Why did you apply to our school?
Whether you did real homework or mass-applied. They can spot a recycled answer in one sentence.
How to structure your answer
- 1Two or three distinctive features
- 2Why each matters to you specifically
- 3What you'd do with them here
- Name specifics: a clinic model, a community rotation, a research center, a named faculty member, curriculum structure
- Connect each to something concrete in your own history
- Mention a person you spoke with if you did
- Say what you'd participate in on campus
A strong answer
What lands
I applied to your school for three main reasons.
First, the strong clinical experience. I spoke with a student who told me she sees about six patients a day, compared to two at her friend’s dental school. I want as many repetitions as possible because I believe that’s how you become a great clinician. I learned that firsthand playing the clarinet. Years of practice made me a great clarinet player, and I want to bring that same dedication to dentistry.
Second, I love that your school has all of the major specialty clinics. Prosthodontics, oral medicine, endodontics, orthodontics, periodontics, oral surgery, pediatrics. I want exposure to every specialty so I can understand what they do and become a more well-rounded dentist.
Finally, I’m excited about the Honors Esthetics Program. I worked for a general dentist who did beautiful full-mouth esthetic cases with bonding, veneers, and crowns. That’s something I’d love to do in my own career, and this program would help me build that foundation.
Three named reasons, each with something behind it: a student’s number, the specialty clinics, and a program he would actually use.
A weak answer
What most people say
The program has an excellent reputation and really strong clinical training, which is what I'm looking for most. I've heard great things about the faculty, and the patient population is diverse, so I'd see a wide range of cases before I graduate. It also seems like a supportive environment, and from what I can tell I'd fit in well with the culture.
Survives a find-and-replace of the school name, which is the test it fails.
The trap
⚠Anything that would be true of forty schools — 'strong clinical training,' 'great reputation,' 'diverse patient population.' If your answer survives a find-and-replace of the school name, it's not an answer.
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
- 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
- Why should we pick you over an applicant with the same GPA and DAT score?Fit