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Scenario Dental School Interview Questions:
1. You are in a group practice with several other dentists. One of the dentists in the clinic, who has worked there for many years, has been coming late to her appointments lately, has appeared disheveled and has been swearing often when she speaks to patients. How would you approach this situation?
2. Your dental school friend tells you that patients’ mouths are “gold mines” and that dentists are “gold-miners”. When you question him further about what he means by that, he says “Come on, we both know that we went into dentistry for the money and that we do not care about the people with their disgusting teeth.” Do you report him?
3. Your friend tells you that he wants to take an “Introduction to Spanish” course to boost his GPA even though he is a native Spanish speaker. His last name, Hernandez, also indicates that he comes from a Spanish background. Native speakers are not allowed to take the course. What do you tell your friend?
4. You are observing a wisdom teeth extraction under general anesthesia with one of your classmates. They are very excited about their first shadowing experience and decide to take a picture of themselves to create an Instagram post about it. The patient’s feet show up in the picture but there is no identifying information besides that. Are you going to report your classmate?
5. You are working on a group project with 5 other students. One of the students doesn’t show up for meetings or if they do show up – they are late and leave early. They have put no effort into the group project but show up on the day of the presentation and try to take credit for the project. What do you do in this situation?
6. Your dentist-supervisor decided to take you and a few other students to lunch. The supervisor suddenly starts making fun of his secretary’s weight and tattoos. What are you going to do at that moment?
7. You are standing in line to see the teller in a bank. Suddenly, two individuals in the line start arguing with one another. What are you going to do in this situation?
8. You are on the last day of your dental clinic placement. You have a busy clinic day ahead of you and it appears your supervisor (who you think is an amazing role model) is intoxicated. What do you do?
9. You are an orthodontist and while examining the braces of an 11-year-old boy, you notice bruises and hand marks on the boy’s face. What are you going to do?
10. You have treated a patient’s cavity in your emergency dental practice and the patient says that they cannot pay for the treatment because they lost their job recently. Would you pursue legal action against the patient?
11. You are working alone in a convenience store as a cashier late at night. An older man comes in and buys a coffee. He is staggering, seems disoriented, and you smell alcohol on his breath. On the way out, he bumps into a shelf and knocks some cereal boxes off. He tries to put the boxes back, but cannot manage this task. What actions might you take in this situation?
12. A dental student threw up after seeing the bad state of a patient’s oral health is in. Do you think this is unprofessional and that the student needs to be disciplined?
13. Your little cousin needs to complete 40 hours of volunteering for his school. He thinks volunteering is useless and serves no purpose since you don’t get paid for it. He wants to study business at university. What are you going to tell him in order to convince him of the benefits of volunteering?
14. You are going on a fishing trip with a group of friends. You also invite your neighbour who is an international student. When you go pick her up, she is dressed in high heels and clothing not suitable for fishing. How would you approach the situation?
15. You are an oral surgeon and you have been called to the ward to see a patient who just sustained major trauma to their jaw. While walking over to the patient, your brother calls you that your mother had a heart attack and was hospitalized in another hospital. What are you going to do?
16. You are part of an elite 2 person team fighting a forest fire. You have with you topographical maps, GPS, two climbing ropes, two shovels, two chainsaws, a first aid kit, and a radio. The other member of the team has a sprained ankle. You receive communication that the fire has changed direction, and your location is filled with thick smoke. You now need to meet a helicopter at a safe spot about 30 minutes away in one hour. What do you do?
17. A patient’s life has changed dramatically after your treatment and they can finally smile with confidence. The patient is immensely grateful. They said they want to add you on Facebook. How would you respond?
18. You are sitting in a Starbucks and you see your friend’s boyfriend holding hands with another woman. You are suspicious, and then you see them passionately kissing outside the Starbucks. What are you going to do?
19. Your undergraduate GPA has really suffered in the past year due to various personal issues. Your friend tells you that a person in your calculus course is selling copies of the exam he somehow acquired. You need to raise your GPA to get into dental school. Would you buy a copy of the exam?
20. You are trying to parallel park your car on a quiet street late at night when you hit the car right in front of you. There are no cameras on the street, there is no noticeable damage to the other car or yours, and there are no witnesses around. What are you going to do?
21. The town of Smith Hill has suffered a lot of crimes in the past 10 years and some city councillors want to forbid anyone with any criminal record from living in the town. You are the mayor of the town. How are you going to handle this?
22. Imagine you are one of several dentists working in a clinic, and you find that one of the other dentists in the clinic has been having an affair with the secretary. What are you going to do?
23. You are in the middle of performing a wisdom tooth extraction under local anesthesia when the patient touches you in your genital area. What do you do?
24. You are Spiderman, and you are on your way to stop a bunch of bank robbers from robbing a bank. Your Aunt May calls you and tells you that she is having chest pain and is on the way to the hospital. What do you do?
25. Your friend in dental school is suffering from depressive symptoms, but they are not keen about talking about it. What are you going to do next?
26. You are a border control officer, and a woman with her two children tried jumping over the fence to enter your country. Are you going to stop them?
27. You are a dental student working in a clinic for one of your rotations. Your supervisor has been insulting you numerous times, has refused to teach you, and sent you home early numerous times. What are you going to do?
28. You are an oral surgery resident on a call shift in the hospital. A very sick patient has been brought in, and you want your staff surgeon to come and see them. However, your staff physician refuses to come since they think the patient can wait to be seen by them in the morning (you disagree with them). What are you going to do?
29. You are in the amusem*nt park with your little 7-year-old nephew. You are standing in line to ride one of the most popular roller coasters in the park. A child behind you starts calling your nephew insulting names, and the child’s parent does not seem to care about it. What are you going to do?
30. You and your friend are both in a biological research course. Both of you have a lab report due tomorrow and are sitting in a cafe editing one another’s work. While reading your friend’s lab report, you notice that he plagiarized a lot of information from online sources. What are you going to say to your friend, and what are you going to do?
31. You are a dental anesthesiologist. If you accidentally gave too much morphine to a child, and the child took slightly longer to awake from the surgery, would you tell the family?
32. You are organizing your convocation for your dental school class, where each student has 3 tickets for family or friends. The day before, the master of ceremonies calls and tells you he is very sick and cannot make it. In addition, you learn that the original venue cannot be used as there has been a fire and there is smoke damage. Another venue has been arranged but can only accommodate half of the number of guests. The ceremony is tomorrow – what do you do?
33. You are a female dental resident, and a male patient refuses to see you because they are embarrassed to have “a woman look at their screwed up teeth”. What are you going to do?
34. You have been taking care of your friend’s cat, Muffin, for a week while your friend is on a vacation. The day before your friend returns from a vacation, Muffin is nowhere to be seen. What are you going to do to find Muffin?
35. A patient comes to you after having surgery performed by another dentist. You notice that the surgery was sloppy to the point of being dangerous, and the patient is currently suffering as a result of the surgery. What do you do?
36. You are touring a concentration camp in Europe and you notice a couple of teenagers taking inappropriate pictures. Are you going to comment on their behavior?
37. You are backpacking across Europe and you just walked through a crowded street in Prague when you noticed that your wallet and your passport are missing from your pocket. How are you going to act in this situation?
38. You are organizing a group trip with the university Chess club. You are one of the more senior club execs and are in charge of the group. One night, one of the junior players decided to sneak alcohol into the hotel room. You caught him. Are you going to kick him off the rest of the trip?
39. A friend of yours is going to volunteer abroad in a South American dental screening clinic. He confesses that he is doing this “purely for the dental school resume”. What are you going to say to your friend?
40. You are about to write your Canadian board exam in 10 minutes and notice one of the other people in the waiting room hyperventilating and crying. The exam invigilator just announced that you can enter the exam room and take your seats. Are you going to approach the individual even though you don’t have time?
41. You are the only survivor in a devastating plane crash. You are currently floating with a lifejacket in the middle of the ocean while the rest of the plane has drowned, and there is no land anywhere to be seen. How are you going to survive?
42. You are a soldier on a UN peacekeeping mission in Africa. You realize that one of your co-soldiers has been selling weapons to a local terror group. You know that your colleague has been going through tough financial times. Are you going to report your colleague?
43. During a routine dental health visit, a patient confesses that the reason they do not floss and brush their teeth twice a day is that they cannot afford to buy toothpaste and floss. How can you help the patient?
44. A Canadian police officer is vacationing in Miami beach with his family. On the beach, he notices an altercation between two individuals. What should the police officer do once he notices the altercation?
45. A 5-year-old child of a lower-class family has befriended another 5-year-old child from a very wealthy family. The wealthy child often comes over to the house of the poorer child and brags about all his new fancy toys. The poorer child, saddened over the fact that he does not have those toys, often cries to his parents. Should the parents of the poor child forbid him from being friends with the wealthier child?
46. You are walking along a pleasant park in the summer and see a stranger throwing garbage on the grass. Do you approach the stranger and ask him to pick it up?
47. Imagine hiking around in the forest in South America and realizing you are lost and have no technology, maps, or other people around to assist you. What are you going to do?
48. Your elderly grandmother calls you two days before your DAT. She says that she is feeling very lonely and would really like to use the nice weather in the next few days to go to the park with you. What are you going to do?
49. You recently discovered that a friend you met in university comes from a well-known mafia family. Would you continue the friendship?
50. Your best friend and yourself are dentists who teach at the local dental school. Your best friend tells you that he recently started dating one of the dental students volunteering in his clinic. He has been very lonely lately and says that “she might be the one”. How would you respond? Would you report your friend?
51. Your patient indicated that they are allergic to latex, but you accidentally used latex gloves during a root canal surgery when they were under anesthesia, but they did not seem to get any reaction from it. Should you still tell the patient you used latex gloves?
52. A fellow dentist in the area has been telling his patients false rumors about you that have really damaged the reputation of your practice. What are you going to do?
53. You have just graduated from dental school and are enjoying the summer. One day you walk into a Starbucks and see that the barista working that day was one of your patients in your final year. The barista, John, also recognizes you and is very grateful for how well you took care of him and helped improve his smile and confidence. When you go to pay for your coffee and meal, you notice that John only charged you for the coffee. What do you do? What if he insists that he does not want to charge you for the meal?
54. Imagine being a dental school professor, and a student emails you the night before an exam saying “I am very sorry but I have not had the chance to study for the exam and cannot write it tomorrow.” How would you respond, and what are you going to do?
Current Issues Questions:
1. Should soap carving or demonstration of technical skills be a mandatory requirement for dental school admissions?
2. Some dentists schools accept students straight out of high school. Are you for or against that?
3. What is your opinion of for-profit dental schools?
4. How do you think robotics is going to play a role in dentistry? Are robots going to replace dentists?
5. Is the salary of dentists too high?
6. Should dentists be allowed to date their patients?
7. What’s the best way to promote mental health among dental students and decrease suicide rates?
8. Should there be a mandatory retirement age for dentists?
9. Should dental services be covered under provincial/governmental health insurance?
10. What is your opinion about online platforms like Facebook or YouTube blocking content that is deemed discriminatory? Does that violate freedom of speech?
11. Should there be an age of consent for decision-making in healthcare?
12. What is your opinion about affirmative action and making sure there are reserved spots for certain population groups in the dental school class?
13. Some say dentists are better described as businessmen rather than healthcare professionals – what do you think about that?
14. What do you think of asking dental school applicants their parents’ salary when they apply?
15. Is climate change real or fake?
16. World hunger- how do we reduce it?
17. What is the best way to combat terrorism?
18. How can social media be used effectively in dentistry and dental education?
19. Should parents be fined if they do not vaccinate their children?
20. Should vaccination be mandatory and not vaccinating one’s kids punishable by law?
21. Circumcision is a popular practice in many parts of the world, often for cultural reasons. Current research shows that the benefits of circumcision do not outweigh the risks of the procedure. Should the practice of circumcision be outlawed in Canada?
22. If a person suffers from lifelong depression that is refractory to any form of treatment, should they be eligible for euthanasia?
23. What is your opinion on capital punishment?
24. What is your opinion on using a carbon tax to reduce emissions?
25. How can we help solve the current obesity crisis facing the western world?
26. A lot of people in Canada still smoke despite the known health risks and the anti-smoking campaigns. Why do you think that is? How can we eliminate smoking once and for all?
Behavioral Questions:
1. Tell us about a time when you cheated/lied/broke the law.
2. Tell us about a time when you had to make a hard decision.
3. Tell us about a time when you helped someone in need.
4. Tell us about a time when you did something you were not proud of.
5. Tell us about a time when you had to be a leader.
6. Tell us about a time when you learned something new.
7. Tell us about a time when you yourself were treated unfairly and what did you do about it.
8. Tell us about a time when you were a follower and not a leader.
9. Tell us about a time when you felt ashamed.
10. Tell us about a time when you helped a stranger in need.
11. Tell us about a time when you were scared.
12. Tell us about a time when you doubted whether you were doing the right thing.
13. Tell us about a time when you questioned if your academic path was the correct one.
14. Tell us about a time when you had to change your habits in order to improve yourself.
15. Tell us about a time when you sought out help from a person of authority.
16. Tell us about a time when you found that you had “too much on your plate”.
17. Tell us about a time when you had to say “no”.
18. Tell us about a time when you were tempted to yell at someone.
19. Tell us about a time when you made someone cry.
20. Tell us about a time when you felt extremely euphoric.
21. Tell us about a time when you had to deliver bad news.
22. Tell us about a time when you were wrong about something very important.
23. Tell us about a time when you stood up for someone else.
24. Tell us about a time when you disappointed your parents/grandparents.
25. Tell us about a time when you were close to quitting but never did.
26. Tell us about a time when you had to apologize for a mistake you made.
27. Tell us about a time when you had to confront someone about their behavior.
28. Tell us about a time when you took a risk and it paid off.
29. Tell us about a time when you had to compromise to resolve a conflict.
30. Tell us about a time when you received constructive criticism and how you handled it.
31. Tell us about a time when you overcame a significant challenge.
32. Tell us about a time when you had to adapt to a new environment or situation.
33. Tell us about a time when you were faced with an ethical dilemma and how you resolved it.
34. Tell us about a time when you had to make a difficult financial decision.
35. Tell us about a time when you felt out of your comfort zone and how you dealt with it.
36. Tell us about a time when you had to make a major career decision.
37. Tell us about a time when you had to confront your fears.
39. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a cultural misunderstanding.
40. Tell us about a time when you achieved a long-term goal.
41. Tell us about a time when you experienced failure and what you learned from it.
42. Tell us about a time when you had to deliver a difficult presentation or speech.
43. Tell us about a time when you mentored or coached someone.
44. Tell us about a time when you had to negotiate a difficult situation.
45. Tell us about a time when you received recognition or an award for your achievements.
46. Tell us about a time when you had to handle a high-pressure situation.
47. Tell us about a time when you had to make a sacrifice for the greater good.
48. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a personal or professional setback.
49. Tell us about a time when you had to delegate tasks effectively.
50. Tell us about a time when you went above and beyond to help someone.
51. Tell us about a time when you had to learn a new skill quickly.
52. Tell us about a time when you had to persevere despite facing obstacles.
53. Tell us about a time when you had to mediate a conflict between others.
54. Tell us about a time when you received feedback that surprised you.
55. Tell us about a time when you had to manage your time effectively to meet a deadline.
56. Tell us about a time when you had to collaborate with a difficult team member.
57. Tell us about a time when you had to handle a sudden crisis or emergency.
58. Tell us about a time when you had to make a difficult personal decision.
59. Tell us about a time when you had to juggle multiple priorities successfully.
60. Tell us about a time when you had to resolve a disagreement within a team.
61. Tell us about a time when you demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity.
62. Tell us about a time when you had to provide constructive feedback to a colleague.
63. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a complex organizational structure.
64. Tell us about a time when you had to implement a significant change.
65. Tell us about a time when you demonstrated exceptional problem-solving skills.
66. Tell us about a time when you had to motivate others to achieve a shared goal.
67. Tell us about a time when you had to manage conflicting priorities.
68. Tell us about a time when you had to handle a difficult customer or client.
69. Tell us about a time when you had to adapt your communication style to work effectively with others.
70. Tell us about a time when you had to manage a tight budget successfully.
71. Tell us about a time when you had to handle criticism gracefully.
72. Tell us about a time when you had to manage a team through a period of change.
73. Tell us about a time when you had to navigate a sensitive political situation.
74. Tell us about a time when you had to promote diversity and inclusion in a work or social setting.
75. Tell us about a time when you had to resolve a long-standing conflict.
76. Tell us about a time when you had to make a tough ethical decision.
77. Tell us about a time when you had to adapt to unexpected circ*mstances and how you handled it.
Personal Interview Questions:
1. We have received your reference letters. What do you think those letters said about you?
2. You just won a lottery ticket for 100 million dollars! Congratulations! What are you going to do with all that money?
3. If you love helping people so much as well as science, why do you not want to be a physician?
4. Dental school is a very difficult journey. How do you know that you will like it and that you will succeed?
5. What’s the biggest problem in the world? How can a dental student fix this problem?
6. Who is your favourite person? Your mentor?
7. If you could have dinner with three people, alive or dead, who would they be?
8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? 30 years?
9. What is your mantra? What quote do you live by?
10. If you could choose one actor/actress to play you in a movie, who would you choose?
11. If somebody wrote an autobiography about your life, what would be the title?
12. There are thousands of applicants applying to this school, why should we choose you and not them?
13. What do you do for fun?
14. If you can be any object found in the kitchen, what would you be?
15. If you can be any dessert, which dessert would you be?
16. There are many countries in the world where we all want to travel but name one country you will never travel to?
17. What is one controversial topic you read about in the news recently? What is one funny topic you read about in the news recently?
18. Tell us a joke!
19. What is the funniest moment in your life?
20. What is your biggest regret in life?
21. Do you prefer learning in large groups or small groups?
22. How do you learn?
23. Let’s say you are lost during a lecture and have absolutely no idea what is going on, what would you do?
24. What is your biggest failure?
25. What does commitment mean to you?
26. If you had one magical ability, what would that ability be?
27. Tell me about the type of person you would not want to work with in a group. Give an example of a time when you had to work with a difficult person.
Non-traditional Questions:
1. Imagine being in school again. What is the best way to stand up to bullies?
2. The great philosopher Socrates once said, “I know one thing and that is that I know nothing.” What do you think he meant by that?
3. You have a large section of land in the middle of a city with an enormous population. You can either build a hospital or a large library. Which would you build?
4. There are two applicants competing for one spot in a dental school. Applicant A has lots of experience working in dental clinics, has lots of dentists in their family and wanted to become a dentist all their life. Applicant B has no experience in dentistry but is very empathetic and pleasant to work with. Applicant B just recently decided they wanted to become a dentist. Who would you choose to fill the spot?
5. An individual has been rejected from dentist school 6 times. Do you think that individual should really start considering another career or should they keep on re-applying?
6. You are being sent to Mars to establish a colony. What are the qualities you will look for when you choose the leader of the colony?
7. You are the CEO of a hospital and due to budgetary constraints, you must cut services in your hospital. How would you determine how to cut these services and what services would you cut?
8. You are on a plane when it crashes in Northern Ontario. You are the only survivor. Once you get over that, you decide to head for the nearest town, over 1000km away. What three things do you take with you?
9. You are a museum volunteer and you often lead groups of children through various exhibitions to show them interesting artifacts. What are you going to do to make sure the children are interested in the articles you show them?
10. You had the chance to travel back in time for a UN mission to do one single act to change the future forever. What single act are you going to do?
11. You have been abducted and wake up in a dark room and tied to a chair. What are you going to do at the moment?
12. Black or grey cannot be used as colours for roads anymore and your city council asks you for the advice of what colour to use for new roads. Which colour do you think should be used?
13. There are budget cuts in schools and one subject must be taken out – which one?
14. At what point is somebody considered an expert? Are you ever going to be an expert in your field?
15. Imagine living under a dictatorship like North Korea. Would you try to escape, would you try to live your life, or would you try to start a revolution?
16. How many balloons can you fit in this room?
17. How many toilets are there in this city? How many pianos?
Influences taken from: https://www.adea.org/, https://careerservices.upenn.edu/dental-school-interviews/
