Do You Fit? Factors to Consider at Interviews

factors to consider when you go to your interviews:

here are some things to look out for, or ask about at your interviews. 

• weather - dress appropriately. i went to university of michigan in a skirt instead of pants (i never thought to buy a pair.. -.-) and literally froze my ass off. it started raining and wind chill made it around 30 degrees outside. im a california girl, so this was not smart. 
• cost of tuition AND cost of living - some schools will wayyy underestimate COL, while others overestimate a bit. make sure your figures are right. in the end, dental school debt is daunting for everyone (unless you live in texas..)
• how much time do students spend in clinic? do D1's/D2's get phased into clinic slowly, or do you just go blind in your 3rd year? do you spend 4-5 days a week in clinic, or 2-3? 
• what are clinic requirements like? what do people dislike about them/find unrealistic?
• are the students happy? do they feel like they're learning things that are necessary?
• what's the board pass rate like?
• grading system? is the school P/F or H/P/F (fake P/F lol..) or graded?
• are students ranked?
• are there places to blow off steam nearby, aka yummy food, jack in the box, bars, clubs.
• do you want to live near your family? i think this is a big factor that people underestimate.. DS is stressful, it's good to unwind and go home every once in a while.

• where do you want to practice? you build your networks where you go to school.
• do the students you meet seem like you would mesh with them? dental classes are typically pretty small, ranging on average from 80-120 people, so everyone knows everyone's business. 
• what's public transportation like? should you have a car?
• are there accessible grocery stores nearby? i like to be healthy and cook so this mattered a lot to me.
• what kind of didactic education are you getting? who teaches? is the program PBL where students teach each other??? or are science classes joint with the med school? or do you have the same professors as the med students? or is there no correlation at all?
• DO YOU FIT? probably the most important thing you could ask yourself. sometimes it's good to go with your gut and just say, "i would not be happy here" or "i can definitely see myself here for the next 4 years...."

things that didn't matter as much to me:

• how nice are the facilities - honestly, don't expect to get out of dental school and start out practicing in some super high tech place anyway lol. freals tho. 
• ...annnddd everything else mattered. lol.

i hope some of these criteria will help you out!
:) rachel