Common Interview questions for Advanced Standing Programs in Dentistry

Being invited for an interview is a good sign because it means you have made it past the initial applicant screenings. Congratulations..!!! The interview is the admission committee's chance to observe how you interact and decide whether you would fit well in their program. They will also use the interview as an opportunity to assess your communication skills, critical thinking abilities, and motivation for the study and practice of dentistry. It is also your chance to evaluate the program they offer to determine how well it suits your needs. For these reasons, the interview is an important opportunity for you to make a good impression.


You may be interviewed alone by a single admissions person, alone by a group of admissions people, or with other applicants by a panel of admissions people. In some cases, the interviewer will have access to and knowledge of your academic and personal accomplishments. In other cases, the interviewer will have no knowledge of these things. Regardless of the circumstances, the following tips may help make your interview experience as pleasant and productive as it can be.
First, be prepared. Imagine what kinds of questions you would ask an applicant and be ready to answer them. Also, have a few questions of your own about the program or school. Be ready to explain why you are interested in this dental school and what draws you to the field of dentistry. Practice interviewing with a friend, or schedule a pre-dentistry interview with a Health Professions Advisor. You do not need to prepare by creating canned responses or producing a script. Rather, you should form a framework for your ideas, interests, and experiences from which to respond.
Try to relax and be confident but not arrogant. Try to keep the interview conversational, but don't get rattled if you feel like you are being grilled. Just answer questions honestly and be yourself (as long as you are someone who is responsible, professional and sincere). Interviewers will be listening for responses which reflect both insight into the profession and the requisite motivation to achieve educational and professional objectives.
Finally, be on time and dress professionally. Make sure you know where you are going and leave plenty of time for traffic problems. Men should wear a suit and tie and women should wear a suit or business dress. Dental school interviewers take their responsibilities seriously. Both you and the interviewer endeavor to play a role in shaping the future of dentistry.
Finally, send a thank-you note to your interviewers. Keep it short, but highlight aspects of the program that particularly interested you. After that, relax and watch your mail.
Below are some commonly asked questions..
Tell me about your dental education and/or how dentistry is practiced in your native country.
Why did you choose this program over others?
How did you learn about this program and how did you research it?
Do you have any acquaintances that are graduates of this program?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What are your goals?
What specialty fields of dentistry, if any, interest you and why?
Why did you choose dentistry as a career?
What are your strong points and weak points?
Do you want to practice dentistry in the US and if so, why?
Do you see yourself as an educator at a school of dentistry in the US?
Tell me about yourself
Why this school?
Do you want to specialize?
What do you do for fun?
Have you read any book recently?
Why are your scores low in this section on boards?
What have you been doing in the US?
What do u think will be your biggest challenge u will face in the dental school
What about your personality will make dentistry difficult?
How is your 3 dimensional thinking ability?
Do you work better in groups or individually?
How would you deal with a patient that was difficult to work with?
If dentists are no longer needed, what would u do?
Describe a time in your academic career that was difficult and how did u handle it
Tell me about your research experiences
If u do not get into a dental school, what would u do?
What will you bring to this program?
If u found yourself having trouble with a course of your first year here, what would u do??
What manual dexterity skills do u have?
If u were in a dental practice that was billing for procedures that were not actually performed, what would be the steps u would take??
What do u think your first year will be like
Tell me your strength and a weakness
Tell me about your hometown?
How is dentistry practiced in your country
What I thought about ethics.
What do you do to relax?
Do you think ethics are important in dentistry?
Do you have any role models?
Most stressful event / how do you deal with stress.

What do you want me to ask about you?
What would you do if you found another student cheating on an exam?
What can you contribute to the school if accepted?
If you could have a super-power, what would it be?
How would you feel about treating a phobic patient who had HIV?
What should I tell the admissions committee about you
With such a large class size, students need to be very independent. Do you feel this is a quality you possess?
Tell me about this certain volunteer experience on your resume
What do you plan to do to keep from being overwhelmed by the stress of dental school?
What is your 1st choice and why?
Tell me about your background
If you had the power to change something about dentistry, what would you change?
What will you do if you do not get admitted this year?
How do you handle a situation in a group work where one member is slacking?

What would you do in anatomy class, if one person in your group never prepared and kept giving the wrong answers, w/ no regard to the fact that the group grade was marked down for it ?
What have you done to show your hand dexterity
What would you say is your biggest fault?
If you get accepted, how do you plan to manage your time?
Would you rather be a big fish in a little tank or a small fish in a big tank?
How confident are you in your ability to be precise and accurate in working on a small object for extended periods of time?


Would u like to go back to your home country to practice in future?
Do u have any public speaking experience


How do u plan to pay your expenses.
Do you have any major regrets in your life?
What makes you so sure dentistry is for you?
How do you feel about treating and HIV positive patient?
What is your favorite/toughest subject?
Who influenced me the most to pursue dentistry
What have you liked and disliked most about your academic and/or professional career?
What the role of a dentist is in society"
What makes dentistry so challenging
Are your time management skills good enough to handle the difficult workload ahead of you?
How did your interaction with disabled children impact you?
What would you do if a patient didn’t like their treatment plan? or if they can’t afford it?
What quality do I look for in another person?
Where do I see myself in 10 years?
Pick any person, alive or not, that you can relate the most to and why.
How do you deal with a "difficult" person, either patient, friend, classmate...?
What do you think of the Red Soxs?
How would you handle having to interact with patients who may have highly infectious diseases?
My favorite dental subject and which dental subject I won't like to study again during DMD
How do you deal with transitions?
If you had a roundtrip ticket (open-ended) and in this fantasy world, everything was paid for, where in the world would you go, who would you take with you and why would you go there?
What would i do if i couldn't practice dentistry after an accident, let say.
Say a train was speeding towards a fork in the track. One side of the fork was an alternate route and has not been functional in 10yrs. A boy is playing on that side. The other side of the fork is functional and has fifteen people on the track. You only have time to let one group know that a train is coming. Who would you try to save?
What questions am I forgetting to ask you?
With money not being an issue, what one place would you travel to and why?
What was the biggest disappointment in your life and how did you deal with it
If you were a kitchen utensil what would you be and why?
What would your ideal characteristics of a dental school be?
If your plans coming out of dental school fell through, how will you handle it and what would to you do seeing how you have a huge debt to pay back and you're on your own?
How do you deal with criticism, when you have worked so hard on a project?
Have I ever been in a situation where I had to explain to a low socio-economic status person why they had to do something?
Do you consider yourself an organized person?

I'm sure there are other common questions but these seem to be the usual ones. Knowing this, you should think about your responses and write them down. The active process of writing them down is invaluable. You don't have to create an exact script to follow in the interview. But if you thoughtfully consider how you would respond and then write down potential responses, you will be way more confident during the interview.

Do you have any questions for us?
This is a common way for interviewers to close the interview. You should consider your potential questions and gear them to the specific program that you are applying to. I suggest that you not ask questions about mundane issues such as student visas or how to finance your education. You might ask questions that clearly demonstrate your commitment to the particular program you are applying. One question that works well is "What do you expect of me as a student in your program?" Avoid questions that could have been answered by more thorough research of the program to which you are applying. If you read the website of the school and search through SDN, you will learn a lot about the program that you are applying to and perhaps find topics and areas that provide insightful and intelligent questions for you to ask the interviewer. Just keep in mind that this question normally comes at the end of the interview so don't ask a question that would require a long dissertation for a proper response.
I compiled all these questions from my personal experiences and also from SDN. If you have not logged on to www.studentdoctor.net, you are definitely loosing a lot of imp, first hand updated information.