Pre-Dent Application Cycle: Justin Tabatabai

Background:

During all four years of his time at UMD, Justin was a dedicated member of the club lacrosse team, leading the team as president for two of the four years that he was involved. Being a part of the team challenged him on and off the field, making his position as president instrumental to his overall leadership development in college. This experience shaped his dental school application, interview question responses, and current position as D2 class president. Justin was very thankful to have been involved in club sports at Maryland and this passion was further reflected by his role at Eppley Recwell as a Club Sports Supervisor. Outside of the lacrosse field, Justin was a teaching assistant (TA) for Mammalian Physiology, BSCI440, with Dr. Speer and Dr. Apoku. Being a TA fueled his passion to pursue a career in dentistry, as both positions require enjoyment and a drive for life-long learning and teaching. To engage with the pre-dental community at UMD, he was involved in multiple pre-dental clubs.

Personal Statement:

For Justin’s application cycle, his HPAO committee packet letter was due in March, so he began working on it in mid-December and submitted it in late February, a month ahead of the HPAO deadline. He knew that HPAO reviewed letters in order of their submission so he wanted to submit the packet at least one month early so that he could have plenty of time to finalize his personal statement. 

For his personal statement, Justin incorporated a series of small but significant experiences, rather than trying to find “one life-changing moment” or aha experience that made him want to be a dentist. In his opinion, the main purpose of the personal statement is to show an understanding of what set of skills are needed in dentistry and to describe how you demonstrated proficiency in those skills through your undergraduate experiences. Similarly, the point of the interview process is to communicate that you would be a great fit at a particular dental school because you have developed the right skill set and have the right tools to be successful due to  x, y, and z experiences. With that in mind, it makes sense that an undergraduate student may have obtained unique skills from a wide range of experiences, rather than a single experience.

Justin chose to structure his personal statement around three reasons regarding why dentistry suited his personality and interests and three corresponding experiences that embodied those reasons. The first reason he chose a career in dentistry was because of his desire for lifelong learning and teaching. As a dentist, you are responsible for teaching your patients oral hygiene instruction and constantly learning by taking Continuing Educations credits. Similarly, as a TA, “you are constantly learning new ways to teach the class and implementing that knowledge with your students.” That experience equipped him with the skills necessary for a career in dentistry where “you are always a student.” Justin emphasizes that when writing your personal statement, you don’t think that you have to have one big experience, “it can be small discrete pieces of a puzzle that create one big picture.”

Interview Process:

Justin shares that an overall takeaway that he had from his interviews was that dental schools were not focused on asking about DAT scores or GPA, instead they were curious about what “insights or experiences you would bring to our school” and what brings you to their school specifically. In other words, you passed the school’s preliminary screening (woohoo!) and now they want to know who you really are. For example, they might say “I saw you were president at this club for x years, what was it like being a leader in that club, how did the club serve you, and how did you serve them?” 

One common question he came across in all his interviews was: why do you specifically want to come here? Justin advises that you give a very genuine answer because schools are going to see through any insincere motivations. The way that he went about it was finding a special program at each school had that he resonated with and bringing it up during the interview. This makes schools aware that you’ve done your research and it demonstrates enthusiasm, initiative, and that you really want to join their school. 

Curriculum:

UMDSOD is a four-year program. D1 year is primarily didactic, meaning that students spend the majority of their time going to lecture, reading textbooks, and taking exams. Still, UMDSOD offers early introductory clinical experiences that include dental anatomy waxing, operative drilling, and dissections in gross anatomy. In dental anatomy, students use waxing instruments to carve dental teeth models which promotes an appreciation for all unique features of the teeth in the mouth. In operative dentistry, instructors provide students with handpieces, drills, and plastic teeth that enable students to start learning how to drill in specific classes (I, II III IV V) of cavities. In gross anatomy, students do “hip-up anatomy” cadaver labs where they work with a lab group to perform dissections with surgical tools. 

After learning the basics of drilling in D1, the next step is filling a cavity or clearing out a pulp chamber and filling it. This brings us to the D2 year, where students learn how to diagnose on x-rays and begin the study of endodontics (root canals) and more advanced operative procedures. Students go into the dental laboratory to learn how to make partial dentures and how to use dental waxes and polymers. Also, students learn the facial nerves and attend “stab lab” where they learn how to do injections in order to numb an individual’s mouth for a procedure.

Following those first two years of building reliable hand skills,  students are finally welcomed into the clinic! They begin by assisting the upperclassmen for about a month which is followed by a subsequent month of clinic orientation. During clinic orientation, instructors will demonstrate techniques on how to approach drilling or filling a tooth. The professors understand that the students are inexperienced so they will work hard in class to give you the time to adjust to the dental procedures. Justin recalls that before his first practical exam he was able to practice for at least six weeks. Upperclassmen are also very supportive by popping into the lab and helping out. Additionally, facilities directors keep the lab open at night, and they are currently working towards a future plan to have the lab open during the weekends so that students can come in whenever they need to practice. Justin emphasizes that with enough practice, everyone can succeed and pass.

Starting in June and July, students work on their own patients. During the D3 and D4 years, students are in the clinic most days from 9 to 5, depending on how many patients they are seeing. For the graduating class of 2020, half of the graduating class of Maryland in 2020 is going into some form of residency and another half is going into private practice. 

Life at UMDSOD:

Justin describes his school climate as a “cohesive culture where students are looking out for each other.” For him, one of the most enjoyable aspects of dental school has been building class comradery. He says that “there is something very connecting about being in the trenches with other people.” The thing that gets you through it is you look to your person at the left and look to a person at the right and they are going through the exact same thing. “We know how tough the day may be going but let’s come together and help each other out and make it through together.” According to Justin,  the most challenging part of dental school is learning how to be more independent because it is up to you to keep yourself accountable with the material while balancing adult life. He also highlights finding time for self-care, if that means going to the gym or being social. There’s a curve to finding the rhythm of young professional life, but you will get there!

That’s all I have for today, everyone. Thank you for reading and I hope this gave you some new insights about life at UMSOD. Feel free to use the comments section below to tell us what more you would like to read about.

With care,

Gus

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