how important is the interview?

[lgdent2021]

How important is your interview when the adcom decides if you get accepted, waitlisted, or rejected?
I see some friends with higher stats getting waitlisted at a highly selective school after their interviews when they thought the interview went okay or went great (they didn't bomb the interview for sure). The other two friends with stats below that same school's entering class average got their acceptances after their interview, and they also thought the interview went okay or went great.

This got me wondering -- how important is the interview performance in the admissions process? Is it just to check that you're not a psychopath, or is it one of the main deciding factors (even more significant than gpa and dat)? I know that every school probably has a different process, but what seems to be a trend among many schools?
Do you think the interview played the biggest part in my friends' split outcomes? Or was this mainly because of many complicated factors like their race, gender, state of residency, and how they fit into the overall class profile?

Wise faculty members here in SDN (and students who have worked with the admissions), please kindly send help.

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[macsak]

How important is your interview when the adcom decides if you get accepted, waitlisted, or rejected?
I see some friends with higher stats getting waitlisted at a highly selective school after their interviews when they thought the interview went okay or went great (they didn't bomb the interview for sure). The other two friends with stats below that same school's entering class average got their acceptances after their interview, and they also thought the interview went okay or went great.

This got me wondering -- how important is the interview performance in the admissions process? Is it just to check that you're not a psychopath, or is it one of the main deciding factors (even more significant than gpa and dat)? I know that every school probably has a different process, but what seems to be a trend among many schools?
Do you think the interview played the biggest part in my friends' split outcomes? Or was this mainly because of many complicated factors like their race, gender, state of residency, and how they fit into the overall class profile?

Wise faculty members here in SDN (and students who have worked with the admissions), please kindly send help.

it depends...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yes it's important. Otherwise why waste the time of so many faculty if it means nothing? How it factors in deliberations will remain a black box for every school.

 

[socat_predent]

The goal of an interview is to confirm that you are who you claimed you were in your application/ what was said about you in LORs. The best way to prepare for interviews is to be confident in your application, know the dental school/have solid questions to ask interviewers, and be yourself since they obviously already like what they have read and see a spot for you in their future class, that's all you are able to control. For your high stats waitlisted/rejected friends they might have done well in the interview, but just not fit the class after some revelations in their interviews (they could have been good revelations too) because many schools want a diverse class (not just meaning race/ethnicity btw, but it can be) and your high stats friends might have been too similar to another better interviewed applicant(s).

Also, some schools have stats blind interviews, meaning that to get an interview it's based on your stats/secondaries, but your interviewers do not know your stats (unless you tell them ofc) and your interview is the final push to an acceptance.

 

[Redwing9]

The interview is very important. Your app gets you an interview the interview gets you into the school.

When I applied I asked one school why I wasn't excepted. They said everything about my application was good enough although even I'd admit it wasn't my best interview (it wasn't horrible either) and that's what they said was their decision-maker for my application.

 

[DAT Destroyer]

Every part of the process is important, but IMO the interview is where the decision to accept, reject or waitlist happens. There are tons of tips on the interview process and what schools are likely to ask. A school wants to know who they are accepting because they want to know your value system because that will reflect heavily on the school. Here are some tips that might seem obvious to some but not all.

1. Dress professionally
2. Make eye contact and smile
3. If you get asked a question and don't have an answer, pause, don't say hmmmm(true story a student some years back was interviewing at NYU and the interviewer said if he said hmmm one more time he was kicking him out, needless to say he did not get into NYU but is a dentist today.
4. BE HONEST!

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

true story a student some years back was interviewing at NYU and the interviewer said if he said hmmm one more time he was kicking him out, needless to say he did not get into NYU but is a dentist today

Big Hoss

 

[K-Frog]

Like previously stated, your application gets you the interview. Mostly hard numbers like MCAT and GPA, but others like basic hours of whatever activity.

The interview is used to separate you from everybody else. That along with other "micro-details"of who you are as an applicant.