poor interview skills...

[taeyeonlover]

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How do you make yourself a better applicant for next year if I got rejected due to poor interview skills? I think I gave off the impression that I am not committed to dentistry even though that's not true.

My stats (3.8+ 26AA) and ecs such as volunteering and research are fine. I am confident that my letters are fine too since my professors all told me that they will write strong letters.

Do I just add on to whatever I did in the past? Should I write my essays differently?

Is there a chance that the schools that rejected me because of poor inteviews would not give me interview invitation next year?

 

[fangsaremythang]

Sounds like you are great on paper. If interviewing might be your "downfall" try practicing. I did the "committee interview" at my school which was nice because I had never interviewed for anything before in my life. They offer feedback afterwards as well which is nice for that constructive criticism. Also, I know there are online resources like iPrep dental that allows you to do an online interview skype session with the instructor. She conducts a professional interview geared toward the school of your choice. You send your grades, personal statement, and some facts about yourself so she can direct the interview in a more personal manner. Then she will also critique you and send you the recording of both your interview and critique so you can go back for review. Practicing answering questions while looking in the mirror is something I also did. Sounds awkward but it does help. Also, try not to practice complete sentences. I wrote out a word document with my "answers" just because I need that to feel more prepared and ready but, my answers are more like main points because if I wrote out sentences I worry I would sound too rehearsed. Hope this helps!

 

[taeyeonlover]

Sounds like you are great on paper. If interviewing might be your "downfall" try practicing. I did the "committee interview" at my school which was nice because I had never interviewed for anything before in my life. They offer feedback afterwards as well which is nice for that constructive criticism. Also, I know there are online resources like (iPrep dental) that allows you to do an online interview skype session with the instructor. She conducts a professional interview geared toward the school of your choice. You send you grades, personal statement, and some facts about yourself so she can direct the interview in a more personal manner. Then she will also critique you and send you the recording of both your interview and critique so you can go back for review. Practicing answering questions while looking in the mirror is something I also did. Sounds awkward but it does help. Also try not practicing complete sentences. I wrote out a word document with my "answers" just because I need that to feel more prepared and ready but, my answers are more like main points because if I wrote out sentences I worry I would sound too rehearsed. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much!

But would schools still invite me for interviews next year?

 

[fangsaremythang]

Thank you so much!

But would schools still invite me for interviews next year?

I think so! I don't know too much about this topic though so maybe someone who is a reapplicant can answer better.

 

[WolfsBane]

One thing is foresure, and that if they were worried about your commitment that will be alleviated by you reapplying I think.

 

[taeyeonlover]

One thing is foresure, and that if they were worried about your commitment that will be alleviated by you reapplying I think.

Wouldn't they be a bit hesitant? Wouldn't they be like "why should we give this student an interview when he or she is not interested"

Maybe I could do more dental activities to prove my commitment...

 

[WolfsBane]

Wouldn't they be a bit hesitant? Wouldn't they be like "why should we give this student an interview when he or she is not interested"

Maybe I could do more dental activities to prove my commitment...

By applying again you show you are serious about dentistry. I do want to know why they may have gotten this feeling? The other thing is, there is a possibility that the issue is more of an interview issue then an interest issue, and many people have already chimed in and given their take on how to deal with that.

 

[Life of Pablo]

I saw that you were studying for the MCAT - did you apply to both medical and dental schools this cycle? If so, that explains it. It might not even be that you're bad at interviewing. It could be that dental schools don't like the fact you applied to both dental and medical school.

 

[taeyeonlover]

I saw that you were studying for the MCAT - did you apply to both medical and dental schools this cycle? If so, that explains it. It might not even be that you're bad at interviewing. It could be that dental schools don't like the fact you applied to both dental and medical school.

I considered medicine but I decided to move on actually. Also, I don't think they can really find that out.

But anyway, I am pretty sure that I got rejected because of interviews cause one of the admission officers specifically told me this.

Would applying with pretty much same app with maybe a bit more dental experience be good enough for me next year if I didn't get in anywhere during this cycle due to poor interviews?

 

[Lau Sang]

Which schools did you apply to?

 

[taeyeonlover]

Which school did you apply to?

Ivy League schools, my state school, couple cali schools,

And couple random state schools (got rejected from them with no interview)

Total of 10 schools

 

[Lau Sang]

Ivy League schools, my state school, couple cali schools,

And couple random state schools (got rejected from them with no interview)

Total of 10 schools

Speculation: Confidence and leadership is probably a quality the Ivies and the (U) cali schools are looking for.
Honestly bro, maybe I'm reading too much into your posts, but you seem to be unsure and apprehensive with a lot of the things you say. If this is the case, you should just be more confident and assertive in your interviews. It might not be that they think you're not committed to dentistry (I don't think it is reasonable to reject someone for this alone btw, and you can ask for my opinion why) but that they think you're not a committed person overall.

 

[shima29]

If you were on a medical path before, and switched over to dentistry, maybe you do not have much dental experience? And subsequently failed to show them that you are into dentistry during your interview.

 

[UCSFx2017]

Interviews should be conversational. "Normal" people can keep up a conversation. When people describe someone else as "weird", they usually mean awkward in conversation. If you're awkward in normal day-to-day conversations, chances are you're going to be awkward during interviews. Talk to people. Be interesting and go out and socialize with people. Get hobbies; once you get hobbies in something that genuinely interests you, it is significantly easier to talk about it than if you were not. Hopefully, you'll build a natural interest in dentistry and show genuine enthusiasm when someone asks you about dentistry. Be as sociable as possible. No one wants to work with someone who's awkwardly quiet or cannot keep up a conversation. Patients are also less likely to sue you if you have good interpersonal skills.

 

[chinchilladreamz37]

Interviews should be conversational. "Normal" people can keep up a conversation. When people describe someone else as "weird", they usually mean awkward in conversation. If you're awkward in normal day-to-day conversations, chances are you're going to be awkward during interviews. Talk to people. Be interesting and go out and socialize with people. Get hobbies; once you get hobbies in something that genuinely interests you, it is significantly easier to talk about it than if you were not. Hopefully, you'll build a natural interest in dentistry and show genuine enthusiasm when someone asks you about dentistry. Be as sociable as possible. No one wants to work with someone who's awkwardly quiet or cannot keep up a conversation. Patients are also less likely to sue you if you have good interpersonal skills.

I agree with this completely! I was panicking about interviews and contacted a lot of my friends to read off questions that I had printed out to grill me on them. But they're also my friends so we ended up just talking about life and catching up. I never even had the chance to use those questions. Honestly sometimes it just starts with a, "how's your day going?"

 

[oregon17]

My best advice to give is just to keep practicing interviews! If you know interviews are your downfall, find 10 different people you can do a mock interview with (parents, siblings, mentors, your school's pre-health committee, friends) and ask for their honest feedback. Good luck!