Interview Advice-How to best prepare

[dents1]

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Hi,

I have my first interview next week, I am extremely nervous and feel a lot of pressure. Any advice on things you did to prepare?

 

[joeyzhu123]

You can't really reduce the stress by that much. First interviews are always stressful, esp the 1st question. But read SDN, read those questions, have some sort of answers for most of them. know the answers the basic questions "why you wanna be a dentist." "why should we pick u" etc.

also let them know that this is your first interview, it will probably not do anything, but it might let them understand the nervousness more. But trust me, by your 2nd or 3rd interview, you wont even need to prep at all!

Good luck!!

 

[Toothshucker]

Don't try to memorize answers to "common" questions. I rarely got asked any questions that some people think are common. Just be honest and you will sound sincere.

 

[toothexplore]

check the SDN interview feedback for common questions
prepare structured answers but don't overrehearse! be personable and articulate
try a mock interview if your school's career centre offers, or practise with a mentor
try to relax! you're there because they want YOU!😀

 

[oreoson]

I am no expert at interviewing, but I found that doing lots of research on the school and the profession beforehand helped me out a lot.

here's a list of things I read to prepare for interviews:

in-school and student publications
dental society journals of the particular state
dental specialty journals of your choice
dental school's website and archives
news articles about the school or dentistry
recent journal publications by the school's faculty members

for ethical questions, try reading AMA's code of ethics,
MMI sample questions and scoring sheet floating around the net

good luck!

 

[wired202808]

Hi,

I have my first interview next week, I am extremely nervous and feel a lot of pressure. Any advice on things you did to prepare?

SDN interview feedback is the only way to prep. you can read former questions asked and understand the interview style i.e. 1 on 1 or 2 on 1 or 1 prof and 1 student vs you or speed dating style (MWU IL style.)

Then learn a lot about the school from its respective site and best of all just know why you want dentistry and why you're good enough to be accepted.

🙂

 

[happiness1004]

check the SDN interview feedback for common questions
prepare structured answers but don't overrehearse! be personable and articulate
try a mock interview if your school's career centre offers, or practise with a mentor
try to relax! you're there because they want YOU!😀

how do you see the questions on the interview feedback link? when I click on the school for the interview feedback, they just have some info and links to submit a survey on your interview. But there's nothing about the questions or whether it was group or one on one...help please!!

 

[katwoman1688]

Hi,

I have my first interview next week, I am extremely nervous and feel a lot of pressure. Any advice on things you did to prepare?

I would just look for general interview questions either on SDN or online for dental schools, and than before you look into other peoples responses make your own. The goal is to be prepared, be concise, and have your thoughts collected. You don't want to sound like you memorized a script - so avoid knowing your answers cold, but also you don't want to be fumbling like you had no idea that the question would be asked of you or that your just ranting. Gluck!

 

[smthngintheway]

how do you see the questions on the interview feedback link? when I click on the school for the interview feedback, they just have some info and links to submit a survey on your interview. But there's nothing about the questions or whether it was group or one on one...help please!!

Lol. Yeah SDN did a bad job with that. I had trouble finding it too the first few times.

Under the pie chart of the respective school should be a "view survey results" link. That'll take you to a page listing some more interesting stats and charts and then on the bottom should be a "questions" heading and Wa'lah! You've struck gold.

 

[ta11geese3]

Prep with a friend. Have them ask you the questions, and see if you can respond fluidly. First time I did that I stumbled a lot

 

[AKGopher]

Hi,

I have my first interview next week, I am extremely nervous and feel a lot of pressure. Any advice on things you did to prepare?

Relax and be yourself. All I did was re-read my personal statement and any supplemental essays they requested, and prepared some questions for the interviewer because you're interviewing them just as much as they're interviewing you. Don't look at the SDN threads, it will just freak you out. In fact, I skimmed one for one of my interviews and in the interview I asked whether they asked a question I had read and they said no, that half of the questions they found on here about their school were false. I got into 5 schools just by being myself! They know who you are on paper, they're trying to get to know you as a person! Good luck 🙂

 

[grb2sos]

I second everything the members said above. Also, although it is possible you won't be asked these questions at your interview, there were three questions that all three schools I interviewed at asked me.

1. Why did you decided to apply to our school?
2. Why did you decide to get involved in dentistry?
3. What are some of your weaknesses?

Good luck, and be yourself. You will probably be nervous in the beggining, but once you open your mouth and start talking you will be amazed by how easily the words flow out.