Harvard School of Dental Medicine Interview Questions

Past Interview Questions & Tips

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Harvard Dentistry Key Information

Interviews at Harvard provide the candidate with the opportunity to articulate their knowledge and experience, their suitability for the program, and their potential contribution to the field of dentistry. Interviews may be in-person or virtual.

An overview of a typical assessment day:

8:45AM – Arrive at HSDM
9:00AM – Introduction to HSDM and DMD program overview
10:15AM – Interview I
11:15AM – Interview II
12:00PM – Lunch with current students
12:30PM – Tour of the School and Longwood Medical Area campus
1:30PM – Diversity & Inclusion Presentation
2:00PM – Financial Aid Information Session
3:00PM – Wrap-up with Admissions and departure from HSDM

Harvard Dentistry Key Application & Interview Statistics

Overall Success Rate (Total Applicants : Total Spaces)

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Harvard Dentistry Past Interview Questions

Motivation and Insight into Dentistry

Tell us about your research
Why have you chosen Harvard?
Why do you want to be a dentist?
Why not Medicine?
How difficult was your undergraduate school?
What is the most recent book that you’ve read?
How would a friend describe you?
How would you rate how hard you worked at your undergraduate school?
You have a very high DAT score and GPA. You have a passion for research, have a wealth of diverse dental experiences, and have completed many community service projects, both locally and internationally. But we have plenty of applicants like you. Why are you different? What can you bring to HSDM that is unique?
Where do you see yourself ten years from now in your dental career?
What was your biggest failure?
Did you work hard enough at your undergrad school to justify a place at Harvard?
Have you spoken to current students?
Tell us about yourself.
Why have you chosen dentistry?
What has been your biggest disappointment in life?
How did you become interested in Dentistry?
Are any of your family members dentists? Tell us about them if so.
What are you most proud of so far in your academic achievements?
What would your friends say is your quality that best suits a career in Dentistry?
If you could do something outside of science, what would you be doing?
Tell us in more depth about a program that you were involved in school that is relevant to Dentistry.

Ethical Scenarios

Imagine you are in a PBL class where none of the other students include you. How would you handle this situation?
How would you fix the disparity in available and affordable healthcare in America?

Calculation Tasks (Intermediate & Advanced)

Why did you get a C in Calculus II at college?

Communication Stations

What have you learned about communication through playing sports in college?
On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your leadership skills, from lamb to tyrant?
Tell us about your favourite leadership experience.
Tell us who you would want to sit next to on an airplane if you could sit next to anyone ever, why, and what you would speak to them about.