Most circuits mix these types. Each card shows what the station tests, a practice prompt written for this guide and a way in. Each card also names the AAMC premed competencies it draws on.
Motivation and insight“What do you think applicants underestimate about a physician’s working day?What does a general dentist’s day involve besides treating teeth?”
Tests: Realistic motivation grounded in what you have seen, including the hard parts of the job.
Approach: Answer from something you saw while shadowing or in clinical work, name a real downside you have weighed, and say why you still want the job. Show you know what nurses, PAs and NPs do.Draw on shadowing: the dental team, running a practice, conversations about cost and insurance, and patients who are anxious or in pain. Then say why the dentist’s role in particular.
AAMC competencies: Commitment to Learning and Growth · Service Orientation
Ethics“A 16-year-old asks for contraception and wants her parents kept out of it. Assume your state lets minors consent to this care. What should the physician weigh?A 16-year-old wants veneers on healthy front teeth after seeing them on social media. Her parent is unsure. How should the dentist respond?”
Tests: Balanced reasoning about respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice, plus consent, capacity and confidentiality. The reasoning is scored, not the verdict.
Approach: Name the principles actually in tension, check what state law allows and whether she understands the choice, encourage (never force) a trusted adult, then reach a justified position.Explore why she wants them, explain that removing healthy enamel cannot be undone, weigh her autonomy against the duty not to over-treat, and involve her parent in consent for a minor.
UC San Diego’s station vignettes include ethical dilemmas, and Mississippi lists awareness of ethics among what its stations assess.
The ADA Code rests on five principles: patient autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice and veracity.
AAMC competencies: Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others
Role-play and communication“A parent wants to skip her toddler’s MMR vaccine after reading about it online. Talk with her.A patient is upset that her insurance won’t pay for the crown you recommended. Explain her options.”
Tests: Empathy, listening and clear explanation, often with a trained actor playing a patient, relative or colleague.
Approach: Ask what she has read and what worries her, acknowledge the worry, explain the evidence plainly without lecturing, and keep the door open if she is not ready today.Acknowledge the frustration, explain why you recommended the crown and what the alternatives involve, be honest about what her plan will and won’t cover, and agree on next steps.
At UC Davis the rater may watch you work with a trained actor playing a patient.
AAMC competencies: Oral Communication · Empathy and Compassion
Health policy and current issues“How might a state’s decision not to expand Medicaid affect a working adult with diabetes?Medicaid does not have to cover dental care for adults, so some states offer very little. What does that mean for patients?”
Tests: A balanced, accurate grasp of how US care is paid for, and what it means for patients.
Approach: State the issue neutrally, give the strongest points on each side, bring in the patient’s view, then give a reasoned opinion. Leave party lines at the door. The current-issues cards below give where each topic stands.
Mississippi’s stations include your opinions on healthcare issues.
AAMC competencies: Critical Thinking · Understanding Others
Data and quantitative reasoning“A chart shows a county’s childhood vaccination rate falling over ten years while measles cases rise. What can you conclude, and what can’t you?A chart shows the share of adults who saw a dentist last year, by family income. Describe it and suggest two explanations.”
Tests: Calm, systematic reasoning out loud. The method matters as much as the answer.
Approach: Describe what the chart shows before explaining it, separate correlation from causation, name other explanations, and say what data you would want next.Describe the pattern first, offer more than one cause (cost, coverage, access, health literacy), and say what extra information you would want.
AAMC competencies: Quantitative Reasoning · Scientific Inquiry
Teamwork and group tasks“With another applicant, decide how to spend a free clinic’s $10,000 grant, then give each other feedback.”
Tests: How you contribute, bring the other person in and handle disagreement.
Approach: Make one clear contribution early, invite the other person’s ideas, build on them rather than compete, and summarize what you agreed before time runs out.
Mississippi lists teamwork among the competencies its stations assess.
AAMC competencies: Teamwork and Collaboration
Reflection and clinical experience“Tell me about a moment in your clinical or volunteer experience that changed how you see patients.”
Tests: What you learned from what you did or saw, not a list of hours.
Approach: Pick one specific moment: what happened, what you noticed or did, what you learned and what you now do differently. A closed-file rater has not read your application, so give the context in a sentence.
AAMC competencies: Self-Awareness
Professionalism and judgment“A classmate posts about “a wild night in the ER” with enough detail to identify the patient. What do you do?A classmate posts a photo from the dental clinic in which a patient’s face is visible. What do you do?”
Tests: Safe, proportionate decisions about privacy, honesty and patient safety.
Approach: Put the patient first: the post breaches patient privacy and may breach HIPAA. Speak to your classmate privately and promptly, ask them to take it down, and escalate to a supervisor if they won’t.
Mississippi lists critical thinking and decision-making among what its stations assess.
AAMC competencies: Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others · Reliability and Dependability
Manual dexterity“Tell us about something you have made or repaired that needed precise hand control.”
Tests: Fine motor skill and composure, or evidence of them.
Approach: Have two concrete examples ready, such as an instrument, a craft, model-making or repairs, and say what they taught you. If you are given a task, talk through what you are doing and stay calm.
