what kind of questions to ask your interviewer?

[TeethRCool]

When your interviewer asks if you have any questions about the school... what should you ask?

All I've come up with is how do students do on the national boards?

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[darius99]

availability of patients/chairs in the clinics, attrition rate, % of students that go on to practice right away vs. doing gpr/aegd, what makes them enjoy teaching/working at that school

 

[mitshi]

Tell them you're very keen in getting into their program, and ask if there's anything else that's debarring you from doing that.

 

[bionerd]

availability of patients/chairs in the clinics, attrition rate, % of students that go on to practice right away vs. doing gpr/aegd, what makes them enjoy teaching/working at that school

Could you expand on that, please? What about the chairs in the clinics? What's gpr and aegd???

 

[djeffreyt]

availability of patients/chairs in the clinics, attrition rate, % of students that go on to practice right away vs. doing gpr/aegd, what makes them enjoy teaching/working at that school

He means that you should ask if there are difficulties for students to get enough patients during their clinical years, or if the school has a huge waitlist of patients for all the students. The chairs is a question about how many chairs there are in the clinics per student. For example, if there are 100 chairs in clinic, but they are shared between 150 junior and senior students and also shared by 25 students doing specialty work...then you might have a hard time getting a chair when you need it to do patient care. Basically, you can either ask for number or you can ask about if chair availability ever has been an issue for students.


here's a couple other questions I've asked...not exactly worded the same:

If you had the money to change something at the school, what would you improve?

All day on the tour they talked about how they recently raised $X from the alumni for the school. I asked what they planned to do with that money.

Why did you decide to teach here?

What is the hardest thing for students when they first come here and how do students deal with it?

 

[tinman831]

Why not ask about things that you really care about in a dental school. Try and have the interviewer address whatever issues/questions you have about that particular dental school to see how it might affect your decision to go to that school should you be accepted. You are not REQUIRED to answer that question as opposed to the other questions they might ask about you. If you don't have anything to ask your interviewer, just politely decline and say that everything was already covered during the presentations earlier during the day.

 

[t man]

Advanced Education in General Dentistry

and

General Practice Residency

are both post-graduate programs you might enter instead of going directly into a private practice or apprenticeship.

 

[Turnerjo13]

I liked asking about where the school is going, how they are improving and innovating, What will be different when I am there as opposed to now. Those are important to know because if the school is going to change.

 

[Zanderale6]

I always like to finish my interviews w/ the same basic question. ... "When can I expect to hear back from you with a decision?" Getting a decent answer to this question makes the post-interview waiting game a little less nervewracking.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

I liked to ask about student life, since I knew that most schools enjoy their bragging rights about the normal stuff (boards, getting patients, preparing their students), and they wouldn't be likely to saying anything BAD about those things. So I would ask things like

--What's the dynamic like between students and faculty? Is it super formal, casual...do professors call each other "doctor" or use first names...etc.

--What are some interesting things to do in this city, and what have you seen students get involved in?

--How many professors are still practicing while they teach? (this gives you a good idea of whether profs are burnt out and hate private practice, or teach on top of practicing)

--What has changed recently in the curriculum? (cutting part of gross anatomy...dropping/adding courses...changes in clinics. Gives you a good idea of what their goals are)

--What are some committees or student groups that I could get involved in? Have you seen these groups make a difference in student life and administration?


When you're talking to students, you may want to ask more random, practical questions like what they do to party, how parking is, good places to eat....apts with cheap rent...that sort of thing.

Remember, especially if the school is a plane trip away, this may be the only visit you get before you make a decision, so try to get as much information as possible! (I know, it sucks when you're nervous...)