What is the consensus of visiting dental schools before you apply? Is that something that is frowned upon or something that is the norm? Do they normally do formal tours like you had in undergrad college visits or is it something that just is not done formally? It would be nice to at least get a feel for the area, etc. but if scheduling an actual campus visit is a negative I would not want to do that.
Visit Dental Schools pre-application?
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From my experience it is a huge positive. It shows your interest and it is done quite often and most are happy to do so from where I have gone. Plus if you can meet people on the admissions committee in the process it could make things easier when come time for interviews etc.
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Some schools have an "Open House" or you can contact them to schedule a tour. Visiting and inquiring about a program is not frowned upon by any means.
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Just make sure that you can attend an open house or schedule an official visit by contacting their office. It would definitely look unprofessional if you just dropped by out of the blue and asked for a tour and to speak to faculty/Adcoms. As you can imagine, they and their support staff are extremely busy people.
Visiting a program is not something that most people do, per say, but individuals that are highly invested in a particular program will often choose to do so or participate in dental-related events that the program has for pre-dental students.
Email admissions and see. I personally visited a few schools while vacationing and stuff.. And I was able to knock a few schools off my list after speaking to students and learning about the curriculum. I visited a few schools during impressions day programs which are great- definitely recommend seeing if the schools have this type of thing. I also visited 3 other schools. Out of those three, two gave me a map and allowed a self guided tour.. And one gave me a tour with an admission officer. In my experience, it's helpful in the long run if you end up not getting an interview or get wait listed, you can email them and say you have been there and like the school for x,y and z reasons and maybe have a little leverage. Just my opinion.
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Visiting a school is just that, you're visiting a school. Most of the time it wont effect you negatively, but it will unlikely effect you positively. I really dont know what dental schools tours are like but if they dont show you the clinics and labs then you're wasting your time. It's what's inside that really matters.
Normally if you're not in an open house, it is unlikely you'll be able to speak with a person on the admissions committee, ergo you won't be able to show your interest. But you can at least take a look at the area and see if you like it and possibly get some talking topics for whenever you get invited for interview.
I personally wouldn't and didnt do campus tours because I feel like it is a waste of time and resources IF you weren't planning on doing something else in the area. (To be clear, anything that puts you in touch with admissions staff are great, including open houses. Just not campus tours.)
Normally if you're not in an open house, it is unlikely you'll be able to speak with a person on the admissions committee, ergo you won't be able to show your interest. But you can at least take a look at the area and see if you like it and possibly get some talking topics for whenever you get invited for interview.
I personally wouldn't and didnt do campus tours because I feel like it is a waste of time and resources IF you weren't planning on doing something else in the area. (To be clear, anything that puts you in touch with admissions staff are great, including open houses. Just not campus tours.)
