1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,120
Hey guys, before this episode begins, I just want to let you all know that I've partnered

2
00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,720
with DOT Bootcamp to offer a 10% discount code on all Bootcamp products.

3
00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,720
Whilst learning from my DOT, I've found that DOT Bootcamp to be the best resource during

4
00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:11,720
my preparation.

5
00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,320
Their extensive review videos and practice exams are second to none.

6
00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:20,440
Use code DOD10 at checkout for a 10% discount applicable to all programs Bootcamp has to

7
00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:21,440
offer.

8
00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:42,640
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Dotsun Dental Podcast.

9
00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,000
The focus of this podcast is to share undergraduate and down school experiences from dental students

10
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,720
and dental professionals through valuable discussions.

11
00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,840
Through sharing the journeys and stories of current dental students and dental professionals,

12
00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,680
our goals help you find answers to your guidance for your own pre-dental journeys.

13
00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:59,440
We are super excited to have current Harvard dental student Asa Pisano as our guest today.

14
00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,760
Asa graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor's degree in biology along

15
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:04,800
with a health medicine and society minor.

16
00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,480
She's now a D1 student at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

17
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:12,600
Through her undergrad, Asa was a dental assistant, conducted research in paleobiology, volunteered

18
00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:14,920
abroad, and helped her peers as a teaching assistant.

19
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,280
Asa, welcome to the podcast, how have the last few weeks of your D1 year been?

20
00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:25,760
Thank you, I'm so excited to be here, especially with another Stony Brook student.

21
00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:32,960
The past, we started a month ago now and honestly it's been crazy, it's been hectic,

22
00:01:32,960 --> 00:01:36,960
super busy, but lots of fun.

23
00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:42,440
I heard a lot of horror stories like when people got to dental school that their social

24
00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:47,040
life kind of went out the window, the work was so much harder than like you've ever

25
00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:51,200
had to deal with, and I honestly don't think that's the case.

26
00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:57,560
Stony Brook's curriculum is extremely dense, really hard, and I feel like it's prepared

27
00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:02,200
me really well for my classes thus far.

28
00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,600
Honestly like the busiest part is the social aspect.

29
00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:11,400
I think once you do get to grad school, especially dental school, everyone around you is pretty

30
00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:15,080
much like-minded individuals.

31
00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:20,800
You all have the same goals and aspirations, that's why you're in the same grad program.

32
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:29,080
So obviously like put a group of 35 like-minded individuals, it gets very exciting, like we're

33
00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:33,960
always like doing something, whether it's studying together, eating together, going

34
00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,600
out together, exploring Boston together.

35
00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,120
So yeah, it's been hectic but great.

36
00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:42,560
I got the test to the Stony Brook curriculum.

37
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:43,560
Yeah.

38
00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,400
It's definitely like the STEM school.

39
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,280
So a lot of course like weedy out courses I guess you can call them.

40
00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:54,480
So definitely raise your well for, I guess the DAT some people will talk about even just

41
00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,520
I guess Harvard in general I guess.

42
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,080
So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, like where you're from, where you

43
00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,560
grew up, what you like to do for fun, kind of how you, you know, where you work.

44
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:05,560
Yeah.

45
00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:11,280
I was actually born in Turkey but I grew up in New York so I've been in New York for the

46
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:16,120
past like 20 years now.

47
00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:22,920
In terms of what I was, what I did in undergrad, Suraj you kind of touched upon it already.

48
00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:31,880
I was a big, I played a big role in research in the anthropology lab and dental lab, oral

49
00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:33,680
biology.

50
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,880
I was heavily involved in pre-dental society.

51
00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:43,800
You know, basically just like good overall well-rounded extracurriculars but outside

52
00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:49,360
of that is what's really important to me and that's like I love cooking.

53
00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:50,880
I love working out.

54
00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:52,880
Fitness is a big part of my life.

55
00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:59,320
Whether it's running or weightlifting or yoga or Pilates.

56
00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:03,520
That's something I stayed true to like basically throughout my undergraduate career.

57
00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:09,360
I didn't want to lose track of my interests and kind of get lost in like academics.

58
00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:14,680
I actually run a food blog on Instagram and that takes up a lot of my time.

59
00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:20,120
That's something I started while also in undergrad and I still continue it now.

60
00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:26,800
So I guess we'll touch upon it a little bit later but honestly like even in my interviews

61
00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:30,800
that was the topic of conversation like what do you like to do outside of dentistry?

62
00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:35,040
Because yeah I can like ramble about how I was a dental assistant and I did pre-dental

63
00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:40,000
society and like all this stuff but the stuff that really matters is like who I am outside

64
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:41,000
of that.

65
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,000
Yeah.

66
00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,080
I think like what you are outside of dentistry like is going to tell you down to school is

67
00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,040
like what kind of doctor you're going to be.

68
00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,840
Honestly how do you get your patients and that's going to ultimately make you successful.

69
00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:52,840
So for sure.

70
00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:58,160
I actually have like a piece of advice I want to share from a dentist that I worked with.

71
00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:02,200
He was an endodontist and if you don't know what that is it's a dentist that specializes

72
00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:08,320
in root canals and so they have like a very very busy office on Long Island him and his

73
00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:13,600
wife and I asked him like do you ever get tired of doing root canals all day because

74
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:18,640
that's literally all they do root canals and he said well this is just my job like this

75
00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:24,840
is not my life and he said I love fishing I love my kids I love being outdoors I love

76
00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:26,960
spending time like I love bike rides.

77
00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:33,360
He said that's my life like that's who I am root canals is my job like I do this I get

78
00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,000
paid for it and I go home and I do things that I actually like to do so that really

79
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:43,280
stopped with me and I kind of carried that theme with me for like the next through my

80
00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:47,440
interviews and like it's still with me like I keep that in the back of my head all the

81
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:48,440
time.

82
00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:54,640
Yeah no we have a doctor at our office that we work at he's a prosodontist and like I

83
00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,280
remember one time like he was doing a procedure on a patient and then on the TV was like the

84
00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:02,280
discovery channel like the fishing you know like stream fishing channels so like and I

85
00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:06,320
think he said that he was he used to he's like a fisherman like in his free time.

86
00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:08,360
The dentistry is my second job.

87
00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:09,360
Yeah.

88
00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,960
He'd call to me like to think about that and even like my doctor I work with like currently

89
00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:17,280
um I feel like his second job is like playing with his dog so just kind of doing his own

90
00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:20,560
thing rather than dentistry I mean you know it's it's a great thing to have but I feel

91
00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,600
like if you have things like that you can focus on besides it will make you even better

92
00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,840
as a person so yeah like along those lines like so why dentistry why why did you decide

93
00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:33,880
to like I don't mean to make this okay I don't mean to have like peter flashbacks like intervention

94
00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:39,520
okay that is such an interview question honestly it's a good question to ask um and all pre

95
00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,160
done should be asking themselves that because you're going to get it on your interview so

96
00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:48,760
for me it was honestly early exposure when I was a child um I went back to Turkey a lot

97
00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:54,520
for the summer and my aunt was a dental assistant so I spent a lot of time in the dental office

98
00:06:54,520 --> 00:07:01,440
um just like interacting with the patients interacting with the doctor even just seeing

99
00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:06,840
x-rays on the film and seeing like the different colored ortho rubber bands when you're seven

100
00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:12,480
eight nine years old that's really interesting like at least it was to me and so I kind of

101
00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:18,000
continued with that idea of like okay I really like the dental office because I saw the doctor

102
00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,960
his patients loves him they didn't come in like upset they came in bubbly and they left

103
00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:29,480
bubbly um just like it was always just a good atmosphere a positive atmosphere so when I

104
00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:36,000
did turn sixteen and I got my working papers I just applied to work at a dental office and

105
00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,480
that's what really like cemented my decision I was like okay I do want to be a dentist

106
00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:47,160
and it was really just the close patient interaction the work-life balance that I saw with like

107
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:53,680
the doctors and like how flexible their hours were um the level of like trust between you

108
00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:58,120
and your patient I thought that was really inspiring and honestly like getting to work

109
00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:04,440
with your hands is something that's just so special to dentistry um obviously sometimes

110
00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,600
in an interview they'll come up like why not medicine because you know obviously surgery

111
00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:17,320
is also very like fine detail like hand skill oriented but then again it goes back to all

112
00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:22,200
my other reasons work-life balance patient interaction I like the idea of like forming

113
00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:27,000
a relationship with the patient and knowing their history and like knowing about their

114
00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:32,320
family so those are just some of my reasons honestly the more I worked at the dental office

115
00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:40,560
the more like reasons I could come up with um so if you are a pre-dent and you have the

116
00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:45,920
opportunity to assist like a hundred percent and I'm sure Siraj can attest to that too

117
00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:52,480
because he also assists it's it makes a big difference yeah I mean um you know I used

118
00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,080
to shadow like a regular general dentist I'm normally just get like attractions you're

119
00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:02,200
like um influence really like that but when you sort of like actually assisting and like

120
00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:07,720
being in an office for 10 hours 11 hours a day yeah you understand like how important

121
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:13,880
it is to be to um that's only me patient but it's like you only you start to understand

122
00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:19,120
like what a dentist actually does like a day-to-day life if you shadow yeah you're seeing what

123
00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:22,920
they do but I think assisting hands-on you learn you know I really learn more about the

124
00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:27,760
procedures but you learn like how to take care of a patient how to deal with actual people

125
00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:32,760
because there's a variety of people right like um sort of like their moods or how they

126
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,360
all day how to deal with them um so it's it's like it's definitely top three experience

127
00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,840
that I've been doing for the past two years so I think to anybody listening I feel like

128
00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:46,360
you should really look into assisting even if it's like not like a surgery office um

129
00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:50,200
at least get your from the door you know yeah um so can you like kind of talk about you

130
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,400
know I know you've been assisting for like old you've assisted for like over six years

131
00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:57,480
right around six years so how did you how'd you yeah how'd you get your foot in the door

132
00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:04,200
um and so it was actually um my dad went to that dental office and when he went for his

133
00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:08,040
cleaning he just mentioned that his daughter was interested in dentistry so they're like

134
00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:15,000
okay like as long as she's over 60 like we'll hire her basically so I didn't start off assisting

135
00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:22,600
they trained me in sterilization and um basically like how to set up the rooms how to take down

136
00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:29,240
the rooms like clean them sterilize them I learned all the instruments basically like how the schedule

137
00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:35,880
works so they taught me like everything that was in the background and that's honestly a huge part

138
00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:41,480
of the dental office and it running smoothly as well like even just having clean instruments from

139
00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:49,400
patient to patient is like critical so I was trained in that um when I turned I think about a year in

140
00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:54,040
they were like okay well we don't want you just like doing this anymore we want you to start assisting

141
00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:59,480
so that's when they let me suction and I had also been taking x-rays they had trained me in that

142
00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:06,200
pretty early on as well and so um the next step was basically just like suctioning really being

143
00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:11,000
in the room with the doctor bringing in the patients and then I was just a full-time assistant

144
00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:16,280
basically after that I wasn't really in the back at all obviously you know if you were going to

145
00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:21,640
dental office you know that if you get a free second you have to go help out you have to like

146
00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:27,320
clean the instruments and help out practice whatever um my office was very fast-paced so

147
00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:33,560
we all we were always like communicating helping each other out it was a very like busy office

148
00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:40,120
and I kind of just continued with that through school well um I know a lot of pre-nunce asked me

149
00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:45,960
like okay how did you do it during school how did you manage it well the first thing was I went to

150
00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:53,560
undergrad like close to home so I was able to keep the job for that long um the second major thing

151
00:11:53,560 --> 00:12:00,680
was building trust with my employers like all my bosses all the doctors so if I did need to take

152
00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:06,680
off some time to study for an important exam um like I did for the DAT they were very understanding

153
00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:13,000
very accommodating so it all just comes down to like trust communication but you do need to get

154
00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:20,360
your foot in the door and I think the biggest thing for pre-nunce is just you know be okay with

155
00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:26,920
not assisting right away be okay with being trained for front desk or just sterilization or whatever

156
00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:33,960
it might be and then work your way up like that I like sorry um I know I'm some medical

157
00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:38,440
assisting as well I know a lot of people like sorry front desk and then transfer on yeah no

158
00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:43,240
definitely and I think you know if you know some of our peers even in the pre-nunce society they have

159
00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:47,800
done front desk and they also have done like actual assist thing and I think I think starting

160
00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:52,760
early whatever whatever that is like front desk or if it's just like shadowing at an office this is

161
00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:56,440
very important like even in your first year because I know I started like second semester

162
00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:00,920
of freshman year and it started very early allowed me to work a lot in like that one summer I don't

163
00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:05,560
really have any major commitments yeah working all that time and building your trust up with your

164
00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:10,600
employers and your doctors kind of makes you look at invaluable asset to the to the practice

165
00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,840
and so when you do get into your junior and see your end of sophomore year when you're really

166
00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:19,720
busy they can understand that student you're put in the work here like they know you're not permanent

167
00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,800
they know you didn't they knew you were going to be permanent from the beginning yeah student right so

168
00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:27,880
it's kind of important to get your foot in the door and so yeah I think whatever you said is like

169
00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:33,640
perfect um so you started assisting um you said like junior year of high school is that what you

170
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:39,640
started yeah it was going into my junior year of high school right so then so then I know there's

171
00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:44,200
a lot of people that are not even aware I wasn't even aware of myself of like the BS EDS program

172
00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,080
so can you like kind of touch upon that like how did you find that out and how did you kind of

173
00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:57,720
you're yourself to to gain that position so um my high school who said like college fairs and so

174
00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:03,720
I had heard from another peers mom to start going to that early so it was actually my

175
00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:08,680
peer that was like let's go to this college fair I know it's like kind of early but let's just go

176
00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:15,160
see what it's about so we did and I think that was honestly my sophomore year it was very early on

177
00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:23,640
and um I had an idea that I wanted to do like health at that point like I wasn't I knew I liked

178
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:28,200
dentistry a lot but I was like not even sure if I was pre-med like I didn't really know what these

179
00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:34,360
words were nobody did and my parents especially were no help whatsoever because they don't know the

180
00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:40,360
process yeah so I kind of just was like okay let me just go ask these different colleges if they

181
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:45,400
have like pre-med pre-dental programs and I did and I went around to each table and I asked them

182
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:52,520
and it was actually stony brock that told me we have this program that guarantees you into dental

183
00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:57,640
school they only take like two people a year the guy was super rude about it he's like we only take

184
00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,640
two people a year it's very selective you have to be at like the top of your class I was like okay

185
00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:09,080
that um so basically that's all it was it was just me going to different tables and collecting

186
00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:14,760
information and then after I found out from that one table that this existed I started looking up

187
00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:21,320
BS DDS in other schools on the east coast and tons of schools offer it NYU has it with Adelphi

188
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:28,040
U Penn has it with a bunch of other sister colleges um University of Pittsburgh

189
00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:35,160
stony brock Buffalo and I'm sure there's more being added to this list I'm sorry I think Boston

190
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:43,080
University recently adopted one as well um so yeah I what I started doing was then I would find the

191
00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:50,200
contacts for like the admissions for these dental schools and I was like hi like I'm a junior and

192
00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:55,880
high school could you please give me more information about your BS DDS program so I think that was

193
00:15:55,880 --> 00:16:02,680
something that what that I did um that was really helpful later on because when the when I did apply

194
00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:08,120
to those programs they saw continued interest because I had emailed them like a year before

195
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:15,560
right um so I know a lot of pretense and don't know whether they want to do medicine or dentistry

196
00:16:15,560 --> 00:16:20,280
or even anything at all like they don't know what career path they're choosing but if you do if you

197
00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:27,080
are um an individual who does know early on start that research early on and start reaching out to

198
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:34,440
schools early on no definitely and I'd like I think my mentality in like 11th grade personally I just

199
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,280
like threw a dart at the dark or I was like I don't know what's going on but I'm just gonna

200
00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:44,680
like apply to random colleges not really care just do whatever um but like it's really interesting

201
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:48,200
that you have like a targeted approach while you were already at my school just definitely like

202
00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:53,240
has helped you um even as you got through college so um can you walk us through can you know but can

203
00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:57,800
you like talk about your experience undergrad like how did you um you know you were in the the DDS

204
00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:02,760
program of course um so how did you kind of structure your activities and undergrad around

205
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:09,320
you know like what you wanted in the future how did you kind of you know go about things so um just

206
00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:15,480
to be like transparent I what like stony brook wasn't my first choice uh I was set ongoing to U Penn

207
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:22,680
and I had gotten into their BS DDS program which was seven years as opposed to eight um the reason

208
00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:27,400
why I chose stony brook for my undergrad was dental school is super expensive uh it is more

209
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:34,360
expensive than medical school and becoming aware of this early on I was like okay I don't want to

210
00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:43,560
drown in loans so that's why I ultimately chose the DDS program at stony brook um so then obviously

211
00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:50,440
like knowing that there's other dental schools like Penn Columbia Harvard I didn't close my mind

212
00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:56,360
off to those other options just because I'd gotten into stony brook dental school so I still took

213
00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:01,400
you know the DDS program did have um conditional requirements you know you had to take all your

214
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:06,680
pre-rex and do well in them you had to maintain a certain GPA um you had to like score a minimal

215
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:14,680
DAT so you know I did all those but then I did extra so I just made sure my grades were

216
00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:22,200
higher than the recommended GPA and I made sure I really studied hard for the DAT in the options

217
00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:29,640
that I would not go to stony brook dental um in terms of research I was fortunate enough to as a

218
00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:34,440
part of pre-dental society I found a research experience in my freshman year and I stuck with

219
00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:41,080
that um you know basically until my junior year where I then switched to the dental school for

220
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:47,560
research and all the experiences I did all the extracurriculars I did was basically just geared

221
00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:53,000
towards what do I like to do and what am I passionate about because when it comes time to like

222
00:18:54,040 --> 00:19:02,360
apply I wanted to be genuine and I didn't want to seem like forced in terms of like oh um you

223
00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:07,960
know I'm just checking off a box and I think I actually included that in my advice like when I

224
00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:14,360
was filling out the form I said like don't do things just to fill out this check it's like

225
00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:20,280
don't just check off boxes do things that you like to do um because those things like for example I was

226
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:27,400
um a tutor or at the academic success and tutoring center for three years and that's still

227
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:33,560
something that I do now I just work as a pre-dental coach instead of an academic coach which is it's

228
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:39,960
like the same thing you know the same thing different name I think that was really important and um

229
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:49,720
what else I guess in terms of volunteering that is something that I feel like is really really

230
00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:57,560
important now for dental schools and I'm glad I started that early as well so you don't have to

231
00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:04,920
know that you want to be a dentist or a medical student to start volunteering so I think that's a

232
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:10,600
big piece of advice that I would give to anyone at any point in their undergraduate career at this

233
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:16,840
point start volunteering because whatever you apply to even if it's like in the business realm even

234
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:22,120
if it's like the law realm volunteering in community service is huge and it's going to be a huge boost

235
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:27,720
to your application whatever you're doing so I don't know that was kind of like vague but I kind

236
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:34,520
of went off on a tangent there yeah let's listen yeah no no so we had um Dr. Kim on a couple like

237
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:39,960
uh weeks ago and she did talk about like quality over quantity in terms of yeah making off boxes

238
00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:44,840
and stuff yeah um and personally even though it's going through my own experience I feel like

239
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:49,480
there are times where we're just checking boxes and like doing whatever because just because oh

240
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,880
it's just like a STEM club I'm just gonna join in and do it you know just because it sounds good but

241
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:58,600
like at the end of the day this is something where I'm excited to dedicate time to or something like

242
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:04,920
yeah it's like another class I feel like it's it's going so but kind of going off of that I would say

243
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:12,920
admissions committees like realize they figure out what's filler yeah you know like even based off

244
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:19,480
like you're the way you write about it in your application and they usually don't even ask you

245
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:24,040
about those things or sometimes they do I mean I've heard very different interview experiences

246
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:30,360
but in my own experience those like filler clubs that I like went to for a few meetings like half

247
00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:36,200
a semester yeah I didn't get asked about them because they weren't important and if I was asked

248
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:42,680
about them I wouldn't really be able to like talk that meaningfully about it yeah oh again like

249
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:50,680
it's like you only have a limited amount of time before grad school be very picky and choose you

250
00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:57,720
with what you dedicate your time to no for sure and I think something that everybody should consider

251
00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:05,480
I mean even so for volunteering wise like I know you won the VAW trip right yeah I personally went

252
00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:11,640
on it in Guatemala a couple weeks like in June or something so and that was like a very eye opening

253
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:17,160
experience and it wasn't something like it wasn't like a filler activity of course yeah like you

254
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:22,920
know who's you dedicate like 50 hours just hold two weeks or whatever and you're actually helping

255
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:27,640
under privileged communities that are completely that don't have the things that we have you know

256
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:32,120
here so can you talk about your I know you went on one of those trips as well can you talk a little

257
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:38,760
bit about your experience there yeah so ours was in Dominican Republic um in Harawa Koa which is just

258
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:45,240
it's not near the resorts let me just say that so it's not in a major city they don't really have

259
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:51,880
great access to health care or especially not dental care so we went we went and set up a

260
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:58,120
mobile dental clinic it was stationed in an elementary school so we had a lot of kids running

261
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:03,640
around while we were you know setting up and everything and for a week straight we just

262
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:11,640
started at 7 a.m. we were there until about 4 or 5 p.m. just giving free care to members of the

263
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:19,320
community and our role we we rotated roles but one day we would do vitals so we would take their

264
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:25,640
blood pressure we would take their glucose you know heart rate um respiration rate all all the

265
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:31,720
vitals basically um so I thought that was really unique because a lot of times it seems like there's

266
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:37,800
a disconnect between systemic health and oral health so I liked how you know you were basically

267
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:44,520
their full provider that day so we would do that and then there was once one role where you would

268
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:51,720
basically intake the patients get their patient history and I used whatever Spanish I knew from

269
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:57,320
high school and I thought that was super super meaningful because the second the members of

270
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:02,520
the community sense that you're making an effort even by like speaking their language they open up

271
00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:09,800
so much more and that's why I think like that I don't want to like go too far into it but Harvard

272
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:15,960
offers like medical Spanish for that reason because they realize that that language can be a huge

273
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:21,640
barrier and not only did I see that in the Dominican Republic but I saw that at the dental

274
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:26,040
office back in New York as well you know if somebody if English is not their first language

275
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:30,120
it's very obvious that they don't want to be there and they're really uncomfortable with

276
00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:34,760
like receiving dental care so without like going too far into it like that was one of our roles

277
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:40,520
too so like getting their patient history getting their name date of birth etc um there's obviously

278
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:47,000
like an assisting portion of it there was the serilization portion of it um and honestly like

279
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,720
you just went around you went through all the roles throughout the week and at the end of the

280
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:56,920
week there was like an education day where we got to interact with the students uh like the

281
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,640
little kids in the community basically and the students in the school um talking how to brush

282
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:07,080
their teeth and stuff it was just a very rewarding experience because you got to see firsthand the

283
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:13,560
difference that you were making in these people's lives like if somebody had um an abscess or an

284
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:18,600
infection and you remove that tooth or you filled the cavity all of a sudden they're out of pain

285
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:25,400
and that just changes your quality of life so much it might seem um like in the United States

286
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:30,280
dental care is a little bit more accessible I don't want to go into that in detail it is more

287
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:36,760
accessible than it was in that community we were in um so people often forget that you know there

288
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:43,400
are people going day to day in pain just because they can't get their teeth yeah so it was a very

289
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:49,160
it was a very rewarding experience um if anyone it has the opportunity to go on something like that

290
00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:54,600
I heavily I really recommend it and it goes back to the patient uh doctor relationship too because

291
00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:59,480
I know I was able to use Spanish a little bit there even like in that in the whole showy's house

292
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:04,200
it was pretty cool um and then when we got back to the states like when I went to work we actually

293
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:09,400
had a patient come in only spoke Spanish and my doctor actually like knows like very good Spanish

294
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,920
he went to social work as well he knows like really good Spanish so he was able to like converse

295
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,680
with the patient and like make her understand what's going on because she didn't she don't

296
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:21,640
any English right so she like kind of it makes her feel more comfortable like when your doctor

297
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,280
knows what you're talking about like yeah so exactly it was like a very interesting part um so

298
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,680
it's kind of going down the line here um can you talk a little bit about like your research

299
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:36,680
experience briefly um I know uh you started in freshman year so something yeah she probably like

300
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:43,560
started looking at so I actually it was a very unique experience I got to work in an anthropology

301
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:53,080
lab looking at um fossil pink teeth and so basically I would analyze CT scans of these um teeth from

302
00:26:53,080 --> 00:27:02,040
fossil suides which are just like very prehistoric African pigs so that research went on for about

303
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:08,040
two years and we did get published in the paleobiology journal at the end of it um I was first co-author

304
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:13,880
which was really exciting and then my PI moved to a different university he was down with his PhD

305
00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:20,040
so he really was like okay that's when I changed labs and I reached out to one of the doctors

306
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:26,680
in the dental school and I started working in the oral biology and pathology lab and that was

307
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:32,280
definitely more wet lab I would say the anthropology research was not wet lab it was more so

308
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:39,080
data analysis I would go through and I would kind of carve out the CT scans it was all computer based

309
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:48,360
and math based and analysis um the wet lab stuff was definitely using like PCR and using more

310
00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:57,480
high padding and hand skills so that was a stark contrast and my project was with that was I'm

311
00:27:57,480 --> 00:28:06,520
like try to remember it's like so long ago for that we were looking at mouse gingiva rat gingiva

312
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:14,280
sorry and basically seeing the proteins expressed in their gingival tissue so I actually dissected

313
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:20,200
the rat heads I extracted their gingiva and I ran PCR on all these tissues that was a really really

314
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:26,920
really cool um I mean it was just for my senior thesis so I I didn't turn into a publication

315
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:33,160
but I feel like if I started early enough it could have and I was someone who kind of liked

316
00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:39,080
research so that's why I did it for pre-dense don't feel compelled to do research if you really don't

317
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:44,680
like it and if you can't speak meaningfully to it yeah we had Zaid on for like your first episode

318
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,440
and first thing he kind of said was like don't do it if you're just doing it to do it same thing

319
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,280
with checking the box and like yeah if you're researching something that you don't even have

320
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,760
any interest in and if you like don't feel like yourself you feel like you're wasting time in it

321
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:01,960
yeah bother pursuing that that much I feel like you better use your energy somewhere else to be

322
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:06,600
honest yeah right I mean I know people I know dental students that never did research and they're

323
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:13,080
at school school um it's just like certain schools Harvard is one of them they do heavily

324
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,680
they like research uh that's not to say if you don't do research you won't get in one of my best

325
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:24,040
friends here he only did his senior thesis and they that's what he considered his research

326
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:29,320
and that was fine like he goes down you know but certain schools do um like to see it on your resume

327
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:34,200
so if you have it great if you don't just supplement it with other things that you're passionate about

328
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:41,400
for sure um so let's talk about the dental school application uh so can you walk us through your

329
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:46,600
application process like what so you're in the program yeah you know that you're gonna go to

330
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:52,360
sony brunke anything worst case scenario you're gonna go to sony brunke yeah um so like how did

331
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:56,920
you go through like your DAT personal statement your rec letters like how do you kind of what was

332
00:29:56,920 --> 00:30:03,320
your mindset going into it my mindset was to forget about the fact that I'm in the program and just

333
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:10,600
apply like I was applying like any other applicant though you know I based on like talking to other

334
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:16,040
older upperclassmen and people who are already in dental school pre-dental society was a huge

335
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:20,360
resource for me because that kind of set the timeline as to when I was going to do everything

336
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:27,240
I took the DAT in March of my junior year which means I started studying right after winter break

337
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:32,920
and I was studying during the semester like a good month and a half into the semester

338
00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:40,840
I used DAT bootcamp I didn't use any other resources honestly and that was way like that was

339
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:47,720
sufficient for me uh in terms of personal statement I think I had started my personal statement in

340
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:57,160
I want to say January of my junior year and um as far as rec letters go I'm pretty sure I

341
00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:04,520
asked all my professors in December or January again of my junior year so I gave them I told them

342
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:11,480
I wanted it in by the end of January and all of them were very they were fine with that because

343
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:16,680
I asked them like I gave them a good month month and a half window to write it and then I set

344
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:22,120
with them reminder emails um so I had everything done basically I had started everything basically

345
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:29,800
in the winter of the year before I was going to apply so that makes sense uh so yeah I didn't take

346
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:37,240
a gap year but I did take I did graduate a semester early so I had a semester off um you know that was

347
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:45,080
just something that I knew I needed and as far as the committee letter goes I just followed you

348
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:50,760
know stony brooks committee letter requirements and that was pretty simple in terms of personal

349
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:57,560
statement I would recommend starting early because I I literally like read and edit personal statements

350
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:03,240
as my job and it sometimes it takes a lot longer you know it's nice to have that window to have

351
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:09,480
that cushion to edit it and go through like different rounds and change the theme if need be

352
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:17,240
add paragraphs leave paragraphs so from you know as somebody who works with pretense as my job

353
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:23,320
my advice to pretense is start your personal statement early start compiling your experiences

354
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:28,840
early that was huge um especially if you have a lot of experiences and a lot to say like a lot

355
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:33,560
of extracurriculars put those on a google doc that's it you know just start writing about them

356
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:39,080
just so like you can jog your memory when the application opens you can just like copy and

357
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:45,240
paste basically yeah I think like the personal statement one of my friends told me like he would

358
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:50,600
just write down like a year before he knew he knew he was gonna start writing it you like write

359
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:55,640
all his experiences from his work yeah job and like in the moment you might not think they're

360
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,640
really like important things to remember but like when you look back on it you might finally get

361
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:04,280
spark of like what's a right about it person what I did too yeah that's exactly what I did like I

362
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:10,040
wrote how I wrote child like just like little prompts or my I wrote childhood experience dental

363
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:17,160
assisting the man care republic like volunteering abroad I talked about like even pre-dental society

364
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:21,640
so any literally any dental experience that you've had that can that you can write about

365
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:28,840
throat those as prompts to kind of get me going for sure um so so now that you've you know you

366
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:34,120
kind of finished most of the the right the written work where did you how did you kind of consider

367
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:40,920
there was schools applied to apply to you now at this point um so my main factors were location

368
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:48,360
actually my main factor was location though I only applied to east coast schools and another

369
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:53,800
big thing was okay I'm already in dental school technically like I already have this program

370
00:33:54,440 --> 00:34:01,320
so then I applied to schools that I would genuinely see myself going to and still like I was literally

371
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:06,040
talking to my friend about this yesterday there's still some schools I was like why did I even apply

372
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:12,120
to that I wouldn't have gone so I would say location um in state versus out of state like

373
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:19,400
financials is something that you should consider uh even stuff like weather you know if if you've been

374
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:24,920
in Florida your entire life and you don't think you can handle like the fold maybe don't apply to

375
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:30,280
schools in Maine maybe don't apply to like Michigan you know what I mean um so yeah location was big

376
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:37,400
for me and then honestly like I do want to specialize so that was something I also considered

377
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:44,600
and for that I'll just say that Maine gets you like pretty far in specialty and I knew that if I

378
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:49,800
went to a school like Harvard or Columbia like specializing wouldn't be too much of an issue

379
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:55,480
right so that one is pretty big and so that's why it mostly applies like New York schools

380
00:34:55,480 --> 00:35:02,280
Boston schools um New England area I applies like one in Florida I don't know why I applied to part

381
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:07,560
of school like I've been in New York my entire life I'm not going to pack up at least 18 hours away

382
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:14,600
you know oh yeah I guess you just kind of applied just to I I applied just to apply I don't know why

383
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:20,120
I wasted my money the application is expensive like I don't know why did that but yeah so um

384
00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:25,160
so now that you like apply to these schools that you've chosen right um so how do the interview

385
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:29,080
process go and they send you emails and like how was your kind of was it like virtual do you go in

386
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:35,560
person close your experience like yeah so I had my application submitted by the end of June

387
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,960
and that wasn't really my timeline that was just like everything I had submitted personally like

388
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:45,480
in the second week of June but that the committee letter was submitted at the end of June so I would

389
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:51,720
say you know by July everything was finalized and I started getting interview invites in August

390
00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:58,440
and they notified me by email um some schools do send out a secondary application like a supplemental

391
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:04,920
application so you have to pay more money and like answer more questions um so that started in August

392
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:12,520
all of mine were virtual at that time and then I got my Harvard invite and that was the first one

393
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:18,600
that was like okay you have the option in person or virtual yeah chosen person for that so you know

394
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:24,680
you do have to get to the location of the school whether you fly or drive you have to consider

395
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:33,240
like hotel costs transportation costs stuff like that um so that one was in person and I by mid

396
00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:37,800
November all of my interviews were done all the schools I applied to I had to hear heard back from

397
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:46,840
and you know I'd complete all my interviews and so this cycle the um the day that they called was

398
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:53,960
December 1st and so like luckily like I I got my decisions on December 1st but it's totally

399
00:36:53,960 --> 00:37:02,280
normal if you don't I know a ton of my classmates didn't get called till mid December and even February

400
00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:07,800
March April you know it can go on to literally like I wouldn't start getting discouraged until

401
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:13,960
literally May you know that's kind of when you have to consider okay am I am I going to reapply

402
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:21,880
what am I going to do um so I my biggest advice is the earlier the better obviously that doesn't

403
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:28,520
mean that if you apply in September your chances are like diminished it's just the earlier you apply

404
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:33,480
the earlier schools get to look at your application and the earlier you'll get a potential interview

405
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:39,400
right so I tell like all the pre-dense that I'm on to or like they're usually most of them are

406
00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:45,240
sophomores or juniors at this point in undergrad so I tell them like okay most of them have decided

407
00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:49,880
at this point whether they're taking a gap year or not and so I tell them like okay start this

408
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:56,760
early start this early as early as you can to just maximize your chances um because like the

409
00:37:56,760 --> 00:38:03,000
timeline does kind of make a difference for dental like more so for medical honestly but

410
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:09,160
I know people who apply in October and still down to dental school so anything's possible it's just

411
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:17,080
yeah yeah luck of the try yes yeah um so can you talk a little bit more about like how the actual

412
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,920
interview process was like what kind of questions were you faced with did you find any questions

413
00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:26,440
that were like oh shoot I don't know the answers and stuff like I know Doug brain axolotl we had

414
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:31,480
he's d1 at Sonnybrook right now he talked for d2 he talked about like you got the why not medicine

415
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:36,440
question yeah very big question you kind of answer a little bit for any but if there are any questions

416
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:44,680
where you're like dang I don't know so um University of Florida uf was my first interview and um it was

417
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:52,520
virtual and you know I didn't really know to expect that much um so what they asked me they literally

418
00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:56,920
said right off the bat they're like okay we get it you have a lot of dental like experience because

419
00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:02,920
they saw that I was an assistant they're like you think is the biggest threat to dentistry and I was

420
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:09,720
like uh no but seriously though like I did have I did hear about that question beforehand so I

421
00:39:09,720 --> 00:39:15,720
kind of had to prepare but the way they asked it kind of caught me off guard and so I talked about

422
00:39:15,720 --> 00:39:21,160
like corporate dentistry I talked about new emerging technologies like even stuff like

423
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:27,960
Invisalign and implants that kind of um that more like general dentists can do these procedures now

424
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:34,120
so I I did have an answer prepared and it was still a very tough question if you're not prepared for

425
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:41,240
it you have to kind of know about what's going on in the dental field so that was one thing um yeah

426
00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:47,080
like what's the biggest threat to dentistry another question I had this one was from Harvard

427
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:54,760
they said what was an ethical dilemma you faced and how did you handle it and I had never gotten

428
00:39:54,760 --> 00:40:00,520
ethics question before in one of my interviews I know that now they're becoming more and more common

429
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:06,840
but I was just like I felt like I stuttered you know I did have a good answer for it but I had

430
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:12,840
to like really think on the spot um because also like you don't want to say anything that comes off

431
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:18,360
as unethical at the same time you don't want to violate the hip-hop you don't want to like I don't

432
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:24,040
know there's just a lot of caveats like when you do start thinking about answers to that question

433
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:29,240
you know test yourself try to ask yourself that question and what would you say for it right

434
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:36,920
if you can think of a story usually I know a lot of people a lot of the pretense I asked that

435
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:41,000
question to you when I do mock interviews they talk about like a patient experience so then you

436
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:47,560
have to kind of be careful like you don't want to yeah you can't I can get you in trouble yeah um so

437
00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:53,320
that was something that was tough and I remember stuttering during my interview answering that

438
00:40:53,320 --> 00:41:00,440
question um during my columbia interview this was really interesting she asked me she's like well

439
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:05,640
obviously like your stats are high and I'm sure you apply it to Harvard so would you go to columbia

440
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:12,840
over Harvard and I was like uh yeah you know like what are you what am I supposed to say

441
00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:20,120
I wasn't gonna be like like I'm gonna pick Harvard actually yeah I'm going to Harvard yeah

442
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:26,760
just cuz you guys gave it it it was just like that was a very weird interview question I personally

443
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:31,560
never got why medicine just because I think it was clear in the way that I answered all my other

444
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:37,160
interview questions that dentistry was like for me like it was clear that I had experience so they

445
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:44,680
it's weird to say this but my interviews were left so about dentistry and more so about who I was

446
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:51,960
as a person what I like to do my values my interests stuff like that my like when I talk to my peers

447
00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:57,560
I feel like my interview experience was kind of unique in that sense yeah but it all depends on

448
00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:02,360
your interviewer and it all depends on how you click with your interviewer so if I can offer

449
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:09,720
what like this is advice I give to everyone I'm like be yourself don't be a robot don't see these

450
00:42:09,720 --> 00:42:15,640
interviewers as robots either you know they are people that who have gone through dental school

451
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:21,560
or whatever they have tons of years of experience they have children and interests and hobbies and

452
00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:28,280
like stuff they love to do so try to find what they like and connect with them for my BU interview

453
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:33,960
we talked about food for 30 minutes for with one of my hardwood interviewers we talked about like

454
00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:39,080
she was really into like working out as well so we talked about the gym for like 10 minutes you know

455
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:46,120
stuff like that kind of reminds you that okay my interviewer is also a person and I can relax a

456
00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:52,280
little bit like I can answer a question more genuinely I don't have to be robotic I don't have to like

457
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:59,640
stick to a formula if that makes sense so even like the way you dress like this was

458
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:06,360
I tell all like the girls I know this like showcase your personality and the way you dress

459
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:10,840
I literally wore a pink suit to my Harvard interview because I don't like business casual

460
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:15,560
clothes and I was like I don't want to wear a dress how do I go about this and I went to Zara

461
00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:21,960
I found this like amazing pink blazer and pants and I wore that and you know like during my other

462
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:27,160
interviews I wore like a lot of florals and like colorful stuff and this might sound like

463
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:32,360
superficial and stupid but it's something that like my interviewer was picked up on and then

464
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:37,000
we talked about that yeah so any way that you can showcase your personality and have a talking

465
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:42,840
point about it like go for it and honestly easier said than done mock interviews is like the best

466
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:50,200
way to kind of gauge this but yeah like that's my biggest advice be true and like you know

467
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,320
Harvard has like a bunch of mock interviews like a lot of the others must have like mock

468
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:58,280
interview sessions. Zara for the new mock interviews, white coach remembers does mock interviews.

469
00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:05,240
Oh nice but um yeah no Harvard asked like I actually I'm on the board I'm on the social

470
00:44:05,240 --> 00:44:10,840
media and wellness chair and we host mock interviews so use those resources you know like

471
00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:18,600
follow those different pre-dental societies on Instagram and keep an eye out for those events

472
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:23,960
that are literally made for pre-dents you know mock interviews and informational sessions about

473
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:30,520
the schools Q&As with dental students those are all super super like important and they give a great

474
00:44:31,240 --> 00:44:37,800
amount of advice. That was going back I think that like you already spit wide dentistry applications

475
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:43,080
so many times like them just asking you that is you just gonna end up you like reciting what you've

476
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:48,200
already said. So they just want to like who you are like you're not gonna they've never seen you

477
00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:51,640
in person they were talked to you in person unless you've made Smith and before but like they wanted

478
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:57,080
to know that you're like not a robot like yeah exactly like a big part of it and it's again like

479
00:44:57,080 --> 00:45:00,680
it's like why you're gonna become a good doctor or dentist or whatever whatever profession you're

480
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:08,360
going to be in like it's not all about your stats not all about like school grades it is but like

481
00:45:08,920 --> 00:45:13,560
what you are beyond that is much more important I feel like because of the new that's like what

482
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:17,480
makes you happy right like you running your food business you're doing the consulting things

483
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:22,040
your firm I feel like it's just brings it all together and just kind of makes like you're like

484
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:26,200
a more well-rounded person. That's literally what we talked about most of the time like when they

485
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:30,200
said what would you like to do when I mentioned the food blog they're like oh tell me about that and

486
00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:36,200
we spent so much time because like what? Yeah they know exactly yeah yeah so like it they care more

487
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:42,120
about that stuff like what makes you you versus like oh I shadowed a doctor and this is what I saw

488
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:46,920
like I saw a crowd prep like they don't care about that they do that day in and day out like they know

489
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,760
what a crowd prep is they know what their feeling is like they don't want to hear about it they want

490
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:55,240
to hear about what makes you unique and that's another question I got a lot I got that during

491
00:45:55,240 --> 00:46:00,200
my storybook interview when I was get like when I was interviewing for the BS CDS program they were

492
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:04,840
like what makes you unique like everybody else wants to get into that little school everybody

493
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:10,520
else has your stats like what sets you apart and I think that's a really introspective question

494
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:14,200
you know you really have to kind of sit with yourself and be like wait yeah what does make

495
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:21,480
me unique and there's a lot more things than you think yeah like so I would say for pretend

496
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:27,880
that are preparing for interviews like think about that yeah for sure um so now you know you you

497
00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:32,600
have interviewed already um you got your acceptance to Harvard I'm I'm assuming you got accepted to

498
00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:39,960
Harvard yeah um so like how's it been so far like your D1 year I know that Harvard has a

499
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:45,400
degree to like med school down school program what what did you expect going in were you like

500
00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:49,880
nervous going in were you excited I'm assuming you're excited but like did you have any like

501
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:54,440
second thoughts nervous feeling and stuff like that how'd she get in um I think the biggest thing

502
00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:59,560
was like every single dental student I talked to kind of like fear-mongered like this idea of

503
00:46:59,560 --> 00:47:04,920
oh you have no free time you're always working the classwork is so hard the material is so hard

504
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:10,120
sim lab is so like everything that I heard about dental school was like oh it's so hard yeah um so

505
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:16,920
I think I was nervous but I also knew that the first year at Harvard you're a medical student at the

506
00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:23,400
medical school um you don't actually go over to the dental school until the second year so you do

507
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:29,400
like the same practice of medicine classes with the other medical students where you're in a hospital

508
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:35,640
doing like patient histories and like doing vitals like I was in the hospital I was at mass general

509
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:41,560
last week or this week on Wednesday and with it's like practice taking blood pressure on each other

510
00:47:41,560 --> 00:47:46,920
and like taking each other's heart rate because next week we're literally doing that on patients

511
00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:52,200
and so I think it's really interesting and that was a huge part of why I came to Harvard I love

512
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:58,840
the integration between the oral and oral and systemic health and emphasis they have on that

513
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:05,080
so I think for that reason my nerves were a little bit like lessened just because I was like okay

514
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:13,880
I'm just taking medical school classes um the first year uh I honestly really like it so far I do

515
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:20,440
like how D1s here have the opportunity to shadow and assist and the upperclassmen are very adamant

516
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:27,400
about keeping us involved and like you know I I'm very close with a handful of upperclassmen and

517
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:31,160
they're always texting me like hey do you want to shadow today or hey do you want can you like

518
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:38,120
pop in and assist on like this perio case or whatever maybe so I think being such a small

519
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:45,640
dental school you know we're 35 students each class those relationships form really fast and you get

520
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:51,960
really close with people really fast so don't let that like discourage you from applying to Harvard

521
00:48:51,960 --> 00:48:56,920
just because like oh the medical school curriculum like you're not a dental student the first year

522
00:48:56,920 --> 00:49:02,600
you still are a very much a dental student you still have like that strong strong community

523
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:08,760
tight-knit community behind you so that's honestly my favorite part about being here one of them

524
00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:15,240
besides like the pass fail um uh yeah like the tight the small class size it's just such a game changer

525
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:19,800
and we talked to paula a couple weeks ago again but he talked about like are we asked I asked him

526
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:23,800
like how the social life is at Buffalo like does he have a lot of free time he's like

527
00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:28,680
heck yeah we have a lot of free time dude like you know if you're able to structure your day is kind

528
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:33,720
of um it's not like undergrad where you have certain courses certain times like he talked about

529
00:49:33,720 --> 00:49:39,720
like how certain courses are kind of they start and end like different dates and like random dates

530
00:49:39,720 --> 00:49:44,280
and like a lot of free time in day like how are you whichever way is too suspended is up to you

531
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:49,160
and it's like that's like really cool about you know you have like you like freedom like you're

532
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:54,760
more freedom than you did undergrad uh stuff like that so and you talked about the past

533
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:59,160
fails is that I kind of sway your decision in going there I know somebody is in past fail but

534
00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:05,240
big time past fail takes so much of the competition away takes so much of the stress away

535
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:09,560
up until Thanksgiving our exams are even open notes so it's like

536
00:50:10,280 --> 00:50:15,240
if we don't want you to do poorly they want to make that transition really easy for you

537
00:50:15,240 --> 00:50:21,080
so my classes are from 8 to 12 every day except for Wednesdays that's when I'm in the hospital

538
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:26,280
and so like you said you know you do have a lot of free time once you're done with your class

539
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:32,120
it's up to you what you want to do right we have we have flipped classroom which means you have to

540
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:37,960
take you have to do the lectures before you go to class the next day and then in class it's CBCL

541
00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:44,360
which is it's called like clinic based class like learning I don't I don't really know what it stands

542
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:51,800
for but it's basically in class or case-based learning so in in class you discuss cases that

543
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:56,440
pertain to the lectures that you did the night before so I really I do like how you have so

544
00:50:56,440 --> 00:51:00,040
much free time once you're done with your prep work for the next day and you're done for the day

545
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:05,480
and whether you want to do that right after class and be done by like four or five o'clock or if

546
00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:10,680
you save it for the nighttime and you want to do like stuff in the middle of the day you know you

547
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:17,160
have that liberty you have that independence right but yeah no pastels huge honestly like nobody

548
00:51:17,160 --> 00:51:24,360
competes with any anyone because at the end of the day p equals dmd and that's kind of our lot

549
00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:33,320
like it's really crazy to have a yes yeah yeah uh really nice right um so you you'd talk to you'd

550
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:38,520
kind of briefly touched on like you want to go into endo right yeah no oral surgery you kind of like

551
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:47,640
be right now um so what kind of maze you go that way um I so obviously I'm not saying I'm a special

552
00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:55,160
to you but I do like the fact that oral surgery again you have more of that medical background

553
00:51:55,880 --> 00:52:03,080
and I don't know just based off my shadowing and my assisting experience I liked how endo is really

554
00:52:03,080 --> 00:52:11,160
straightforward you see a you you do your root canals right apicalactamies maybe um and honestly

555
00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:16,440
the work life balance with endo seemed a lot better than general just in like the office settings

556
00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:22,840
that I've seen and so I was like okay it's very fine detail like a very hand skill oriented

557
00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:28,440
you know this the procedure is kind of straightforward you're doing a root canal

558
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:35,000
uh there is a little bit of variation but not so much and your work life balance is great so

559
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:40,040
I don't know if that sounds superficial but that's kind of what drew me to endo you know

560
00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:48,360
what what a dentist what a general dentist told me was what I make seeing like five patients

561
00:52:49,080 --> 00:52:54,680
is what an endo makes seeing one patient so again like I don't want to say the only reason I'm going

562
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:58,680
into endo is for the money but like that is a huge factor when you're considering work life

563
00:52:58,680 --> 00:53:03,400
balance and what you want your schedule to look like at the end of the day you're still a dentist

564
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:08,280
no matter what so it's just like okay how what kind of dentist do you want to be right do you want

565
00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:14,280
to do all sorts of procedures cosmetic procedures do you want to do more like fine tuned on to one

566
00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:20,520
procedure and I like the idea of getting really good at one thing versus just doing a little bit

567
00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:28,280
of everything in terms of oral surgery I really I just really like the idea of I don't know like

568
00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:36,200
I like restoring somebody I just I don't know like when I've assisted oral surgery it's been

569
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:42,920
mostly like wisdom teeth extractions and symbols up like that but there was just something and

570
00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:48,760
this is gonna sound like super like I don't know like touchy feely here but I worked with female

571
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:55,080
oral surgeons and I feel like oral surgery is a specialty that lacks a lot of female representation

572
00:53:55,720 --> 00:54:04,360
so that's just like inspiring to me as it is you know being in like the minority in that kind of

573
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:10,120
specialty that's really cool to me and it's like almost like a challenge because a lot of the people

574
00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:17,240
I know here that do want to do OS are men and again like I said I do like the medical aspect of it

575
00:54:17,240 --> 00:54:23,960
and that's why again I chose Harvard so since I haven't started any type of pre-clinic

576
00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:29,240
over at the dental school I don't have a clear concrete answer but those are just some ideas

577
00:54:31,080 --> 00:54:35,800
so like have you talked to upper class then about like if not touching hand pieces or doing like

578
00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:40,760
clinical base work until your second year yeah what's you behind other schools or is it just kind of

579
00:54:40,760 --> 00:54:47,480
you know see I was worried about that but they were very good at easing my worries like right away

580
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:53,160
they're like you catch up fast you know they're not setting you up for failure whatsoever you

581
00:54:53,160 --> 00:55:00,680
really are set up for success and you know even though you basically get whatever specialty you

582
00:55:00,680 --> 00:55:06,600
want type thing here and there are people that choose to go into general which is totally fair

583
00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:11,080
and they feel like at least the upper class when I've talked to they said they feel prepared to

584
00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:16,440
just go into the workforce but they don't feel like they're behind any other dental schools or

585
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:22,920
their peers at other dental schools I think Harvard does a good job at just helping you out yeah I

586
00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:26,600
think when I visited it when we talked to the teeth I'm not gonna say anything but like we talked to

587
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:31,000
her and she was kind of like you kind of get into wherever you want to go because Harvard right

588
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:34,920
it's like a really good school like you won't be you know that's kind of how she took it when

589
00:55:34,920 --> 00:55:39,320
she applied to the school so I think that's like a really interesting part of it also and no past

590
00:55:39,320 --> 00:55:44,360
failings obviously great um as you tell even Zay goes to Columbia so he's talking about Columbia's

591
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:48,760
past fail as well and he was just like there's no stress like everyone wants to help our funny house

592
00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:55,400
it's just like it's just like imagine undergrad was like that yeah it would have been a big difference

593
00:55:55,400 --> 00:56:01,720
like everybody shares notes we all study together it's very collaborative it's not cutthroat whatsoever

594
00:56:01,720 --> 00:56:06,120
I feel like you might have even learned more you do well if you're like everyone's talking to each

595
00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:10,600
other and you're just kind of absorbing everyone's like how everyone else gets information like

596
00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:15,080
perceives the information yeah like might grow like different perspectives like I don't think about

597
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:22,200
this sort of thing so yeah exactly no it's a huge change from undergrad where you know like and if

598
00:56:22,200 --> 00:56:27,800
you are in that competitive mindset or like that oh like what'd you get on the test mindset you are

599
00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:33,080
shut down right away nobody is like nobody wants to put up with that nobody wants to hear that

600
00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:41,080
very it's a very non-toxic environment here we're all trying to help each other and like get to where

601
00:56:41,080 --> 00:56:45,800
we want to be right so kind of like wrapping up here do you want to like plug your your businesses

602
00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:54,680
that you got going on yeah so I'll tag them later anyway but the like I keep talking about the

603
00:56:54,680 --> 00:57:00,520
food one that's Pizano's place I work as a restaurant promoter so restaurants reach out to me

604
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:07,480
sometimes I reach out to them and I go and basically get free food and review it so that like it's so

605
00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:12,680
much fun it's a lot of work it might not sound like a lot but it is so much more work than you think

606
00:57:13,320 --> 00:57:17,720
so that's something that I do well like that takes up a lot of my time and then the consulting

607
00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:23,080
business it's actually pre-medical and pre-dental it's called white coat dreamers and basically we

608
00:57:23,080 --> 00:57:29,240
do personal statement editing we do full application editing like you know all your activities and your

609
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:34,920
experiences we do consulting you know where we meet on zoom and basically just like go through and

610
00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:39,560
help you along your pre-dental journey mock interviews is a big one that we're doing right

611
00:57:39,560 --> 00:57:45,400
now we've been doing a bunch of those where basically exactly what it sounds like a mock interview

612
00:57:45,400 --> 00:57:52,760
right and then something unique that we do is we meet with parents because I mentioned it very

613
00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:58,680
early on you know in our conversation that my parents had no idea about this entire process

614
00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:06,040
so getting parents in the know early makes a big difference in the students journey to medical school

615
00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:12,040
our deathful school so that like we meet with a lot of high school parents that like kind of want

616
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:19,560
to go think about BSMD or BSDDS or you know they consider a lot of other factors for undergrad

617
00:58:19,560 --> 00:58:28,120
because of that so yeah if you're looking for some extra pre-dental advice like this is obviously

618
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:34,520
your podcast is an amazing resource it's everything free resource and utilize for pre-dent out there

619
00:58:34,520 --> 00:58:41,080
utilize any free resources that you can and if you want that extra push you know white coat dreamers

620
00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:45,640
we're there for you especially with the personal statements that's like our number one thing right

621
00:58:45,640 --> 00:58:50,040
so I might even you I might even use your guys as a service so when I get to that point because

622
00:58:50,040 --> 00:58:55,160
like it's like that's like actual like one-on-one and like you guys have proven yourself to already

623
00:58:55,160 --> 00:59:00,280
like know what you're talking about so yeah oh yeah I forgot to say I run it with my boyfriend and he

624
00:59:00,280 --> 00:59:08,520
goes to med school at NYU so he's a huge you know really everything we do is 50-50 because dental

625
00:59:08,520 --> 00:59:14,200
and medical school admissions are very similar so having that expertise on both ends is really

626
00:59:15,240 --> 00:59:20,760
insightful yeah for sure um so like actually wrapping up here um yeah let's like the last

627
00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:26,600
piece of advice you can give any pre-dentalists going through this whole process honestly believe

628
00:59:26,600 --> 00:59:34,600
in yourself um and even if it sounds delusional like just tell yourself you're getting in that sound

629
00:59:34,600 --> 00:59:40,600
it sounds so bizarre but I would just tell myself like okay a year from now I'm gonna be at Harvard

630
00:59:40,600 --> 00:59:45,640
or I'm gonna be at dental school even like the week before my interview I'd be like my interview

631
00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:52,440
went so well so just believe in yourself and just know that you have the experiences you have the

632
00:59:52,440 --> 00:59:58,120
knowledge you have you know the confidence so just be confident believe in yourself and you'll

633
00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:04,920
get to where you want to be you know everyone that I know like everyone that I've met along this journey

634
01:00:04,920 --> 01:00:11,400
has gotten into dental school so nobody gets left behind one way or another you're getting it so just

635
01:00:11,400 --> 01:00:17,800
believe in yourself and take that as you will all right so that concludes our episode of

636
01:00:17,800 --> 01:00:21,800
Dental Podcast thank you also for joining me and sharing your experience with the interview process

637
01:00:22,840 --> 01:00:25,800
you're inside was definitely valuable to me and I hope that I'll be the same for pre-dental

638
01:00:25,800 --> 01:00:29,400
listeners everyone please be free to reach out to us at our socials and I'll support them in the

639
01:00:29,400 --> 01:00:33,320
the show description when we do upload this episode if you have further questions and we

640
01:00:33,320 --> 01:00:36,120
thank everyone for listening and if you enjoyed this episode please be sure to follow us on

641
01:00:36,120 --> 01:01:01,480
Instagram and Spotify and we'll see you next time for another dose of dental college