know what you are getting into. Research about current dentistry related articles in news. Collect ideas, facts, and events that are online in this field. Base you opinion on a few of those positive or negative. Trust me, it will help you.
3. Research the positive and negatives about dentistry. And don’t say there is nothing negative about dentistry.
4. Purpose: It is a brush on your application. Kind of adding dimension. Most importantly, it shows that you can communicate. Communication is the key in any profession, especially this one where there is doctor-patient interactions. It is also useful to get more personal feedback on your application such as a low score in any one section of your DATs, GPA, grade conflict, or simply to just see that you are sane person.
5. What do you get out of it? Take your time to inspect the interviewer and learn about the school. What are they offering to you? What benefits dental students get being in that particular program? How well do dental students perform on National board I and II?
6. Why dentist as oppose to other profession for instant medical school? Example: I was a pharmacology major and worked at Eckerd’s Pharmacy in my undergraduate, at UMDNJ I was ask why not pharmacy school.
7. This is an interesting one:Have you thought about which career path in dentistry you would like to follow. I stole some from ADEA website.

Completion of DDS/DMD-> Private/Group Practice

Completion of DDS/DMD-> Specialize –> Private/Group Practice

Graduation -> Advanced Dental Education Program -or- MS/PhD -> Faculty Appointment

Completion of DDS/DMD -> Faculty Appointment

Graduation ->AEGD/GRP -or- Advanced Dental Education Program -> Private Practice -> Part-time Faculty -> Faculty Appointment

8.  If you did research, you might be asked about it. So, sit down with you PI and know what is your research about.

9.  Don’t try to suck up, because they will know. They interview thousands of students and they can tell if you are really sucking up.

10.  Be yourself! Don’t put a front up because they will know.

11. Research your school, their philosophy, and try to read through some of the important faculty members there. If you have time just google them up. If the faculty member is in research try  to read some of their recently published or well-known published papers. If the conversation allows, throw it in. It shows that you took a keen interest in actually looking up. And this is not sucking up, it’s called being-smart-like-Tej!

Filed under: Application Process, Pre-dental , Application Process, Interview, Pre-dental

Personal Statement

Personal Statement matters, because it’s simply personal. This piece of paper is going to SET you aside from all the other applicants who are also applying for the same spot as you are. I can’t emphasis on it anymore. So, please spend ample time on this one beside the DATs.

Do a little brain storming beforehand. Think of what you would like to present to the admission committee. Before you do this, spend some time reflecting on yourself. Think about your family members, professionals, your college career or job per se. Everybody has both strong and weak attributes. Don’t be shy to show-off in your statement. Hell, sell yourself!

Here are a list of qualities and skills you might want to give some thoughts:

• Experiences working with people
• Independent Study
• Study Aboard
• Research experience
• Significant work experience
• Internship/externship
• Teaching experience
• Courses taken**
• Organization/club leader
• Leadership role
• Volunteer experience/community service
• Your major/minor

Now, you may have one or all of these. Don’t beat yourself over if you didn’t get more than 3 of these. This is just to get you in the gear and spark some thoughts to what you might want to talk about. Even if you did very little in your undergraduate career (too much partying and drinking, trust me), it’s all about how your present it.

Some more suggestions:

Personal background:

You might want to embark upon yourself. What is that might set you apart from other candidates? Significant experiences such as family member’s illness/death, your personal health, or simply the challenges you meet in your journey.

Interest:

How did you get interested in this particular profession? In other words, why dentistry? When did you make this decision or rather how did you come about? Describe what influence you?

Experiences:

Describe any related internship/externship/work experience? What confirmed your desire to pursue this career? Kinda similar to the one above.

Future goals:

What are you future goals, or ideals towards within the profession? What kind of setting of do your imagine yourself working in? What areas of your major/minor apply towards to the profession you are entering, only if applicable?

Expertise:

Highlight upon your skills such as fine motor skills, or dexterity. Any skills that can demonstrate the depth of your skills in the field.

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PRESENTATION

• Be professional
• Organization, organization – the flow makes a huge impact. Ask someone random individual read it.
• Be concise – try to be repeating certain words or phrases in the same paragraph. Think economically!
• Be clear, specific and straightforward.
• Be honest!
• KISS – Keep it simple stupid.
• Proofread, Proofread, and Proofread: PLEASE DO IT!

Tips: re-write the entire personal statement paragraph by paragraph and trust me it will be splendid! Keep your work personal avoid third person talk. Go to your writing center, your English professor, your high school English teacher, and revise your personal statement.

Filed under: Application Process, Pre-dental , Application Process, Personal Statement, Pre-dental

Application Process: In brief

Briefly, I’m going to just cover the application process and my experience. I highly recommend every applicant to read through Student Doctor forums, DMD student’s website, Dr. Student Dentist’s website for more details. You are going to need a few things such as dedication, time management, long and short term planning, and a little bit of luck and tons of hope and patience.

I cannot stress on how important it is to manage you time accordingly and plan certain things because it simply makes life hundred times easier. I for one was big on procrastination and after thousands of time I learnt it. All my dental peers whom I have spoken have all given me this piece of advice: APPLY EARLY! Dental school does favor applicants who apply early because it shows seriousness, dedication, smart, determined, professional. First come first serve is your motto. Applying early can help weak to average applicants. If you don’t believe me, believe Dr. Hal Lippman. The best advice he can give is apply early.

My story: In summer 2007, during the spring semester I had asked about 6-8 professors for letters of recommendation so I would have them ready by at least end of summer. Taking the advices of my peers and student doctor forum, I decided to apply on AADSAS the day it was available. I submitted my application online on June 6^th. I had also registered for the DAT test for the 1^st week of August. My DAT test date is a little late but it’s what works best for you. I personally was not taking of taking this test more than once. I can’t stand standardize testing. The way this works is soon after you submit and pay for the schools that you picked on AADSAS, you application is submitted but not completed! Yes, please don’t think the day you submit online is the day you application reaches all the schools. ADASAS takes about 4-6 weeks to process you application where it verifies all your information in particularly your transcript. For me, I submit June 6^th and my application was processed and completed by July 19^th. ADASAS didn’t notify me you have to personally check it on the website. By end of July, I received all my letters of recommendation so I immediately sent it over. You can send either ADASAS or the schools.

My test day was August 10^th and I started my studying the day I submitted my application, June 6^th. I fiend studied for this exam. I took my test and decided that I’m going to stick with my score. I was on point in my game. Interviews started rolling in around mid September to October. November 30^th, I got acceptances from all my top choices. I picked Stony Brook Dental School. Dr. Cinnotti personally called and gave me the good news at 8:30 pm at night!

Here’s what you should sort of plan:

• Apply early! – Apply the day ADASAS opens up.
• DAT – If you didn’t take you DAT before you applied; Don’t panic, but study hard and smart using all your resources to totally nail the exam. After you submit online, you have about 4-6 weeks of window before you application reaches the school. Bare in mind, your application is stll considered incomplete to the dental school and they will not review it until they receive everything that they need. So, simply call them and ask what is that you are missing.
• You should try to have everything completed when you are applying so you can actually enjoy the summer while you wait. However, it can be hard to study for DAT and attend school at the same time. So, if you plan on studying the summer. Plan accordingly.

Personal Statement:

I say began writing your personal statement in spring semester. This is just my suggestion. English is not my area of expertise. I will tell you my personal statement had been to about 50 revisions. Check out DMDstudents and DrStudentDentist websites they have posted several sample personal statement. I haven’t decided if I should post mine up. I will upon request.

Letters of Recommendation:

Get serious letters! I can’t stress this anymore. Your letters play an important role in your application even more than you can actually think. I say ask about 5-6 faculty member. Get about 3 science-related and 3 non-science related. You don’t need to get 10. You can if you like. I say get around 5-6 just to you have the option in picking which one looks the best to submit to dental school. My undergraduate had a pre-health committee and so we I submitted about 6 recommendations and they picked the best ones and compiled them which I submitted to the dental school. I would try find faculty member that know you on personal level but this is just a suggestion.

Interviews:

I used student doctor interview question and feedbacks to guide me. I have been on several job interviews and I was more nervous for the dental school interviews. I had bad experiences in job interviews so I figured I’m going to bomb these interview as well. Turns out, I enjoyed my dental school interviews because the interviewer did not grill me out as those job interviewers did so. I didn’t do any mock up interviews or anything. I simply looked at the interview questions and type out my answers. I would write points on things I would like to present if I were asked this question. It helps. Trust me, I ended up saying some other random things that I didn’t write. hahahaha. Writing out answers to the question serves as a guide. DON’T GARGLE YOU ANSWERS AND SPIT IT OUT AT THE INTREVIEWS! It should be just a guide to how you should present it. Presentation is the key here!

For the most part, my interviews were relaxed, calm, and I actually felt as if they wanted me to be there. So, don’t panic just relax. They won’t eat you up!

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Lastly, please apply early!

Filed under: Application Process, Pre-dental , Application Process, Interview, Personal Statement, Pre-dental