What kind of interview does UConn use?

UConn does not publish a format we can verify for the current cycle, so prepare for both a conversational faculty interview and a short multiple mini interview circuit. Your invitation email will confirm the structure, timing, and whether the day is virtual or on campus.

What questions does UConn ask?

Expect motivation questions such as why dentistry and why UConn, behavioural questions on failure, teamwork, leadership, and stress, and at least one ethics or professionalism scenario. Intervly holds 17 UConn-specific questions, three of which are shown on this page.

How should I answer "why UConn"?

Name two or three specifics about the program, such as the clinical model, a community or outreach program, or the patient population in Farmington, and tie each to something concrete in your own background. Avoid rankings, reputation, and facilities-only answers.

Is the UConn interview open file or closed file?

It is not publicly specified, so assume open file. Your interviewer may have read your entire application, and being unable to expand on something you wrote is far more damaging than repeating it.

How can I practise for the UConn interview?

Practise answering out loud with follow-up questions rather than rehearsing in your head. Intervly runs realistic AI mock interviews using UConn-specific questions and gives you feedback on structure, content, and delivery. Your first three mock interviews are free.

Farmington, CT

University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine Interview Questions

Interviewing at University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine? Review what to expect on interview day, the themes the committee keeps coming back to, real questions from the Intervly UConn bank, and practice them out loud with an AI interviewer that asks follow-ups.

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01Format

UConn Dental Interview at a Glance

Every line is labelled by how well supported it is: stated by the school, reported by applicants, or an Intervly estimate based on what comparable programmes do. Estimates give you a realistic baseline to prepare against, and your invitation email is always the final word.

Interview formatIntervly estimate: Most likely a conversational one-on-one or panel interview
UConn does not publish a fixed structure we can verify for this cycle. The majority of dental programs interview conversationally with one or two interviewers, so prepare for that first, then run a short MMI-style ethics circuit as insurance.
InterviewersApplicant reported: Typically faculty, often with a current student
Applicants across dental programs most often describe faculty interviewers, sometimes joined by an admissions staff member or a current dental student.
DeliveryIntervly estimate: Most likely virtual, with some campus days
Programs moved between virtual and in-person interviewing in recent cycles, and virtual remains the more common default. Your UConn invitation is the authority on this.
Interview lengthIntervly estimate: About 25 to 40 minutes per interviewer
Most dental interviews run 20 to 45 minutes per interviewer, inside an interview day that also includes information sessions and a tour.
Open or closed fileIntervly estimate: Most likely open file
Open file is the norm in dental admissions. Prepare as if your interviewer has read your AADSAS application and personal statement in full.
Interview seasonApplicant reported: Fall through winter of the AADSAS cycle
Invitations are usually issued on a rolling basis, so submitting and completing your file early matters.
LocationSchool stated: Farmington, CT
Questions in the Intervly bankApplicant reported: 17 UConn-specific questions
Collected from applicant-reported questions and school-specific themes. Three are shown publicly on this page.

02The room

What to Expect in the UConn Dental Interview

The UConn interview is the point where the committee tests whether the person in the room matches the application on paper. By the time you are invited, your GPA, DAT, shadowing, and letters have already done their job. What remains is judgement, motivation, communication, and fit with the program in Farmington.

Expect the conversation to open with familiar ground: tell me about yourself, why dentistry, and why UConn specifically. The "why this school" question is the one applicants most often answer weakly, because generic praise about reputation and facilities sounds identical from every candidate. Specific answers about the curriculum, patient population, and community UConn serves do not.

From there, interviewers move into behavioural and ethical territory: a time you failed, a conflict you handled, how you work inside a team, and what you would do if you saw a colleague acting unprofessionally. The Intervly UConn bank of 17 questions leans heavily on exactly these themes, because that is where interview days are won and lost.

Treat every detail in your invitation email as the source of truth for format, timing, and delivery. Formats change between cycles, and UConn may run a traditional interview one year and add a mini-circuit or group exercise the next.

What UConn Asks About Most

Of the 17 UConn questions in the Intervly bank, 6 (35%) fall under personal background and story, followed by patient and clinical experience with 3. Patient and clinical experience comes up noticeably more here than across other dental school programs we track, so do not leave it to chance.

Personal background and story6 of 17 questions (35%)-5 pts vs. average
Have one tight origin story and be able to tell it in ninety seconds without listing your whole resume.
Patient and clinical experience3 of 17 questions (18%)+13 pts vs. average
Bring two or three patient encounters you can describe in detail, including what you noticed and what you would do differently.
Academics and study habits2 of 17 questions (12%)+9 pts vs. average
Be ready to account for any dip in your record and describe how you study now, concretely.
Program fit and mission2 of 17 questions (12%)+9 pts vs. average
Know the curriculum structure and mission language, and tie at least one of them to something you have already done.
Problem solving and hypotheticals1 of 17 questions (6%)
Think aloud: restate the problem, name your options and trade-offs, then commit to one.
Stress and resilience1 of 17 questions (6%)
Describe your actual system for managing load, not the word 'balance'.

Themes are derived from the 17 UConn-specific questions held in the Intervly bank and compared with every other program we track in the same field. Question text stays inside the practice platform.

03Question bank

UConn Dental Interview Questions

Intervly holds 17 interview questions for this dental interview. Three are shown here in full.

01
Walk us through a tooth extraction.
02
How do you manage stress during high-pressure situations?
03
What were your favorite and least favorite dental procedures you shadowed?
04Locked question, available inside Intervly
05Locked question, available inside Intervly
06Locked question, available inside Intervly

+ 14 more interview questions inside Intervly

Unlock the full bank

04Scoring

What UConn Raters Look For

Ordered by what the 17 UConn questions in the Intervly bank actually cover: personal background and story, patient and clinical experience and academics and study habits carry the most weight here.

Genuine interest in UConn

Committees can tell within a sentence whether you researched the program. Know the curriculum structure, clinical model, and the patients UConn treats in and around Farmington, and connect at least one of them to your own goals.

Motivation for dentistry

Why dentistry and not medicine, pharmacy, or research. Ground it in specific shadowing hours, patient interactions, and hands-on work rather than a general love of science and people.

Teamwork and conflict

Dental school is four years of shared clinics, labs, and group work. Prepare concrete examples of collaborating, leading, and disagreeing well rather than adjectives about being a team player.

Ethics and professionalism

Scenario questions test reasoning, not memorised rules. Name the issue, weigh the patient's interest, consider the people involved, then commit to a proportionate action instead of an extreme one.

Self-awareness

Strengths, weaknesses, failure, and criticism appear in nearly every dental interview. The strongest answers are candid and specific, and show what you changed afterwards.

Communication and composure

Pace, structure, warmth, and how you handle an unexpected question are assessed continuously, not in one question. This is the part of the interview that only improves by practising out loud.

Service and community

Access to care is central to dental education. Be ready to describe your service history honestly and to say what kind of communities, including underserved ones near Farmington, you want to treat.

Manual skill and precision

Many programs ask what evidence you have of working precisely with your hands under time pressure. Lab work, art, music, sport, or a trade all count if you explain how you manage the pressure.

Try it now

"Walk us through a tooth extraction."

Think about how you would answer this in a real interview.

Practice this question with AI

05Why Intervly feels real

Your Interviewer Won't Just Ask the Next Question

Intervly listens to what you actually say and generates contextual follow-ups. That is exactly what a conversational UConn interview does to unprepared answers.

Interviewer

How do you manage stress during high-pressure situations?

Applicant

I manage stress by staying organised, planning my week in advance, and making time to exercise and rest so I do not get overwhelmed.

Intervly follow-up

Describe the single most overloaded week you have had. What did you drop, who did you ask for help, and what did that cost you?

Try a UConn mock interview

06Preparation

How to Prepare for the UConn Dental Interview

01
Build a real answer to "why UConn"
Read the UConn admissions pages, curriculum outline, and clinic or outreach programs, then write three sentences that only apply to this school. If your answer would work for any dental program, it is not finished.
02
Know your own application cold
Reread your AADSAS application, personal statement, and secondary the night before. Every experience you listed should be something you can expand on in two sentences without hesitating.
03
Prepare stories, not scripts
Prepare six or seven adaptable stories covering failure, conflict, leadership, service, precision, and a moment that confirmed dentistry for you. Memorised answers collapse the moment the interviewer asks a follow-up.
04
Rehearse ethics out loud
Say your reasoning aloud so the structure becomes automatic: identify the issue, consider each person affected, weigh the options, then decide. Silent preparation hides the hesitation that interviewers hear.
05
Practise with follow-up questions
A real interview is not a list. The second question depends on your first answer. Intervly's AI mock interview listens to your spoken response and asks a genuine follow-up, using UConn-specific questions.

07Research

What to Know Before Your UConn Dental Interview

Use these as starting points. The answer to "why this school" has to be yours, so we deliberately do not write it for you.

Curriculum and clinical model

Look at when UConn students start seeing patients, how preclinical training is structured, and whether the clinic runs on a comprehensive-care or discipline-based model. It gives you a specific, credible answer to why this program.

Patient population and outreach

Find out who UConn serves in Farmington and across CT, including any rural rotations, community clinics, or externships. Then decide honestly whether that is the population you want to treat.

Mission and values

Read the school's mission statement carefully and note the words it repeats. Those words tend to reappear in interview questions and in what interviewers reward.

Class profile and residency preference

Check the most recent entering-class profile and whether UConn shows any in-state or regional preference. It shapes how you frame where you plan to practise.

Life after graduation

Look at where recent graduates go, including specialty match and residency placement, and connect it to your own plan without overcommitting to a specialty you have not explored.

08Questions we get

UConn Dental Interview FAQ

Your UConn interview is worth practicing for.

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Also at this university

Other Intervly guides covering programs and assessments run by the same institution.

Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral HealthMesa, AZ
Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental MedicineBoston, MA
California Northstate University College of Dental MedicineSacramento, CA
Case Western Reserve University School of Dental MedicineCleveland, OH
Columbia University College of Dental MedicineNew York City, NY
Creighton University School of DentistryOmaha, NE
East Carolina University School of Dental MedicineGreenville, NC
Harvard University School of Dental MedicineBoston, MA
Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USCLos Angeles, CA

More dental prep

Sources and last verified

Last checked 2026-08-23 · Information reflects the 2026-2027 application cycle. Interview formats change between cycles, so always confirm details in your invitation.