10 Essential Tips For Your Upcoming Dentistry Interview
About the author
Currently a fifth-year dental student at Barts and the London, Adam interviewed at and received 4/4 of his dental school offers (Barts and the London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield). His academic success has continued at university where he has achieved Distinctions in all of his end-of-year exams to date, on top of serving as Social Secretary for Barts Dental Society and competing at county and regional levels of Cross-country running.
He has previously participated as an interviewer for his university, and so is well equipped with the knowledge and top tips you need to ace your interview!
Best of Luck
Adam
Article written by Adam Moosa 5th BDS Dentistry Student | FORMER STUDENT INTERVIEWER FOR BARTS AND THE LONDON, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY
Do your research. Interviewers primarily are looking to explore your motivations to not only study Dentistry, but also to study at their specific Dental School. “Why [insert university]” is a guaranteed question for any Dentistry interview. What’s the teaching style? The size of year groups? Any research the Dental School is particularly famous for? Anything interesting about the local area? Have all this ready to go on the day.
Know your personal statement. Inside out, back to front. If you’re not familiar with it on the day, it’ll look like you had someone else write it for you. Be ready to expand on anything you wrote in there. Did some work experience? What were the three most important things you learnt there? Led a team? What challenging situations did you encounter and how did you overcome them? Play for a sports team? What qualities did this help develop and how will it make you a better dentist?
Practice questions, not the answers. You’ll often hear people telling you not to “memorise” answers as you tend to sound robotic. They’re right. That being said, you still need to have a coherent idea of the points you want to make when answering questions. Think about your interview as a conversation with someone: you haven’t previously rehearsed word-for-word what you’ll say, but you still know what to say to get a point across. Practice answering the common interview questions and get feedback on verbal and non-verbal communication. Don’t make a script.
Develop your manual dexterity. Some interviews will require you to demonstrate your manual dexterity. A lot of people don’t prepare for it and fall short. Don’t be one of those people. Unsure where to start? Sewing, playing an instrument, using tools, origami and anything fiddly you can lay your hands on will do the trick. Once you’re in dental school, it’ll work wonders for you too.
Preparation, preparation, preparation. We’ve been through preparing for questions, but don’t forget the small stuff too the day before. Are your clothes ready? Food prepared? Internet stable? Quiet environment established? These things may seem small but must be done in advance to make the day as smooth and stress-free as possible.
De-stress. The most underrated and underused tip of this article. We’re so wound up with our lives that we often forget to unwind. De-stressing can calm your mind, increase your focus and improve performance. Type in “mindfulness exercises” into YouTube and you’ll see what I mean.
Don’t dwell on previous questions during the interview. When I speak to former interviewees about their previous bad experiences, the most common thing I hear is “x question went badly, it shook my confidence and I just couldn’t recover”. It’s sad to see given how much they prepare. If you think you messed up a question or station, forget about it and stay focused on the current situation. It’s not over till it’s over.
Reflect. After your interview, it’s important to look back on your performance and think about how you can improve for the future. If you have more than one interview, this is especially important so that the next one goes even better. Reflection in dentistry is hugely important and interviewers love to hear about it as a quality (hint hint). Experience is the best teacher, so use it.
Seek help if it’s getting too much. This isn’t easy, no matter what anyone says. It’s a competitive and sometimes exhausting process. If you feel you can’t cope at any time, seek help from those you trust. Don’t bottle it up. And if you don’t know where to turn for advice, contact one of us at IWTBAD. We’ll help you out.
Smile. Far from being a cliché one-word-final-tip, this is the single most important thing people forget to do during their interviews. It’ll relax you, and show the interviewer you’re cool under pressure and that you’re genuinely pleased to be here. Letting your personality and good humour shine is how you make yourself memorable!
I hope you found this useful. I know it’s easier said than done, but I promise it’s worth it in the end. As always, if you need any more help, contact us at IWTBAD. We’ll sort you out.
How to contact Adam
Email: adam.iwtbad@gmail.com
Instagram: adam_moosa98
Book one-to-one interview mentoring with Adam: linktr.ee/adammoosa