What questions do you have for us?
Depth of interest and quality of thinking. Your questions are scored as much as your answers.
How to structure your answer
- 1Two or three prepared, specific questions
- 2Follow up genuinely on their answers
- 3Close by thanking them
- Ask things the website cannot answer
- Good ones: what surprises students in third year, how the school supports someone who's struggling, what they'd change
- Ask them something personal — why they teach here
- Actually listen and follow up rather than moving down a list
A strong answer
What lands
I have two questions. First, what surprises your students most in third year, when they go from typodonts to actual people? Everyone tells me that transition is the hard part, and I’d like to know what exactly makes it hard. Second, and this one’s more personal: you’ve been teaching here a long time. That’s great. What made you stay?
Questions the website can't answer, one of them personal, each with a reason attached.
A weak answer
What most people say
I did have a couple. Could you tell me a little about the class size, and how the curriculum is structured across the four years? I'd also be curious what your board pass rates have looked like recently. I just want to make sure I really understand the program before I have to make a decision.
Every one of those answers is on the school's website, and they know it.
The trap
⚠Asking anything whose answer is on the school's website. Class size or tuition tells them you didn't look. And 'I don't have any' ends the interview on a flat note.
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