Have you talked to any dental students who go here?
Whether your interest in the school goes beyond its website. A conversation with a current student is the best evidence of real homework, and what you took from it tells them what you care about.
The trap
Claiming conversations you didn't have, or naming a student and a detail you can't back up. Interviewers often know their students, and a thin story falls apart at the first follow-up.
How to structure your answer
Yes or no, honestly → who, and how you connected → one specific thing you learned → how it shaped your interest.
- One real conversation beats a vague 'I've talked to a few'
- Say how you found them: a pre-dental club, an alum, social media, the tour today
- Share something you learned that isn't on the website
- If you haven't yet, say who you plan to talk to, and ask them about it
A weak answer
Yes, I've talked to a few students and they all said really positive things about the school. They said the faculty are very supportive and the clinical experience is great. That really made me want to come here.
Unnamed students saying the brochure out loud.
A stronger answer
One, properly. Priya, a second-year who was in my pre-dental club at State. We talked for about forty minutes last month. What stuck was that she said the sim lab staying open until ten isn't a perk, it's how people get through the first practical, and the upperclassmen run informal sessions there on Tuesdays. I also asked what she'd change, and she said the commute from the cheaper housing. That's why I'm looking at the neighborhood by the light rail.
A real person, a detail the website wouldn't mention, and a decision it changed.
'A few students said great things' is a feeling. A Tuesday session in the sim lab is evidence.
These are illustrations, not scripts. An answer you memorize sounds memorized — the point is the shape and the specificity, in your own words and about your own life.
Reading it isn't the same as saying it.
Most people can explain a good answer and still fall apart saying one out loud. Admitted asks you all 100 questions in a faculty voice, records you, and scores your pace and filler words.
Try one interview freeGet the guideMore fit questions
- Why did you apply to our school?Fit
- What will you contribute to our class?Fit
- If we admitted you, what would you want to get involved in here?Fit
- What other schools are you considering? If we accepted you today, would you come?Fit
- What concerns do you have about dental school?Fit
- Is there anything we haven't asked that you'd want us to know?Fit