The Official VCU Dental Class of 2019 Interview/Acceptance Thread

How are people getting from the airport to their hotel? I just called Groom transportation and they quoted me $45 for one way so I said never mind... is cab fare cheaper than that? Yes, I hope?
 
LabCoatAndPearls said:
How are people getting from the airport to their hotel? I just called Groom transportation and they quoted me $45 for one way so I said never mind... is cab fare cheaper than that? Yes, I hope?
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how about uber? I know that uber offers service in Richmond. I've never tried it, but I guess it can't be more expensive than a cab fare.
 
2THDDS said:
wondering the same thing.
I'd kill to go to VCU. Will save big bucks!
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No they have not filled all of the dates yet. The last invitees from the 2nd of September are scheduled for interviews at the beginning to middle of October.
 
I saw they updated aadsas for "invited for interview" one day later they took it down. I called the school and they said I should be getting the invite email within days. After a week or so, I finally received the email. For those of u wondering, they only interview M and Tue and last day that was "open" was Oct/20th. I guess they haven't opened the week after the 20th yet.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile
 
dentalgrl2019 said:
No they have not filled all of the dates yet. The last invitees from the 2nd of September are scheduled for interviews at the beginning to middle of October.
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More the reason to stay patient for VCU invites. I think my hairs are falling out due to stress 🙂
 
Got invited here for an interview today!! Totally brightened up my mood after a crummy day today 🙂

7th batch...also, when I was signing up today, I saw that there were only Oct. 14th and Oct. 20th left as far as pre-December interviews go.
 
shoshoyi said:
Got invited here for an interview today!! Totally brightened up my mood after a crummy day today 🙂

7th batch...also, when I was signing up today, I saw that there were only Oct. 14th and Oct. 20th left as far as pre-December interviews go.
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Super Jealous
 
shoshoyi said:
Got invited here for an interview today!! Totally brightened up my mood after a crummy day today 🙂

7th batch...also, when I was signing up today, I saw that there were only Oct. 14th and Oct. 20th left as far as pre-December interviews go.
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No fear to all those waiting! When I signed up, the only date available was September 30th, so I believe they might be opening up the available dates sequentially.
 
anyone know what color scrub we are inheriting? I'd hate to wear the green one because people will confuse us for nursing students and medics LOL.
 
If you've got any questions about the school, feel free to PM and ask me for honest answers. If you create or join a Class of 2019 Facebook page, I'm sure at least one helpful upperclassman will answer your questions.

Popular questions:
(1) What's the specialization rate? Almost no one applied to OMFS last year. Only two applied; one was military and the other was a non-categorical internship. One went onto ortho. Couple pediatrics (at least two that I know of). Mostly GPR/AEGD or private practice. Our curriculum isn't very accommodating to those who intend on specializing. We have short summers, sporadic and noncontinuous breaks that make long externships difficult, and a lop-sided clinical to didactic time investment ratio. It's a very strong clinical school. Specializing isn't impossible but you have to work for it (at least more than you would at some other schools).

(2) When do you take boards? Most of us take boards the summer after D1. I think all of us passed this year. Some take it during D2 winter, spring, or summer break. Honestly, I think VCU did a decent job in preparing us for the boards. Most of us spent two weeks to study for it. All you really need is either Dental decks or Board busters.

(3) What's the board pass rate? The class ahead of us underestimated the difficulty of the exam because it became pass/fail so some did fail it. It was no fault on the school. It's just that people tend to underestimate and think an exam is easy if it's pass/fail.

(4) Rumors about disorganization? Yes. It's sometimes noticeably disorganized. It's been that way for decades and you'll just have to trudge through it. I've noticed that the courses taught by the medical school is very organized however certain dental courses have room for improvement. For example, certain lectures are given at inopportune times in relation to its pre-clinical/clinical exercise, lab exercises may feel like a scramble, and lab instructions are sometimes poor and seem like course directors just push you into the water and let you figure things out for yourself by starting the lab 15 minutes before any bench instructors are present. When different courses merge exercises together, it's almost guaranteed to run into a few hiccups. Now that I think about it, it's only the courses that are newly offered, have new directors, or are inherently difficult to manage logistically experience complaints of disorganization. There is at least one course that has a volatile faculty turnover so at least the school is responding to our complaints. You'll learn to appreciate that VCU is very receptive to our end of the year course evaluations. Disorganization is not the norm.

(5) What do you like best about VCU? The people. The number of good faculty far outnumbers the poor ones. It's actually hard to recall any negative interactions with faculty since the common occurrence is very positive. It's a very homely and caring atmosphere, especially if your class chemistry is as great as the Class of 2017's.
 
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2THDDS said:
anyone know what color scrub we are inheriting? I'd hate to wear the green one because people will confuse us for nursing students and medics LOL.
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You are wearing Maroon.
 
tonywonder said:
I'm curious if anyone is aware of the school's (declared or unofficial) allegiance to applicants from particular regions within the state. I may be totally wrong here, but I recall reading a post from like 2007 that discussed this. Just wondering because I (and I'm sure some others here as well) am from Northern Va... Hopefully that's not case!!
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I don't know for sure. But there are plenty from NOVA, Richmond, and Roanoke. We have a lot of students from UVA, VCU, and VTech, probably in that respective order of prevalence.
 
I think I am fxxked.
VCU just email me to tell me that my letter from chemistry professor does not meet the requirement because he didn't talk about my performance in class, and he just mentioned about my TA activity for the class.

I just don't understand why he didn't think they would need the class performance...
He's been a professor for over 20 years!

This will set me back at least a week or two until he send in the letter and they process it.
O jesus....
 
2THDDS said:
I think I am fxxked.
VCU just email me to tell me that my letter from chemistry professor does not meet the requirement because he didn't talk about my performance in class, and he just mentioned about my TA activity for the class.

I just don't understand why he didn't think they would need the class performance...
He's been a professor for over 20 years!

This will set me back at least a week or two until he send in the letter and they process it.
O jesus....
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I know exactly how you feel
 
Daneosaurus said:
I know exactly how you feel
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yeah, I got so excited when I saw "VCU school of dentistry" notification on my smarphone. When I opened it, I almost wanted to cry. This is what you get for "waiving your rights to see your damn letter"
 
UCSFx2017 said:
You are wearing Maroon.
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Nooooooooooooooooo :arghh: (jk I would be so happy to wear even Maroon if it meant repping VCU 2019)
2THDDS said:
yeah, I got so excited when I saw "VCU school of dentistry" notification on my smarphone. When I opened it, I almost wanted to cry. This is what you get for "waiving your rights to see your damn letter"
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Chin up! It's still soooo early in the cycle.
 
So does anyone who interviewed here already want to give us some idea of what the day is like? I'm getting more nervous/excited as the day approaches!!
 
2THDDS said:
I think I am fxxked.
VCU just email me to tell me that my letter from chemistry professor does not meet the requirement because he didn't talk about my performance in class, and he just mentioned about my TA activity for the class.

I just don't understand why he didn't think they would need the class performance...
He's been a professor for over 20 years!

This will set me back at least a week or two until he send in the letter and they process it.
O jesus....
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I wouldn't worry. I bet this will go nicely for you. The professor will go out of his way to make up for his mistake, which will more than make up for this minor application hiccup.
 
Have any of you gotten the VCU supplemental? Can you please describe it? 🙂
 
4luvofteeth said:
I wouldn't worry. I bet this will go nicely for you. The professor will go out of his way to make up for his mistake, which will more than make up for this minor application hiccup.
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Thanks for the positive comment. This professor has taken me 4 months to write my letter, so I doubt he will go out of his way to make up for his mistake, but he responded to my text, so I am hopeful that he will send it in in a few days.
 
arkenstone said:
Ginger Thai is great.

I have a question, peeps. (I'm having trouble Googling the answer.) I'm a Tennessee resident and I won't be applying till next year, but I did my undergrad at the University of Richmond, and I'd love to get into VCU Dental. I'd probably be willing to cough up the extra 100k+ to go to VCU over my state school anyway, but is VCU one of those schools where you can apply for in-state status after your first year?
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I am almost certain the answer is no (as a close friend of mine is struggling w/ in-state status despite living and going here for undergrad w/ me), but in case I am wrong I can look into it next week after my interview!

Feel free to remind me anytime!
 
arkenstone said:
Ginger Thai is great.

I have a question, peeps. (I'm having trouble Googling the answer.) I'm a Tennessee resident and I won't be applying till next year, but I did my undergrad at the University of Richmond, and I'd love to get into VCU Dental. I'd probably be willing to cough up the extra 100k+ to go to VCU over my state school anyway, but is VCU one of those schools where you can apply for in-state status after your first year?
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heard no from a lot of people, said it's almost impossible to change to instate once you are declared oos.
sorry!
 
jeeproteins said:
100% count on it, girl! and thank you!
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definitely keep us posted how the interview is. I still haven't received any kind of invite, but I would like to know what it's like.
I heard it is a panel interview with 1 student and 2 faculty, hope it's pretty chill.
 
jeeproteins said:
Interview on Tuesday (yikes!), if anyone would mind messaging this nervous girl their experience?
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Don't worry at all. You're going to do great because you seem very nice and personable, and remember that they already like you to have invited you. :joyful:
 
arkenstone said:
Ginger Thai is great.

I have a question, peeps. (I'm having trouble Googling the answer.) I'm a Tennessee resident and I won't be applying till next year, but I did my undergrad at the University of Richmond, and I'd love to get into VCU Dental. I'd probably be willing to cough up the extra 100k+ to go to VCU over my state school anyway, but is VCU one of those schools where you can apply for in-state status after your first year?
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Short answer is no.

I have a cousin who came to Virginia from another state solely for education. He applied for residency but was denied. It turns out you need to have sought residency after having worked here. So he applied again but this time he got a part-time job while staying in school, thinking it would increase his chance of getting residency. It didn't work. Virginia is strict about deciding who gets residency. You'd have to provide sufficient evidence that you came to Virginia solely for work, not education, to get residency. Once you get residency, you can then apply to schools with in-state tuition. It's all about the sequence by which you do these things. Job, residency, and then school. The other obvious way to get residency is if your parents were working here before you sought an education here.

I have classmates from other states who would love to have in-state residency but they, of course, can't get it.
 
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Good luck to all of you -- I'm watching jealously.
 
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arkenstone said:
I actually asked this in another thread, but since you brought up sequence, any idea on how this sequence of events might play for my VA residency chances?

2008 - 20012: undergrad at UR
Mar - August 2013: lived/worked in Richmond (filed state taxes)
June 2015: finish pre-dental phase in TN and apply to dental schools, including VCU
July 2015: move back to Richmond to live/work for a year, transfer all registrations, etc.
August 2016: apply for residency status with VCU (assuming I get in)

Any chance? Would having family in the area and my dad having gone to MCV be of any relevance?

Sorry to derail the interview discussion. Good luck to all of you -- I'm watching jealously.
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Sounds like a unique scenario. I'd check here / try contacting: http://www.schev.edu/students/vadomicile.asp
 
arkenstone said:
I actually asked this in another thread, but since you brought up sequence, any idea on how this sequence of events might play for my VA residency chances?

2008 - 20012: undergrad at UR
Mar - August 2013: lived/worked in Richmond (filed state taxes)
June 2015: finish pre-dental phase in TN and apply to dental schools, including VCU
July 2015: move back to Richmond to live/work for a year, transfer all registrations, etc.
August 2016: apply for residency status with VCU (assuming I get in)

Any chance? Would having family in the area and my dad having gone to MCV be of any relevance?

Sorry to derail the interview discussion. Good luck to all of you -- I'm watching jealously.
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Sorry I really can't say. The best I could give you was my one anecdote.
 
Ditto on what hurley said. I'll be one of those smurfs you might see! I know you'll be anxious during your interview but don't be afraid to say hi to the dental students! I promise you we'll be smiling back at you (hopefully that'll help with your nerves). I don't know if the interview process has changed this year, but for those who are curious, last year it consisted of two individual faculty interviews and an informal student interview with a dental student (normally a D4) during lunch. The group of interviewees I talked to on Tuesday had a chance to go see/use the DentSim lab during their tour, which will be a cool experience for you to pick up a handpiece and drill a tooth! Let me know if you guys have any questions, PM or whatever!
 
for those who got interview, where do you find the parking ticket?
 
@ka14 , @hurley, and @UCSFx2017, How much is tuition at VCU? The SDN page says it's $6,800 for in state and a little more than twice that for oos, but I'm sure they've confused the undergrad tuition with the dental school's. Another place on the web says it's $60,000 a year and VCU's own tuition calculator doesn't work (gives an error message), so if you don't mind 1) can you please share how much tuition is for in state and oos dental students and 2) if you could also please give an idea about the cost of rent. It's convenient that there are dorms on the part of campus that's near MCV and the dental school, 3) can you please also give an idea what they're like and what percent of dental students stay in those dorms. Thank you guys so much! Feel free to add to each other's reply with your own perspectives/experiences, so we can get several view points. Thanks! 🙂
 
vcu gave out a sheet at the interview estimating around $70k a year for everything - room, board, insurance, fees, transportation, personal costs, etc. Instate tuition alone was about $29K, i think oos tuition was around $57k?
 
4luvofteeth said:
@ka14 , @hurley, and @UCSFx2017, How much is tuition at VCU? The SDN page says it's $6,800 for in state and a little more than twice that for oos, but I'm sure they've confused the undergrad tuition with the dental school's. Another place on the web says it's $60,000 a year and VCU's own tuition calculator doesn't work (gives an error message), so if you don't mind 1) can you please share how much tuition is for in state and oos dental students and 2) if you could also please give an idea about the cost of rent. It's convenient that there are dorms on the part of campus that's near MCV and the dental school, 3) can you please also give an idea what they're like and what percent of dental students stay in those dorms. Thank you guys so much! Feel free to add to each other's reply with your own perspectives/experiences, so we can get several view points. Thanks! 🙂
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Tuition is $32,000/year
Fees are $13,000/year
So the total fixed cost is $45,000/year
This is for in state tuition. I don't know what OOS tuition is like but I'd imagine it is double.

Finding a room for $500/month in rent within a 2 mile radius of the school is possible. Practically no one stays in the dorms. Maybe 5 people stayed in the dorms last year out of the 400 dental students. I can only speak of Bear hall since that's the only one I'm familiar with. If it were not for the convenience of proximity to the school, I would say it's not worth $770/month to live in the dorms. The rent is $900-1,000/month during the summer semester. The dorm (Warner?) adjacent to Bear hall used to be reserved for graduate and senior undergraduate students only. Recently, they've allowed freshman girls to take up the first floor. The building is old. Only a single layered wall of hollowed cinder block separates the rooms. The place can start to smell. The vibe is probably similar to that of a jail cell. The common areas are frequented by undergraduate students. If you have specific questions about the dorm, send them my way.
 
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UCSFx2017 said:
Tuition is $32,000/year
Fees are $13,000/year
So the total fixed cost is $45,000/year
This is for in state tuition. I don't know what OOS tuition is like but I'd imagine it is double.

Finding a room for $500/month in rent within a 2 mile radius of the school is possible. Practically no one stays in the dorms. Maybe 5 people stayed in the dorms last year out of the 400 dental students. I can only speak of Bear hall since that's the only one I'm familiar with. If it were not for the convenience of proximity to the school, I would say it's not worth $770/month to live in the dorms. The rent is $900-1,000/month during the summer semester. They're old. Only a single layered wall of hollowed cinder block separates the rooms. The place can start to smell. The vibe is probably similar to that of a jail cell. If you have specific questions about the dorm, send them my way.
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Thanks to you and @musician7 for ur replies! $770 a month does sound steep for that sort of setup! 1) Does that include meals and is that for a single occupant room? 2) For those who live within a couple of miles of the school, are they as safe as the campus dorms and what is transportation like? Thanks! 🙂
 
4luvofteeth said:
Thanks to you and @musician7 for ur replies! $770 a month does sound steep for that sort of setup! 1) Does that include meals and is that for a single occupant room? 2) For those who live within a couple of miles of the school, are they as safe as the campus dorms and what is transportation like? Thanks! 🙂
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$770 includes rent, electricity, water, and gas. No food. There is a shuttle system called RamRide that has stops connecting MCV with the undergrad campus. There's also RamSafe. Safety depends on where you live and how late you stay up.
 
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