A Comparison of Admissions Data Between Virtual and In-person Dental School Interviews

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic forced many dental schools to conduct some or all of their interviews virtually. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether an association existed between interview setting and applicant characteristics, specifically focusing on the difference in the interview score between applicants who chose virtual interviews and those who chose in-person interviews.

Methods: Demographic and admission data were obtained from the 101 interviewed candidates from the XXXX 2021-2022 application cycle. Distribution of demographics and interview preference were assessed. Simple and multiple generalized linear models (GLM) were run to examine the difference in the applicants’ interview score between in-person and virtual interviews.

Results: Of the 29 in-person interviews, 16 (55.17%) were offered acceptances, while 31 (43.06%) of the 72 virtual interviews were accepted, a difference that was not statistically significant (p-value = 0.380). Preference for the interview format was not associated with any of the applicants’ factors including gender, current residence (the four bureau-designated regions), overall grade point average (GPA), science GPA, Dental Admissions Test (DAT) Academic Average score, and perceptual ability test (PAT) score. In addition, there was no statistical difference in the interview score between the two interview formats.

Conclusions: The effect of virtual interviewing on interview scores and applicants’ admission rate was found to be statistically insignificant. If further study with larger sample sizes confirms this finding, virtual interviewing could be considered as a viable alternative to in-person interviewing in the dental school admissions process.