Where do you see yourself in ten years?

Whether you have a direction without being rigidly attached to a plan you can't yet make.

How to structure your answer

1Paint a concrete picture
2Name what's flexible and what isn't
3Connect to the training you're asking for

Be specific enough to be real: setting, patient population, kind of practice
Name the values driving it rather than just the job title
Leave honest room for the field to change you

A strong answer

What lands

I’ll be working as a dentist, in a private practice that I own, in my hometown. We have a shortage of dentists in the area, especially dentists who accept Medicaid, so I would love to fill that void. For what kind of dentist I’ll be. Like periodontist, endodontist, general dentist. That is still to be determined. I’m excited to learn more about each speciality in dental school.

A concrete picture of the practice, and she says plainly which part is still open.

A weak answer

What most people say

In ten years I see myself as a practice owner with a well-established patient base, hopefully with an associate working alongside me by then. I'd like to be involved in my community and maybe mentor students coming up behind me. Mostly I want to be genuinely good at what I do and have a practice I'm proud of.

A picture with no place in it; anyone here could have said it.

The trap

⚠Either extreme. 'I have no idea' reads as drift; a rigid ten-year plan with revenue targets reads as someone who won't learn from the next four years.

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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