I have devised a small formula to follow to figure out when you should apply to dental school. I have seen that this question is asked a lot and many pre-dental students do not know that they should apply a whole year and a half in advance. Simply follow the first few questions and use your answers for the rest of the article. Also if you feel there are details missing or another step you found helpful then feel free to share, I know I always forget something.
For best results, print this off and use it to figure out when you should do what and when you should have it completed. Listing things makes it easier to accomplish them because it is organized better in your mind.
BEGIN:
A.) When do you want to start dental school?
________________________________
B.) Take the year you answered from Question A and subtract 1 from it, place it here:
________________________________
This is the year you should apply.
You are ready to go.
As an example I will use the next application cycle from the date of this article and continue with the rest of the calendar.
A.) Desired matriculation year: 2008
B.) 2008-1 = 2007, the year you want to apply.
This tells me that I want to start applying in 2007.
The next segment will discuss the specific times in 2007 (or the year you should apply) that you should have stuff submitted. The dates discussed will be general times for everyone. Schools have personal time lines which should be figured out on an individual basis, however the dates provided here will put you in very good shape come interview time.
The first thing to do is figure out what you need for your application. Go to the AADSAS website and make a user ID and password and figure out how the website works. Don’t fill anything out, just look at how the application works and print off pages to use as reference if you want. YOUR USER ID AND PASSWORD WILL BE RESET FOR THE NEXT APPLICATION CYCLE SO YOU WILL HAVE TO SIGN UP AGAIN. This is the reason not to fill anything in. In the application you will see that you need letters of recommendation, DAT scores, personal essay, extracurricular activities, honors, awards, and you will need to spend time filling in your classes and the grades you received. You will also need to send things to AADSAS and print off cover letters for transcripts and letters of recommendation. Make a list of things you need and get them all by May 1st of the year you figured out in the previous questions. (in my example, 2007).
After AADSAS has reset the system from the previous years application cycle then you can go to the website, re-register, and start to fill out AADSAS with everything at your fingertips. It makes it just that much easier.
From the list of things you will need to gather I have gathered (please feel free to submit more) some hints to make iteasier so you are not scrambling towards the end of the deadline dates to get everything. Don’t expect to get everything collected with in one week!
Letters of Recommendation
Please visit this previous article. Ideally you will start to collect letters or recommendation a semester or two before you apply. In my example: If you are applying in May 2007 then you should be networking with instructors from about Sept 2006 to January 2007. If you are applying this year, your professors should know somewhere in the back of their mind that you want them to write a spectacular letter for them. They should have it done by the time May 15th rolls around. The last thing you want to do is go get a letter written in a week by a professor who has most likely written 50 letters just like yours for the same thing…it will sound crappy. (generally speaking this is a trend most people take).
Letter of Intent/Personal Essay
I will be doing a segment on this later so stay tuned. This letter is very important because it tells the school about your whole interest in dentistry in less than 2 pages. Start the essay early and make sure it has been revised and edited more then twice. You most likely know three people off the top of your head who are English majors. Have them read it and edit your essay. Have your proffesors read and edit the essay. Have your fellow dental applicants read it. Make it sweet, to the point, and make sure it tells them about your interest in dentistry. Last of all be honest. The admissions committees read 3000 of these things a day and can detect genuine from B.S. so make it real.
DAT
In the AADSAS application it has a section to enter your DAT score into. If you have not taken he DAT by the submit date of MAY 15th then it is OKAY to submit your application. Let me repeat this: IT IS OKAY, IN FACT, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION BEFORE YOU HAVE TAKEN THE DENTAL ADMISSIONS TEST. Let me tell you why. AADSAS has the unforunate reutation of being extremely slow at processing your application. The sooner the application has been e-submitted the better. Plus then the schools can start to review your information before the DAT has been taken and start your application rolling in the right direction. If you wait until later then you may lose that interview spot to someone else who submitted their application before you did. After you have taken the DAT it will be sent to the schools you designated a lot quicker than waiting for AADSAS to do it.
Here is a bried timeline summary of when you should start the application process.
A.) Year of desired matriculation: 2010
B.) 2010-1 = 2009
This means:
***In Sept (+/- few months) - April 2009 you should be networking for letters of recommendation and have them be sent out in May 2009.
***During this time you should also begin your personal essay/letter of intent to dental schools.
***During this time you should also register at AADSAS and make a checklist of all the things you should be getting together for May 1st when AADSAS opens its website for new applicants. Remember you will have to re-register because they will have purged the system.
***Start filling out the application the day it is open to new applicants, in this example May 2009.
***Submit your application the soonest day possible whether you have your DAT score or not. You can submit it later and still get your application out and processed.
***Take the DAT as early as possible and fax your scores diectly to the schools the day you get them and call and make sure the schools got the fax. I would also recommend not taking it later than August. You can, but looking at majorities it is better to take it earlier.
***Many schools also require a deposit to process your application. Some schools want you to send the deposit in the day you submit AADSAS and some schools tell you to wait. After you have decided which schools to apply to figure out which school requires what and follow their instructions.
***Wait patiently for mail after you have done everything.
28 responses so far ↓
1 El Sol // Feb 14, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Thanks a lot for the breakdown. I really appreciate your hard work!
~El Sol
2 Ben // Feb 14, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Your welcome! Hope it helps.
3 Jen // May 2, 2007 at 12:37 am
WOW this is awesome! Thanks a lot!!!
BTW, we submit the essay to AADSAS on the day of the online application, right? So if I’m planning to submit it on May 15th (the 1st day possible), does it mean my essay also needs to be submitted that day, too? Thanks!
4 ben // May 2, 2007 at 2:15 pm
You are very welcome, I hope it helps. To answer your question: everything has to be filled out (with exception to your DAT score if you are taking it later) before you submit it. The sooner the better!
5 Martine // Jun 7, 2007 at 9:35 am
do you know anything about Canadians applying to American schools, and if we apply to American schools and we have written the Canadian DAT- must we also write the American one??
6 ben // Jun 7, 2007 at 9:00 pm
No you take the Canadian DAT. I don’t know much though about it, I have never done it! Sorry, but this might take some research on your part. If you find out please email me details and I can certainly post it here
7 samtak // Oct 10, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Hi, I am just a curious High school junior and I wanted to know if I should be stressing about getting into a dental school right now. Should I stop worrying about getting into dental school and wait till I finish college? What should I do?
Please help.
8 Maria // Nov 14, 2007 at 11:03 am
Hi,I am living in Armenia/Yerevan,and finishing my next year at school.and i decide to continue my education in Medicine university .i want to know could i study at Dental School,if i am international student and how??what should I do??
help me please
Thanks
9 CheerioKing // Nov 14, 2007 at 6:47 pm
I have never applied as an international student and am therefore not sure. I know that Temple University School of Dentistry - along with other dental schools - has ‘advanced standing’ courses for foreign trained dentists. You could look into one of these solutions.
10 Stephanie // Nov 15, 2007 at 9:10 pm
This is great. I am applying this year, and I must say that the last step is the most difficult =)
11 kush // Jan 23, 2008 at 10:04 am
I am a undergraduate senior and am looking to apply. I realize that it might be too late to get in by September 2008 but can I still get into dental school by January 2009 because I am taking my DAT on April 18?? Please reply ASAP.
*****Response from DMDstudent.com*****
Hey Kush. Dental schools start in the fall so you cannot matriculate in the middle of a semester (example: January). You would have to wait until Fall 2009 to matriculate. You could still apply this year, but since you don’t have a DAT score yet it would be pointless. I would be patient, study hard for the DAT and get your application in EARLY (May-June 2009). Good luck.
12 Dee // Feb 4, 2008 at 12:31 am
Hey I was wondering if you can offer a sample letter of intent?
13 CheerioKing // Feb 4, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Do a search. I promise there are at least five of them on this site.
14 jackie // Jun 23, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hi,
I graduated in May and I’m planning on applying for dental school for 2009 cycle. I will be taking DAT July 30th. I’m almost done with the AADSAS apps but I didn’t know that I should submit it early. Am I too late ? I understand the whole process is rather pricey and I’m working and paying for my own living. It’d be nice to know if I already lost a good chance of getting in next year, maybe I should wait out and apply next year instead? Please let me know, I’m very worried ..
15 CheerioKing // Jun 23, 2008 at 4:29 pm
It is not too late! Applying early is better, but sending it out before Aug can still yield good results.
16 firstade86 // Jul 11, 2008 at 10:52 am
I decided here recently to take the DAT in August, at first almost as a preparation for the MCAT in a way, or just to keep me on my toes with Inorganic, organic chem, and bio. After looking into the dental field a little, I am planning to nail the DAT and maybe even apply to dental schools this year even though I am only going to be a junior in the fall. Last summer I actually worked in my aunt’s dental office for 6 weeks in a secretary kind of role. I have enough credits that if I really pushed it, I could graduate by summer ‘09 and enter dental school fall ‘09. I don’t want to overdo it though applying to dental school this year and putting all that time in to not get in for fall ‘09. If I didn’t apply this year, I would certainly apply next year (for fall ‘10) and I think I would be much more prepared and have a better looking resume then. Should I go through the effort of applying this year or just wait until the following year?
17 le2030 // Jul 25, 2008 at 8:42 am
Hi,
I will be finishing up my pre-dental requirements next Summer (August 2009), however, I am concerned that I will not be able to submit my completed application until end-September to give myself enough time to study and take the DAT. By submitting an incomplete application early in May, will that help my chances of getting into Dental school? Would it help to take the DAT early next summer before taking Orgo II (the class I will have left to complete that summer 2009)? I imagine there will be a cost-benefit to that given that I have not completed all the orgo material. How much will it hurt my chances of getting into Dental school if I will be applying in the early fall? Thanks!
18 Sharon // Sep 4, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I just realized I should have started the application process in May and it is now Sept. I can submit my application now but I am wondering if I should wait until next May now.
19 joedee // Jan 20, 2009 at 5:04 am
Hi! I’m from the University of the Philippines College of Dentistry in Manila. I am graduating this April 2009.
I’m just amazed at everything i have seen and read so far from your website! WOW! I’m actually looking into studying advanced dental programs (AEGD) in the US by 2010. Your site is really inspiring. Thanks for all the tips! More power!
20 silviya // Apr 28, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Hi,I am applying this year to a dental school,I already graduated Dentistry in Bulgaria,do you know something about the national board dental exam I need to pass-when,how…any sources?Thanks!
21 georgina nnaji // May 8, 2009 at 1:46 pm
i will like to get more information about dental school
22 mike // May 24, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Can I still e-submit my AADSAS application before my letters of recommendation are sent in by the evaluators?
23 Ben // May 25, 2009 at 3:44 am
If I remember correctly I think so.
24 khadiga Ibrahim el fallah // Jun 15, 2009 at 3:54 am
libyan dentist 25 years old studied in GARYOUNIS UNIVERSITY (alarab mediacal university from 2001 to 2005 and i finished my internship in 2006 i want to complete my postgradual study in yr college
25 SK // Jul 12, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Hi Ben,
I was planning on submitting my application before taking the DAT like you recommended, but some schools require DAT to be submitted AT THE SAME TIME as the application. Do you know anything about that?
Thank you
26 Ben // Jul 18, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I don’t know, I wonder if this is a new requirement from certain schools?
27 manny // Jan 2, 2010 at 12:21 am
I would like to know what dental school outside of the USA is accredited by American Dental Association, ADA?
Thank, Manny
28 Tanner // Jan 20, 2010 at 4:23 am
Thanks for the information, very helpful.
Leave a Comment