Questions to Ask During a Dental School Interview
For applicants with a dental school interview coming up, who will hear 'do you have any questions for us?' several times in one day. The list opens with questions for the interviewer across the table, then follows the degree itself: the first two years, the clinic and its patients, boards and outcomes, student life, and cost and offers. Each has a note on what a good or bad answer tells you, what to ask next, or who on the day is the right person to ask.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Your interviewer
What do you like most about working at this school, and why have you stayed?
Why ask it
It is an easy question to answer warmly, so it settles the room, and what they pick shows you the school from the inside: the students, the clinic, a colleague, the city. Follow up on whatever detail you could not have read on the website.
What do the students who do well here have in common?
Why ask it
The answer describes who the programme is built for. If they say organisation and stamina, the workload is the test. If they say asking for help early, the faculty expect you to come to them. Hold it against yourself honestly, and compare it later with what a fourth-year says.
What sets this school apart from the other dental schools you know?
Why ask it
An interviewer who trained or taught somewhere else can compare two schools from the inside, which a brochure cannot. A concrete answer, such as how early clinic starts or how patients are assigned, is worth more than 'the people'. If they trained here, turn it round and ask what has changed since their own first year.
What surprises new students most when they move from the simulation lab to real patients?
Why ask it
A manikin does not flinch, talk or arrive late, and faculty have watched many classes meet that for the first time. An answer with detail in it, such as paired appointments or a term of assisting first, tells you how the school eases the move.
What is one thing you would change about this school if it were up to you?
Why ask it
A faculty member who names something specific, such as too few chairs, a crowded second year or slow repairs in the lab, is being straight with you, and everything else they say gains weight. 'Nothing comes to mind' is a polite way of declining. Put the same question to a student at lunch and see whether the two answers meet.
What do you teach, and in which year would I have you?
Why ask it
It tells you whether the people who interview are the people students see every week. If the answer is the third-year clinic, your questions about waiting for a faculty check have just found their best source.
When a student's hand skills are behind their grades, what does the school do about it?
Why ask it
Few applicants have held a handpiece, so nobody in the room knows yet how your hands will take to it. Extra lab sessions and a named instructor are a good answer. Being told that people usually catch up, with nothing behind it, means you would be finding the help yourself.
What mistake do you see first-years make in their first term?
Why ask it
Expect an answer about time more than talent, such as letting lab work slide while studying for a written exam. Whatever they name is free advice from someone who may grade you, and it shows where the term is tightest.
What are you working on outside your teaching, in research or in practice?
Why ask it
If it is research, the useful follow-up is whether dental students have joined the project and how they got onto it. If it is a practice, find out what they do there differently from what the school teaches.
If I get in, what should I do with the months before the first day?
Why ask it
Some will say rest, and mean it. Others suggest an anatomy course or something that trains the hands, such as drawing or carving, and that tells you what they think first-years arrive short of.
Was there anything in my file that you would like to hear more about before we finish?
Why ask it
Ask it only where the interviewer has read your application. In a closed-file interview they have not, and the question falls flat. Where they have, it is a last chance to put a low grade or a gap year into your own words, so have that explanation ready in two sentences before you ask.
Do you sit on the admissions committee, or do you send it a score?
Why ask it
You learn whether you have been talking to someone who votes or someone who hands in a form. Leave the wider question of how much the interview counts for admissions staff, who can answer it without it sounding like a request for your result.
First two years
When do students first pick up a handpiece, and when do they first treat a patient?
Why ask it
Drilling on plastic teeth can start in the first weeks or much later, and the first patient can be a year or more after that. The gap is how long you practise before a person is in the chair, and second-years can say whether it felt too long or too short.
Are courses graded pass or fail or with letters, and does the school rank the class?
Why ask it
The two halves go together. Pass and fail with a hidden rank still sorts the class, and letter grades with no rank can be gentler than they sound. Lectures are sometimes graded one way and lab practicals another, so ask about each separately.
What is the simulation lab like, and can students get in outside scheduled hours?
Why ask it
Hand skills come from repetition, and repetition needs access. A well-equipped lab that is locked at five o'clock is a real limitation, and one that opens in the evening only when an instructor happens to be free is not much better.
How are practical exams in the simulation lab graded, and by whom?
Why ask it
A preparation is judged by eye, and two instructors can score the same tooth differently. Ask whether the graders are calibrated against each other, and whether you get the tooth back with written feedback or only a number.
How much of a first-year week is lecture, how much is lab, and how much is left over?
Why ask it
A curriculum diagram lists the subjects and says nothing about the life. The part that is left over decides whether students have evenings, so put the same question to a first-year later and see whether the two answers match.
Are the biomedical sciences taught with the medical students or to the dental class on its own?
Why ask it
Shared courses tend to cover the whole body in more depth and run on the medical school's timetable, which can squeeze lab time. Courses built for the dental class are usually tied more closely to the mouth and the clinic. Neither is the better design, but a first-year knows what theirs felt like.
Are exams spread out one at a time, or do several land in the same week?
Why ask it
A block week with four written exams and a practical makes for a very different term from a steady test every Monday. A second-year can tell you which week of the year was the worst and what was in it.
What help is there for a student who falls behind in the science courses?
Why ask it
Tutoring by older students, review sessions before exams and a named adviser are the usual forms. The part that differs is whether help is offered when a grade first slips or only after a failed course, so ask who notices first. A first-year can tell you whether using it is ordinary or something people keep quiet.
How do students learn to give local anaesthetic: on models, on each other, or both?
Why ask it
Some schools have classmates practise injections on one another, and it is better to hear that today than in the second year. If it is required, ask what the alternative is for a student who cannot take part.
How is posture taught in the simulation lab, and when are students fitted for loupes?
Why ask it
How you sit and see is learned in the first months at a manikin, well before clinic. A school that takes it seriously has an instructor correcting the way you sit as well as what you cut, and can say in which term loupes arrive.
What research can dental students join, and when do most of them start?
Why ask it
A summer project after the first year is one common way in, and schools differ on whether there is a place for everyone who wants one. Ask how a student finds a supervisor and whether the work gets presented anywhere. If research does not interest you, the question to ask is whether any of it is required.
Is the curriculum being redesigned, and would my class be the first through the new version?
Why ask it
A programme in the middle of a redesign means the students you meet are not describing the course you would take. That can be a good sign or a difficult one, and the way to tell is to ask what problem the change is meant to fix.
Clinic
Are clinical requirements based on procedure numbers, competency assessments, or both?
Why ask it
A count of procedures can turn the final year into a search for the right patient. The case to raise is the student who has passed every competency but is short on numbers, because that is where the two systems collide.
Is there a waiting list of patients for the student clinic, or a shortage?
Why ask it
Patient supply depends on the surrounding population and on how hard the school recruits, and it decides who finishes on time. A clinic can be full of fillings and still short of the dentures or crowns a student needs, so ask which kind of case is hardest to find.
Do students compete for patients, or are cases assigned?
Why ask it
Where students find their own, the ones with family and friends nearby start ahead. Where a coordinator assigns, the thing to learn is how a student short on one procedure gets the next suitable patient, and whether students think it is done fairly.
Is the clinic run as group practices, or does the patient move between specialty departments?
Why ask it
In a group practice model you usually keep one patient through the whole treatment plan with the same few instructors. In a departmental clinic the patient is passed between floors and schedules, so ask how long a plan with a filling, a root canal and a crown takes to finish.
How many chairs are in the student clinic, and how many students are scheduled per session?
Why ask it
If there are more students than chairs, somebody is assisting or sitting out each session. That matters little early on and a great deal in the final year, when a lost half-day can be the appointment a requirement depended on.
How many students does one instructor cover in the simulation lab and on the clinic floor?
Why ask it
The two numbers are usually different, and the clinic one sets how long you sit beside a patient waiting for a signature. Get the figure from a third-year as well, because the ratio on paper counts every instructor rostered that day, present or not.
How many steps of a procedure need a faculty check before I can go on?
Why ask it
A single filling can need a start check, a preparation check and a final check, and each one is a wait with the patient's mouth open. It is worth knowing whether fourth-years are trusted with fewer checks than third-years, because that is where the day speeds up.
When two instructors disagree about my case, whose decision stands?
Why ask it
It comes up in clinics where part-time dentists rotate through, since each teaches the way they practise. A school that has thought about it can say who decides, often whoever approved the treatment plan. If nobody can say, the student is usually the one who redoes the work.
Do students work with a dental assistant, or do they assist one another?
Why ask it
Working alone is slower and unlike the practice you will join afterwards. Setting up and breaking down the chair counts too: where students do it themselves, that time comes out of every appointment.
How much of their own laboratory work do students do?
Why ask it
Pouring models, waxing and making temporaries teaches you what a good impression looks like, and it also eats evenings. Ask what goes to an outside laboratory, who pays for it, and how long a case sits waiting to come back.
Which digital tools do students use on real patients, such as intraoral scanners, 3D imaging or in-house milling?
Why ask it
A scanner shown on the tour may be booked weeks ahead or kept for the residents. Ask how many cases a typical student takes from scan to finished restoration, and whether conventional impressions are still taught, since the practice that hires you may use either.
Who books the patients and collects their payments: the student or front-desk staff?
Why ask it
Phoning your own patients and chasing balances can take hours a week that count toward nothing. If staff do it, the trade is less say over who lands in your chair.
What do patients pay in the student clinic, and what happens when one cannot afford the plan?
Why ask it
Lower fees are a large part of why people come to a school clinic, and a patient who cannot pay for the crown you need is a requirement that stalls. Listen for a fund that covers those cases, and take note if students mention paying a patient's fee themselves.
How do the specialty residents in the building affect what dental students get to do?
Why ask it
Residents can take the complex cases before a student ever sees them, or they can teach at the next chair and let you assist. A school with no residencies has neither effect. Fourth-years know which way it runs.
Is there an urgent care clinic that students staff, and how many sessions does each student get?
Why ask it
Walk-in patients in pain are where students learn to diagnose quickly, and often where much of the extraction experience comes from. If sessions are scarce, find out whether they are shared out evenly or go to whoever signs up first.
Is the clinic open through the summer, and are students expected to be in it?
Why ask it
A clinic that runs most of the year gives more chair time and keeps a patient's treatment moving, and it also means short breaks for two years. Ask how much leave third and fourth years really get, and whether it can be taken for residency interviews.
How many weeks do fourth-years spend at community clinics or hospitals away from the school?
Why ask it
Outside sites tend to run at the pace of a working clinic, so a fourth-year can compare a day there with a day in the school's own chairs. It is worth knowing whether procedures done away count toward graduation, and whether the placement is one you choose or one you are sent to.
Outcomes
What share of students pass the national board exam on their first attempt?
Why ask it
Many schools publish this, so check the website first and, if the figure is there, ask about the direction instead: whether the last few classes have held steady. Ask too in which term students sit the exam, because a class that takes it during a heavy clinic term has less room to prepare.
Is board preparation built into the timetable, or left to students' own time?
Why ask it
Some schools clear dedicated study weeks and others expect revision to fit around a full clinic schedule. Find out whether the school pays for a review course or a question bank, and get a fourth-year to say how much clear time they really had.
Which clinical licensing exam do most graduates take, and is it held at the school?
Why ask it
Licensing rules differ by state and by country, and the exam a school hosts may not be accepted everywhere. If you plan to practise somewhere else, ask how recent graduates got licensed there, then check with that licensing board yourself.
If a student fails a practical or a clinical competency, is it a retake, a summer, or a repeated year?
Why ask it
The distance between a retake and a repeated year is a year of tuition and a year of income. A clear answer gives the steps in order. A vague one is worth checking against the student handbook, if the school publishes it.
When students graduate late here, what is usually the reason?
Why ask it
Being short of a requirement, failing a competency and retaking a board exam point to three different problems: patient supply, teaching, or exam preparation. Follow up with how long the extra time usually runs and whether the student pays tuition for it.
Which procedures do students usually graduate having done only a few times?
Why ask it
Molar root canals, surgical extractions and implants are common answers, and an honest list tells you what you would still be learning in your first job. A school that says its graduates are ready for everything has not answered the question.
What are last year's graduates doing now, and how many stayed in the area?
Why ask it
The split between private practice, group or corporate practice, public health, the military and further training shows what graduates of this school are prepared for and drawn to. If you hope to practise nearby, the number who stayed is a measure of the alumni you could call on when looking for a first job.
Of the students who applied to specialty programmes last year, how many got a place?
Why ask it
Have them name the specialties, because a strong record in one says little about another. If you might apply yourself, it also matters whether the school ranks its students or grades pass and fail, since residency programmes read the two differently.
How do students get time in the specialties before they have to decide on one?
Why ask it
Specialty applications tend to be due before a student has done much of that specialty in clinic. Electives, shadowing in the residents' clinics and student specialty clubs are the usual routes, and the detail to pin down is how early a first-year can start.
Is there room in the four years for electives or a second degree such as public health or business?
Why ask it
A combined degree usually adds time, cost or both, so ask how long it takes and who pays for the extra part. Electives are the smaller version of the same question: a list in the catalogue means little if the clinic schedule leaves no free half-day to take one, and a fourth-year knows whether it does.
How many graduates go on to a general practice residency, and is that mostly by choice?
Why ask it
A residency year is required for a licence in some places and optional in others, so ask how it works where you want to practise. Where it is optional, a large share choosing it can mean graduates wanted hospital experience or did not yet feel ready, and a fourth-year will tell you which.
How is the business side of dentistry taught, and who teaches it?
Why ask it
Many graduates are reading an associate contract within months of leaving. A course run by someone who has owned a practice is a different thing from a few lectures in the final term, and the hours it gets show how seriously it is taken.
What do recent graduates say they wish they had learned more of here?
Why ask it
A school that surveys its alumni will have a ready answer, and the follow-up is what changed as a result. No answer at all usually means nobody has asked them.
Student life
Is the class more collaborative or competitive, and where does that show?
Why ask it
The word you will hear is collaborative, so ask for evidence: shared study guides, older students passing down lab tips, someone lending an instrument on the morning of a practical. Competition tends to surface around class rank and scarce patients, which is why the grading and patient questions belong beside this one.
What did you do last weekend?
Why ask it
Put this to a current student in place of asking about balance, which gets a polite answer. If three students in a row say they studied for a practical, you have the real picture, and if one went hiking, ask what year they are in.
If you had the same acceptances again, would you still choose this school?
Why ask it
Listen to how quickly the answer comes. Then ask what the other option was and what tipped it, because a student who chose on cost or location is telling you something different from one who chose on the clinic.
What do you wish you had known before your first year here?
Why ask it
Ask a second-year, who still remembers. The answers tend to be practical, such as buying less than the list said, living closer or starting lab practice earlier, and each is something you can act on. A student who pauses and then mentions money or the clinic has handed you your next question.
What is the class group chat complaining about this week?
Why ask it
Asked with a smile, it gets a truer answer than asking about weaknesses. A complaint that several students raise without prompting, whether chair time, a slow faculty check or the exam timetable, is probably built into the programme and not just a bad week.
How is the class divided for labs and clinic, and do those groups change each year?
Why ask it
Class size is on the website. The group you really live in is your lab row or clinic team, so it matters whether it is set by alphabet, by lottery or by choice, and whether a poor fit lasts one year or four.
What is the range of ages and backgrounds in the current first-year class?
Why ask it
A published class profile gives averages, which hide the spread. If you are older, changing careers or have children, ask whether anyone in the class is in the same position and whether you could speak to them. If you are coming straight from college, the answer tells you who your study group will be.
Is every first-year matched with an older student, and does the pairing do anything?
Why ask it
A mentoring scheme is easy to set up on paper. One that gets you old notes, advice on which instructors to seek out and someone to message the night before a practical is worth far more, so ask a first-year when they last spoke to theirs.
How easy is it to get a faculty member's time outside lectures and clinic?
Why ask it
Office hours on a syllabus are one thing and an instructor who will look at your wax-up at five o'clock is another. Ask a student about the last time they went to a faculty member for help and what happened. Part-time clinical instructors may be in the building one day a week, which limits who you can find.
Which student organisations are most active, and what do they do in a normal term?
Why ask it
A long list of clubs says little. The ones that matter run things you would use: practice sessions before practicals, talks from working dentists, a free clinic, a trip to a national student meeting. If you might want to lead one, ask how much time the officers give up.
What outreach or community work do students do, and can first-years treat anyone?
Why ask it
School screenings and free clinic days can be the only patient contact in the first year. The difference between schools is whether first-years do anything with their hands or mostly carry trays, and whether the hours count toward a requirement.
How is attendance handled, and what happens if I am ill on a clinic day?
Why ask it
A patient has been booked and a chair assigned, so an absence costs more here than a missed lecture. Three things vary: whether the session has to be made up, whether excused days are capped, and who decides what counts as excused.
What counselling or wellness support is there, and how quickly can a student be seen?
Why ask it
That a service exists is on the website. What students can tell you is the wait for a first appointment, whether sessions are capped, and whether anyone manages to go on a clinic day. A school that lets students leave the clinic floor for an appointment has thought further than one that hands out a phone number.
Where do most students live, and is a car needed for outside clinic sites?
Why ask it
Rent near the school and the cost of parking belong in your budget next to tuition. A car that is optional for two years can become necessary once rotations at community sites begin, so ask a fourth-year how they got to theirs.
How would you describe the relationship between students and the administration right now?
Why ask it
Best asked when no administrator is present. Ask for one thing the class raised this year and what came of it, because a new dean, an accreditation visit or a rewritten curriculum tends to surface in that story.
What kind of student struggles here who might have done well somewhere else?
Why ask it
Put it to a faculty member and to a fourth-year and compare. An answer about students who wait to be told what to do next, or who take a low practical grade personally, describes how the place teaches, and you can measure yourself against it honestly.
Is there a current student I could email after today?
Why ask it
Ask admissions for a name before you leave, not a general inbox. The questions that come to you on the way home are mostly about daily life, and a second-year answers those better than an office does.
Cost and offers
What is the full four-year cost of attendance, and how much debt does a typical graduate leave with?
Why ask it
The published cost of attendance should cover tuition, fees, the instrument kit and a living allowance, so ask for that document and not a tuition figure. Average debt at graduation is a number the financial aid office holds. Take both home and set them against what new dentists earn where you want to work, which you will have to look up yourself.
Which year costs the most here, and why?
Why ask it
Instrument and kit charges often land in the first two years and board and licensing fees in the last, so a first-year figure multiplied by four can miss in both directions. A financial aid officer should be able to give the four years separately, with living costs.
Do students rent the instrument kit or buy it, and can we choose our own loupes?
Why ask it
A rented kit goes back at graduation and a bought one leaves with you, along with the bill. Loupes are fitted to your face and working distance, so a school that allows only one supplier narrows the fit you can get.
Is tuition fixed for my entering class, or does it rise each year?
Why ask it
Where tuition goes up annually, the figure in the offer letter is only the first of four. The increases of the last few years are the best guide to the next few, and fees are sometimes raised separately from tuition.
Are there scholarships from the school itself, and are they awarded with the offer or applied for later?
Why ask it
The timing decides whether you can compare offers with the real figures in front of you. Ask whether an award renews every year and on what conditions, and get the answer in writing.
Can a student from out of state qualify for resident tuition after the first year?
Why ask it
This applies mainly to public schools, and the rules are set by the state and the institution, so do not assume either way. Where it is possible the difference is large, so ask exactly what a student has to do and by what date.
Who here advises students on service scholarships, such as military or public health programmes?
Why ask it
These cover costs in return for years of work after graduation, and the terms differ by programme and country. A named adviser and a current recipient willing to talk are worth more than a leaflet.
Does anyone in the class hold a part-time job, and in which year does that stop being possible?
Why ask it
A programme that leaves no room for paid work has to be funded entirely some other way, so the answer goes straight into your budget. It is also a plain measure of the workload, which is why a student is the person to ask and not the admissions office.
How soon after the interview do decisions go out, and how will I be told?
Why ask it
Admissions staff answer this all day, and it is a good last question for them. In some application systems no offer can go out before a set date, and elsewhere each school keeps its own timetable, so ask how it works here. Write down the date they give, and ask whether silence after it means anything.
Are seats offered on a rolling basis, and how many are usually left by this point in the cycle?
Why ask it
Where a school fills its class as it goes, a late interview date competes for fewer seats, and it is fair to ask how many. Offer dates and reply deadlines vary by school and by year, so write down the ones admissions staff give you.
How far down the alternate list did the school go last year?
Why ask it
One year is not a forecast, but it shows whether the list is a real route in. Find out too whether it is ranked, whether you would be told your place on it, and whether the school reads updates from applicants or says plainly that it does not.
How much is the deposit to hold a seat, and is any of it refundable?
Why ask it
Deposits differ a great deal from school to school, and holding two offers can mean paying two. Get the amount, the deadline and the refund terms in writing, along with whether the money is credited to first-year tuition.
Making an interview day useful
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Choosing from a long list
Check the format first
The invitation usually says whether you get one long conversation, a panel, or a circuit of short timed stations. Stations often leave no time for your questions, and an interviewer in a closed-file format has not read your application, so there is no point asking them about it. In those formats your questions belong to lunch, the tour and the student panel.
A short list for each room
You will not get through the whole list, and should not try. Write down two or three for each interviewer and five or six for the students, and expect some to be answered in the morning presentation before your turn comes.
Lead with the one that could move the school on your list
Time for your questions is the first thing to go when a day runs late. If one answer would push this school up or down your ranking, ask it first and ask it of a student. Chair time, patient supply and the reasons students finish late are the usual candidates.
Read the website before you choose
Class size, tuition and the outline of the curriculum are normally published, and asking for them tells an interviewer you did not look. Start from what you read: 'I saw clinic begins in the second year. What does a second-year actually do in a session?'
In a one-to-one, ask about the person
A faculty interviewer rarely knows the financial aid rules, and one who teaches the sciences may not know how long a clinic check takes. They do know what they teach, what they notice in students and how this school compares with the one that trained them, which is why the list opens with Your interviewer. Two of those, asked with real interest, do more than six read from a sheet. If your interviewer turns out to be a fourth-year student, use Student life on them instead.
Ask a few of them twice
Put the same question about patient supply or faculty checks to a first-year, a fourth-year and a faculty member. Matching answers mean the school knows itself. Different ones show you where to keep asking.
Who to ask what
Admissions staff
Timelines, how the decision is made, financial aid processes, and anything you need in writing. They are the right people for procedural questions and the wrong people for how hard the second year is. Cost and offers is theirs, apart from the question about part-time jobs.
Faculty interviewers
Curriculum reasoning, why the programme is structured the way it is, research access, and what they think distinguishes their graduates. Save workload and culture questions for elsewhere, since faculty answer them in the school's voice. Your interviewer is written for this conversation, and First two years and Outcomes are fair ground too.
Current students
Everything about daily life: chair time, patient hunting, sim lab access, what they wish they had asked. Try to speak to a fourth-year and a first-year, because they are describing two different experiences and both are true. Clinic and Student life are mostly theirs.
The tour guide, off script
Ask what they would change about the building. Cramped sterilisation, too few chairs, or an inconvenient lab shows up in that answer faster than in any tour.
Questions to save for the student panel
- How many hours a week are you actually in the building?
- What did you have to buy that you did not expect to buy?
- Do you know anyone who graduated late because of a requirement, and what was it?
- How long do you usually wait for a faculty check in clinic?
- What does a month of rent, food and transport come to for you?
- Is there anyone in your class with children, and how has the programme handled that?
- What do you do when you disagree with a grade?
After the day, before you rank or decide
- 1Write down the answers the same evening. Interview days blur together within a couple of weeks, and the details are what you will compare on.
- 2Compare schools on the specifics you asked for: chairs per session, students per instructor, how patients are assigned, cost year by year. Impressions of friendliness converge, specifics do not.
- 3Note anything you were told verbally about money or requirements, then ask for it in writing before you commit.
- 4Check the accreditation status of any programme where students mentioned a recent review.
- 5If a school made you feel small during the day, take that seriously. It is four years, and interview days are the version they chose to show you.