University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine Individual responses

⭐ Overall Impressions ▼

How did the interview impress you?

Positively

What was the stress level of the interview?

6 out of 10

How you think you did?

8 out of 10

How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?

9 out of 10

How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?

8 out of 10

💬 Interview Questions ▼

What is one of the specific questions they asked you?

What were you impressions interviewing at Harvard?

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What would you parents say are you two worst qualities?

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What would your parents say are you two best qualities?

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What was the most interesting question?

What kind of person are you? Are you a "nerd"? Are you nice?

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What was the most difficult question?

If you could have dinner with 5 people, living or dead, who would you choose?

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🤝 Interview Format and Logistics ▼

How long was the interview?

30 minutes

How many people interviewed you?

1

What was the style of the interview?

One-on-one

What type of interview was it?

Open file

Was this interview in-person or virtual?

No responses

Where did the interview take place?

At the school

📍 On-Site Experience ▼

Who was the tour given by?

Student

How did the tour guide seem?

Enthusiastic

How do you rank the facilities?

9 out of 10

What is your in-state status?

Out of state

What were your total hours spent traveling?

4-6 hours

What was your primary mode of travel?

Train or subway

About how much did you spend on room, food, and travel?

$301-$400

What airport did you fly into?

No responses

Where did you stay?

Hotel

What is the name of the hotel you stayed in?

Sheraton University City

How would you rate the hotel?

10 out of 10

Would you recommend the hotel?

yes

What is your ranking of this school's location?

10 out of 10

What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?

10 out of 10

What are your comments on where you stayed?

No responses

✅ Interview Preparation and Impressions ▼

How is the friendliness of the admissions office?

No responses

How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?

No responses

How did you prepare for the interview?

SDN, read the web site a small amount. Got sleep the night before.

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What impressed you positively?

Offer really, really good preparation with a variety of early clinical skill-teaching (DentSim), option of research, professors who really want to teach (sometimes rare in a dental school). Evans building is gorgeous, and everything you need is right there - library, all the clinics, etc. etc. Right in the middle of the city, if you like urban life!

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What impressed you negatively?

They have the somewhat old-fashioned view that dentistry is for some reason its own science completely unrelated to the systematic body; dental school is away from med school, students stay in it all day, little scientific integration. Also, VERY expensive, but chances for a dean scholarship.

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What did you wish you had known ahead of time?

That there would be a public transit strike and cabs are expensive (lots of traffic)! Bring LOADS of money for your trip.

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What are your general comments?

My interview was....odd, actually. I had Dr. Rossman and he has a sort of wry, sarcastic humor. (The FIRST thing he said to me, as we were walking to his room was, "I have a piano in my office. Your entire interview is contingent upon a musical audition." I laughed and was glad he read my file, but it put me on my guard right away! haha). At first it almost seemed a big challenging and condescending...like when he asked what my "cons" were about Penn so far and then tried to convince me otherwise. But by the end I saw that he really liked when I challenged HIM, and we got this great sort of dry humor going on. But it was a different dynamic than the other schools. The questions were a little more...exposing (see below), yet the interview was very short. They'll probably be impressed either way, as long as you just relax and don't take it too seriously. It ended up being fun! As for the school, it seems to have a really great program, and if you get one of 25 dean's awards, you only have to pay half tuition. But I didn't like the exclusive view on dentistry (only America has it as a whole other "medicine", not treated as doctors of the oral cavity), and that they almost made it sound like you'd be an idiot to not believe they had the most amazing program in the country. They do encourage you to get a master's in something while you're there, the student tourguides were nice, lunch was good...the day was well organized. It seems to live up to its name and you're well-prepared for specialties (of which they have every kind and a high acceptance rate!). But I didn't see anything enormously remarkable to make it worth 72K a year. Oh, DentSim seemed like a great tool to make sure you sit right and use good ergonomics while using a handpiece! Why isn't it at other schools???

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What are your suggestions for the admissions office?

No responses

University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine

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