If you moved here for school, would anyone be moving with you?
Whether you've thought realistically about the life around dental school — a partner, children, a parent who depends on you — and planned for it. It isn't a screen against having people; they want to know you'll be supported.
The trap
Apologizing for a partner or kids as if they were a liability, or giving a cagey non-answer that makes the move sound unplanned. Students with families succeed all the time; the ones who struggle are the ones who hadn't planned.
How to structure your answer
Answer plainly → who, if anyone, and what the move means for them → how you've planned for it → what that support will mean for you.
- Share only what you're comfortable sharing — a short, honest answer is enough
- If someone is coming, show the logistics are thought through: work, school, childcare
- If you're coming alone, say how you'll build a life here
- Frame the people in your life as support, not as an obstacle
A weak answer
Probably not. I'll most likely just come on my own. I haven't really thought that far ahead yet. I guess I'll figure it out once I know where I'm going, and I'm sure I'll meet people in my class.
'I haven't thought that far ahead' is the part they remember.
A stronger answer
My wife would. She's a nurse, so she can work almost anywhere, and she's already looked at the two hospitals near campus. We don't have kids yet. The honest part is that first year I'll be the one who's never home, and we've talked about that a lot, including her keeping her own friends and routine instead of waiting on me. Having someone at home who's done twelve-hour shifts is going to make me a steadier student, not a distracted one.
Answers directly, shows the move is planned, and frames his partner as support.
The first applicant is hoping it works out. The second has already had the hard conversation.
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.
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