Most of our students were at the top of their college class. Here, half of them will be below average for the first time in their lives. How will you handle that?
Ego resilience. This is a well-documented shock in professional school and a real predictor of who struggles.
How to structure your answer
- 1Acknowledge it honestly
- 2A time your relative standing dropped
- 3How you responded
- 4How you'd separate your worth from your rank
- Admit it would be hard — denial isn't strength here
- Give an actual instance of being outperformed
- Show you can learn from stronger peers instead of resenting them
- Name where you'd get help early rather than hiding
A strong answer
What lands
It would sting. I graduated first out of sixty-one in a town with one stoplight, and then I did a summer research program at a big university and I was plainly the weakest person on that floor. Two weeks of nodding along in group meeting like I followed it. Then I started writing down every term I didn't know and taking them to one of the grad students at lunch, and he was kind enough to break it down for me. I would use this same approach to succeed in dental school. I would be honest with myself with what material I don’t understand and I’d ask for help. Then we move on to the next lecture and do it all again.
Admits it would sting, gives the summer it happened, and the fix is asking for help by name.
A weak answer
What most people say
Honestly, grades have never been the main thing for me. I just want to learn as much as I can and become a good dentist, so if I end up in the middle of the class, that's fine with me. I'd much rather be surrounded by people who push me than be at the top of a weaker group.
Nobody who finished at the top of their class believes that, and the room knows it.
The trap
⚠'Grades don't matter to me, I just want to learn.' Nobody who got here believes that about themselves. The honest answer — this will sting and here's what I'd do with it — is the one that lands.
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 rigor questions
- Dental school is largely what you make of it. The students who come out genuinely good are the ones in the sim lab at nine at night, on their own time, drilling the same prep over and over. Are you prepared to do that?Rigor
- How do you respond when you put in the work and the result still isn't good enough?Rigor
- Dental school is equal parts memorizing an enormous amount of material and repeating a physical skill until it's right. Which of those do you find harder?Rigor