Why should we pick you over an applicant with the same GPA and DAT score?
Confidence without arrogance. Deliberately pointed to see if you get flustered.
The trap
Disparaging the hypothetical other applicant, or deflecting entirely with 'I can't speak to anyone else.' They asked you to advocate for yourself. Do it.
How to structure your answer
Accept the premise calmly → name what the numbers don't capture → prove it → tie to their class.
- Don't get defensive or dismiss the numbers
- Name specific non-numeric strengths
- Prove each with evidence
- Land it as contribution rather than competition
A weak answer
That's a fair question. I'd say I'm a really hard worker and I'm genuinely passionate about dentistry. I don't know anything about the other applicant's story, so I don't think I can really compare the two of us. But I know how badly I want this, and I don't believe anyone in your class would work harder than I would.
Deflects, then asserts effort — the two things every other applicant also claims.
A stronger answer
Fair — the numbers say we can both handle the science. What they don't show is four years teaching high school chemistry, which means explaining one hard idea nine different ways in a single period until it lands for the last kid. I had a student, Dev, who failed the first two units and passed the state exam in May. That's what I'd bring to a partner in preclinic who can't get a prep right, and to a patient who's scared and isn't saying so. I'll be slower than most at the bench. I'd be useful in the other direction.
Accepts the premise, names a non-numeric strength, proves it, concedes a real weakness.
The second one gives them something to picture him doing inside their building. The first gives them a feeling they've heard forty times today.
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.
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