Interview #2 - University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine
Hello all!
Well, the new year is quickly closing in on us. 2014 has been a crazy year for me, and I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing. And from looking at the flood of "Your Year in Reviews" on Facebook, it looks like everyone else has been having quite the year too! (I deleted mine after seeing that it didn't include me getting into dental school. Because it's not like that was my ultimate life goal for the last 10 years or anything.) So here's the second installment of my six part interview series!
The only thing I knew about Pittsburgh before visiting it was that I heard a rumor that if you put a lit lighter under a running faucet the water will light on fire (Pretty sure this is false. Maybe it was true at one point, but I'm sure they have this under control now.) One of the dentists I worked with over the summer went to Pittsburgh and convinced me to apply there and after visiting I could see why he encouraged me so much. I loved it!
After already having VCU under my belt, I was feeling a little more confident by this interview. It happened exactly one week after my first one. (Did I mention how hectic the beginning of my semester was. I almost never miss class and all of a sudden I was missing 6 class periods for 3 classes in one semester. I was freaking out a bit.) After the fiasco that was my plane flight to Virginia, I decided I would drive to Pittsburgh, well more specifically, that my dad would drive me to Pittsburgh. It was about a 5 hour drive, and I actually enjoyed the road trip with my dad. Until we actually got to Pittsburgh and realized that they only accepted cash at the toll. Neither my dad nor I was prepared for this, so we had to pay it online later with an added fee. Thanks Pittsburgh. Apparently they hadn't heard of the concept of "credit cards" yet.
Anyway, we got to Pittsburgh a day early so we could explore the town a bit and settle in. Once we started walking around the city, it quickly occurred to us that our hotel was at the bottom of a steep hill. A very, very steep hill. And conveniently the dental school is located right at the very top of this hill. By the time we reached the top my thighs were screaming for relief and i'm pretty sure my dad was one block away from calling it quits altogether.
I took my celebratory picture next to the dental school's sign and then my dad and I hightailed it back down the hill to find some place to eat. What we found was this awesome little cafe that had delicious food. Since it was so warm, we got to eat it outside next to some townies. Pittsburghians? Pitts? I don't know. They were extremely nice when my dad did a very dad thing and introduced us if only to quickly brag about the fact that I had an interview at the dental school the next day. (Thanks dad!)
I slept terrible that night, through no fault of the hotel. (It was actually quite nice.) So I was slightly groggy when I woke up the next morning. Or should I say when we woke up the next morning. I'm not kidding when I say that I saw at least 20 young adults in very nice business dress and with nervous expressions on their faces in the lobby the next morning. Considering there's only about 2 well known hotels in Pittsburgh, this made sense, but I still didn't see it coming. My dad forced me to eat a muffin and trash-talked the competition quietly as I choked it down. (He was mostly kidding but he does know how to make me feel better, that's for sure.)
He then drove me to the top of the hill, which I had perceived as being at least 20 miles long the night before, but really only took 3 minutes to drive up, and then dropped me off. He wished me luck as I stumbled out of his monster pick-up truck, which was definitely not fit for the terrain of Pittsburgh. And then the interview day began.
Coming from my first interview which only had 10 people to this interview which had around 30, I was kind of shocked. It made sense for them to interview so many people, it was just a huge difference from VCU. I quickly made conversation with some very nice girls I was sitting next to. One was from California and the other I had met at my VCU interview. Sidenote: that's something that happened a lot more often than I was expecting it to. I ran into people from other interviews all the time. It was always nice to see a familiar face, I must say.
We then had about 3 hours of presentations. Yes. 3 Hours. And it pains me to say this but I was literally falling asleep through most of these. At an interview! Sleeping! I was trying to do everything I could to stay awake but the dim lighting combined with the poor night's sleep was the perfect recipe for sleepy-time PJ. This was probably the only thing I didn't like about Pittsburgh; there were just way too many presentations. All very informative, but it was way too early to pay attention to something that long.
A student panel came in after the presentations, and all I have to say about that was this exchange that actually happened.
Dental Student: "Are there any questions?"
Interviewee: "So I'm from California and I heard winters here are pretty bad. Should I buy snow shoes?"
Yes. This actually happened.
After the presentations, we got split up into 4 groups: 1 that went to the writing sample first, 1 went to lunch first, 1 went to be interviewed first, and 1 went to tour the school first. I was in the group that went to the writing sample first, so we headed to the computer lab. I didn't really know what to expect from the writing sample, but the dental students my group was paired up with made me feel a lot better when she told me that they're basically just checking to see if you're competent in the English language.
When we got into the room, I picked a computer and followed the instructions to log on. But, of course, my computer was not turning on. "Really?" I thought as I tried everything over again in order to avoid embarrassing myself by having to ask for help. Nothing was working, and everyone else was already getting started. I sucked up my pride and approached the woman that had been assigned to help in the lab and told her about my issue. "Pick a different computer." She suggested.
"Good idea!" I thought, mentally slapping myself on the forehead as I picked a different computer that promptly let me log on. I won't say much about the writing sample, expect for that it felt pretty much exactly like what the dental student had told me it was, an English competency assessment, with questions that had pretty straight-forward answers. I was feeling confident when I clicked submit and then my whole group and I headed off to our tour.
Pittsburgh has a beautiful dental school. I really enjoyed the way it was laid out and I loved how it had all specialties in-house. The professors and other students at the school were extremely nice and definitely made an effort to talk to us. If there's one thing I hope to take with me from these interview experiences it's that when I'm in dental school and I see a group of students touring, or interviewing I'm going to do everything I can to make them feel welcomed. The way the students act can really make all the difference to a student that's trying to decide between schools.
After the tour was the interview, which for me was a half hour long interview with one faculty member. I could not have asked for a nicer interviewer. It was definitely the easiest, laid-back interview I had. We had the normal "tell me about yourself" and "why dentistry" questions, but then we just spent the rest of the time talking about our interests and really just getting to know one another.
After the interview was over, I met up again with my group and we went to eat lunch. We all exclaimed how happy we were that our lunch sections was the last one, even if we did get last pick of all of the food because at least we could enjoy it.
We then watched a presentation on financial aid which shattered all of our hopes and dreams of ever achieving financial security and we were then free to go. Overall, I really enjoyed Pittsburgh. If it were closer to home and/or had offered me a scholarship, it definitely would've been towards the top of my list of schools. I felt really at home there, and like they really respected each and every one of us.
Well, now I have to get ready for tonight's festivities! Happy New Years Eve everyone!
Until 2015,
PJ
Well, the new year is quickly closing in on us. 2014 has been a crazy year for me, and I honestly wouldn't have changed a thing. And from looking at the flood of "Your Year in Reviews" on Facebook, it looks like everyone else has been having quite the year too! (I deleted mine after seeing that it didn't include me getting into dental school. Because it's not like that was my ultimate life goal for the last 10 years or anything.) So here's the second installment of my six part interview series!
The only thing I knew about Pittsburgh before visiting it was that I heard a rumor that if you put a lit lighter under a running faucet the water will light on fire (Pretty sure this is false. Maybe it was true at one point, but I'm sure they have this under control now.) One of the dentists I worked with over the summer went to Pittsburgh and convinced me to apply there and after visiting I could see why he encouraged me so much. I loved it!
After already having VCU under my belt, I was feeling a little more confident by this interview. It happened exactly one week after my first one. (Did I mention how hectic the beginning of my semester was. I almost never miss class and all of a sudden I was missing 6 class periods for 3 classes in one semester. I was freaking out a bit.) After the fiasco that was my plane flight to Virginia, I decided I would drive to Pittsburgh, well more specifically, that my dad would drive me to Pittsburgh. It was about a 5 hour drive, and I actually enjoyed the road trip with my dad. Until we actually got to Pittsburgh and realized that they only accepted cash at the toll. Neither my dad nor I was prepared for this, so we had to pay it online later with an added fee. Thanks Pittsburgh. Apparently they hadn't heard of the concept of "credit cards" yet.
Anyway, we got to Pittsburgh a day early so we could explore the town a bit and settle in. Once we started walking around the city, it quickly occurred to us that our hotel was at the bottom of a steep hill. A very, very steep hill. And conveniently the dental school is located right at the very top of this hill. By the time we reached the top my thighs were screaming for relief and i'm pretty sure my dad was one block away from calling it quits altogether.
I took my celebratory picture next to the dental school's sign and then my dad and I hightailed it back down the hill to find some place to eat. What we found was this awesome little cafe that had delicious food. Since it was so warm, we got to eat it outside next to some townies. Pittsburghians? Pitts? I don't know. They were extremely nice when my dad did a very dad thing and introduced us if only to quickly brag about the fact that I had an interview at the dental school the next day. (Thanks dad!)
 |
| Exploring Pittsburgh with the old man. |
He then drove me to the top of the hill, which I had perceived as being at least 20 miles long the night before, but really only took 3 minutes to drive up, and then dropped me off. He wished me luck as I stumbled out of his monster pick-up truck, which was definitely not fit for the terrain of Pittsburgh. And then the interview day began.
Coming from my first interview which only had 10 people to this interview which had around 30, I was kind of shocked. It made sense for them to interview so many people, it was just a huge difference from VCU. I quickly made conversation with some very nice girls I was sitting next to. One was from California and the other I had met at my VCU interview. Sidenote: that's something that happened a lot more often than I was expecting it to. I ran into people from other interviews all the time. It was always nice to see a familiar face, I must say.
We then had about 3 hours of presentations. Yes. 3 Hours. And it pains me to say this but I was literally falling asleep through most of these. At an interview! Sleeping! I was trying to do everything I could to stay awake but the dim lighting combined with the poor night's sleep was the perfect recipe for sleepy-time PJ. This was probably the only thing I didn't like about Pittsburgh; there were just way too many presentations. All very informative, but it was way too early to pay attention to something that long.
A student panel came in after the presentations, and all I have to say about that was this exchange that actually happened.
Dental Student: "Are there any questions?"
Interviewee: "So I'm from California and I heard winters here are pretty bad. Should I buy snow shoes?"
Yes. This actually happened.
After the presentations, we got split up into 4 groups: 1 that went to the writing sample first, 1 went to lunch first, 1 went to be interviewed first, and 1 went to tour the school first. I was in the group that went to the writing sample first, so we headed to the computer lab. I didn't really know what to expect from the writing sample, but the dental students my group was paired up with made me feel a lot better when she told me that they're basically just checking to see if you're competent in the English language.
When we got into the room, I picked a computer and followed the instructions to log on. But, of course, my computer was not turning on. "Really?" I thought as I tried everything over again in order to avoid embarrassing myself by having to ask for help. Nothing was working, and everyone else was already getting started. I sucked up my pride and approached the woman that had been assigned to help in the lab and told her about my issue. "Pick a different computer." She suggested.
"Good idea!" I thought, mentally slapping myself on the forehead as I picked a different computer that promptly let me log on. I won't say much about the writing sample, expect for that it felt pretty much exactly like what the dental student had told me it was, an English competency assessment, with questions that had pretty straight-forward answers. I was feeling confident when I clicked submit and then my whole group and I headed off to our tour.
Pittsburgh has a beautiful dental school. I really enjoyed the way it was laid out and I loved how it had all specialties in-house. The professors and other students at the school were extremely nice and definitely made an effort to talk to us. If there's one thing I hope to take with me from these interview experiences it's that when I'm in dental school and I see a group of students touring, or interviewing I'm going to do everything I can to make them feel welcomed. The way the students act can really make all the difference to a student that's trying to decide between schools.
After the tour was the interview, which for me was a half hour long interview with one faculty member. I could not have asked for a nicer interviewer. It was definitely the easiest, laid-back interview I had. We had the normal "tell me about yourself" and "why dentistry" questions, but then we just spent the rest of the time talking about our interests and really just getting to know one another.
After the interview was over, I met up again with my group and we went to eat lunch. We all exclaimed how happy we were that our lunch sections was the last one, even if we did get last pick of all of the food because at least we could enjoy it.
We then watched a presentation on financial aid which shattered all of our hopes and dreams of ever achieving financial security and we were then free to go. Overall, I really enjoyed Pittsburgh. If it were closer to home and/or had offered me a scholarship, it definitely would've been towards the top of my list of schools. I felt really at home there, and like they really respected each and every one of us.
Well, now I have to get ready for tonight's festivities! Happy New Years Eve everyone!
Until 2015,
PJ
what happened to the reset of the interview posts?
ReplyDeletelol I'm really e enjoying them
Wow, great post.
ReplyDelete