upenn interview coming up, tips/advices?

[zellyen]

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so guys, I am pretty nervous right now even though its still 3 weeks away. For anyone that interviewed there recently, I just want to know how it felt since i am a pretty paranoid person lol.

There are two separate interviews according to the information. Are they both conducted by the same person ? and are they by DIFFERENT faculty members? Will I be repeating myself if they are different faculty members (ie: same questions to see if I am coherent with my answers?)

Lastly, i heard the interview is pretty laid back... but how laid back is it. I hope not too relaxed because if that happens, my bad habit of using random words such as "like" and "you know" might come out. Trying to get rid of this right now lol.

thanks guys!

 

[minoh87]

ya so you will sit in a room with all the other interviewees and all of you will have different interview schedule. so for the first hr or two you get a lil presentation about the school and the program and you sit in that room until ur interviewer comes and pick you up. interviews are 30 minutes each with 2 different faculty, administrator, staff and so on. i got a clinical professor and a professor of oral med. interview is very laid back and they really just ask you general interview questions. i think one of them was open file and the other was closed but both seemed like closed file to me..

 

[zellyen]

ok so they are basically two 1 on 1 interviews?

 

[quillow]

Yeah, it's two one-on-one interviews with two different people that last about 30 min each. It's pretty nice and laid back, meaning that they aren't trying to trick you or pressure you. They just want to get to know you. One is open-file, one is closed-file. My closed-file interviewer had a list of questions. Both interviewers asked pretty basic questions though (tell me about yourself, why dentistry, what was your favorite/least favorite class and why, etc). Both of my interviewers were very nice and I heard that the other interviewers were nice as well.

You'll also have a short period of time to talk with Corky. She'll make sure your file is complete and you can ask her any questions you may have. At the end of the day, you have lunch with two dental students and you can ask them anything too.

To prepare, I made sure I looked over my application (including the supplemental app). I also looked through their website pretty thoroughly to try to familiarize myself with their program a bit more (though they do a pretty good job of covering that in the morning anyway). Overall, it's a pretty nice, low stress day.

 

[zellyen]

so there wasnt anything tricky? like ethical dilemma and insurance questions? I am practicing on those right now but from what i hear from people, may not be necessary. better safe than sorry though =/

 

[HeelsFan]

The replies above have provided you with all the help you could ever need to prepare for your interview.

Penn was incredibly relaxed.

They want to make sure the candidate is socially competent (personable), confident, and has a true passion for dentistry.