Do Great Stats Help You *Get In*, or just *Get An Interview*?

[Sunspear]

I understand that most interviews are given to applicants based largely on stats (GPA and DAT), but once you get an interview, doesn't admission then (largely) depend on the interview? Or if you have great stats, do you have less to worry about in your interview... or once you get to the interview stage, is everybody fair game?

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[rockclock]

I understand that most interviews are given to applicants based largely on stats (GPA and DAT), but once you get an interview, doesn't admission then (largely) depend on the interview? Or if you have great stats, do you have less to worry about in your interview... or once you get to the interview stage, is everybody fair game?

good stats + good interview = acceptance

...are you asking because you're worried you can't deliver on the good interview part? Start doing mock interviews ASAP...don't rest on your laurels (stats).

everyone who makes it to an interview at the same point in the cycle is more or less on an even playing field. if you have a 27AA/4.0 they're not going to forget about that, but you shouldn't approach any interview as unimportant regardless of your stats. If a 22/3.5 interviews poorly on the same day that a 21/3.4 knocks someone's socks off, guess who just got accepted...

 

[rp37]

34567

 

[amalgamgrillz]

Great stats (from a legit university) can probably get you into a big-name research school, since it implies you will bring them publications. But if you absolutely bomb your interview, you're done. I know someone at Harvard Dental who is very ESL and extremely socially awkward (I interviewed and rejected him for an exec position at our pre-dental club), but he is a researching powerhouse. I guess that's good enough for Harvard.

 

[Sunspear]

I interview well ~~ I was moreso wondering because my GPA is below average (3.40 overall; 3.26 science).

 

[lululime]

I interview well ~~ I was moreso wondering because my GPA is below average (3.40 overall; 3.26 science).

how do you know you interview well? There isn't a formula or scoring sheet is there? I'm not questioning your judgment, just curious that's all. How do I know if I'll interview well?

 

[camshaft]

I understand that most interviews are given to applicants based largely on stats (GPA and DAT), but once you get an interview, doesn't admission then (largely) depend on the interview? Or if you have great stats, do you have less to worry about in your interview... or once you get to the interview stage, is everybody fair game?

No one can really give you a definite answer as it depends very much on the school. Many times schools will accept practically everyone from their earlier interviews and then as they do later interviews start setting people aside for their waitlist.

how do you know you interview well? There isn't a formula or scoring sheet is there? I'm not questioning your judgment, just curious that's all. How do I know if I'll interview well?

Often you'll have some idea of how well you perform in interviews for other situations, and in general whether you're socially awkward or more of a people person.

 

[stevesteve121]

If a 22/3.5 interviews poorly on the same day that a 21/3.4 knocks someone's socks off, guess who just got accepted...

both?

 

[stevesteve121]

I know someone at Harvard Dental who is very ESL and extremely socially awkward
(I interviewed and rejected him for an exec position at our pre-dental club),

good enough for Harvard.

i think i know who you are talkin about, is this him?

 

[terry gordy]

i think i know who you are talkin about, is this him?

I think this is the guy....

 

[Munchy]

dude if you have 4.3 GPA with 30 AA, even if you punch your interviewer, you are still gonna get in. Trust me on this.

 

[MAdental]

dude if you have 4.3 GPA with 30 AA, even if you punch your interviewer, you are still gonna get in. Trust me on this.

HAHAH. No one can get a 4.3 and a 30. Assuming one DOES, i bet you 100 bucks he/she has never punched a person in his/her life before. JUST No 😀

 

[thewobblytooth]

it's not all stats though guys. think about it. thousands apply and there may be hundreds with similar scores and stats as you. i think your community service, dental experiences, research (if any), life experience in general, PS, LoRs, become more important. For instance. someone with a 3.0 cGPA that did postbacc, owned it, is more likely to get a spot than someone that gets a 3.5gpa and had similar dat scores.

They pretty much look at everything, and if you think about it, you could glance at an application within 5 min and see if you really liked that person or not. Every experience you have seems very small in comparison to what you actually did. This is most likely bc of the small amount of room you have to explain what you did in your EC.

my .02cents

 

[full]

I think it depends on the school. The more the average interview GPA is less than the accepted GPA then the less "fair game" it is (I'm referring to predents.com).

 

[NguyenDDS]

I always wondered about this 🙂 Anyone else have feedback?

 

[KittySquared]

I think interview means 27% chance of getting into that particular school.

 

[doctor123456789]

oh yeah, because i can't even imagine saying 25%

 

[KittySquared]

oh yeah, because i can't even imagine saying 25%

You can be sarcastic all you want, but I actually summarized some stats according to a bunch of people who applied to dental school. It seems to be somewhere between 25% and 30%.

 

[cottonschwab217]

it's not all stats though guys. think about it. thousands apply and there may be hundreds with similar scores and stats as you. i think your community service, dental experiences, research (if any), life experience in general, PS, LoRs, become more important. For instance. someone with a 3.0 cGPA that did postbacc, owned it, is more likely to get a spot than someone that gets a 3.5gpa and had similar dat scores.

They pretty much look at everything, and if you think about it, you could glance at an application within 5 min and see if you really liked that person or not. Every experience you have seems very small in comparison to what you actually did. This is most likely bc of the small amount of room you have to explain what you did in your EC.

my .02cents

👍
this is something a lot of people on SDN don't seem to get. Everyone here is so concerned with "stats", but everyone forgets about those other sections of the AADSAS and secondaries that you filled out. Those are there for a reason. Dental schools are looking for the complete package, not just someone with good stats (unless your stats are out of this world amazing, but I haven't seen many 26+ DAT and 4.0 students). Your ECs, personal statement, secondaries, LOR, and course load all are taken into account. You can have great stats but not get any interviews because the rest of your application is garbage.

 

[roxy22]

No one can really give you a definite answer as it depends very much on the school. Many times schools will accept practically everyone from their earlier interviews and then as they do later interviews start setting people aside for their waitlist.

What do you consider an "earlier" interview? Before December 1st?

 

[flyingforever]

What do you consider an "earlier" interview? Before December 1st?

Yes, but January and February interviews have higher chance of acceptances too.

 

[rccostner]

everyone who makes it to an interview at the same point in the cycle is more or less on an even playing field.

my BS meter is going crazy over this one...

just because you make it to an interview doesn't mean you are equal or even just about equal to everyone you see around you. the only way this could be true is if were all based on stats. as long as it's an open file interview you can never be on an even playing field. that's the whole reason for EC's, LOR's, and personal statements - they need something more than the numbers and more than just the interview to separate the playing field. everything is weighted and each applicant is given a score - highest score wins.

 

[stevesteve121]

If the interview is open file. Great stats goes further to help your cause.
If you had just mediocre or poor gpa/dat you are probably on an uphill battle in the interview from the get-go

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Guys, I know most schools don't release their methodology for ranking students, which is unfortunate, but I found a school that did. The University of Louisville.

I'm sure many schools go by this system, as it's a fairly objective system that is easy to use. The points system. They give you points for every factor they find that is important and the points get tallied up. The top students after the interview gets the acceptance letter. The only way they can reject you, even if you have enough points, is if you have a red flag on your file.

For Louisville, Academic factors account for 60% and Non-Academic factors account for 40%

https://louisville.edu/dental/dmd/admission

The committee uses an Admissions Index system. Selection criteria are divided into academic and non-academic components. Academic factors comprise 60 percent and include:

Overall G.P.A.
Biology/chemistry/physics G.P.A.
DAT scores

The remaining 40 percent are non-academic and include the letters of recommendation, the required "on-site" interview and an evaluation of personal qualities such as:

Perceived motivation to pursue a career in dentistry
Maturity
Communication skills
Strength of pre-dental curriculum
Employment
Extra-curricular activities
Contributions to diversity

 

[Barking Lamb]

my BS meter is going crazy over this one...

just because you make it to an interview doesn't mean you are equal or even just about equal to everyone you see around you. the only way this could be true is if were all based on stats. as long as it's an open file interview you can never be on an even playing field. that's the whole reason for EC's, LOR's, and personal statements - they need something more than the numbers and more than just the interview to separate the playing field. everything is weighted and each applicant is given a score - highest score wins.

Course Saver (Chad's website) has an interview with UoP's admission director where she directly states that anyone who makes it to an interview is on even ground regardless of stats.

I don't believe thats true for all schools, but, I had to comment.

 

[ddslove789]

👍
this is something a lot of people on SDN don't seem to get. Everyone here is so concerned with "stats", but everyone forgets about those other sections of the AADSAS and secondaries that you filled out. Those are there for a reason. Dental schools are looking for the complete package, not just someone with good stats (unless your stats are out of this world amazing, but I haven't seen many 26+ DAT and 4.0 students). Your ECs, personal statement, secondaries, LOR, and course load all are taken into account. You can have great stats but not get any interviews because the rest of your application is garbage.

I couldn't agree more! I know plenty of people with high stats but poor ECs and an okay personal statement who got more rejections than acceptances last cycle, as well as quite a few people with average or just below average stats but great experiences who got accepted to almost everywhere the applied! While schools look at your stats as a way to differentiate initially, they evaluate your application as a whole... you are not just a number! It's the whole person that counts, which is precisely why they require interviews, personal statements, etc. If it was solely based on scores, you wouldn't have to bother with all the rest...

 

[Golfguy]

Course Saver (Chad's website) has an interview with UoP's admission director where she directly states that anyone who makes it to an interview is on even ground regardless of stats.

I don't believe thats true for all schools, but, I had to comment.

Sure, they're on equal footing because all of them have virtually been accepted already, so this is really irrelevant, and only applies to UoP. I get your point though.

 

[flyingforever]

Interview matters the most.

 

[dantemac]

Someone should ask an interviewer this.

JK JK

 

[FROGGBUSTER]

If you guys look at Pre-dents, you'll see that for almost all schools the average GPA/DAT of people who get accepted is significantly higher than the average GPA/DAT of people who get interviews. The only exception I know of (I'm sure there are a couple more) is UoP, who interviews to accept.

Thus, I believe in general, interviews are less important than GPA/DAT. This is why I shake my head when some SDNers decide to not re-take the DAT once they get interviews believe they believe everyone is on equal footing once they get interviews. It's not true. If you have a low GPA/low DAT and are offered an interview, it means you have to REALLY knock their socks off to get accepted.

 

[poki]

This varies for each school but in general, the interview is only 1 part of the entire admissions process with some schools valuing the interview strongly while others give it less weight... so the schools definitely still consider your overall application after your interview...

I went on a few interviews last cycle and there were some schools that accepted 80-90% of all pre-december interview invitees...they even told us before the interview that they do most of their screening based on your paper application...

That being said, a strong interview will go a long way toward gaining you an acceptance so basically try to stay relaxed, enthusiastic and confident so you can keep the interviewer engaged...usually the interviewer is not trying to grill you, they are just trying to get a sense of who you are and why you want to pursue dentistry

 

[wired202808]

If you guys look at Pre-dents, you'll see that for almost all schools the average GPA/DAT of people who get accepted is significantly higher than the average GPA/DAT of people who get interviews. The only exception I know of (I'm sure there are a couple more) is UoP, who interviews to accept.

Thus, I believe in general, interviews are less important than GPA/DAT. This is why I shake my head when some SDNers decide to not re-take the DAT once they get interviews believe they believe everyone is on equal footing once they get interviews. It's not true. If you have a low GPA/low DAT and are offered an interview, it means you have to REALLY knock their socks off to get accepted.

Dunno about the whole retake issue, but the charts show the Interview to be the most important and its pretty logical. If you have killer stats but come off as a snob, why would any school take you? No one likes a-holes.

You can argue this day and night, but once you are in the door, if you mess up the interview, no way in hell you'll get in anywhere. Plus schools like Case Western accept 89% of their OOS interviewed applicants. So if you get an interview in Case you're a shoe in (unless you mess it up.)

To prevent a whole he said she said argument, YES STATS ARE IMPORTANT! but they are NEVER more important than an Interview. Anyone who held down a full time job knows this. Its also pointless to assume what matters more, but if I have an interview and the statistics are on my side, I wont worry. Tufts also has a higher acceptance rate from their interviewed pool, so in a school like that I believe that the interview is what determines whether you're accepted or not, not your stats.

 

[wired202808]

my BS meter is going crazy over this one...

just because you make it to an interview doesn't mean you are equal or even just about equal to everyone you see around you. the only way this could be true is if were all based on stats. as long as it's an open file interview you can never be on an even playing field. that's the whole reason for EC's, LOR's, and personal statements - they need something more than the numbers and more than just the interview to separate the playing field. everything is weighted and each applicant is given a score - highest score wins.

everyone school has a different methodology, its pretty obvious that schools like Case weed out their OOS applicants way before the interviews, why else would they have a 89% OOS interviewed acceptance rate?

All in all, its pointless to argue each and every school, but no matter what if you mess up an interview you're not getting in! thats the fact. whether or not stats matter more is out of your hands, but its simple to analyze what schools weed out early applicants. Schools like VCU clearly dont do that, they interview 10% of OOS applicants, but out of those accept only 38%. Therefore its fair to assume that they take more factors into account (maybe 60% stats and 40% interview or 70% stats and 30% interview.)

 

[FROGGBUSTER]

edit: hmmmm

 

[full]

I think it depends on the school.

But my impression was that stats gave you more leeway to screw up during the interview.

 

[pickmedental]

I think that good stats will get you an interview and good interview will get you in...

 

[wired202808]

I think that good stats will get you an interview and good interview will get you in...

👍

 

[stevesteve121]

I think that good stats will get you an interview and good interview will get you in...

no1 is denying that.

the debate here is whether good stats and mediocre interview can get you in, or, conversely, poor stats and great interview.

for that topic i think it depends entirely on the school, some schools will favor the 1st options and others the 2nd

but then does anyone have an idea how many schools fall in either categories?