is it wrong to Address rumors?

[Mrbubbles]

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At a recent interview, they asked me "so do u have any questions?"

i asked a few..they asked again (c'mon they egged me on) so i asked about a rumor "i read that it was very difficult to get patients/chair time"

someone told me i souldn't have asked something so negative..but sint' that the point? to show u did research on that particular school?

 

[Ranelar]

Well... I didn't say I heard that it's hard to get chair time, but I did ask USC and Tufts, "Do students have trouble getting chair time?". The answer from faculty was basically (paraphrased), "It's not hard unless you are lazy about signing up." The student answer was more like, "Yes." 😛

I got into both schools, so it's not a problem to ask about chair time specifically... but maybe phrase it better next time such that you're asking a question rather than stating a rumor.

 

[who knows...]

When I went for my interview they were very open and honest about them...

They were the ones to say, we know these rumors, and here's our reply...

When they asked me if I had any questions afterwards, I simply had none!! And I was worried because I couldn't think of any other questions on the spot...but honestly, all my questions were answered before I got a chance to ask them!!

 

[cherr1pop]

it could definitely be phrased differently.
i asked a couple of schools if students have a hard time meeting the graduation requirements in terms of clinic hours/procedures/etc.

 

[klutzy1987]

I always tried to keep my interview question generic, like I did research and "really enjoyed" it in undergrad, can you tell me more about the research here.

 

[A8]

I asked at the end of my NYU interview about graduation rate and actually faculty member explained it to me in details about their graduation rate and it seems rumors was not true. Last year out of 200+ students there were only 4 students who failed three or four classes so that's why they had to leave.

With regard to USC chair situation, I asked two of the D4 students and they said as long as you sign-up early you'll be fine. However, there was no faculty there so still not sure what excatly is going on there! Maybe USC students can tell us if these rumors are true.

 

[Hysteria24]

With regard to USC chair situation, I asked two of the D4 students and they said as long as you sign-up early you'll be fine. However, there was no faculty there so still not sure what excatly is going on there! Maybe USC students can tell us if these rumors are true.

I'm still just a measly first year and don't have all the answers, but from talking to upperclassman I agree with the whole "you can get chairs unless you're lazy approach." Clinic is free for the students to utilize. Some students are gung ho, scheduling patients and even hanging around when they don't have patients. These students ofter are in the right spot at the right time and have new patients/procedures fall into their laps. Conversely, since it is not mandatory to be there, some other students take days or parts of days off.

I will also add, that this past October (only a few months into the school year) there were a group of 4th years who had already completed all of their requirements and had the rest of the year to focus on areas of interest.


EDIT: I will also add that USC is going from its current format (different sections of the clinic based on procedure, ie operative, fixed, perio) to nine individual group practices each one providing comprehensive care, and allowing for a greater faculty to student ratio in the clinic.

 

[Hysteria24]

At a recent interview, they asked me "so do u have any questions?"

i asked a few..they asked again (c'mon they egged me on) so i asked about a rumor "i read that it was very difficult to get patients/chair time"

someone told me i souldn't have asked something so negative..but sint' that the point? to show u did research on that particular school?

I would say ask away. So long as you don't have 10+ random rumor questions, I think asking these questions shows adcoms that you are serious about the school and looking to address some aspects of the program directly from the source.

By explaining that you read about some students expressing concern about getting patients and chair time shows that you have done some research and are evaluating how you would fit in the program. Even if it were true, and they mentioned reasons for this problem and ways for students to overcome the issues, you have shown yourself to be proactive and would be a step ahead if you do end up matriculating there.

 

[prydA]

i say ask anything.. at NYU i asked my interviewer about the high attrition rate as well as the lower board scores and he didn't hesitate to answer. i think asking a question with an answer that you would actually care to hear is much better than asking generic crap, since it'll just show that you were too lazy to look up the answer online or something

 

[Orgodox]

Well... I didn't say I heard that it's hard to get chair time, but I did ask USC and Tufts, "Do students have trouble getting chair time?". The answer from faculty was basically (paraphrased), "It's not hard unless you are lazy about signing up." The student answer was more like, "Yes." 😛

I got into both schools, so it's not a problem to ask about chair time specifically... but maybe phrase it better next time such that you're asking a question rather than stating a rumor.

I agree, I asked at my NYU interview about people not matriculating but I think its good to ask questions like this but it is important to phrase it correctly