How important are interviews?

[higijif]

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Just a general question about interviews in general;

If you get an interview at a particular school but then they waitlist/reject you afterwards, will it have been due to your interview itself or the rest of your application on paper (for example your stats)?

I guess what I am trying to ask is, are all interviewee's considered equally regardless of their lower or higher stats?

 

[Faux]

All things being equal, the person would the higher stats would have a better chance, assuming both applicant interviews went the same way.

But thats not the point. Theres way too many factors. You have an interview, so take your shot and enjoy the moment.

 

[eotech]

too many factors and regarding fairness, it's not fair for applicants who have high GPA and DAT if schools treat them the same way.

 

[Blueshirts]

What if you are incompetent and it is obvious during the interview? There exists a world outside of school and to some degree adcoms have to determine if they can see you as a fit for the school, but more importantly for the career as well.

 

[eotech]

Bad interviewers do get accepted. Simply you can't judge someone within 30 min. Of course, interviewers have their own experience and opinion so you never know.

 

[BullGator1004]

too many factors and regarding fairness, it's not fair for applicants who have high GPA and DAT if schools treat them the same way.

You can have all the smarts in the world and the numbers to back it up, but if you don't have the necessary hand skills or people skills you're not going to get very far in this profession.

 

[2TH MVR]

You can have all the smarts in the world and the numbers to back it up, but if you don't have the necessary hand skills or people skills you're not going to get very far in this profession.

Agree, but most DS want bragging rights on how qualified academically their starting D1 class is.

 

[BullGator1004]

Agree, but most DS want bragging rights on how qualified academically their starting D1 class is.

I agree with you 100%. I'm sure a lot of schools miss out on really talented candidates because they're so focused on numbers.

 

[eotech]

You can have all the smarts in the world and the numbers to back it up, but if you don't have the necessary hand skills or people skills you're not going to get very far in this profession.

What makes you think people with impressive numbers don't have the necessary hand skills???

 

[BullGator1004]

What makes you think people with impressive numbers don't have the necessary hand skills???

I never said that. What I did say is that being a successful dental student/dentist takes more than just stats. Hence why there is an interview process.

 

[eotech]

I never said that. What I did say is that being a successful dental student/dentist takes more than just stats. Hence why there is an interview process.

Yeah, you may be right. There are tons of applicants who showed awesome interpersonal skills and still got rejected because of their numbers.

 

[ysrebob]

The interview becomes very important when there's something unusual or questionable about your otherwise-strong application. The most common example would be nontraditional applicants / career-changers: you've already changed your mind once about your career path, so adcoms worry about whether you might change your mind again and bail out partway thru their program. Dental schools hate vacant spots in the upper classes. So the interview is a critical opportunity for you to convince them that you were put on this earth to drill teeth and it just took you a little longer to figure that out. Fail to persuade them of this during the interview, and even great stats will not bring you an admit offer.

For traditional applicants with nothing out of the ordinary on their applications, it's probably mostly a numbers game unless you really and truly tank the interview.

 

[Blueshirts]

The interview becomes very important when there's something unusual or questionable about your otherwise-strong application. The most common example would be nontraditional applicants / career-changers: you've already changed your mind once about your career path, so adcoms worry about whether you might change your mind again and bail out partway thru their program. Dental schools hate vacant spots in the upper classes. So the interview is a critical opportunity for you to convince them that you were put on this earth to drill teeth and it just took you a little longer to figure that out. Fail to persuade them of this during the interview, and even great stats will not bring you an admit offer.

For traditional applicants with nothing out of the ordinary on their applications, it's probably mostly a numbers game unless you really and truly tank the interview.

That is a good point to consider, as I was explicitly asked exactly when I decided to pursue dentistry and the interviewer wanted a very concrete answer.

 

[MLC45]

The interview is important when they already have their top choices picked and they have 4 slots open and 100 people with the same stats. They’ll want someone who was professional and secure over an airhead.

 

[higijif]

Thank you for your replies, I mainly asked this question because I recently received an interview invite at a particular school but was discouraged to think that I would still be rejected/waitlisted given my somewhat lower stats regardless of how well I interviewed.