Why you got rejected after your interview
In this article, I’m going to try to answer why some of you may have gotten rejected from a Dental School Interview.
For the most part, if you could get the basic science GPA and DAT for every single dental school that you’re applying to, you will most likely get an interview.
But, as we all know that is only half the battle, because according to the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) and the American Dental Education Association (ADEA), your chances of getting in after an interview doubles from what your chances would’ve been before the interview process.
If you want a complete breakdown of all the DAT/ GPA averages for all of the United States dental schools, click on this link down below to gain access to my excel sheet!
Dental School Stats
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All the provided data was obtained from credible resources (CODA & ADEA). However, I would still take the statistics with a grain of salt. ***Some schools aren’t entirely accurate on their reporting and we all know that your acceptance into dental school isn’t based on these two numbers.
In fact, the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) has identified the essential skills for dental students to be successful. In other words, when you go to your interview, the school will be assessing you on these essential skills. Those essential skills being: critical thinking, professionalism, communication, interpersonal skills, health promotion, practice management, informatics and patient care.
So for example, someone may ask you about professionalism by asking you what you would do if you caught someone cheating.
Another dental school may ask you about practice management based on different clinical case scenarios. Finally, they may test you on interpersonal skills if you are in a group setting.
With that said however, here are some of the reasons that I’ve gathered from these credible resources on why fail at their dental school interview.
Mentioned something you shouldn’t have done or was borderline illegal
Many times, students are excited at their interviews and are eager to highlight their academic achievements and their extracurricular activities. But, more times than I would like to admit, I’ve heard stories of students talk about pulling out teeth on their mission trips overseas. This, of course, is illegal since you are practicing dentistry without a license.
You have to imagine yourself as a healthcare professional and abide to the same rules that dentists stick to in everyday practice. This means not putting down others, not doing anything illegal and abiding to all of the regulations like HIPPA – the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; not releasing any personal information of patients (names, locations, etc.).
Improper Etiquette Before, During, and After a dental school interview.
It goes without saying that you are regarded as a professional from the moment you step into a dental school setting. For that reason if you are putting down others, speaking over your peers, or giving long lengthy answers to the degree where people can’t participate in that conversation, it will negatively impact your application.
Furthermore, there’s a myth that contacting dental schools before or after your interview could be detrimental as well. Apparently, this is true. According to the ADEA infographic that I will link down below, it is not recommended to contact the school too much.
https://www.adea.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=42962
Bad Questions
While it’s important for you to make sure the school is a right match for you, there still is a tact to all of this. For that matter, there are a list of questions students should generally try to stay away from. For example, a bad question to ask at the end of your interview to the student volunteer, is if they could do anything behind the scenes to increase their chances of getting in. This has happened to me, it puts people in a weird situation and it’s good to stay away from. Counterintuitively, not asking any questions could be bad too. I’ve found list of good questions you could ask and I’ll link them here. https://www.adea.org/GoDental/Dental_Blogs/Advice_from_admissions_officers/Best_Interview_Questions_by_Predental_Students.aspx
Thank you as always for watching this video. ALSO, if you found this article useful, it would help a lot if you shared it with another pre-dental student. Thank you again for your support and see you next time.
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