Preparing to Apply to
Dental School
Joanne Snapp, MSED
Director of Health Professions Advising
Your To Do List
•Personal Statement (4500 Characters)
•Asking for LOR (AADSAS OR Interfolio-Collect now)
•Writing Out Experiences
•Creating Your School List
•Determining Your Funding
•Requesting a Transcript
•Creating an Application
• Apply for Fee Assistance: Applicants approved for a fee waiver have 14 calendar days from the date
of the email notification to submit the ADEA AADSAS Application.
•Editing Application
•Drafting Secondaries (Appear in the Program Materials section)
Timeline
● Now-January: Draft Personal Statement
● January-February: Bring PS & Experience Draft to HPA weekly
● February-March: Revise Experiences, Finalize PS, Ask for LOR
● March-April: Ask Letter Writers/PS/Disadvantaged Statement
● April-May: School List/PS/Take Test/Experiences Done
● May-June: Create Account/Request Transcripts/Take Test
● June-July: Create Account/Request Transcripts/Submit
● July: Finish any secondaries
● August-Sept: Wait for Interviews
● Sept-January: Interview & Get Accepted
Personal Statement
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Academic Enrichment: Programs sponsored by colleges, universities or other not–for–profit organizations (e.g., Summer Medical and Dental Education Program/Summer Health
Professions Education Program).
Dental Experiences: Time spent officially following and observing a health care professional at work, preferably a dentist. When listing a dental experience, please specify the type
of dentist you shadowed in the description text box (e.g., general dentist, orthodontist, etc.).
Employment: Paid work done outside of the dental care field; for example, a non-dental healthcare experience, retail or restaurant job.
Extracurricular Activities: Any sports teams and other activities through a college or university.
Research: Research projects done in addition to classroom work; research should NOT appear as credit on a school transcript.
Volunteer:Volunteer work done outside of the health care field; for example, working for Habitat for Humanity, tutoring students, participating in or working for a fundraiser walk or
blood drive, etc.
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Evaluations
•Up to 4 Letters
• Science Faculty vs Non-Science Faculty
•Non-Academic Examples: Dentist, PI, Supervisor
•Letter Services: Interfolio
•ALL letters must be signed and on letterhead!
• Always waive your right to see the letters
• UCD Does NOT have a Committee Letter
Transcripts
•Order Official For Yourself for Entry in AADSAS
•Send ALL Officials as soon as you create 2020 AADSAS
•Enter courses EXACTLY as it appears on OFFICIAL transcript
•Science vs Non-Science Coursework
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FAP assists students who demonstrate extreme financial need while applying to
AADSAS. Approval for fee assistance is at the sole discretion of ADEA AADSAS. Last
year, the 2019 ADEA AADSAS application opened 3 weeks early on May 15 to give
applicants three weeks to work on their applications before the cycle opens on June
5. Applicants to the 2019 ADEA AADSAS FAP could submit requests starting on May
15. To submit documents to the ADEA AADSAS FAP for review, applicants must first
create a 2020 ADEA AADSAS account and receive their CAS identification numbers.
Applicants submitting a request for fee assistance in May, during the early
opening of the 2019 ADEA AADSAS application, will not receive a decision from
ADEA AADSAS FAP until June 2019
$443 in fee assistance which will cover the initial ADEA AADSAS dental school designation ($245) and two
additional dental school designations ($99 each) for a total of three designations.
Background
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Disadvantaged status
You will be asked to provide information related to your background,
including your childhood residence, any Pell Grant awards and other
education funding sources. You will also be asked to reflect on areas of
your background that might be defined as socially, economically or
educationally disadvantaged.
Pre-Submission Release of Information
Selecting “Yes” authorizes ADEA AADSAS to release the applicant’s name and contact information
to the designated programs BEFORE the submission of the final application. This will allow the
dental schools to send the applicant important information about the local admissions process
before the application is completed.
Advisor Release
Selecting “Yes” authorizes ADEA AADSAS to release applicant’s selected information regarding
ADEA AADSAS application and admission status to the health professions advisory committee of
the postsecondary institution(s) the applicant has attended. By releasing this information, the
applicant’s advisor is better able to assist in the admissions process, as well as better guide other
students in the future. The applicant cannot make changes to this item after the application is
submitted to ADEA AADSAS.
This is an optional release, and the applicant may select “No.” ADEA AADSAS encourages
applicants to authorize this release, as it is useful to advisors assisting applicants with the
application process; however, it will not affect the consideration given to the application.
ADEA AADSAS Release
This statement serves as a contractual agreement between the applicant and ADEA AADSAS.
Each applicant is required to agree to these terms in order to submit the application. Part of these
terms indicates that the applicant agrees to all of the ADEA AADSAS instructions, so it is important
to read and understand these instructions.
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Questions?
