60 Best Dental School Interview Questions — Dental School Guide (2024)

General Dental School Interview Questions:

Preparing for a dental school interview involves anticipating questions that cover a range of topics. Admissions counselors aim to understand your personal interests, skills, and values. Here are some general interview questions you might encounter:

1. Why Dentistry?

2. Tell me about yourself.

3. What do you want your life to look like 10 years from now?

4. How do you decompress?

5. Why [dental school name]?

6. How do you deal with frustration?

7. What is your greatest strength?

8. What is your greatest weakness?

9. Who is your hero and why?

10. What is your biggest pet peeve?

11. Do you want to specialize?

12. How do you handle challenges, and can you provide an example?

13. Describe a situation where you had to collaborate with a team to achieve a goal.

14. Share an experience where you demonstrated effective time management skills.

15. How do you balance your academic responsibilities with personal interests and extracurricular activities?

16. Discuss an extracurricular activity that has shaped your character and values.

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17. Name a time when you went above and beyond.

18. When struggling in a class, how did you switch your study habits?

19. Why did you choose dentistry over medicine?

20. If you had to choose a career other than dentistry, what would you choose?

21. If you could meet anybody, in all of history, and eat dinner with them, who would it be?

22. In your opinion, what will you contribute to our dental program?

23. How would your friends describe you?

24. If you could, what is one thing you would change about yourself?

25. What do you think are the most important qualities of a leader?

26. Describe your perfect dental school to me.

27. Where do you want to practice?

28. What are things you don’t like about dentistry?

Experience and Background Questions:

Delving into your experiences and background, interviewers aim to assess your leadership skills, adaptability, and academic achievements. Here are some questions in this category:

1. What made you choose your undergraduate major?

2. What achievement are you most proud of accomplishing?

3. Describe a time when you had to take on a leadership position to solve a problem.

4. What strategies do you use to study and prepare for exams?

5. Describe a mistake you made and how you resolved it.

6. Tell us about a time when you faced a personal conflict and how you overcame it.

7. What experience do you have related to manual dexterity?

8. Why the dip in grades?

9. How did you study for the DAT?

10. Describe a time when you were presented with a challenge and what did you do?

11. How have you developed good time management skills?

12. How have you developed good organization skills?

13. What was your hardest class in undergrad and how did you find success in that class?

14. We noticed you withdrew from a class, why?

15. In the past, what has happened to you that has made the biggest impact on your life?

16. Dentists require a great deal of hand coordination. Do you have any relevant experience?

17. What would you say was the best day or experience you ever had?

18. What is your greatest failure?

Scenario-Based Interview Questions:

Scenario-based questions provide a practical lens through which your experiences and background can be evaluated, allowing you to showcase your character and decision-making abilities. Here are some questions you might expect in your dental school interview:

1. A woman comes into your clinic with perfectly healthy teeth, and wants them all extracted. What do you do?

2. You are running a clinic on a very busy day, and a man comes in in severe pain, who you have never seen but needs immediate care. You already have a room full of patients waiting to be seen. What do you do?

3. A classmate tells you that they cheated on a test. What do you do?

4. A man comes into your office and demands to be seen immediately. What do you do?

5. If you are on a team and some of your team members aren’t getting along. What do you do?

In-Depth Interview Questions:

For a deeper understanding of your professional philosophies, motivations, and ethical considerations, expect questions like:

1. What does diversity mean to you?

2. What's better: integrity or intellect?

3. What would you do if you caught a classmate cheating?

4. How would you define success after a 15 year career?

5. What does professionalism mean to you?

6. Why is diversity important at a dental school?

7. In your opinion, how has the dental profession evolved over the past 25 years?

8. What do you think is the hardest part of dentistry?

9. What do you think you will struggle the most with while in dental school?

10. Name three challenges you'll face in dental school.

11. How do you earn someone's trust?

12. What is the social responsibility of a dentist?

13. Have you been involved in any ethical situations?

14. What is an important quality that a dentist should have?

15. Why should we accept you over someone with similar or better credentials?

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