Application Walkthrough
Just Flossy’s ULTIMATE dental school application guide: The complete breakdown.
Written By: Caylen Davis, DDS
Last Updated: June 2024
Hey, pre-dent! Just take a second and look at how far you’ve come. After all the classes, the exams, the sweat, and the tears, at long last you are finally ready to begin the process of applying to dental school. Have you taken a look at what that entails yet? No? Well, not to worry! There’s still plenty more sweat and tears to come, so that part hasn’t changed very much (just kidding, all jokes).
But on a serious note, beginning your ADEA AADSAS® application can be a very overwhelming process. There’s a lot more that goes into it than many students realize, so it’s a good idea to know what to expect in advance. In this article, Just Flossy will help you understand the ADEA AADSAS®, provide a recommended application timeline, help you navigate the various sections of the application, and will supply some tips to ensure you stay on track. Also, if you have any further questions that did not get answered here, check out the ADEA Application Help Center for more detailed information.
What is the ADEA AADSAS®?
The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Associated American Dental Schools
Application Service (AADSAS) is the centralized application service for pre-dental applicants. ADEA AADSAS® simplifies the application process to dental schools by providing one standard application, known by pre-dental students as the “primary application”. Basically, all dental schools use the ADEA AADSAS® application system except Texas dental schools, which use the TMDSAS application.
When does the aADSAS open/Close?
The AADSAS has a “soft open” around mid May each year, meaning that the application will be available to view and fill, however, you won’t be able to submit it until the official early June submission date, which is around June 1st each year. Also, while the AADSAS application cycle officially closes in early February, some institutions close their application process earlier. With that being said, you will have to check each program for their individual deadlines (more on that next).
To summarize the above information, please note the following:
- “Soft open” date: between May 10th -15th
- Official submission date: early June (June 1st-5th)
- Official close date: early February (February 1st-8th)
What are supplemental applications?
As we just discussed, each dental school determines its individual deadline date, which is the last date applicants can submit their ADEA AADSAS® applications to that school. Dental schools may have additional program or school-specific admissions requirements, due by the dental schools’ deadline dates, for applications to be considered for admission. These additional requirements are usually in the form of “supplemental/secondary applications”. Not all schools require supplemental applications, but it is the student’s responsibility to complete both the primary and secondary portions of their application for each program they apply to.
In addition to the application, some dental schools require applicants to pay a supplemental application fee, which ranges from $20-$200, and can vary depending on status (i.e. in-state, out-of-state, or international).
When will i hear back from my school?
The official decision date is in early December of every year. This is the earliest that students will know if they are accepted into their programs or not. However, this does not mean if you don’t hear anything in December that you will not get an acceptance later on in the cycle. Depending on the school, acceptances can be sent out as late as June or even right before school starts. If you are in a situation where you are still waiting to hear back from a program at the end of the cycle (around March), reach out to them to check your application status and consider sending a letter of interest.
Author’s note: You should only consider submitting letters of intent to dental schools which have already interviewed you and have either not released a decision or have informed you that you are under “continued consideration” or “waitlisted”. Do not promise your heart to a school that has not sent you an interview invitation or even a secondary; they’re just not feeling you like that. Likewise, if you have already received a rejection letter, don’t beg them for a second chance. Know your worth and keep pushing. You have options.
when should I apply?
Before you even start applying to dental school, you want to make sure you are a strong enough applicant. Now, this can sometimes be hard to determine for yourself, but an ideal applicant will have the following qualifications:
- Minimum 3.0 overall GPA
- Minimum 3.0 science GPA
- Minimum 18 Academic Average (AA) on the DAT
- Minimum 100 shadowing hours
- Consistent volunteering hours
- Evidence of leadership and work experience
Please note that these are just the MINIMUM qualifications for most schools. This doesn’t mean that if you have all of the following you will be guaranteed an acceptance. In addition, this also doesn’t mean if you don’t have the following you are completely out of the running. Sadly, the reality is there are a lot of factors that go into an acceptance, and Just Flossy wants to give students something to aim towards. Remember throughout all of this to be the best version of yourself possible. Make it your goal to go above and beyond the minimum requirements. Strive to be better than good but great. Make this shine through in your application.
Outside of your stats, the best way to increase your chances of an acceptance is to APPLY EARLY. We cannot stress this enough. Having your application completed in June versus having it completed in September can have a huge impact on how your cycle turns out. Make sure you are on top of everything so your schools can review your application as soon as possible.
Author’s Note: Unfortunately, some people will try to tell students that if they don’t have at least a 3.7 GPA and a 23AA they will not get into dental school. However, this is not the case. The truth is, there are students out there who have a 2.8 GPA or a 17AA who are accepted into dental schools, and there are students with a 3.99 GPA and a 26 AA who are not accepted into dental school. It all depends on the school and what you show admissions. Some institutions take a more holistic approach to reviewing applications. So, if a 3.0 applicant has all the characteristics that they see in a successful student and dental professional, they may get accepted over a 4.0 applicant with more to be desired.
How Much does applying cost?
As we explained in our posted YouTube video, applying to dental school is a very expensive process. The first school you apply to is $264 (as of 2024), and every additional school after that is $115 (as of 2024). In addition to this, the average student applies to around 10 schools. So, in total, this amounts to $1,299. This does not include each individual school’s supplemental application fee, so do what you can to save money as early as possible.
Is There Financial Aid?
This answer is, yes! The ADEA AADSAS® has a Fee Assistance Program (FAP) designed to assist students who demonstrate extreme financial need while applying to ADEA AADSAS®. Applicants approved for fee assistance will receive a total of $494 in fee waivers which will cover the initial ADEA AADSAS® dental school designation ($264) and two additional dental school designations ($115 each) for a total of three designations. The amount of fee assistance granted will be subtracted from the total fees the applicant must pay.
Fee assistance is given on a first-come, first-served basis and opens at the beginning of the cycle. For more information, read more about what to expect for the upcoming cycle here.
Starting Your application
To create an ADEA AADSAS® account, click “Create New Account” beneath the login information on the ADEA AADSAS® homepage. You will be asked for a username, password, security question, DENTPIN, valid email address and your agreement to a release agreement to activate a new account and be assigned an ADEA AADSAS® identification number.
1) Personal information Section
Once the application opens, the FIRST thing you should do is complete the PERSONAL INFORMATION. This section in the MY APPLICATION tab includes a release statement, biographic Information, contact information, citizenship information, environmental factors, parent/guardian, race & ethnicity, and other information.
Most of this information is pretty self-explanatory. However, the Disadvantaged Consideration question in the “Environmental Factors” section is important to note. If you have been disadvantaged educationally (low graduation rates statistics, first generation college student, etc.), socially (have a disability, marginalized, etc.), or economically (single-parent household, low-income, etc.), you can write about it here. Should you choose to answer this question, aim to be real and honest. You can be as vulnerable as you want to be here, but don’t exaggerate your experiences. Also note that your response, or lack of a response, here does not give you an advantage over anyone else applying nor does it hurt you if you don’t respond. This question is only meant to show admissions additional background information about who you are and where you come from.
In the “Other Information” section, enter your DENTPIN number, language proficiency, felony and misdemeanor convictions, academic and license infractions, military status, previous applications to dental school, previous attendance at a health profession program and any education interruption. You will also answer the manual dexterity question here.
2) academic history section
In the ACADEMIC HISTORY section, complete the “High School Attended” and “Colleges and Universities Attended” sections ONLY for now. Applicants are required to report all postsecondary institutions attended, including but not limited to: courses taken for college credit in high school; summer courses; community college courses, military institutions, post baccalaureate, graduate and doctoral work; study abroad, and foreign work.
After completing the college and university entries, at the bottom of the box there will be a blue button that says “Download Transcript Request Form”. Download this form for each college you attended and provide it to the college registrar who will, in turn, attach to the official transcript. Be sure to request ALL transcripts the moment the application opens.
Pro Tip 1: DO NOT CONTINUE TO TRANSCRIPT ENTRY. It will be easier for you if you go to the “Add Program” portion first and then return to the “Transcript Entry” section.
Pro Tip 2: Monitor the application to ensure the transcript is received. It is the applicant’s responsibility to monitor their application for transcript receipt, even after the application is submitted. ADEA AADSAS will NOT notify applicants concerning missing transcripts.
3) Add Programs Section
In the ADD PROGRAM tab of the application, you will select the schools that you plan to apply to. If there is a green check then you have successfully chosen that school. If you choose the wrong program, you can click the undo button next to the school that is selected.
How To Pick Your Schools
This is a common dilemma that many students face, and the answer is very personal and specific to each applicant. However, there are ways to ensure you’re at least on the right track. The first thing I recommend is reflecting on your journey and being honest with yourself. For example, if you know you have a 3.1 GPA and a 17AA, maybe don’t apply to Harvard. Try to make sure most of the schools you pick are reasonably in your range. As we’ve seen, applying to dental school is very expensive. Apply as broadly as financially responsible but be realistic.
If you need help being objective with your school choices, use this guide. It has each school’s 2023 information for their average DAT scores, average GPA, shadowing hours requirements, specialties available, course requirements, etc. To get up-to-date information for the most current cycle, the ADEA also has a Dental School Explorer and an Official Guide to Dental Schools available for purchase. Keep in mind that averages are just averages. This means that there are students with stats higher and lower that get accepted every year. If you have a 3.4 and the school’s average is a 3.55, that does not mean you are not a qualified applicant. Again, use your best judgment.
Outside of your stats, other important factors include cost, curriculum, quality, location, atmosphere, etc. Things like cost, location, and curriculum are quantitative factors that can be researched online. Quality, atmosphere, and “chances of specializing” are factors that can be discussed with current students.
How To Decide How Many Schools To Pick
Again, there is no one correct answer here! However, your financial situation and current qualifications should be considered. If you can’t afford to apply to 10 schools, that’s totally fine. Apply to as many as you can while being realistic about your chances. If you know you’re not ready to apply, don’t throw away your money. Improve your application, save as much as you can, and apply the next cycle.
If you are a student with a 3.9 GPA, a 27AA, and stellar extracurriculars, you don’t need to apply to 10+ schools. Save that money! You can apply to 5-6 schools. If you are a more “average” applicant (for those of us who have not cured cancer, won a Nobel Prize, and were Olympic gold medalists), you can apply to 6-10 schools. On the other hand, if you are a student who has a lower GPA and DAT score, it would be ideal to apply broadly and look at schools that are out-of-state friendly. Carefully select the schools at which they have the best chance of acceptance using the guides we shared earlier.
4) "Transcript Entry"
After completing the ADD PROGRAM section head back to the ACADEMIC HISTORY subsection of the application. Now you will choose “Transcript Entry” and begin to add in your coursework for each institution. Here are the steps to filling out this section:
Obtain an unofficial copy of your transcript from each institution.
Add a term for the first institution. “Term” choices are Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, or Interim. “Academic” choices are Freshman. Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Graduate, and Postbaccalaureate.
Add all courses for the term. Use your copy of your transcript to enter the course code (ex. BIO 212), course title (ex. Basics Human Anatomy and Physiology), subject (ex. Anatomy and Physiology), credits (ex. 4.00 credit hours), and grade (ex. B+).
After you enter transcript information for all colleges attended, you will complete the Transcript Review where a blue button will appear that says “Review and Finalize My Transcripts”. Here, you will be asked to identify additional attributes about your coursework including “Primary College” and courses that are “Repeated”, “Advanced Placement”, “Other Tests”, “Honors”, and “Study Abroad”.
Once the Transcript Review is complete, you can continue to “Standardized Tests”.
5) "Standardized Tests"
Here, you will provide the date(s) of all taken or planned Dental Admissions Test (DAT) administrations as well as your DENTPIN.
If you are planning to take the test after the application opens, you can add when you plan to take the test in the DAT portion of the application. REMEMBER you can still apply without having your DAT scores.
If you have taken the DAT and you opted to send your scores to the dentals schools directly (an option while signing up for the test), the official score will be sent electronically to ADEA AADSAS® 3–4 weeks after the test date and be matched to the application based on the name, birth date, and DENTPIN of the applicant. If an applicant did not use this feature, they can self-report using the unofficial score sheet given to them at Prometric after taking their exam. Afterwards, the scores will be verified on the application in 3-4 weeks after processing.
Pro Tip 3: To check to see if your scores have been received, once official DAT scores are imported into your profile, they will be viewable on the in-progress PDF available to applicants. To view the PDF, you should go to the CHECK STATUS tab of your application and click the download button next to each program selection.
6) Supporting Information Section
Evaluations
Letters of Evaluation (LOE) are not required to complete the application, but most dental schools require LOEs to be complete before they can review the application. Letters of evaluation are traditional recommendation letters written by someone qualified to recommend a person to dental school.
Determine your dental schools’ requirements regarding the evaluator’s roles or relationship to the applicant before listing any evaluators on ADEA AADSAS. Many programs have guidelines for who should complete an evaluation on their PROGRAM MATERIALS profile on the ADEA AADSAS application or on their website. Remember that you can ONLY submit up to 4 letters of evaluation, so choose your evaluators wisely. Once evaluators are selected, be certain to inform them of the process and that they will be filling out the reference electronically. Obtain their preferred email address and make sure they are monitoring their email inbox for the requested email.
In the application, you must indicate the following items for each letter: name, contact information, due date and personal message/notes. The due date and personal message/notes are opportunities for the applicant to communicate with their evaluator when they receive the request through the application service. ALWAYS WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO READ YOUR LETTER!
If you need help reaching out to your professors for a letter of evaluation, here is a quick email template you can use from @justflossyblog (our Instagram page). REQUEST YOUR LETTERS FROM YOUR WRITERS BY MARCH, BEFORE THE CYCLE OPENS. That way, they will have plenty of time to craft an amazing letter. Also, think about why you want to reach out to this person. How did their class impact you? You should also have a good relationship with this professor before you request your letter. Go to their office hours and connect with them throughout the semester.
Experiences
While ADEA AADSAS does not collect a resume, applicants are encouraged to use the experience section to provide detailed information about academic enrichment, dental shadowing, employment, activities, research and volunteer positions. This section allows you up to 600 characters to describe each experience. Keep your descriptions brief while explaining what your role was, what you did, and what you learned.
Here are the descriptions of each experience type and what would fall under each category:
- Academic Enrichment: Programs sponsored by colleges, universities, or other not–for–profit organizations; for example, Summer Medical and Dental Education Programs and Summer Health Professions Education Programs like SHPEP)
- Dental Experience: Either paid or unpaid work in a dental field where you observed patient care, interacted with practitioners, or had responsibility for patient care; for example, shadowing, dental clinic volunteering, or dental employment.
- Employment: Paid work done outside of the dental field or a research lab; for example, a retail or restaurant job.
- Extracurricular Activities: Related non-paid activities you would like your selected programs to review; for example, academic clubs and competitive teams.
- Research: Any experience working on a research project, preferably in addition to or outside of regular classroom work. This may include student research positions, research technician positions, summer research, master’s rotational, etc.
- Volunteer: Volunteer work done outside of the dental field; for example, working for Habitat for Humanity, tutoring students, soup kitchens, shelters, etc.
If you haven’t started an experience yet, you cannot report it as “planned”. Once you have accumulated the experience, however, you can add new experiences to your application, even if you have already submitted it. Please note you cannot edit experiences that have already been entered. You may send updated information directly to the schools to which you are applying.
Students will also be able to select 6 experiences as their most important to highlight on their application.
Pro Tip 4: Fill out a Word document with all of your experience information before the application opens so that all you will need to do in this section is copy and paste!
Achievements
Provide information about relevant academic awards, honors, and scholarships achieved. When adding achievements, applicants will be asked to detail the name of the presenting organization, the issue date, and a brief 600-character description.
Here are the descriptions of each achievement type and what would fall under each category:
- Awards: received as a prize, such as trophies, medals, or other recognition.
- Honors: received a special distinction for work done, including Dean’s List, degree honors, and memberships in honor societies.
- Scholarships: earned based on academic, athletic, and other achievements.
Licenses
Provide information about any current professional licenses that you have. Types include registered dental hygienist (RDH), certified dental assistant (CDA), certificated dental technician (CDT), and others. List only valid certifications.
Personal Statement
The last part of the SUPPORTING INFORMATION section is the personal statement. In a one page, 4,500 character limit, answer the question: “Why do I want to pursue a dental career?”. Write about your experiences and any qualities that will make you stand out, and don’t personalize your essay for a particular school. For more detailed help on how to complete this part of your application, head over to our “Personal Statement” page.
7) Program materials Section
This is the last section of the MY APPLICATION tab of the AADSAS application. This section includes profiles created by each dental school. Each school’s profile provides information regarding tips on how to be a successful applicant and is composed of three sections: the home page, questions, and prerequisites. To view a school’s profile in PROGRAM MATERIALS, an applicant must first select the school in the ADD PROGRAMS tab of the application. Applicants should carefully review each school’s requirements.
Here is some information about the sections you’ll see in this section:
- Home: Contains the program details provided by each program at the start of the application cycle. It includes deadlines and other information specific to the program. Be sure to review this page carefully for any additional instructions, information, and/or requirements
- Questions (only available for certain programs): Here, you can answer questions specific to each program. Questions may be multiple choice or open-ended text boxes. Some programs require an additional essay. Contact each program directly if you have questions. Questions regarding this section should be directed to the dental school.
- Prerequisites (only available for certain programs): Here, you can assign courses you took (or plan to take) to fulfill the program’s required prerequisites. You must complete Transcript Entry and Transcript Review FIRST in order to complete this section. Note that assigning these courses does not necessarily mean you meet the program’s prerequisite requirements; the program wants you to self-identify these courses for their review. Contact each program directly if you have questions about these prerequisites.
8) Submit and pay
After all of the sections have been reviewed and completed, an applicant can then submit and pay! Just head over to the SUBMIT APPLICATION. Just note that submitting the ADEA AADSAS® application does not mean the application is being reviewed by the dental schools. All necessary documents must be received first (official transcripts, letters of evaluation, and test scores). The application can be submitted before the receipt of these documents, but your application will be marked as incomplete until they are received.
After Submission: Verification Process
Once an application is complete (submitted and documents are received), it is put in a queue to be verified. Verification is a process where professional staff match manually entered coursework and official transcripts to ensure no errors were made. Verification also allows ADEA AADSAS® to calculate grade point averages (GPA) that are standard calculations for all applicants regardless of various institutional transcript policies. ADEA AADSAS® GPAs will be calculated within two weeks after ADEA AADSAS receives the completed application and all transcripts.
Checking your application status
Each applicant can view the status to each dental school applied to by clicking the CHECK STATUS tab in the upper right hand corner of the application dashboard. Here is a list of application statuses an applicant might see:
- In-Progress: Your application has not yet been submitted or you haven’t paid the application fee.
- Received: Your application has been submitted, but you are missing required documents.
- Complete: All required materials were received and your application is in line for verification and is considered complete. Note that your programs may require additional materials for your application to be considered complete. Check with each program for more details.
- Undelivered: This status indicates that an error was found and your application was returned to you for corrections
- Verified: Your application was processed and, if applicable, your GPA was calculated and made available to your programs. You’ll receive a confirmation notification that your application was verified. Once your application is verified, you should direct any questions about its status to the program(s) you applied to.
The Big Picture
This is quite the process, so be sure to take your time and review your answers. While it can be stressful, it’s very doable. Some words of advice: don’t stress yourself sick checking your application status five times a day and remember that other dental school applicants are not your enemies. Whatever is meant for you will never pass you by. Stay encouraged and best of luck to you! You got this!