University of Southern California Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry

There were no specific questions directed at a particular student.

Looked over SDN, read information posted on their website.

The PBL format, the nice facilities at the school, all of the time the students have to study, and the L.A. weather.

The high cost of tuition and over-all cost of attendance.

On the day of the interview all of the applicants, about 30 total, were gathered in a lecture hall on the fourth floor of the dental school. There was a presentation about the school, the history of PBL (Problem Based Learning), an overview of financial aid, lunch with dental students (we were given a $5 voucher for the school cafeteria - bring some extra cash for parking and additional food as the $5 doesn't go very far) a tour, and an 'interview.' The interview consisted of a mock PBL session. About ten students were brought together in a group and given a mock case. Two admissions officers (in my case no professors or students were present) presided over the session, which consisted of being presented with a problem and the group trying to work through it. There was a fact gather phase, an 'ideas/theory' phase, and a 'what we need to know in order to proceed' section. This was repeated three times, with each time more information being presented about the case. At the end we were given the outcome of the case (it was based on a clogged drain in an old home). The facilitators told us that they were interested in seeing how we interact in a small group. It was also a chance to find out if an independant-study format would be a good fit for each candidate. The key to doing well in the session is to be courteous, don't speak over others, and don't be loud and domineering. There was no other interview other than the mock PBL session. The school is very nice, the area is not that bad, and the students were all very friendly and willing to talk. One thing that I liked about the format is all of the time that is available to students: at USC students only attend school three days a week. The rest of the time is spent doing research for class. Each of the students said that they have plenty of time, don't feel stressed, and said that they are learning just as much, if not more, than their friends at other schools (such as UCLA and UOP), and that is reflected in their high board scores. In addition, the school stated that finding patients is never an issue and as well as scheduling time in the operatories. I feel that the PBL format would be a very good fit for me, although the one thing that is hard to swallow is the very, very high tuition at USC. They do offer some rather generous scholarships, but they don't use them as recruiting devices - thus students are notified of them until well into their first year (it sounded like winning the lottery).