Biographic Information*
Parent and Family Information*
Secondary (High School) Information*
Colleges Attended *
Coursework*
- Completed and In Progress Courses
DAT scores
- You DO NOT need to have your DAT scores by the time you submit your application. HOWEVER, to have your application processed quicker, submit your DAT scores AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Background Information - Some personal questions*
Awards, Honors, Scholarships
Dentistry Experience
Extracurricular/Volunteer/Community Service
Work Experience (including Military Service)
Research Experience
Personal Statement (Essay)*
- Essay is limited to 4,500 characters (including spaces)
Evaluators
- Applicants may submit a MAXIMUM of FOUR Individual Letters of Evaluation
OR
-ONE Committee Letter/Report plus the option of ONE additional Individual
Letter of Evaluation
- Letters of Evaluations maybe submitted either electronically or by paper
Release Statements*
Dental Designations*
- Approximately 55 Dental Schools in the Nation that use AADSAS, make sure to check if the dental school you are applying to requires AADSAS or DOESN’T require you to submit your application via AADSAS.
* = Required sections
Parent and Family Information*
Secondary (High School) Information*
Colleges Attended *
Coursework*
- Completed and In Progress Courses
DAT scores
- You DO NOT need to have your DAT scores by the time you submit your application. HOWEVER, to have your application processed quicker, submit your DAT scores AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Background Information - Some personal questions*
Awards, Honors, Scholarships
Dentistry Experience
Extracurricular/Volunteer/Community Service
Work Experience (including Military Service)
Research Experience
Personal Statement (Essay)*
- Essay is limited to 4,500 characters (including spaces)
Evaluators
- Applicants may submit a MAXIMUM of FOUR Individual Letters of Evaluation
OR
-ONE Committee Letter/Report plus the option of ONE additional Individual
Letter of Evaluation
- Letters of Evaluations maybe submitted either electronically or by paper
Release Statements*
Dental Designations*
- Approximately 55 Dental Schools in the Nation that use AADSAS, make sure to check if the dental school you are applying to requires AADSAS or DOESN’T require you to submit your application via AADSAS.
* = Required sections
The Interview
After successfully submitting your application, a dental school will ask you to come in for an interview (if they were impressed by your application). The interview will help the admissions board learn more about you and, more importantly, about your communication skills. They want to know if you have the ability to interact with patients and develop the dentist-patient relationship. Below are a few very viable interview questions, but please note that they can ask questions that follows on a previous answer.
1. What are your influences?
2. How are you (have you) planning for dental school?
3. What are your extra curricular activities?
4. What are 3 words that describe yourself?
5. How did you first become interested in dentistry?
6. If you cure any disease, what would you chose and why?
7. What are your three greatest achievements?
8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years/5 years from now?
9. What are you weaknesses?
10. Why do you what to go to this dental school?
11. Do you feel prepared for dental school?
12. Why would want to do to dental school instead of pursuing medicine?
13. What is our (dental school) mission statement?
14. Tell me something about our history of our school?
1. What are your influences?
2. How are you (have you) planning for dental school?
3. What are your extra curricular activities?
4. What are 3 words that describe yourself?
5. How did you first become interested in dentistry?
6. If you cure any disease, what would you chose and why?
7. What are your three greatest achievements?
8. Where do you see yourself in 10 years/5 years from now?
9. What are you weaknesses?
10. Why do you what to go to this dental school?
11. Do you feel prepared for dental school?
12. Why would want to do to dental school instead of pursuing medicine?
13. What is our (dental school) mission statement?
14. Tell me something about our history of our school?
Letters of Recommendation
There is a required minimum of 3 letters of recommendation, 2 from science professors and 1 from a dentist. Although optional, it is recommended that you get another letter from your pre-health advisor (Marti Truhitte). It is up to you to develop relationships with professors and professionals. Attend all of their office hours every week and ask questions (even if it means asking questions you already know the answer to).
Personal Statement
This gives the admissions board a chance to learn about your personality, strengths, experiences, and how those experiences changed/influenced you. This is the only part of the application where you can set yourself apart from other students because the most competitive applicants will have identical GPA, and DAT scores. Start by making an outline and keep the following questions in mind:
-Who are you?
-What is your experience?
-Why dentistry?
-What have you accomplished?
-Do you have family in dentistry?
-What are your hobbies?
-What research have you been involved in?
-Is there anything that you would like the admissions committee to know about you that was not mentioned anywhere else in your application?
-What is your experience?
-Why dentistry?
-What have you accomplished?
-Do you have family in dentistry?
-What are your hobbies?
-What research have you been involved in?
-Is there anything that you would like the admissions committee to know about you that was not mentioned anywhere else in your application?
Constructively relate all of these back to dentistry in an organized format. Try and focus on a topic that will set you aside from the crowd. It doesn’t have to be anything amazing just be sure it flows and holds interest. If you need help, don't hesitate to contact your officers!
The Dental Admissions Test (DAT)
Since every college has different professors and material, the DAT is a good way to for dental schools to compare students. The DAT will be presented on a computer with the following subjects (in the order of the actual test):
Natural Sciences: 90 minutes – 100 questions
- Biology - ~40 questions – Cell and molecular biology, physiology of plants and animals, and Ecology and Evolution.
- General Chemistry – ~30 questions – Acids and bases, atomic structure, periodic properties, gases, liquids and solids, nuclear reactions.
- Organic Chemistry – ~30 questions – Mechanisms, organic analysis, properties of molecules, stereochemistry, bonding, reactions, and nomenclature.
Perceptual Ability: 60 minutes – 90 questions
- Keyholes – Given a 3D object and five openings, determine which of the five openings the object can pass (cannot be rotated)
- Top-Front-End – You are presented two projections of an object. Determine the third.
- Angle Ranking - Given four angles, rank them in increasing order
- Hole Punching - A hole in punched through a piece of paper folded 1, 2 or 3 times. Mentally unfold the paper and determine where each hole is located.
- Cube Counting - A stack of several cubes is presented to you. Each cube has been cemented together. Imagine the stack of cubes being painted on all sides. You are asked to determine how many cubes have a particular number of sides painted.
- Pattern Folding – Guessing how patterns fold “into the board” and “away from the board”.
- Reading Comprehension: 60 minutes – 50 questions
- 3 passages with 16-17 questions.
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Pre-calculus
Each section is scored on a scale of 1-30, 19-20 being a very competitive score. Each school has their own methods of determining the weight of each section. Keep in mind that all competitive applicants will have high scores in the natural sciences, math, and perceptual ability sections so having a high reading comprehension will definitely be a great advantage. Begin preparing for the DAT months before the actual exam. Kaplan and princeton review have study books which are available for purchase on-line or at any bookstore. Kaplan also offers DAT preparation classes at around $1000 (for more information go to kaplan.com). The class will meet about 15 times, each being 3-4 hours. We recommend taking the DAT the summer before you plan on applying.
Using AADSAS For Your Application
The Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS), a branch of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA), simplifies the application process by providing one standardized form. It will have all of your personal and academic information (Every class/grade and during which quarter), your personal statement, and all of your extracurricular activities. To access the application click here. The following is what to expect on the AADSAS dental school application:
