To each his own, as they say!
I've had 6 pre-December interviews, 1 post-Dec interview that I will probably cancel, and I am so happy that I have an acceptance at UNLV! I don't really have a top choice school among the ones I went for an interview since I figured that I should try to get accepted first and then see my choices before deciding, but I knew that UNLV was one of my top picks!
Why?
My perspectives on the school really changed during interview day. Maybe it's a sign of where I'm meant to be?...
Before the interview, I literally didn't expect anything going into the interview. I scheduled it as my first interview because I actually wanted to get my feet wet and get some interviewing practice before my other ones.
I also am not the biggest Vegas person. Having visited it before, I thought it was sometimes too flashy in my opinion. In knowing this, I was like.. "hmmm, Nevada... I don't know about this" before the interview. lol
BUT!
On interview day, I was blown away by the school and just very impressed with it! And to think that this was a school that I was thinking of using as interviewing practice!
On interview day, 7 things/reasons why I was impressed with UNLV...
1) FIRST IMPRESSIONS = an HONEST, UP-FRONT school
On interview day, I felt the admissions people who gave the curriculum, financial aid, etc presentations were very honest with me, and I liked that.
I've been to 6 interviews this cycle, and I felt UNLV did the best in laying out everything. They laid out their applicant and acceptance statistics, demographics, and explained their curriculum thoroughly- with books, explaining a typical class schedule, community/international opportunities, the vertical integration system while you're in clinic. I like the team aspect of that and that you get a mentor and then become someone's mentor!
They also told you their formula for acceptance. No secrets.
I just liked that they were up-front about it, just saying "this is how we are and this is how our school operates."
2) FRIENDLY FACULTY, OPEN DOOR POLICY, SMALL STUDENT-TO-FACULTY RATIO
Following the presentation, I got a tour. My tour guide was a faculty professor. I saw her interact with others as she took us around the campus, and it definitely felt like she had good interactions with other people and the open door policy felt like it was there. I'm drawn to this because I went to such a research-based school where professors were harder to get to know.
During one of my interviews, a professor there said that one of the reasons why she likes UNLV is because she feels the faculty really care about their students and the students really care about their faculty. Some people graduate from the school and then decide to become part of the faculty as well.
I wrote from my interview something about 8:1 --> 6:1. I want to assume that it's a student-to-faculty ratio (perhaps in clinic?)
3) GOOD CLINICAL EXPERIENCE & NICE FACILITIES
Clinically, I think I will get good clinical experiences here. During the tour, we saw the sim clinic and clinic. Facilities looked nice!
During my tour, I was impressed to see that the first years had JUST started school and are already doing impressions and trimming cast study models. I interviewed in the 3rd week of September, and I think it was like their 3rd or 4th week of school. I'm impressed because I work as a dental assistant now, and I think one of the harder things for me is impressions. Suctioning, procedure tray set-ups, and taking x-rays aren't so bad.
Seeing this during the tour made me assume that they must have decent early clinical exposure.
In November, I went to a very well-established school (UDM) that was known for good clinical experience. Oddly, I found out from a friend who went there that they had only done impressions once (but in my head, I was like... didn't they start in July? It's been like 3 months since school started.) So I used that as a little comparison, especially considering that people rave on and on about this school's clinical experience (which I don't doubt at all). This is not to bash UDM but just for a comparison. I really liked UDM as well and was impressed with the school!
I wrote something down from my interview that says "1st year- assisting/hygiene." I want to assume that I meant that you're assisting during your first year. For me, I really want to know the ins and outs of dentistry- from a dental assistant, dental hygienist, and a dentist perspective. I like that you start out dental assisting. Some schools don't have that aspect.
ALSO, when I had my student interview with a D2, the D2 had told me that she saw patients that morning. In my head, I'm like what... she's a D2. Most schools see patients in D3 and D4 years. I didn't ask her what actually she did with the patient, but one can assume that maybe they start seeing patients early? (I'm unsure of what they do during D2 clinically, but this was the perspective that I got).
During lunch, I also talked with some dental students. Some of them were going to apply for specialty residency soon. One wanted to do pediatric in particular. While he said he was interested in going to other pediatric residencies outside of UNLV, he was like "yeah, definitely come here for dental school, but don't come here for the residency." (maybe the residency isn't very established yet or tuition of residency, I'm not sure?) So, I got the impression that he liked his school.
4) REQUIREMENTS - COMMUNICATIVE SPANISH & RESEARCH (I think?)
I love, love, love the Spanish language. Took it for 4 years in high school with AP Spanish, and even years after, I still remember a decent amount of vocabulary. I love that the school makes you take Spanish. I really want to become more fluent at Spanish and this is a good opportunity for me, especially if you work with more Hispanic populations.
Research- I've done about 2 years of research at two labs. I think I remember hearing something about how you have to do research some time during dental school. Anyone can correct me if I've mistaken. While research isn't necessarily for me for a long-term career, I think I wouldn't mind doing research. It'll make me think more critically. It's also good if you want to specialize. I would be just happy being a general dentist, and I don't have a solid intention of specializing, but I want to keep my options open.
5) GOOD LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
I'm not really interested in going to a competitive school. I want to go to a school where students are willing to help each other.
The learning environment is more optimal for me. I like the class size- not too big, not too small. I went to a large UC Californian school in undergrad, and after going to lecture halls of 300-400 people, I feel I learn best when the size is smaller and more interactive. I wouldn't like being in a large class size because 1) professors may not really care or get to really know you (happened in undergrad) and that also affects learning too and 2) I might just fall through the cracks and feel like I'm a small fish in a big, big ocean!
I remember their rooms were spacious! I forgot what lecture rooms looked like exactly, but I remember liking the lecture rooms!
My D2 interviewer even has time to run her own restaurant, so... maybe you'll also have some extra time to do other stuff too.
6) LAS VEGAS IS NOT A BAD CITY!
Nevada... in comparison to Arizona (which I've visited for 2 interviews), was a much better city in my opinion! I'm from California so you can see why I'm talking about adjacent states like Arizona and Nevada. If I don't get into a Californian school, then proximity might be a factor for me. While I still am not a big fan of the flashy things that come with Vegas, Las Vegas is a much more established city to live in than Arizona. I didn't like that Arizona had so many chain restaurants and not as many independent restaurants (less culture maybe?) because it wasn't as established. They also don't really recycle in Arizona (I tried to recycle a water bottle at a hotel, but it was nonexistent) and I like to be environmental-friendly whenever I can.
I was like, "Despite the flashiness, the city kind of reminds me of my hometown!" PLUS for me!
7) LOVE WARMER CLIMATES
I also love sunshine, so I prefer hot climate over cold weather most days. I can also tolerate hot temperatures well but I'm the first person to get goosebumps and literally shiver when I'm out with friends.
🙂
I haven't visited NYU so I know nothing about it. I've just heard some stuff: one of the most expensive tuitions. I met an interviewee who talked about her friend at NYU and how they've already had like 18 exams since school started (it was September at the time) and how her friend is always stressed out... They have so many students, I feel a con would be... you might fall through the cracks! Another question to consider is what happens if you fail a course? I don't know the logistics of that with UNLV, but I feel a 200+ class size makes it easier to fail SOME people out of dental school. New York would be an interesting place to live in though
🙂
