Birthday and bummed out after NOVA interview...

[xaznxcountx]

REALLY NEED ADVICE. WILL BE A BIT LONG BUT BEAR WITH ME...

I had my one and only interview yesterday at NOVA. Basically right when I walked in the interviewer told me straight up, "you have a lot of speaking to do because I rarely see a file like this with so many D's and repeated classes." Being prepared for this I went on to tell him that during my early undergraduate career I wasn't as focused as I should have been, had two jobs, hard time adjusting to college, as well as having too many extracurriculars. I said ultimately I'm not here to make excuses and that the experiences helped change me into the mature and qualified applicant I am today. Just to let you know the end of my 3rd year in undergrad my GPA was at 2.4. I brought it up to a 2.8ish by the time I graduated (stayed a 5th year). Then I did a Masters in Biomedical Sciences and got a 3.89. DAT was AA 20 TS 20 PAT 18. OGPA 2.95 / BCP 2.8. So he kept asking me about it and I kept telling him that my Masters GPA and my DAT is the best representation of my academic abilities and he doesn't need to worry about me struggling with grades again because that was the old me. Then he tells me that I for sure will not be a Dec 1st acceptance! It seemed like he was going to put me on a waitlist and reject me or something. So I did well in the other aspects of the interview but I felt the whole time it was about him trying to look for why I did bad rather than how I turned it around. I really felt that he didn't recognize the efforts of a Masters program because he kept saying post-bac. I was like dude Masters is waaaaaaaaaay harder than post-bacc. At the end he said that 1 year of consistency isn't enough to demonstrate that its enough to handle dental school. He told me to take more classes to show more consistency. I was like what??? I already took everything especially because we took most of the graduate level biology courses in my masters program.


So I walk out of the interview feeling like crap (it was my birthday too!). I talk to the students and they said to call the Dean and follow up. I talked to a professor thats in charge of NOVA's MBS program and she had my file on hand. She looked at my file and said she doesn't see why I wouldn't be accepted to a dental school. So now here I am feeling bummed out. The students told me to call the associate dean and see if he can look more into my recent upward trend and possibly give me some advice.

At this point what do I do???

-Take more classes? But what would I take???

Also some of the students have said that the interviewer may have made those comments to try and see how I react to it. Honestly I felt that I held my ground the whole time and kept my message across that I am mature now, and my DAT and grad GPA shows it!

I NEED ADVICE!!! PLEASE help this birthday boy out SDN!

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[Kwake]

Man that's a sucky birthday present. Honestly though I feel like he was just bluffing and wanted to see how you would react to those type of questions and see if you would crack under pressure, and it seems like you took it well. From what I have heard from higher-ups is that basically they invite you for an interview because they are pretty confident in you coming to the school and just want to see how you are in person. I highly doubt that they would invite you to say your grades suck and deny you, if that was the case they would been sent out the rejection letter.

Just play it cool no worries.

 

[Skateguitar]

Lets hope the interviewer was asking those questions just to see your reaction, I dont see the point in having an applicant fly across the country and stay at a hotel to tell them that they are not good enough for their school. On the other hand, you held yourself together pretty well and that may be the deciding factor.
Its funny, my friend had an interview there and the guy told him to relax, because having an interview there practically meant accepted, yadda yadda.
I dont know what I would do in your situation other than taking more classes outside of Bio like sculpture, music etc. or more E.Cs. I cant think of anything else. good luck

 

[yjdentist]

wow... this is unfortunate because im getting the impression that your interviewer was just out there to grill you, and not to get to know you, when interviews are all about getting to know the candidate. i will give him the benefit of the doubt, and say that he did that to see your reaction... if so, i am glad you kept your ground.

i def think there is a huge difference btw masters and post-bacc. are you done with your masters program? i think you just need to keep up the good work. if i were you, i would just put this as an experience, and put nova on "not to expect much list..." AKA whatever happens, happens!

taking additional classes? i wouldn't really do it unless i am not accepted this term.

if they cant see your potential via things like DAT and 1 year of masters, i would just personally move on.

seriously though, if the interviewer was doing that to just solely grill me.
i would have gotten up and been like, "if ____ cant see my potential as a dental student, i dont think this is the school for me. thank you for your consideration." ...but this is easier said, then done...

cheer up! happy birthday! and just keep up the good work!

 

[dentalpath]

If I were you I would speak with the dean or associate dean. Tell him about my interview experience (in a very mature way) and ask whether taking more classes is what I should be doing to make my chances stronger. To be honest everyone here can only speculate what your interviewer had in mind...the dean of the school however maybe the only one sure of what was going on...talk to him/her...

 

[coolslugs]

They must be just trying to see your reaction and how you would defend yourself. I think you said everything you needed to say, and they wouldn't have interviewed you if they didn't see something positive in your application.

 

[Jenna2010]

This is so unfortunate. I am sorry you had that experience. I would call the associate dean and talk to them about it like others have mentioned. It is going to be tough but be sure you keep your composure, act like you are really expressing interest in attending Nova and what to make sure you can prove yourself to be the best applicant for the class, which you are confident you are.

I dont think Nova is the type to waste time interviewing candidates they dont want.

According to ADEA book 2010: they got 3364 applicants, only 400 were interviewed for 110 seats.


Best of luck...

 

[promolion]

He just want to see your reaction. Similar things happened to my friend in her pharm interview. She was accepted.

 

[CANgnome]

I guess I will be having the same interview at Nova since I am in a similar situation but just with a higher gpa/dat

I notice that you are interviewing at Nova on the 9th, promolion! I'll see you there

 

[darkwalk]

I guess I will be having the same interview at Nova since I am in a similar situation but just with a higher gpa/dat

I notice that you are interviewing at Nova on the 9th too, promolion! I'll see you there

I have similar stats to yours. I hope I don't get the same treatment.

 

[Phlogicyde]

That interview sounds like a nightmare, which is weird because Nova is known for their laid back interviews. Still, they're not in the business of wasting their own time interviewing someone just to ridicule them. I'm going to go with everyone else and say that they were trying to see your reaction. It sounds like you did a good job sticking up for yourself, but damn that's harsh.

 

[promolion]

I guess I will be having the same interview at Nova since I am in a similar situation but just with a higher gpa/dat

I notice that you are interviewing at Nova on the 9th, promolion! I'll see you there

Yup it's cool to have someone to talk to for breaking the ice. But we'll see if i get any dec 1 acceptance from my state. Either way, Hope to see u too!!!!

 

[xaznxcountx]

Thanks for the input and advice everyone! I'll call the associate dean next week and see what he says. I just don't see any logic in inviting me to an interview if they're going to slam me like that. SOMEONE in the committee must have saw potential. Anyway I'm going to be persistent as well as patiently wait for other interviews. THANKS SDN and imma go dance the night away for my birthday!!!

 

[dentalWorks]

REALLY NEED ADVICE. WILL BE A BIT LONG BUT BEAR WITH ME...

I had my one and only interview yesterday at NOVA. Basically right when I walked in the interviewer told me straight up, "you have a lot of speaking to do because I rarely see a file like this with so many D's and repeated classes." Being prepared for this I went on to tell him that during my early undergraduate career I wasn't as focused as I should have been, had two jobs, hard time adjusting to college, as well as having too many extracurriculars. I said ultimately I'm not here to make excuses and that the experiences helped change me into the mature and qualified applicant I am today. Just to let you know the end of my 3rd year in undergrad my GPA was at 2.4. I brought it up to a 2.8ish by the time I graduated (stayed a 5th year). Then I did a Masters in Biomedical Sciences and got a 3.89. DAT was AA 20 TS 20 PAT 18. OGPA 2.95 / BCP 2.8. So he kept asking me about it and I kept telling him that my Masters GPA and my DAT is the best representation of my academic abilities and he doesn't need to worry about me struggling with grades again because that was the old me. Then he tells me that I for sure will not be a Dec 1st acceptance! It seemed like he was going to put me on a waitlist and reject me or something. So I did well in the other aspects of the interview but I felt the whole time it was about him trying to look for why I did bad rather than how I turned it around. I really felt that he didn't recognize the efforts of a Masters program because he kept saying post-bac. I was like dude Masters is waaaaaaaaaay harder than post-bacc. At the end he said that 1 year of consistency isn't enough to demonstrate that its enough to handle dental school. He told me to take more classes to show more consistency. I was like what??? I already took everything especially because we took most of the graduate level biology courses in my masters program.


So I walk out of the interview feeling like crap (it was my birthday too!). I talk to the students and they said to call the Dean and follow up. I talked to a professor thats in charge of NOVA's MBS program and she had my file on hand. She looked at my file and said she doesn't see why I wouldn't be accepted to a dental school. So now here I am feeling depressed as hell. The students told me to call the associate dean and see if he can look more into my recent upward trend and possibly give me some advice.

At this point what do I do???

-Take more classes? But what would I take???

Also some of the students have said that the interviewer may have made those comments to try and see how I react to it. Honestly I felt that I held my ground the whole time and kept my message across that I am mature now, and my DAT and grad GPA shows it!

I NEED ADVICE!!! PLEASE help this birthday boy out SDN!

I think you did awesome. I can say this with 100% confidence that he purposely did this to stress you out and see how you handle it. You had a HUGE gap in your application and he wanted to throw a few cheap shots at you.

I would actually call up the dean and explain this to him. Tell him that the interviewer indirectly told you that you pretty much had no shot of anything this december 1st. My underestanding is, this is sort of not-legal, you can't tell a pre-dental student ANYTHING before december 1st once they make it to the interview (you can't even hint, this goes against ADEA regulation)

If the interviewer has put in word that you should be rejected, maybe the dean can over-ride that decision? Speak to the dean directly, and see whats up, let him/her know how much you loved Nova and you'd REALLY REALLY wanna go there.

As far as what you should do now, I dunno what to tell you, is there any upper level science that you haven't taken? (physiology, biochemistry, immunology, pharmacology, genetics, microbiology, Histology, etc etc), find a few courses and take them in the spring in-case you don't get anything this december.

Good luck to you, if Nova doesn't happen, Im sure other schools will.

 

[hoylematt]

Honestly I don't agree with dental works at all in this situation. The idea that you should call up and try to get the dean to override the decision is ridiculous. That is what the interview process is for--to show them exactly what your made of and that you deserve to be there.

If you responded to the questions like you said you did, I think you have as good of a chance as anybody in your shoes. The unfortunate truth is that schools do not rate people based solely on their most recent year in school. Saying that its ok is like saying it's ok to fool around for the first 3 years of dental school and then get serious in year 4. (I know its not exactly the same but you know what i mean)

The only advice I can give is prepare now for the very possible fact: that you might have to improve your application for next cycle. Prepare for the worst, now. Good luck, my friend.

 

[dentalWorks]

Honestly I don't agree with dental works at all in this situation. The idea that you should call up and try to get the dean to override the decision is ridiculous. That is what the interview process is for--to show them exactly what your made of and that you deserve to be there.

its ridiculous to look after your future? I never heard of that before. Look, I understand what your saying, the interview process is designed so that you can impress the interviewer.... however, this is NOT the case here. The interviewer took this application personally, he threatened the OP as the very first start of the hand shake that he wasn't too impressed by him. You gotta remember, the interviewers, as much as it sucks, hold ALOT of power, so if they are not impressed with you (ESPECIALLY AT THE GET-GO before the real interview takes place) then your finished. You will not get a good recommendation from him period

The only advice I can give is prepare now for the very possible fact: that you might have to improve your application for next cycle. Prepare for the worst, now. Good luck, my friend.

This is an obvious fact. If he doesn't get in this cycle, he should improve for next. But the underlying issue here is, HE CAN (very small possibility) DO something about it this cycle..... OP, all I am going to say is, if you feel that were not given a good consideration in your interview (and I believe thats the case here), then you should fight for your spot in Nova.

 

[wantVCUdental]

I disagree with dentalworks also
the interviewer and the dean are coworkers... You are a kid the dean has never met
the last thing you want to do is complain. I think you should call and explain your situation. Not to talk about how your interviewer gave you a hard time.

 

[yappy]

Man what an interview... It sounds like you did do well in your repsonses. I agree with these guys that you should call but maybe leave out the part about a bias interviewer - meaning treat this phone call like a second interview to discuss your academic turn around and success in your masters program and how you can really see yourself at NOVA; there is no need to bring up your past interview & I dont think it would help you any and can only reflect poorly on you).

Having said that I cannot believe how cool you stayed during that interview - I would have been boiling inside and pointed out all the ignorant views this guy had. 1) Masters IS harder than undergrad 2) gpa is to judge the compedency of a candidate academically; therefore, your recent most difficult work is most pertinent. 3) Your DAT is a better measure than your overall gpa because it shows your current academic abilities; simular to your grad gpa.

GL