University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry

No change 😐

3 out of 10

7 out of 10

10 out of 10

10 out of 10

The interview day started at 8am in the lobby of the dental clinic and we all waited around for about 15 minutes before the admissions guy (Bob MacKenzie) comes and brings us up one floor to a conference room. Then we all get to have a continental breakfast (tea, coffee, muffins, danish, croissants, bagels, juice). While we eat, there's a bunch of speakers that come to give a talk (Director of Admissions, Associate Dean, Dean of Administration, Financial Aid, faculty member). Then we have lunch at 12pm (cafeteria food - sandwich, bag of chips, fruit, cookie) and around 12:50-1pm we get randomly assigned to arriving interviewers. There's 2 interviews, one with a dental student and the other with a faculty member. Both interviews were extremely laid-back. With the faculty interviewer, it was more of a conversation with only a few direct questions thrown in. The interviewer talked a lot about himself and his experiences. It was cool getting to know him, but we went waaay overtime because of that and ended up going for over an hour when it's supposed to be for 30 minutes. Not sure what that means. He wrote stuff down on a notepad the whole time until 45 minutes into it, then he put it down and just kept chatting. The dental student interviewer had a list and went right off the list (you interview with one other person at the same time). Right when we sat down, she told us, "Congratulations on getting this far because when you interview here it usually means they want you. We just want to make sure that you're normal." Lol. She didn't write anything down at all, I think she waited until the very end to fill out the evaluations so the whole time we were speaking she was listening and nodding her head. Afterwards we got a tour of the clinic and sat in on a really good lecture about the different types of crowns available. Each student had their own station, flat screen computer and mannequin, and shared dental tools with the person next to them. After the interview day, I wanted to go here even more than before! There are so many opportunities for the dental students (research, community service, shadowing dental specialists) and students here have no problem passing the national boards (I think it's like a 96% or above first time passing rate on the first boards). UCSF is no doubt one of the best dental schools in the nation.

How have you acquainted yourself with dentistry? Why do you want to go to UCSF? What makes you a unique applicant and why do you think you'll fit in well with our class? Do you have any questions for me? Where are you from? So tell me a little bit about yourself.

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Read my AADSAS app, secondary app, mock interviews, SDN interview feedback. Really though, I went in over-prepared because the interviews are really laid back. They genuinely want to get to know you as a person and whether you'd fit in with their class. So don't memorize answers and just be yourself.

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The preclinic labs were a lot nicer than what the other SDNers made it out to be. We got to sit in on a lecture (which was VERY cool) and the students seemed happy...the lecturer was very enthusiastic and the whole class of 80-or-so erupted in laughter several times during the lecture. A lot of people specialize after getting their DDS since UCSF is such a prestigious school. The admissions people said over 35%, but the faculty interviewer that I talked to said that it was like 65% during his day.

The cost of living. I think housing in SF rivals NY! It rained really hard all day. Also, they don't really feed you that well so make sure you eat a good breakfast before you go. Lunch is cafeteria food.

That the interviews were literally right after lunch and you get assigned to the interviewers randomly, literally a few seconds before the interview. I had to cram my tuna sandwich down my throat and take a big swig of water to was it down. Also, the girl's bathroom down the hall has only ONE stall, so make sure you go before everyone else otherwise you're lining up behind like 6 girls after lunch when your interview is 5 minutes away.

10 out of 10

10 out of 10

10 out of 10

Admissions staff

Neutral

In state

0-1 hour

Automobile

< $100

yes