If you aren't certain where you want your career to go following graduation from dental school, that is okay. You can make your interviewer aware that you plan to consider all of your experiences as you train with their program and make a career decision from there. Talking about the type of practice you want to one day be in rather than the specialty is also a great strategy to use when answering this question if you are unsure of your exact career path.

Speak openly about your career goals as a dentist. On top of any potential subspecialty training you wish to pursue following dental school, you should also discuss the type of practice setting you want to be in. If you hope to open your own practice, being business savvy is important to your education. If you seek an academic practice involved in research and education down the road, your training path during dental school will be unique as well. As long as you are open and honest about your career goals in your answer, your interviewer at this MMI station will be respectful of your response.

"My dream has always been to travel back to my home region and open a dental practice that is welcoming to all families and allows me to treat people that I consider friends, neighbors, and family. I see this as the ultimate way of giving back to a community that shaped me into who I am today. With that said, I will try to keep my options open to further residency training in areas like pediatric dentistry, dental public health, and periodontics to help my practice go down the road. As you can see from my application, I felt it was important to have a sound business background, and I spent a lot of credits during my undergraduate program in this area. I love that your program has a strong track record of training dentists to go into all types of practice and subspecialties of the field, particularly those going into general practice. Getting the opportunity for clerkships in small community settings is something I would love about being accepted here."