finally i got there... flight was 'on time' this time ...
the interview was really cool... and an enriching experience. and got repaid for the every penny i spent for the interview. the faculty is very nice and helpful. The university and the dental school are really good. we didnt get a chance to see the Dentsim tho, as it was under maintainance..
there were 7 of us there, 5 indians, 1 chinese , 1 japanese. everybody was equally talented and confident, so its really a tough job for them to pick up 20-25 students out of 300 .
i didnt prepare any answers before going to the interview, and was least nervous out there. the questions are the general ones .. hobbies , when did u come to usa, how do u find it here, did u get the culture shock, where did work after ur graduation ...etc. Really nothing to prepare bout.
the weather was just little bit cold , so do carry ur jacket with u. and umbrellas and raincoat ...etc.
the hotels listed in their are really expensive . it's good if u get to share the room and expenses with someone. otherwise u can look for hotels such as ..
motel6 ($65 + taxes) which is 3 miles from the airport and 12 miles from the dental school.
u can get a bus from the airport to the hotel , and take a cab or the regional transport from there to the dental school. if u take a cab its gonna charge u 28 $ from motel6 to the university. and if u opt for the mass transit u have to leave .. really early as it takes more than an hour to reach there.
another cheap near hotel is microtel inn (67 + taxes). its 0.8 miles from the airport and 10 miles from university.
but its better to stay somewhere near the university . i opted for travelodge (80 + tax). its 9 miles from airport and 3 miles from the university. i took the train($5.50) from the airport and reached the hotel in 30 minutes. from the hotel u can take the train ($2) or the cab($10) for the university. they provide complimentary breakfast as well. so the cost comes out to be the same as microtel or motel6 (as u save 27$ for the cab). And in case the heat is not working in the hotel room u get 12% discount ... this happened to me
.. they did provide me the room heater tho' , i did ask for the compensation.
other hotel is club quarters(90+tax) which is just 2 miles from the university.
the cab charges in philadelphia are $2.70 for first 1/7th of the mile and then $0.30 for each additional 1/7 mile.
the mass transit is really good in philadelphia. its better to take a train , rather then renting the car. i took out all the printouts of the local regional rail and the bus service at
www.septa.com. it was really helpful..
just be cool and be urself at the interview...
Good luck ...
