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10 Dental School Personal Statement Examples

Including key tips for a strong dental school personal statement.

Before you start crafting your own stellar dental school personal statement, you must review some dental school personal statement examples. Why? These sample essays can help you brainstorm and reflect on what you would like to include in your essay. This blog dives into some dental school personal statement examples from our own past successful students, and then our  dental school advisors  will go over our proven strategies to help you create your own from scratch! As you review these examples keep in mind that these are final works and the result of multiple rounds of reviews by our admissions experts as part of our  application review  programs. Writing fantastic statements for dental school requires patience and multiple rounds of revisions before a perfect statement can be written.

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Article Contents 15 min read

Dental school personal statement example #1.

In the final moments of a key game in a hockey tournament, I jumped over the boards and onto the ice without putting my mouth guard back in place. It was attached to my helmet, but I had a chance for the puck, and I took it. Moments later, an opponent’s stick caught me in the face, knocking out my front tooth. Play stopped, and my team found my tooth on the ice. I looked to the bleachers. My mom was already on the phone getting initial instructions from our dentist for saving the tooth. Within 15 minutes, we were outside the clinic as my dentist unlocked the door, despite it being a Saturday night. As I was treated within half an hour, my tooth could be saved by stabilizing it as it healed. Until that moment, I thought of my dentist as someone I only saw every six months; I hadn’t seen her as a critical part of my healthcare team.

I realized from this experience that time is a factor in dental care, and thus a career in dentistry. My tooth was saved because I lived in an urban centre and had immediate access to care, not to mention the continuity of care I’ve had since I was a child. My mother is employed and has good dental coverage, but this is not the case for many. Without timely check-ups, both oral and medical issues that could be detected and prevented can become more serious conditions.

With this awareness, I have for the last 6 years volunteered in two ways. In the time since my hockey accident, I’ve worked with my dentist on a safety awareness campaign for young hockey players and their families, teaching about the necessity of mouth guards, as well as how a quick response to such injuries may help in recovery. I’ve also worked alongside dentists for the Smiling Children Foundation in vulnerable neighborhoods, where dental neglect is not uncommon, and continuity of care is rare. Recently, we set up a mobile clinic in a school, where I record personal information and take a medical history for each child. A young boy, 10 years old, complained of constant headaches and pain in his body. Upon examination, the dentist noticed his gums were dark purple in places and bled easily. Our team alerted a community doctor of a potential immune disorder, and the young boy was diagnosed and treated, returning to good health within months. That day, I learned that oral healthcare is holistic healthcare, and that it is a privilege to support those who may not have time, resources, or access to oral healthcare.

I have had this privilege in what began as dental shadowing and is now part-time employment, where I liaise between patients and insurance companies, manage team schedules, and comfort anxious patients. This might be as simple as holding a hand while the dentist performs the procedure. Or, I might hold a baby while the father sees the hygienist. I’ve learned to read an X-ray accurately, prepare the instruments needed for a procedure, and balance the books. I have been mentored by both a medical and business professional, and I have borne witness to our patients’ high and low points. I have worked hard to understand what goes into growing and maintaining a successful dental practice and feel capable to meet the challenge of the multiple roles required in this dynamic vocation.

It bears mentioning why my first-year grades are not what I’d hoped they would be. I joined a good number of co-curricular clubs with the intention of participating in our campus community and developing my professional skills. By midterm, I realized I had oversubscribed myself. Unfortunately, willpower and desire were not enough. My grades suffered as I tried to manage my responsibilities. By attending time management seminars and learning to manage time rather than be managed by time, I was able retrieve my grades. From 2nd year forward, I’ve maintained a 4.0 GPA while moving up the ranks of student organizations and taking an active role in a research project. Resilience is like a muscle that needs time, exercise, and perseverance to build.

From a sports accident, to volunteer work in an underserved community, to employment in a dental office and an academic career that shows both mistakes and recovery, I have thought carefully about what dentistry is. A dentist is part of a larger healthcare team, and a dentist can often treat not only a single patient over decades, but provide intergenerational care to a family. I aspire to dentistry to accompany my patients through life, 6 months at a time, offering compassionate, whole-person healthcare. (4,497 characters, including spaces)

• Inciting incident: the moment that influenced the student’s outlook on dentistry as a career is highlighted in spades. Seeing the structure here as almost like a story, you’re taking the reader on a journey from point A to point B. For the personal statement, your opening should hook in the reader. This writer does this well.
• Addresses weaknesses: the student mentions how their first-year grades weren’t what they’d hoped for. They acknowledge their faults and briefly outline the circumstances without making excuses before getting into the most important part: what they did to improve or learn from their mistakes. If you’re in a position to use your personal statement as a way to address gaps or inconsistencies, then you can follow the same rule.
• Major experiences are detailed: you need to show the admissions committee that dentistry is the right career for you. The best way to do this is to describe clinical experiences, ideally in a dental setting. The student who wrote this sample described their experiences shadowing, being a part-time employee, and volunteering at a foundation. If you have many experiences like these, don’t simply list them off, but select a few to describe in more depth.

Want some tips for writing a dental school personal statement? Check out this video:

"Ready, Set, Bake,” shouted the host of Bake-Off. I was 16 and a contestant of a televised baking show. Our 6th challenge gave us 3 hours to perfectly bake the most decadent and timing consuming dessert: the mille-feuille – layers of puff pastry, filled with whipped cream and custard, and glazed on top. Despite being the only teenager in a field of contestants ranging from 20-70 years of age, I’d made it through several days of cuts for one of the spots on the show. I wish I could say that my dessert was a masterpiece, but as the timer counted down and I plated it, the filling oozed, and the pastry crumbled. I’d made to the Top Six, but the mille-feuille defeated me and I was asked to hang up my apron. As I reflect on this experience, the solo and team challenges, the practice to get on the show, the mastery needed to gain a top spot, I realize that I’m grateful even for the defeat, because I learned valuable lessons that helped me develop key qualities and skills that are in-line with the core competencies necessary for dentistry, my chosen profession. Both dentistry and competitive baking require innovation and excellence, communication and accountability, and the necessity of precision, focus, and a steady hand.

Both of my parents are dentists. While the influence of their careers on my own access to knowledge cannot be underestimated, I have been deeply cognizant of making an autonomous career decision. That decision is my own, but my parents have admittedly opened unique conversations around ethics, technology, and patient care to me. My earliest memories include attending dental conferences with them and being encouraged to explore the Exhibits Floor, where I learned about the newest dental products and treatments and “test drove” the latest innovations in dentistry. I developed an aptitude for predicting which products and technologies were gimmicks and which would effectively support excellence in patient care. This knack has made me something of an informal consultant for my parents and their colleagues, who value my insights on innovation and efficacy of new treatments.

While technology is at the forefront of change, what remains consistent over time is the importance of communication and accountability to provide excellent patient care. I’ve had the privilege to shadow Dr. Ann Lee, an oral surgeon, over the past 3 years. Among many things, she showed me that inherent in communication is accountability. Many of her patients are children and teens having teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons. The son of a family who had been Dr. Lee’s patients for over a decade arrived for a complicated wisdom tooth extraction. Despite familiarity with the family, the doctor painstakingly reviewed the extraction process to prepare them effectively. The procedure went well in the office; however, on the way home, the boy began haemorrhaging. An artery had been compromised during the surgery. I watched as Dr. Lee packed bone wax around the artery to stem the bleeding. What struck me about this experience was the standard of accountability to which the surgeon held herself, as she communicated with the family by phone, made a house call later that evening on her way home, and remained on-call over the weekend to ensure the safety and healing of the child. The family maintained their trust in Dr. Lee because of her open communication and sense of accountability. I also learned just how fragile and technical dental work is, requiring both dexterity and precision.

Volunteering in a dental brigade in Haiti, Mirlande, 6, taught me about vulnerability and trust. Mirlande was scared and reluctant to open her mouth for her first dental exam. I took her aside and, as she watched, I carved a perfect tooth from soap using dental instruments. I carved slowly and precisely, and then presented her with the gift. She put the tooth in her pocket and then allowed me to clean her teeth. I was immediately struck by the vulnerability of not only soft tissue, but of hearts, as she leaned back and opened her mouth in trust. This moment solidified my decision to become a dentist.

Though the earlier comparison between baking and dentistry is merely an analogy, it is one that suggests I have developed key skills and am aware of the core competencies a dentist must hold to best serve their patients professionally and ethically. Dentistry is my vocation, baking a hobby, but both speak to my investment in excellence, precision, and doing for others.  (4,500 characters, including spaces)

A dental school personal statement is your opportunity to show admissions committees who you are as a person and aspiring dental professional, aside from your CV, GPA, Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) score, and other quantitative data. As any personal statement essay, the dental school personal essay should be a narrative account that gives the admissions committee the opportunity to learn more about you than what can be conveyed in a dry document like a CV or transcript. 

For dental school  ADEA AADSAS  applications, the American Dental Education Association requires an essay of no more than 4,500 characters (including spaces), which must demonstrate your key personal qualities, aspirations, and reasons for pursuing a career in dentistry to the schools to which you are applying. This process isn’t as standardized in Canadian programs, so you’ll need to check the application requirements for the programs and schools to which you are applying to see if a personal statement is required. In doing so, you can also learn whether there are any specific requirements regarding the length of the essay, whether there is a specific prompt to which you must respond in your dental school personal statement, and whether there are any other application requirements.

Want some more personal statement examples? Watch this video:

Writing a Strong Dental School Personal Statement

If you're applying to  dental schools in Canada  or the US, a personal statement, or similar essay, is often required as part of your application package, regardless of whether you're applying through AADSAS or  TMDSAS . It’s important to craft a statement that draws from your experiences, such as your dental school extracurriculars. You can also refer to your dental school application experience examples , or even your dental school letter of recommendation for help. This blog will help you understand the key things you must do (and that you must avoid) in composing your essay, with dental school personal statement examples that demonstrate these strategies, so that you can draft the strongest, most compelling dental school personal statement possible.

1. Tell a story

Ideally, you will craft a story or detail a defining moment that helped you realize why this is the profession you want to pursue. Providing an anecdote or vignette – perhaps an experience you’ve had as a dental patient, an interaction you’ve witnessed as a volunteer or while shadowing a dental care professional, a story about someone you know, etc., – is often a useful way of giving the evaluators a window into your life and motivations.

2. Demonstrate why you’re a “good fit”

Your dental school personal statement should also express why you are a strong candidate and a "good fit" for the school and program, while stirring the interest of your reader. Review our blog,  dental school acceptance rates  to find out which schools are best suited for you. Admissions committees will review hundreds of these personal statements, so draw on the values of the profession and the mission of the institution to highlight your alignment with the vision and goals of this vocation, and do so in a way that is engaging and enjoyable to read. Again, narrative is a great way of doing this – people love stories and are often naturally drawn in by them. Bear this in mind as you begin drafting your essay.

Here are some more tips for writing a dental school personal statement:

3. Be authentic and readable

In your personal statement, you want to present your very best self, emphasizing your genuine passion for the field and your enthusiasm for working in a healthcare profession like dentistry. Don’t try to cram in complicated terminology or jargon, thinking it will make you sound smarter (it won’t – true experts know how to explain their ideas effectively to an audience of non-specialists), and don’t rely on clichés (e.g., “I want to help people” – this is a lovely desire, but it’s over-used and too generic). Use polished prose that represents your genuine voice and reasons for pursuing the profession, and write in a way that will be comprehensible even to those outside this particular specialization. This can take practice. You might go through multiple drafts of your essay before you’re confident in submitting it. If you’re having trouble getting to this point, consider dental school admissions consulting . 

4. Express your desired contributions to the field

Quite simply, you need to explain why you will be a good dentist, in both practical terms and in terms of devoting yourself to patient care. You need to show that you know how to become a dentist in terms of skills and experience; there will be other opportunities to address other aspects of your candidacy through things like the dental school manual dexterity question or the multiple mini interview (MMI) collaboration station . For now, answer the following questions: what does it mean to you to dedicate yourself to the profession and to patients? What experiences have you had with the dental profession so far, and how have these impacted you? What are your priorities as an aspiring dentist? Thinking through these questions, while also pointing to concrete experiences or accomplishments that support your responses, will help the committee see not just who you are now, but who you are working to become as you pursue the goal of becoming a dental professional.

Need help with your dental school application? Learn what our students say about our services:

Things to Avoid in a Dental School Personal Statement

Here are some key “don’ts” in composing your dental school personal statement:

1. Don’t summarize your CV

Your personal statement shouldn’t simply repeat information available elsewhere in your application materials. Referring to experiences discussed in those materials, for the purpose of expanding on them or contextualizing them, is fine. Just ensure that you’re actually doing that work and demonstrating the significance of the experience(s) you describe. For example, if your CV indicates that you’ve done volunteer work at a dental clinic or with an organization, it’s totally fine to discuss this volunteer work in your personal statement; however, that discussion must go beyond what is offered in your other application materials. Your dental school personal statement shouldn't be a dry recitation of events in your CV. It should be a persuasive and engaging work that draws on just a few select experiences that epitomize your interests, priorities, and the work you've done so far in working toward becoming a dentist. For example, instead of giving names, dates, and general facts about your experience as a volunteer, you can tell a story of a particularly meaningful accomplishment or interaction, reflecting on how it helped solidify your desire to pursue this career.

2. Don’t dwell on negative experiences

If you’ve overcome challenges or if there are less-than-ideal aspects of your educational experience so far (such as a term where your GPA took a dip), it’s fine to address these in a personal statement essay. However, it is crucial that you reflect on this from a perspective of growth, resiliency, and capacity for improvement, rather than focusing on the negatives. If your grades took a hit one term because of extenuating circumstances, by all means, take some time to explain this, if you think it will be helpful (and it often is). However, the discussion around the circumstances should be minimal – just a set-up for a more substantial discussion of what you learned, how you grew, etc. – and you shouldn’t use this as an opportunity to make excuses. Rather, briefly describe the event, own up to your mistake or misstep (if applicable), and then spend the most time explaining how you addressed the issue, how you moved past it, and why you will be a better future professional for having gone through it.

Probably the biggest mistake students make is to not take the personal statement seriously enough, waiting until just a few days before it’s due to even begin. You must begin early – a strong personal statement essay can take months and numerous revisions to be the best it can possibly be. You need to put a lot of thought into this document, as it is a very important component of your application. This is your chance – and often your only chance – to address the evaluators on a human level, prior to answering  dental school interview questions , including   MMI questions . So, rather than thinking of this as a chore, think of it as an opportunity to demonstrate your best self to the admissions committee. 

4. Don’t submit your dental school personal statement without getting expert feedback

The personal statement isn’t just about what you’ve done, it’s about who you are – what your values are, what your priorities are, what your reasons for pursuing this profession are, and how all of these things align with the discipline and school you are approaching with your application package. Getting expert feedback from those on the “other side” of such applications, those who have gone through the process successfully or those who have been part of admissions committees, will give you incredibly valuable insights into how to make your own personal experiences stand out and work for you most effectively. At this stage of your professional development, you face a wealth of “unknown-unknowns”; i.e., things that you don’t even know to look for or consider, because it's likely that you simply haven’t been exposed to the field or the process long enough or in an official capacity. This can be a considerable hindrance, so don’t try to take on this task alone. Seek out expert feedback, and do so early enough that you can review, revise, and implement any necessary changes to make your dental school personal statement the best it can possibly be.

8 Dental School Personal Statement Examples

Dental school personal statement example #3, dental school personal statement example #4, dental school personal statement example #5, dental school personal statement example #6, dental school personal statement example #7, dental school personal statement example #8, dental school personal statement example #9, dental school personal statement example #10.

• Starting too late. Getting your personal statement right requires multiple edits and revisions. If you start working on your statement too late, you risk running out of time for proper revisions and edits, leaving a rushed, sub-par statement. Remember, your personal statement is a direct reflection of who you are as a person, and who you'll become as a dentist. It's not something that can be, nor should be rushed.
• Showing instead of telling, for example, saying “I'm a great listener” instead of demonstrating that you're a great listener through real examples in your essay.
• Focusing on too many experiences. In general, it's best to discuss 2-3 experiences in your personal statement. You should be able to discuss each experience in-depth, and reflect on what you learned from a particular experience. Too many experiences crammed in doesn't allow you to really expand on each experience and doesn't provide an in-depth analysis of how this experience was transformative on your path to becoming a dentist.
• Listing information that's already found in your application materials. Your personal statement is not a list, instead, it should be a story of your journey to dentistry.
• Jumping around in time. Your personal statement should be in chronological order, beginning with your initial interest in dentistry and evolving to your absolution that dentistry is the right career path for you. Jumping around in time makes for a disjointed essay that will come across as confusing to admissions committee members. In addition, you want to ensure that you utilize strong transitional sentences, as these tie together paragraphs and aid in the overall flow of your essay.
• Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Mistakes and errors in your personal statement are harmful because they tell admissions committees that you're not detail-oriented, you rushed your statement and because of that, you don't really care about it, or their program. Ensure your statement is reviewed multiple times, ideally with a professional's help, to ensure your essay puts your best foot forward and is free from any spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
• Boasting. While you can certainly highlight a few key accomplishments in your statement, such as finishing at the top of your class or raising money for a good cause, it's important that you are tactful in how you phrase your accomplishments. You always want to be humble, and think about what an achievement means to you and why. Lastly, it's a good idea to reflect on what you learned from your achievements and how that can translate in your career as a dentist.

While the majority of your personal statement should be about you - your experiences and how they relate to your decision to pursue dentistry, you can certainly include information relating to another person. For example, you could mention a family member's struggle with a disease, a patient's story, or a conversation with a dentist. As long as you circle back to why this story is significant in your pursuit of dentistry, what you learned from the experience or even how an experience changed your point of view.

Your personal statement must adhere to the ADEA's character count of 4500 characters, including spaces. However, this doesn't mean that you must include this many characters. As long as your essay is below the count, it's most important that you focus on creating a powerful, in-depth essay that proves to the admissions committee why you want to be a dentist and why you would be suitable for a career in this field, then it's perfectly acceptable.

Your personal statement is one of the most important aspects of your entire dental school application. It will serve as your introduction to admissions committees – letting them know who you are a person, who you are as a candidate, and essentially, that you're suitable for a career in dentistry. A poorly crafted personal statement can result in rejection from dental school, so it's essential that your statement is both engaging and memorable to secure you an invitation to interview.

No, remember, this information will be included elsewhere in your application, so it's not suitable to include this in your personal statement.

• Brainstorm ideas.
• Create an outline.
• Focus on body paragraphs first using a maximum of 3 experiences.
• Ensure you SHOW what you learned (don’t tell) by using examples.
• Write your conclusion.
• Write your introduction last.
• Attention-grabbing introduction: Not just a thesis statement, but something interesting to draw the reader in, like a quote or a story.
• Transitions: These should lead from one paragraph to the next, creating flow. Use linking words such as however, additionally, also, next, etc.
• Strong examples: This way you are showing, not telling.
• Clear and direct language: Your language does not have to be fancy, what's most important is that it's easy to read and follow. For example, “utilize” is one of the most over-used words in academic essays and “use” works just as well.
• Conclusion: This should summarize your main points, but also leave the reader with a compelling closing sentence that makes them want to find out more about you. For example, include a call back to your opening anecdote and highlight how far you have come.

Dental school personal statement editing, just like medical school personal statement editing , is very important. Begin by writing the BEST first draft you can and then begin your edit. Don’t write something of average quality, half-done, or way over the character limit. Trying to work from these copies will only create confusion and delays. Next, you should read your essay out loud to yourself sentence by sentence to ensure it flows well and to catch any grammatical errors. Each sentence should be contributing to the overall point. If you find yourself repeating your thoughts in multiple forms, think about paring your sentences down. Quality is more important than quantity.

Next, repeat this process 2-3 times. Resist the urge to keep tinkering over and over again. There are multiple strong ways to word sentences and express your thoughts. There are probably even multiple experiences you could highlight and have an equally strong personal statement. However, obsessing over each sentence and word once you have written a strong statement will just lead to changing too many things, delays, you feeling nervous, and sometimes even a weaker essay than you started with!

Yes, you can definitely mention experiences in your personal statement that are non-academic or not related to dentistry. A strong experience to mention should be one that taught you important skills and that influenced your decision to pursue dentistry. Personal experiences can also have a strong influence on which profession you pursue, so you can definitely mention non-academic experiences.

It’s certainly normal to want input from others when we are crafting personal statements. A strong reviewer is one who has experience and expertise with professional school applications and has helped other students before. For example, someone with an advanced degree like a practicing dentist or other professional. Even though you may feel tempted to ask friends and family, you may want to refrain from this, as they are often invested in your success and may find it hard to be objective.

Try to find someone who does not know you so well so they can give objective guidance. The other thing you want to avoid is having “too many chefs in the kitchen.” Too many different people reviewing your statement is only going to pull it in too many different directions, ultimately leading to confusion and even more delays. And again, some students might feel more comfortable using a dental school admissions consulting service for this aspect of their application.

Just like you would address this during an interview, your statement can address areas of concern by following these steps:

• Take responsibility.
• Explain mitigating factors.
• Don't make excuses.
• Share strategies for what you learned and how you would avoid a situation like this in the future. 
• Make sure you end on a positive or proactive note.

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Have a question ask our admissions experts below and we'll answer your questions.

Yutika Maharaj

Hi there Do you have any sample personal statements for a foreign trained dentist applying to ADEA PASS and ADEA CAAPID. Thanks

BeMo Academic Consulting

Hi Yutika! Thanks for your comment. As an international applicant, your personal statement should follow the same structure and contain pertinent info about yourself and your application. Use these samples to construct your own, unique narrative!

It is remarkable, very good information

Thanks, Code!

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In response to popular demand, we are including a sample dental school essay. Note how the author reveals a lot about herself without overtly saying "I am this and I am that." She is obviously hard working and disciplined, probably compassionate and kind. Interested in dentistry for a long time, she has clearly considered other options. And she tells a good story . Our experts can help you tell your story just as effectively -- check out our AASDAS application packages here .

I could hardly keep myself from staring at the girl: the right side of her face was misshapen and bigger than the left. Only later did I notice that Cheryl, about nine at the time, had light brown hair, lively brown eyes, and a captivating smile. When she walked into the candy shop where I worked six years ago, Cheryl told me she was a student of my former fourth grade teacher with whom I had kept in contact. We talked then and spent time talking each time she visited. She became a very special friend of mine, one whom I admire greatly. At the time we met, I was taking honors and AP classes, working about twenty hours a week, and feeling sorry for myself. Cheryl's outgoing confidence and good cheer put my situation in perspective. Cheryl was strong, kind, and surprisingly hopeful. She never focused on her facial deformities, but always on the anticipated improvement in her appearance. Her ability to find strength within herself inspired me to become a stronger person. It motivated me to pursue a career where I could help those like Cheryl attain the strength that she possesses.

At the time, my initial interest turned toward psychology. Impressed with Cheryl's outlook, I overlooked the source of her strength: she knew that treatment will improve her appearance. Focusing on the emotional aspects of her illness, I volunteered at the Neuropsychiatric Institute. There, I supervised the daily activities of pre-adolescents, played with them, and assisted them in getting dressed. I worked with crack babies, autistic children, and children who had severe behavioral problems. I enjoyed interacting with the children, but I often became frustrated that I was not able to help them. For instance, a young autistic boy frequently hit himself. No one was permitted to stop this child. We had to turn away and allow him to continually strike and hurt himself until he tired.

I was increasingly disappointed with the lack of progress I saw in my volunteer work at NPI, but my job again pushed me in the right direction. During the fall quarter of my junior year in college, I left the candy shop where I had worked for nearly five and a half years, and I began working as a senior clerk in the Anesthesiology Residency Program. Ironically work, which frequently made study difficult, helped me find the right path. There I learned about the oral and maxillo-facial specialty, which will allow me to help people like Cheryl.

To explore my interest in dentistry, I volunteered as a dental assistant in Dr. Miller's dental office. Dr. Miller introduced me to various dental techniques. Although I was mainly an observer, I had the opportunity to interact with the patients. I came in contact with a diverse patient population with different problems and dental needs. I observed as Dr. Miller dealt with each patient individually and treated each one to the best of his ability. He familiarized me with strategies for oral health promotion and disease prevention. I learned a great deal from him, and as a result, my interest in dentistry grew.

I choose to pursue a career in dentistry after following a circuitous path. My friendship with Cheryl motivated me to enter a field where I can help the severely disfigured cope with their condition. Although I initially turned to psychology, I found my work at the Neuropsychiatric Institute to be frustrating and was searching for a different way to achieve my goal. Ironically, Cheryl had told me all along the source of her strength: the knowledge that her condition was treatable and improving. Through maxillo-facial dentistry I will help others with serious facial deformities have the same knowledge and source of strength.

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Sample Dental Personal Statement — AADSAS

Got accepted to penn, ucsf, nyu, nova, umich, maryland, uf.

A terrified girl with a swollen upper lip trudges into the endodontic clinic. She needs an emergency retreat of her root canal due to a poor previous obturation. As the needle pierces her gums, childhood memories of getting root canals without anesthesia flood her body with even greater pain and fear. Her student dentist wipes away her tears and holds her hand tighter. “The worst part is over,” remarks the soothing voice of the resident as she puts away the syringe. She is amazed by how fast the pain goes away. This girl was me three years ago, and it was this moment that I first envisioned dentistry as my career. [MZ1]  

I was born and raised Uyghur, a Turkic ethnic minority in Central Asia. Growing up in a mixture of Turkish, Middle-Eastern, and Asian cultures helped me appreciate cultural diversity and collaborative environments later in life. Shortly after my high school graduation, I made the biggest decision of my life: to pursue an undergraduate degree in the United States, where I would be able to blossom in a free academic environment. I packed my ambitious heart and dreams into a suitcase and headed for the U.S.

Being away from home for the first time, I was thrilled to explore the world on my own. Determined to overcome the language barrier, I took every possible opportunity to practice my English skills while attending a language institute. Within six months, I passed the placement test and started taking college-level courses. Small victories like this strengthened my determination, and prepared me to overcome future obstacles that I faced while pursuing undergraduate studies and finding my career path.

[MZ2]  

Dealing with frequent illnesses as a child led me to spend a lot of time in the care of others. Nurses, doctors, and dentists became my heroes, and I dreamed of being like them one day. In order to gain more experience in the healthcare field while pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, I became a Certified Nursing Assistant and began working in an assisted-living facility caring for residents with Alzheimer’s disease. The bonds I built with these kind people and their families helped me realize how much I love caring for others and making positive impacts on their lives. [MZ3]  

Around the same time, I became a patient at the University of Florida College of Dentistry team clinics. A long history of poor dental care led me to undergo an extensive amount of dental work at the clinic. This is where I first met Magda, my student dentist from the root canal story. As soon as I expressed my interest in the healthcare field, Magda enthusiastically began explaining dental procedures to me, teaching me to recognize dental instruments and even how to interpret x-rays. Her proficient skills, professionalism, and concerns for patients truly inspired me to further explore dentistry as my prospective profession.

I subsequently started shadowing at the team clinic, which enabled me to gain a closer look at dentistry. From various types of periodontal therapies, restorations, and extractions – every procedure I assisted with, pumped my body full of adrenaline. I fell in love with how much creativity is utilized in dentistry and relished every bit of patient interaction.

The knowledge from the team clinic further inspired me to pursue a community-based dental experience. I began to shadow Dr. XXXX, a general dentist at ABC Dental Clinic. ABC is a community for people with developmental disabilities. Volunteering at the clinic has been the most eye-opening and rewarding experience I have had in my limited exposure to dentistry. Most of the patients are not verbally responsive and are very challenging to work with. Despite these obstacles, Dr. Garvey’s patience and empathy makes everything possible. His unwavering commitment to serve the underserved population is inspiring me to become a dentist like him. From there, I started working at the UFCD Pediatric Dental Clinic as a dental assistant. [MZ4]  

Luckily, I never had to return to the endodontic clinic again as a patient, but my unflinching determination in pursuing a dental career has only grown stronger since. Utilizing both creativity and discipline in caring for patients, serving the underserved, and relieving pain is what I have found I love doing the most. If that can become a lifelong career, then I am confident that dentistry is, absolutely, my future vocation. Even better, I will be the first Uyghur dentist in the U.S., now wouldn’t that be something? [MZ5]  

Got accepted to Midwestern University (IL) (Re-applicant with a 2.9 GPA and 19 DAT; Got 5 interviews)

My grandfather made me fall in love with the quote: “Use your smile to change the world, don’t let the world change your smile.” I grew up without my parents, and faced adversity and bullying throughout my childhood. It took a toll on my confidence, made me shy, and discouraged me from smiling. Whenever I feel discouraged, my grandfather’s words always comfort me and push me toward my goals. Last year, I found it incredibly painful to deal with his passing after he battled nasal cavity cancer for eight years. He persevered through harsh medical treatments and never stopped smiling in front of me. Even after his dentures stopped fitting him, he would still smile. He gradually lost his appetite and without dentures, he became nutrient deficient since he could not consume the range of food that he needed. This was when I learned about the importance of dentures and their impact on a person’s health.  Watching how strong he was, I yearned to make him a perfect set of dentures as a special gift one day. My ambition was to watch my grandfather enjoy a wide variety of food and to see his old smile again. Since then, I began to see the power behind my grandfather’s smile. His smile speaks for the positivity, courage, and strength that taught me to embrace obstacles and challenges because they will help me thrive as an independent and a mature adult. Although I lost my grandfather, the pain of losing him strengthened my character and pushed me to pursue my dream to become a successful dentist.  [MZ6]  

During my last quarter at UC San Diego, my grandfather’s condition worsened. I constantly worried about him, as he was the only close family I had. There were times when I struggled to balance family responsibilities with academics, and I had felt mentally and physically exhausted every day. Every time I went to see him in the hospital, he told me not to worry about him and to focus on my academics. My anxiety took a toll on my grades and I realized that it helped neither my dream nor his health. Gradually, I learned to manage my time and my stress, and improved my grades later on through more coursework in post-baccalaureate program . Luckily, my aunt is capable of taking care of my grandmother now, so I can further my studies and work as a dental assistant during my free time. [MZ7]  

As a dental assistant, I channeled my desire of taking care of my grandfather into taking care of patients. [MZ8]  During the preparation for an implant case, I noticed a patient was clenching her fists anxiously. I offered her with a cup of water and started a conversation to ease her worries. Later, she calmed down and was ready for the procedure. She was cooperative when I took a periapical x-ray on the difficult position of tooth #15.  Fortunately, the picture turned out clear and the dentist was able to see the depth of the post and the distance between her sinus. When I greeted the patient during her next visit for abutment, she said “thank you” and gave me the most heartwarming hug that I could ever ask for. Her expression of gratitude kindled my desire to serve more patients as an aspiring dentist. [MZ9]  

Knowing that my grandfather lacked oral health education and had limited dental care during his lifetime, I felt a sense of duty to help those who lack access to dental care [MZ10]  . I helped serve the underprivileged by volunteering at the California Dental Association Free Clinic. In particular, I remember a forty-year old Hispanic immigrant named Julio, who was also a low-income immigrant and a father of four. Majority of his teeth was decayed and in need of urgent restoration. After talking to him, I learned that his condition was the result of a lack of access to quality dental care. Due to financial constraints, he could not afford to visit a dentist for a long time. He was grateful that the Free Clinic had given him this opportunity to restore his teeth. Talking to Julio was eye opening, as it inspired me to reach out to the disadvantaged population and educate them about oral health. One day, I wish to provide equitable access to dental care to all. [MZ11]  

After my grandfather’s death, I wrote a letter to him that ended with this passage: “Thank you, Grandpa, for helping me find my passion and for making me realize the power that genuine smiles can bring. Although you are no longer with us, your wisdom continues to motivate me to spread beautiful smiles and to improve the lives of others. As a tribute to you, I am ready to dedicate myself to the career of dentistry.” [MZ12]  

Got accepted to Penn, UCSF, NYU, Pitt, and Rutgers

‘ Shri Ramajeyam!’ chanted the village magician back in Bangladesh, as he tried to heal my grandmother’s toothache for 40 Taka (equivalent to $0.50 in the US). The cheap hocus pocus failed and ultimately, an oral screening at a local hospital diagnosed an oral lesion in her mouth. However, it remained untreated because of my family’s limited finances. [MZ13]  

These financial challenges that have continually haunted my family have helped ingrain the value of patience within the very essence of my personality. Our patience in reapplying for the Diversity Visa Lottery over and over finally paid off the 9 th time, when we won. We thought our financial distress would improve, so we happily left for America. But, surprises ensued. Extreme poverty, accompanied by a sudden cut in Medicaid forced me to curtail my visits to the orthodontist, but I continued to wait, as I had always been, for a change in fortune. [MZ14]  

That change came when my orthodontist halved my fee after sympathizing with my situation. This drew me to a dentist’s prerogative to demonstrate compassion. The importance of a good patient-doctor relationship stood out even more when I shadowed Dr. Pinto, an oral surgeon. During his interaction with a medically compromised patient, who was suffering from a prior iatrogenic procedure, I saw how dentists not just treat the local symptoms of pain, but also address it in a systemic way. This interactive process reminded me of my time leading mentoring program as an International Youth Scholar, in which I mentored a Somali refugee named Abdi. Being psychologically vulnerable as a result of having faced a civil war, initially, he appeared reserved. With my consisted efforts, I built rapport with him as he slowly opened up about his struggle in the refugee camp, his love for soccer, and his dream to study in the U.S. With my encouragement, he applied and received a scholarship at Syracuse University. I will never forget his smile when he gave me the news.  It reaffirmed the holistic nature of a dentist’s influence on an individual’s systemic as well as psychological health.  [MZ15]  

In addition to treating individuals, I want to expand the influence of dental awareness on a community-wide scale and I began this by targeting my local Philadelphia community. I co-founded the Community Dental Disease Prevention Society aiming to reduce the prevalence of dental diseases. We conducted workshops at low-income schools in the city. Despite the initial lack of interest among students, gradually the number of workshop participants grew as they could relate the workshops to their real life experiences. Here Tagita, a first grader shared her story of waiting for a dental appointment due to her family’s financial incapacity, reiterating the inaccessibility of the dental care provision. Meanwhile, high school students expressed concerns about the increasing prevalence of dental malpractice. This made me extend our goals to educate dental providers of iatrogenic dentistry. Additionally, we also set about spreading scientifically based awareness in dispelling damaging propagandas such as those spread by the Fluoride Action Network about the harmful effects of water fluoridation. [MZ16]  

Aside from my involvement with the community, I found personal gratification and further enhancement of my endurance while I was taking a sculpture course.  After the caffeinated nights and clay-stained hands at the studio, looking at my first project – a clay bust of Abraham Lincoln, an unprecedented sense of pride flooded through me. Right then, I knew that in order to be fulfilled I would need manual involvement in my future profession. [MZ17]  

The unique opportunity offered by dentistry to integrate my manual dexterity with my love for science further drew me in. My passion for science grew in a crowded lab-hood at my organic synthesis lab, where I endured repeated tedious phases of optimization of the reaction conditions. Ultimately, I experienced a deep sense of satisfaction as I produced newer molecules in high yield culminating in a co-authorship of a paper in Organic Letters. [MZ18]  

Perseverance gained throughout my life and from my involvement in science, arts and community activism makes dentistry a perfect match for me. Be it campaigning against iatrogenic dentistry via CDDPS, or making someone like Abdi smile confidently, dentistry has allowed me to consolidate my ideals. As I continue to advocate for increased accessibility to dental care for financially disadvantaged patients, I understand that progress will be slow; for now, I vow to stay focused, stay patient. [MZ19]  

  [MZ1] Terrific hook. The story is engaging and vivid. She also amazingly ends the paragraph with her interest in dentistry. Perfect first paragraph.

  [MZ2] Author provides sufficient background and talks about her personal journey to depict her personalities. She shows us a glimpse into her world and provides a subtle glimpse at her personalities

  [MZ3] Explains what she has done during college. It falls under extra-curricular/leadership bucket. But definitely shows her career interest progression. This paragraph does not employ any vivid story, but at this point it’s not needed anymore because she already earned your trust and you’re reading this.

  [MZ4] The last three paragraph provides the picture of how the author pursued her interest further. It’s a logical continuation of her journey.

  [MZ5] Great concluding sentence! Super-catchy. Creates an unique identity for the author.

  [MZ6] Absolutely great introduction. Author takes you into her world and tells you about her personal life. She provides a nice story to back up why she wants to be a dentist. Great introduction, although a bit too long.

The essay revolves around her grandfather and she continually ties back to this theme.

  [MZ7] She explains her situation but reassures the reader that she will be able to handle the tough workload at dental school.

  [MZ8] Great topic sentence brings back the theme of her grandfather.

  [MZ9] Through telling us a story she provides a glimpse into her personality. From this story, we can make assumptions about what kind of dentist she will become – a compassionate, kind hearted one.

  [MZ10] Again, tying back to the theme

  [MZ11] This is called future pacing. She’s basically telling you her dream as a dentist.

  [MZ12] Slightly unconventional ending, but worked really well for her.

  [MZ13] Unique beginning, proven to be quite effective for the author. The story also hooks you right away. You feel a certain level of sympathy for the author’s family.

  [MZ14] Author is using life story to focus our attention on his personality. It’s very subtle and crafty.

  [MZ15] This paragraph is AMAZING because it talks not only about the things that author admires in his dentist, but he also demonstrate how he implemented those qualities into his extra-curricular activities. This is an advance concept and hard to implement, but if you can do it successfully, you have a great shot at getting into many dental schools (just like the author)

  [MZ16] Tells us a STORY about his community service involvement.

  [MZ17] Manual dexterity can be part of your personal statement but add it such that your essay does not lose flow. This is a strong example of how to talk about your manual dexterity.

  [MZ18] Most people don’t have publication as an undergraduate; if you do, talk about it! It will 20X your chances at getting into a dental school. You should not shy away from talking about your accomplishments.

  [MZ19] Great ending. Author used a catch phrase at the end. Quite cliché, but it is executed properly and makes you remember the author.

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How to Answer the "Why NYU?" Dental School Essay

Looking to craft a compelling response to the "Why NYU?" dental school essay prompt? This article provides expert tips and strategies to help you showcase your passion for dentistry and demonstrate why NYU is the perfect fit for your dental education.

Posted February 26, 2024

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Table of Contents

The "Why NYU?" dental school essay is an essential aspect of the admission process for prospective dental students. In this article, we will guide you through the different components of this essay prompt and provide valuable tips on crafting a compelling response.

Understanding the "Why NYU?" Essay Question

The "Why NYU?" essay question aims to assess your knowledge of and interest in NYU dental school. Admissions committees want to understand why you specifically chose NYU and how it aligns with your academic and professional goals. It is crucial to demonstrate your genuine enthusiasm for the dental program and your understanding of what sets NYU apart from other dental schools.

When considering the "Why NYU?" essay question, it is important to delve deeper into the reasons behind your choice. NYU dental school has a rich history and a reputation for excellence in dental education. Its state-of-the-art facilities, renowned faculty, and diverse patient population provide students with a unique learning experience.

One aspect that sets NYU apart is its commitment to community outreach. The dental school actively engages with underserved populations, offering free dental care and oral health education to those in need. This commitment to service aligns with NYU's mission to produce compassionate and socially responsible dental professionals.

The Importance of the "Why NYU?" Question

The "Why NYU?" question holds significant weight in the admissions process. It allows the committee to assess your fit for the program and evaluate your commitment to pursuing a dental career at NYU. By carefully addressing this question, you can showcase your dedication and passion, potentially setting yourself apart from other applicants.

Admissions committees want to see that you have thoroughly researched NYU dental school and have a clear understanding of what it offers . This demonstrates your commitment to making an informed decision about your dental education. Additionally, by highlighting specific aspects of NYU that resonate with you, such as its research opportunities or specialized programs, you can further demonstrate your enthusiasm and dedication.

Breaking Down the "Why NYU?" Essay Prompt

When tackling the "Why NYU?" essay, it's important to break down the prompt to ensure you cover all the essential elements. The prompt typically asks you to discuss your reasons for choosing NYU dental school and how it aligns with your career goals. It may also require you to explore specific programs, faculty, or research opportunities that NYU offers.

NYU dental school offers a wide range of programs and specializations, allowing students to tailor their education to their specific interests and career goals. Whether you are interested in orthodontics, oral surgery, or pediatric dentistry, NYU provides comprehensive training and resources to help you succeed in your chosen field.

Furthermore, NYU boasts a distinguished faculty who are leaders in their respective fields. Their expertise and mentorship can greatly enhance your learning experience and open doors to exciting research opportunities. By highlighting the faculty members whose work aligns with your interests, you can showcase your eagerness to learn from the best and contribute to the advancement of dental knowledge.

In conclusion, the "Why NYU?" essay question is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your knowledge of and passion for NYU dental school. By thoroughly researching the program, highlighting specific aspects that resonate with you, and showcasing your dedication to a dental career at NYU, you can make a compelling case for why you are the ideal candidate for their dental program.

Crafting Your Response to "Why NYU?"

Highlighting your interest in nyu dental school.

Begin your essay by expressing your genuine interest in NYU dental school. Explain what motivates you to join this particular institution, such as its renowned faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, or innovative research initiatives. Make connections between your values, goals, and how NYU can help you achieve those aspirations.

When it comes to faculty, NYU Dental School boasts some of the most accomplished and respected professionals in the field. Their expertise spans a wide range of dental specialties, from orthodontics to oral surgery, ensuring that students receive comprehensive and top-notch education. Imagine the opportunity to learn from these experts, gaining insights and knowledge that will shape your dental career.

Not only does NYU Dental School have exceptional faculty, but it also provides students with access to state-of-the-art facilities. From advanced dental labs equipped with cutting-edge technology to simulation clinics that allow for hands-on practice, NYU ensures that students are well-prepared for the challenges of real-world dentistry. By attending NYU, you will have the opportunity to work with the latest tools and techniques, giving you a competitive edge in your future dental practice.

In addition to faculty and facilities, NYU Dental School is known for its commitment to innovative research initiatives. The school encourages students to engage in groundbreaking research projects, allowing them to contribute to the advancement of dental knowledge. By joining NYU, you will have the chance to collaborate with renowned researchers and make significant contributions to the field of dentistry, further fueling your passion for dental science.

Read : How to Answer the "Why This Dental School?" Application Question

Discussing Your Career Goals and NYU's Role

Articulate your long-term career goals and illustrate how NYU dental school can contribute to your success. Highlight specific programs, electives, or training opportunities that align with your interests and can provide valuable experiences to further your professional growth. Show the admissions committee how NYU's resources and support will enhance your journey towards becoming a successful dentist.

As you envision your future as a dentist , NYU Dental School can play a pivotal role in helping you achieve your goals. The school offers a wide range of specialized programs and electives that cater to various dental interests. Whether you are passionate about pediatric dentistry, prosthodontics, or dental public health, NYU provides the necessary resources and expertise to nurture your specific career path.

Furthermore, NYU Dental School offers unique training opportunities that can broaden your horizons and enhance your skills. For instance, the school's global outreach programs allow students to participate in dental missions around the world, providing dental care to underserved communities. By engaging in such experiences, you will not only develop your clinical skills but also cultivate a sense of empathy and cultural competency, qualities that are highly valued in the dental profession.

NYU's commitment to supporting its students extends beyond the classroom. The school provides a vast network of alumni who are eager to mentor and guide aspiring dentists. Through networking events and alumni connections, NYU ensures that its students have access to valuable industry insights and opportunities. This support system will undoubtedly contribute to your growth as a dental professional, opening doors to internships, residencies, and potential job prospects.

Tips for Writing a Convincing "Why NYU?" Essay

Avoid common mistakes in your "why nyu" essay.

When writing your essay, avoid generic statements or clichés. Instead, focus on personal experiences, anecdotes, or specific details that demonstrate your understanding of NYU and the dental field. Be authentic, and let your passion for dentistry and NYU shine through in your writing.

Make Your "Why NYU?" Essay Stand Out

To make your essay stand out, conduct thorough research on NYU dental school. Explore its website, faculty profiles, and programs. Incorporate specific details and unique aspects of NYU into your essay to demonstrate that you have taken the time to understand what sets this institution apart.

When it comes to writing a convincing "Why NYU?" essay, it's important to go beyond the surface level and delve into the heart of what makes NYU and its dental program special. While it may be tempting to rely on generic statements or clichés, this approach will not make your essay stand out from the rest. Instead, focus on sharing personal experiences, anecdotes, and specific details that showcase your deep understanding of NYU and the dental field.

One way to make your essay truly shine is by being authentic. Don't be afraid to let your passion for dentistry and NYU come through in your writing. Admissions officers want to see your genuine enthusiasm and commitment to the field, so don't hold back. Share your personal journey and the experiences that have shaped your desire to pursue a career in dentistry.

Additionally, conducting thorough research on NYU dental school is crucial to crafting a compelling essay. Take the time to explore the school's website, delve into faculty profiles, and familiarize yourself with the various programs offered. By incorporating specific details and unique aspects of NYU into your essay, you demonstrate that you have gone above and beyond in understanding what sets this institution apart.

For instance, you could mention NYU's state-of-the-art dental facilities, which provide students with hands-on training using the latest technology. Highlight the school's commitment to community outreach programs, where students have the opportunity to make a positive impact on underserved populations. By showcasing these specific aspects of NYU, you not only demonstrate your research skills but also your genuine interest in becoming a part of the NYU dental community.

Additionally, consider incorporating any personal connections or experiences you may have with NYU. Perhaps you attended a dental conference hosted by NYU and were inspired by the faculty's expertise and passion. Or maybe you had the chance to shadow a NYU dental student and witnessed firsthand the supportive and collaborative environment they thrive in. Sharing these personal connections will further strengthen your essay and show your dedication to becoming a part of the NYU dental community.

How to Review and Refine Your "Why NYU?" Essay

Proofread your essay.

After drafting your essay, take the time to review and edit it for clarity, grammar, and spelling errors. Proofread multiple times, and consider seeking the assistance of a mentor, teacher, or professional editor to provide objective feedback on your writing.

Seek Feedback on Your "Why NYU?" Essay

Before submitting your essay, seek feedback from trusted individuals who can offer constructive criticism. Consider reaching out to current or former NYU dental students, faculty members, or admissions counselors who can provide valuable insights and help you refine your essay.

Final Thoughts on the "Why NYU?" Dental School Essay

The impact of a well-written "why nyu" essay.

A well-crafted "Why NYU?" essay can significantly enhance your chances of gaining admission to NYU dental school. It allows the admissions committee to understand your motivations, assess your fit with the program, and evaluate your commitment to becoming a successful dentist.

Prepare for Potential Follow-Up Questions

After submitting your essay, be prepared to discuss your responses during interviews or provide clarification if needed. Practice articulating your reasons for choosing NYU confidently and enthusiastically, emphasizing your commitment to the dental program and your dedication to your future dental career.

By carefully considering the "Why NYU?" dental school essay prompt and leveraging the tips provided in this article, you can create a compelling essay that showcases your unique qualities and convinces the admissions committee that NYU is the perfect fit for your dental education.

Read these next:

• Writing a Winning Dental School Personal Statement
• How to Write a Compelling Personal Statement for the NYU College of Dentistry Application

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• About ADEA GoDental
• Our Mission

Why be a dentist?

Is dentistry right for you, need for diversity, preparing for dental school, the admissions process, application to dental school, 2024–25 application cycle updates, application instructions, refund policy, re-applicants, school-specific deadlines, dental school interview, new student video stories, customer service, cost of attendance, financing options, educational debt, applying for aid, international students, practice or residency, advanced dental education programs, practice options, advanced education in general dentistry, hear from practitioners, words from your peers, financial aid advice, advice from admissions officers, tips from current d.d.s./d.h. students, health professions advisor views, upcoming events, enrichment programs calendar, past events, writing a personal statement for your dental school application.

The personal statement is one of the most important parts of the ADEA AADSAS ® (ADEA Associated American Dental School Application Service) application. It gives a dental school’s admissions committee the opportunity to assess your motivations and decide if you will be extended an invitation to interview. Often, it takes a long time to write it, and individuals may feel lost on how to approach it. I will help guide you on the path to successfully writing an effective personal statement. 

You should be very clear on the statement’s purpose. Apart from being clear on the dental or dental hygiene program and/or university’s mission focus, you should also be aware of and communicate what you want to achieve by becoming a health care provider. Ask yourself these questions:

• What drives you to be a dentist or dental hygienist?
• What will you achieve by becoming a dentist or dental hygienist?

These questions are important and should be answered within the personal statement. If you have clear answers, you will have a clear vision of the content of your personal statement’s purpose.

The next step is to define the content before you start writing the essay. It should revolve around your personal story, which could start from anywhere you like. For example, you could start when you chose to pursue this profession, or you can start from the present and explain how you’re investing time in and outside of school into building yourself into a better future dentist or dental hygienist. The beginning should be impactful , but do not sit on the beginning statement too long. Rereading and editing will help you get there. Sometimes, you might need to write the whole essay to identify a clear beginning statement.

After a decent beginning, focus on the rest of the story. Remember, it is a personal statement and it should be personal. Convey your story in an interesting manner. Project your personality. The admissions committee knows your GPA and have your CV/resume. What they want to know is who you really are. Add anecdotes from the journey that brought you to dentistry/dental hygiene. Add experiences from your personal life that highlight certain qualities essential to being a successful health care provider. If there were any dentists that you admired, shadowed or worked for who encouraged you to follow suit into dentistry, make sure you highlight the characteristics you admired in them.

Concluding statements are important, too. There should be a delightful epilogue to your essay summarizing the intent, while throwing light on the future and how completing the dental program will put you in a better position to help the community overall.

Use of Language

Judging the quality of your grammar is not the admissions committee’s goal when they read personal statements, but it serves to your advantage if you are meticulous with the words you choose. Certain avoidable grammatical or syntax errors may shift the focus of the reader from the message to the mistakes. It is important to reread and edit out such mistakes. Doing so also conveys your sincere efforts toward making a successful application.

Sentence structure is also important in making a script that flows well and keeps the reader’s attention. Small, interrupted sentences may not allow the reader to follow your thoughts through the punctuation marks, while long, complicated sentences may leave the reader stranded and confused with no closure. We often do not realize these mistakes as we write because the focus is not on sentence structure but on the content. Make sure you go back and read the essay thoroughly to make it easy for others to read. Follow up by using the most suitable conjunctions and transitional words and phrases.

Give yourself plenty of time for the writing process. Always try to start the personal statement early and do not leave it for last. Take a day off, sleep well, focus and write the first draft of the personal statement. At this point, do not think of the word limits and grammar—simply put your heart on paper and then, forget about it. Reread and edit it, afresh. Repeat the process three to four times and then seek help from an advisor or your friends and family. Let at least three to four trusted people read it and ask them to give their opinions and criticisms. Make sure they understand what you are trying to convey in the first place, then consider all their suggestions. Make edits per your liking and, at this stage of editing, lock down the major content of your essay. If your reviewers’ suggestions are contrasting and confusing, it is okay to make two separate drafts and elect to use the one that appeals to you the most. Edit and re-edit the draft you like the best and ask the reviewers to review the new version(s) again. You can always get new people to review it as well.

After you are happy with the content, focus on the language and presentation. Ask the reviewers to read it again and submit it after you feel confident about it. While taking suggestions from others, remember it is your personal statement, so stay true to yourself and do not sway from being yourself to impress others.

Good luck! 

About Anirudha Agnihotry, B.D.S., D.D.S.:

Anirudha Agnihotry, B.D.S., D.D.S.

General Dentist/Clinical Researcher

Private Practice, California

Dr. Agnihotry graduated from Manipal College of Dental Sciences with a Bachelor's in Dental Surgery (B.D.S.) degree in 2012. After a one-year clinical internship, he joined the faculty in the Operative Dentistry and Endodontics Department in Mahatma Gandhi Dental College, where he also maintained a faculty practice. After that, he moved to Divya Jyoti College of Dental Sciences and Research in the Public Health Dentistry. There, Dr. Agnihotry worked setting up community outreach clinics and school oral health programs as well as training dental students. In 2014, Agnihotry moved to the United States and completed a post-graduate certificate training in Restorative Dentistry and following that, worked as a researcher in the same department at the University of California, Los Angeles. After that, he enrolled in an intense accelerated program to obtain his Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) degree in two years, graduating in 2018. He is currently practicing general dentistry in California.

Dr. Agnihotry has been in dentistry for 12 years, as a student and a teacher at times. He has published 12 international scientific research papers, presented in international conferences, is a referee for six international scientific journals and has also written a textbook chapter. His focus is patient-centered outcomes and secondary research with clinical outcomes in focus. Apart from dentistry, he enjoys swimming, playing squash, running, biking, barbecuing and takes a keen interest in all art forms.

• Dental Hygiene
• Community Health
• Dental School
• Post-doctoral Education
• Summer 2022
• Spring 2022
• Winter 2020
• Spring 2020
• Summer 2018

Writing a personal statement for dental schools

Is what I’m writing too personal or not personal enough? Should I be writing more about teeth?  How do I shorten my personal statement without omitting important details? Am I even answering the prompt!?

Writing a personal statement can be an intimidating step in the application process for dental school. I remember reading dozens of example essays online trying to find the “perfect one” that would inspire me and guide my writing so that I would end up with a personal statement that could sum up my entire personality and life goals in just 4,500 characters. The reality is that trying to display who you are and the experiences that make you who you are in one page can be daunting and challenging. But is not impossible! Passion is something that can be detected through writing, so make sure to write about something that you are passionate about and it will be evident to the reader. A common misconception is that your dental school personal statement should be a list of dental experiences or how much you know about dentistry. Although you should be answering the question “why dentistry," the main objective is to paint a picture of who you are and what led you to pursue this career. So, where do  you start? 

Here are 3 tips on writing a personal statement that will make you stand out:

1. always keep the prompt in mind.

The personal statement prompt for dental admission usually doesn’t change and is posted on the ADEA website as the following:

“Your personal statement is a one-page essay (not to exceed 4,500 characters, including spaces, carriages, numbers, letters, etc.) that gives dental schools a clear picture of who you are and, most importantly, why you want to pursue a career in dentistry.”

Make sure that every sentence- every word- you write serves the purpose of answering the question above. If you find yourself writing about something that you feel doesn’t answer the prompt in one way or another, then it doesn’t belong in your PS. The allotted characters are concise and don’t allow for fluff or fillers. Once you have understood the prompt and the message you want to get across to admissions, then picking your words and what you want to share is made easier. 

2. It is okay to be vulnerable

If there is a life changing moment that you believe ties in to why you are pursuing dentistry, then don’t feel shy to write about it. We all have vulnerable moments, and you might be on the fence on whether to include those moments or not. My advice is to go for it! These moments give the reader a chance to get to know you outside of an academic context. In a pile of 1,000s of essays, you want the reader to connect with you, stories of vulnerability help make that connection.

3. If you talk about an adverse event, make sure to write an ending 

Many applicants do a great job at setting the scene to their stories but forget to write the ending! Let’s say, for example, that I write about the time I worked at a bakery (I wish!) and had many complex orders that needed to be done by the end of the day. I write about how difficult the task was and how impossible it first seemed. Then, I write that I was able to finish everything up and felt good about it. There are many things missing that highlight the significance of why I am writing this story. If you write about a certain experience in a story format, it should answer some of these questions:

• What have I learned from this experience and how can I implement it to answering the prompt?
• What skills (leadership) traits did I gain from this experience?
• In adverse times, what/ who do I find myself turning to? And why?
• What did I learn about myself through this experience?

By adding dimension and reflection to your stories, the reader will have a better understanding of who you are and how you react to difficult situations. Remember, this point circles back to tip #1: always keep the prompt in mind. By showing growth through your experiences, you demonstrate the resilience that you have that is needed to get through dental school!

Hoda is a dental student at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. She previously earned a BS in Biological Sciences with minors in Chemistry and Psychology at the University of Illinois in Chicago, graduating summa cum laude.

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College of Dentistry

How to craft a winning personal statement for dental school application.

Have you put some thought into how you will write your personal statement for application? How will you stand out among the hundreds of other applicants?

With over 11,000 potential candidates applying annually to US dental schools, competition has never been stronger. Above average DAT scores and GPAs aren’t good enough anymore to truly stand out. 

That's why Helen Yang, DMD, a Harvard Dental School graduate and current endodontics resident at UIC, has written a  new book to help applicants become more successful.

In her new book, Your Essential Guide to Dental School Admissions: 30 Successful Application Essays and Collective Wisdom from Young Dentists , Dr. Yang and collaborators offer a holistic strategy for a winning dental school application. The second half of the book focuses on the personal statement and consists of 30 essays written by dental students across the country.

With a background serving on Harvard Dental School’s admissions committee and working in admissions counseling, Yang offers an invaluable and highly beneficial perspective.

“I looked at what kind of books were already out there. They tended to be written by a single person, so just featuring one person’s experience. Also, they focused a lot on the statistics of getting into dental school, Yang explained, as her inspiration for writing this book.

About half of the book is devoted to crafting a compelling personal statement, because “the personal statement of all the things in the application plays such a big role in making the applicant seem like a real human being.”

“I wanted it to have a strong emphasis on the human aspect of getting into dental school. How can I present myself as a more interesting applicant, and what are the admissions officers looking for?

"The book really focuses on how to make yourself seem more interesting, more human and more like a valuable member of the community. I think that’s what really makes people stand out.”

Four key components of getting into dental school.

Each of the four chapters covers a different key aspect of getting accepted into dental school.  These aspects of the admissions process are explored in detail in Yang’s practical and inspiring guide for dental school admissions.

1. Assemble an Outstanding Application. Creating an application package that is so compelling that it can’t possibly be ignored. This means going beyond application prerequisites  such as competitive GPA, required coursework, and dentist shadowing .

2. write a winning personal statement. retaining individuality and standing out from the deluge of applications with the personal statement. structuring it for success and individuality., 3. ace the interviews. successfully preparing for and dominating the dental school interview..

RELATED:  How to Prepare for the Dental School Interview

4. Map Your Road to Dental School. Deciding on worthwhile extracurriculars and hobbies. Making a seamless and successful transition to dental school.

RELATED:  Roadmap to Dental School  

Succeeding with the Personal Statement

The personal statement is crucial in terms of presenting your individuality as part of the dental school application. It helps admissions representatives understand who you are, your unique experiences and why you chose to become a dentist. Despite it's importance, there is often great uncertainty regarding how it should be structured, what it should focus on, and how to make the best use of it to stand out.  

From ADEA Go Dental:  What is the personal statement for?

Your personal statement is a one-page essay (not to exceed 4,500 characters, including spaces, carriages, numbers, letters, etc.) that gives dental schools a clear picture of who you are and, most importantly, why you want to pursue a career in dentistry.

Read more @ ADEA Go Dental

Given how important the personal statement is to a successful application, Yang dedicated the entire second half of her book to it. In this section, 30 successful traditional and non-traditional dental students from diverse backgrounds share the personal statements they used to gain admission into a top school of choice.

These students crafted personal statements that genuinely impressed admissions committees and got them into dental school – the exception, not the norm.

 “We got over 50 submissions [for personal statements]. They were all very good. I worked with a team of eight other young dentists to distribute them, had them blinded, and had each essay critiqued and ranked based on quality of writing, how substantial the essays were and how effective they were.”

This process ultimately resulted in 30 top selections. Yang never thought she would get the submissions needed to fulfill the project, but the interest of young dentists to share their statements and help others was clear.

The personal statements showcase helpful examples of what works, and more importantly, expert feedback on why they worked. They offer practical guidance on how to present a story and background to gain an edge in one of the most competitive admissions processes out there.

“When I talk to pre-dental students, most people don’t think of themselves as unique or interesting or impressive. They are like ‘my grades are average, my stats are average. How on earth do I stand out?”

It’s a very common problem, but Yang recognizes that every applicant has something genuinely worthwhile to share, “The first thing I do when I meet with any pre-dental student is I get them to talk about themselves. From that, you can tell that everyone has a unique story that no one else has.

So even though they may not feel special because they lived with that their whole life, you can say ‘Look, no one else has your story. If you can wisely tell that story, that would make you seem different and more outstanding than other applicants.’”

Dr. Yang holds little back in this thorough book. She provides an unadulterated and authentic account of what it takes to thrive in the admissions process, present a compelling story and individuality, and plan for the long-term commitment that a career in the field demands.

Dr. Yang exudes a genuine passion for helping pre-dental students accomplish their dreams. Her book is an invaluable resource that has culminated from her years of experience in dental admissions and her desire to offer a more holistic strategy than the formulaic types of admission tips that are often seen.

Available on Amazon Now

The book has received highly positive reviews since its recent release in 2018.

Your Essential Guide to Dental School Admissions is available in softcover for $14.99 and Kindle for $9.99 on Amazon .

Get ready for dental school, get the information you need to begin your journey into an outstanding career in dentistry today.

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Dental School Personal Statement: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

EssayEdge > Blog > Dental School Personal Statement: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

Although no personal statement is ever perfect, whether the errors fall into the category of minor stumbles or major pitfalls can make a difference in your ability to secure a spot in a dental school program. Here’s a list of the top mistakes to avoid in writing your dental school essays.

1. Not planning ahead

Sure, you might get lucky. Somewhere between finishing up your undergraduate program, preparing for the DAT, research/shadowing, and maybe even gainful employment, you might have a grand moment of inspiration and write a stellar essay off the top of your head.

But probably not.

Keep in mind that the dental school admissions officers are sophisticated people. They’ve seen it all, so it’s going to be pretty obvious to them that you didn’t spend much time on your personal statement. Especially considering that the personal statement is the aspect of the application over which you have the most control, failing to take the time to plan and write your best dental school essay will make you seem unprepared for the academic or schedule demands of dental school.

2. Writing about your childhood, including your parents

If you knew when you were little that the only career for you was dentistry, great. Good for you. But it has no place in your dental school personal statement. At this point in your development towards applying to a professional graduate school, your anecdotes should come from your adult life.

Additionally, dentistry families are not uncommon. If you were inspired by a family member to become a dentist, you can state this (very!) briefly but move quickly to your own goals and reasons for wanting to have a career in dentistry. If your only reason for choosing dentistry is your family, the admissions officers will likely view you as someone who needs to do some soul searching.

3. Using your dental school personal statement as a soapbox to criticize The System

As the evidence connecting good dental health with good general health mounts, people increasingly recognize the role of dental hygiene in having a healthy population. Unfortunately, disparities in access still exist. Even so, your dental school essay is not the place to rant about failures in the system of care. If you are passionate about providing for underserved communities, that’s wonderful. Keep the tone positive and stay focused on specific actions that you can take to improve the health of the community by improving your patient’s smiles.

Need help? Check out EssayEdge editing services:

4. Forgetting to write about dexterity

While you don’t need to write an entire paragraph about this, some place in your dental school personal statement should mention dexterity. Whether you want to write about playing an instrument, drawing or just a general love of working with your hands, let the admissions officers see that a hands-on career appeals to you and that you have the physical skill to be able to do your work well.

5. Emphasizing lifestyle over career passion

As a group, dentists have objectively good lifestyles by pretty much any metric. For this reason, it is not surprising how often I see dental school personal statements that discuss extensively how being a dentist will provide the applicant with plenty of time and the financial resources to pursue goals outside of the dental office.

While this level of honesty is admirable in its own way, it’s probably not the best strategy for your dental school essay. The admissions officers are not particularly interested in what you plan to do with your spare time after you complete dental school, and stating that dentistry is really just a means to an end isn’t likely to resonate with them. In every paragraph of your dental school essay, demonstrate that you are the type of passionate applicant who has the ability and desire to make a meaningful contribution to their program and to the profession.

We completed enough orders, including those made by dental school applicants, to share this information with you. These tips are created and given by an experienced personal statement editor , whose opinion is to be trusted. Do you want to provide yourself with a successful entrance to a prestigious dental school? Let us proofread your paper.

You may also like What to Do If You Don’t Have Dental Shadowing Experience

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Getting Into Dental School: Essays, Recommendations, and Interviews

Essay… Personal Statement… Statement of Purpose… Candidate’s Admission Statement… These terms bring a shiver to the spine of many a potential dental student. You should think of the application essay, however, as an opportunity to show admissions officers what you’re made of. They want to know why you want to attend their optometry program and this is your chance to tell them as clearly and compellingly as you can.

Your application essays can serve two basic purposes. First, they show whether or not you can write a clear, coherent essay that’s logically and grammatically correct. These days, students’ writing ability is often presumed deficient unless proven otherwise. Second, they provide you with the opportunity to present the admissions committee with more of a “three-dimensional” portrait of yourself as a deserving candidate than GPA and DAT numbers possibly can. What you choose to write sends clear signals about what’s important to you and what your values are. You can explain why you really want to pursue dentistry and the career path it will enable you to follow. Your essay also enables you to explain things like a bad grade or term in an otherwise creditable record.

The dental school essay should provide a 3-dimensional picture of you.

Essays are the best way for admissions officers to determine who you are. So, don’t hesitate to go beyond your current experience for essay topics. Feel free to discuss other events that help define who you are. If you have overcome significant obstacles, say so. If you were honored with an award, describe the award and what you did to achieve recognition.

It behooves you to do a good job here. So start early. Go over your goals and aspirations, write several drafts, talk to students and professors. Then give some thought to your goals. How will you accomplish them? What can you contribute to the dental school community? What can you contribute to this particular school or program? If you can answer these questions in a clear, concise manner, the statement will be a relative breeze.

A Few Final Tips for Dental School Essays

• Answer questions.
• Follow directions.
• Match yourself with the school.
• Be your unique self.
• Tell stories and make your essays interesting.
• Start with a bang.
• Ask other people to read your essay and give you their impression.

Getting Recommendations for Dental School

Recommendations rank among the most important items in your admissions file. In many cases, they are the most important, making or breaking many an application. So start thinking about them as soon as possible. The whole process of identifying good recommenders, lining them up, and then making sure they follow through with winning letters can take a lot of time.

If you’re still in college or a recent grad, your college professors will likely make the best references. This is especially true if you’re going on to study the same subject in grad school.

Make it personal

Choose people who like you, and who think you’re good at what you do. Choose good writers who can express their opinions clearly. If a potential recommender seems less than enthusiastic in any way, keep looking. That person’s ambivalence is likely to come through in the letter.

The more personalized and detailed your letters are, the better. So invest the time to make your recommenders’ job as easy as possible. Try to set up an appointment or lunch interview to discuss your grad school interests with each letter writer. At these interviews, review your academic performance and see what other information they’d like. Providing copies of your papers, portfolios of your work, and the like will help writers make their letters as focused and specific as possible.

Provide your recommenders with all the info, forms, stamped and addressed envelopes they’ll need. Make sure they’re aware of deadlines and follow up later. By all means, give them as much time as possible. Writing a good reference takes time and your recommenders will likely have other competing demands for time—and other recommendations to write.

Keep your recommendation writers on schedule. Provide a gentle reminder when a deadline is approaching. Pave the way for this reminder when you first ask for the recommendation by mentioning a date for a follow-up call. And, of course, a thank-you letter at the end of the process is always appreciated.

Finally, letters from big-name scholars can certainly get admissions committees’ attention. But the usefulness of a letter from Prof. Supernova, who can’t quite place your face, not to mention your abilities, is questionable.

Ask yourself these questions when considering potential recommenders:

• Have you worked closely with this person?
• Do you feel this person thinks favorably of you?
• Does this person know you in more than one context (e.g., work plus an activity)?
• Does this person know that you intend to go to grad school?
• Is this person an effective narrative writer?
• If this person knows you from previous rather than current experiences, have you kept in touch?
• Will this person complete your recommendation letter by the deadline you give?

The Dental School Interview

When applying to dental school, your interview is an important requirement for admissions. In addition, some schools use interviews to evaluate borderline cases. Whatever the reason for the interview, it’s important that you schedule with the admissions officer early.

Top Dental School Interview Tips

• Review your application. The interviewer is likely to ask specific questions about it.
• Be ready to relate several stories on how you took initiative or participated in a leadership role.
• Be open and honest.
• Ask good questions and make sure the answer is not in the school’s reading materials.
• Be prepared to give a convincing answer to the interviewer’s inevitable question, “Why here?”
• Follow proper business decorum.
• Watch your non-verbal clues, such as eye contact, posture, and fidgeting.
• Write a thank-you note.
• Be courteous to the administrative staff. How you treat them can have an impact (positive or negative).

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Everything you need to know to get Accepted

March 26, 2023

Wondering If Dental School Is For You?

In our 464th episode of Admissions Straight Talk Podcast, Dr. Barry Rothman shares everything students should know about the dental school application process drawing on his knowledge as an Accepted Admissions Consultant and former Health Professions Advisor and Director of SFSU’s Pre-Health Profession Certificate Program.

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Interview with Barry Rothman, Dental School admissions expert

Welcome to the 464th episode of Admissions Straight Talk . Thanks for tuning in. The challenge at the heart of admissions is showing that you both fit in at your target schools, and stand out in the applicant pool. Accepted’s free download Fitting in and Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions will show you how to do both. Master this paradox, and you are well on your way to acceptance.

Our guest today, Dr. Barry Rothman, is the former Health Professions Advisor and Director of San Francisco State University’s Pre-Health Profession Certificate Program , which served pre-med, pre-dental, pre-nursing, and other pre-healthcare students who are preparing themselves to apply to their graduate professional schools of choice. Since 2015, Dr. Rothman has helped Accepted’s clients in all aspects of the application process to graduate healthcare programs and graduate schools and life sciences, including of course dental school, which is the subject of today’s podcast.

How did you get involved in dental school admissions? [2:17]

I think around 1995, I was asked by my university to be the Health Professions Advisor. This was something I had never even thought about. I had been teaching in the Biology Department for nine years at that point. I taught Molecular Medicine and I was interested in Physiology. I had a number of pre-meds and pre-dents in my classes, and I was kind of interested so I figured I’d give it a try.

What I discovered was that there was a huge need at my university, and probably in many universities, to have a Health Professions Advisor who could relate to the students and really give them service. I decided to take it on, and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with being the Health Professions Advisor for all sorts of health professions, including dentistry. Also, I had had some contact with the UCSF Dental Post Bac Program, which was doing well at UCSF, and because I was the Health Professions Advisor at SF State, and UCSF is two miles down the road, we put our forces together and I joined them.

I got to learn how they ran their post-bacc program. Then I took my own ideas about having programs that were extremely supportive of students, and had lots of mutual support, and not competitive, a nurturing environment, and decided after a year or two delay to create my own post-bacc program at San Francisco State, starting with a sort of multipurpose pre-health program mainly for pre-meds and some pre-dents. The students at SF State actually asked me to create this program.

At that time, pre-meds were allowed to be Second Baccalaureates in the whole CSU system, but they weren’t given much in the way of service. It was more like, “Okay, you can take classes, but don’t expect anything.” They were willing to pay more money for a post-bacc program in order to get more service. Over a period of a year, the Dean, the Academic Senate, and I put our heads together and created the program.

It was a win/win situation. It made me happy. I continued running the post-bacc program, and actually expanded it into dental and into nursing over the next nine years.

What are the prerequisites for applying to dental school? [5:24]

They’re very much like the medical school prerequisites, with some exceptions. You need a year of Intro to Bio with Lecture and Lab, a year of General Chemistry with Lecture and Lab, a year of Organic Chemistry with Lecture and Lab, and a year of Physics with Lecture and Lab. 

Unlike medical school, only some dental schools want you to have Calculus and some of them will take Statistics instead. Many of them, perhaps all, want Biochemistry. That’s something that’s different from medical schools.

Medical schools are happy to see you take Biochemistry, and it’s considered an upper-division elective. But dental schools want it. I think the reason they want it is because there’s a lot of chemistry that goes on in the materials for dentistry, and also there’s chemistry that goes on in the mouth. They want you to have a beginning understanding of Biochemistry. Many of them want you to have taken an English class. Some want you to take Anatomy or Physiology as well, so every dental school has its particular set of prerequisites.

The wise dental applicant looks at the prerequisites for all the schools they’re considering and makes sure that they have met them before applying. If you don’t meet them before applying, it will very much make your application process more difficult.

Dental schools, like medical schools, have an onslaught of many more applications than they handle. One of the easy ways to get rid of applications is to see who hasn’t completed the prerequisites and tell them, “Sorry, why don’t you finish them and apply again next year.”

L isten: Temple University’s Postbac Programs: A Plethora of Possibilities >>

What are the non-academic prerequisites for a successful dental school application? [7:27]

As you might imagine, having some dental experience is very helpful. There are different levels of dental experience. I think of shadowing as the lowest level. It’s still very good to do, but it can be rather passive. You hang out in the office, you watch. If the dentist who’s helping you is being very supportive, they’ll ask you questions, put you on the spot, make you think about things as if you were a dentist. But they could just let you watch and not say a word. So, shadowing is one level .

Becoming a dental assistant is a much better level because you set up trays, and you break down trays. In the COVID era, you sterilize rooms and equipment. In many cases, you’ll talk to patients, get them seated in the dental room with the chair, which dentists call an “operatory.” Being a dental assistant is really good, and you can become a dental assistant through training with a dentist, and then take an exam, or you can actually take dental assisting courses. That’s another level.

You can also get hired in a dental office at even a higher level where you do what’s called “front office” and “back office” work. In the front office, you see patients, you can do insurance work, you can do the scheduling. In the back office, you do the things that I already described. So, being a dental assistant or a dental helper in a dental office is fantastic.

You’ll also need to see different types of dentistry. There’s general dentistry. Those are plentiful. Many, many offices to choose from. When you look at general dentistry though, it’s very important to have some sense of what people without a lot of resources do for dental care. What you find out is that sometimes they don’t do anything for dental care, because they spend their money on medical care and try to put off dental care as long as possible.

Have an idea of the socioeconomic factors that go into people being so “stretched” for money that they don’t get the proper care. One way to understand that is to take some public health classes. Dental schools very much respect students having taken some public health classes so that they have an idea of the socioeconomic factors and maybe can do things to help patients access more dental care. People without a lot of money, instead of getting an expensive crown or root canal will just have a tooth pulled because it’s cheaper. It’s sad. Dentists don’t like seeing a perfectly good tooth, or almost perfectly good tooth get yanked out.

You should also have some kind of experience, it could just be shadowing, in the other dental specialties. There’s pedodontics, which is working with kids. There’s periodontics, which is working with the gums. The gums are extremely important for dental health because when your gums go, your teeth lose their attachment to the bones. They get loose and eventually they fall out. So, periodontal care is extremely important.

There are also endodontists, who take care of root canals, again to salvage a tooth, drill down into the pulp chamber, clean it out, clean out the infection, fill it with an inert material, and your tooth is still good. Orthodontists, many of us have gone through orthodontia, so we know about that.

Lastly, there are oral surgeons. Sometimes they’re called maxillofacial oral surgeons. This often requires extra training, and you can become a maxillofacial oral surgeon through being an MD or through being a DDS or DMD.

What does the dental school application cycle look like? [12:01]

It looks very much like the medical school application cycle. There’s an online application, a single application called the AADSAS. It’s run by the American Dental Education Association, ADEA. It’s an online application that will open up in mid-May and will close around the beginning of February of next year. That’s a nice window of time to get a very complex application filled out.

Do dental schools do rolling admissions like medical schools? [12:41]

Dental schools can start admitting people in December. They have to work hard to process the applications and get their interviews set up, and then make admissions decisions. There’s a lot for them to do in that period of time. It seems like a lot of time, but remember, they have 11,000 applicants to dental schools.

How many spots are there for dental school each year? [13:21]

There are 66 dental schools and I think there are about 5,000 spots. It’s similar to applying to medical school where you have about a 40% chance of getting into an MD school. You have about a 50% chance of getting into a dental school.

It’s pretty tough to get in, but you know, half of the people who don’t get in, don’t get in because they haven’t even fulfilled all of the requirements. It’s not that their application isn’t good. It’s just that they actually did not fulfill all of the requirements. Looking at the requirements is extremely important to be a viable applicant to any dental school.

Is it common for applicants to take gap years before dental school to fulfill the necessary requirements? [14:25]

Yes, it’s really hard to finish your senior year with all of the requirements, often full-time requirements, and then get everything together for dental school. I highly recommend taking a gap year to finish everything and be a strong applicant. It’s much better to spend an extra year getting it together than to apply prematurely, go through all the torture of not getting in, and then still have to reapply. I very strongly advise my students and my clients to apply late. Not late in the cycle, but to give themselves time to really have a strong application. 

What factors should applicants consider when choosing which schools to apply to? How do they determine where they should apply? [15:24]

That’s an interesting question. First of all, I wanted to clarify that the dental school applications are mainly supplemental applications now. In other words, when you choose the schools that you’re applying to, on your AADSAS application you’ll see a link to that particular school’s requirements. There will be a tab that has general information, a tab that has the questions they want you to address, and then a tab that has documents that they want you to upload. The whole secondary application process has become morphed into a supplemental application that’s part of the AADSAS application. Some schools still send secondaries. In that case, they wouldn’t have a supplemental with the AADSAS. They would instead revert to a secondary.

When you’re applying for dental school, let’s say School Number One, if you complete their requirements and complete their supplemental application, you can hit the submit button. You don’t have to hit the submit button for every dental school at the same time. You can work on each in succession. Otherwise, the application process would be even more horrible.

Dental schools vary. Some are very public service oriented. They want to train you to be a general dentist who’s working with people of all different socioeconomic statuses and keeping the general population happy. Dentists love to see people with nice smiles. That’s what really motivates them. Many people who apply to dental school talk about the sheer pleasure of fixing somebody’s smile, and increasing their confidence. That seems to be a big source of satisfaction for many dentists, which is to see somebody leave their office with a smile that’s been improved and with more confidence. Any dental school can train you to do that, but some will focus on general dentistry and working with people who are disadvantaged. 

Others are more research-oriented. Some schools, like UCSF, UCLA , and Penn, are very research-oriented universities. Their dental schools actually turn out quite a bit of impressive dental research. In choosing your schools, I’d say take geographic area into account and consider the percentage that is accepted in-state versus out-of-state. That’s going to be really important in deciding. Then look at their average GPA and their average DAT scores.

I don’t see huge amounts of difference among the dental schools. The average GPA is around 3.5, and the average DAT score is around 20. That doesn’t mean you have to get those to get in. Your personal circumstances can have a lot of weight, but those are the averages. If you’ve had extenuating circumstances, if you’re very disadvantaged, dental schools will note that if you tell them about it.

What is Dental School really like? >>

Is manual dexterity an important quality for getting into dental school? [20:28]

Yes, these are called “hand skills.” They’re very important. I’m really glad you brought this up. Things like playing the guitar, knitting, painting, doing woodwork, ceramics, fixing your car, all of those things that show manual dexterity are very helpful. In fact, there’s a question on the AADSAS application about your manual dexterity. These skills are extremely important. 

There’s also a part of the DAT called the PAT, Perceptual Aptitude Test, which supposedly measures your ability to see three-dimensional shapes and fold them and unfold them in your mind. People have gained the PAT, so there are some standard ways to learn how to solve PAT problems, which involve counting sides and faces, and things like that on these geometrical figures they’ve shown you. 

Should students who are retaking the DAT and expecting test scores in July or August still apply this cycle or what until next year? [21:58]

I think it really depends on the individual’s situation. If you’re getting 15s on the DAT, it’s not going to be very competitive. If you’re getting 18s, then you’re within the average, but a little below. So, you’re a viable applicant. It really depends on the schools you’re applying to, and how thoroughly you studied for the DAT. If you got 18s and you actually didn’t study that hard, well maybe you could really bump them up into the 20s. If you really, really study methodically and you wind up with 18s, maybe it’s not worth going through retaking the DAT.

The DAT is an independent gate that you have to get through. No matter how high your GPA, and no matter how much dental experience you have, if you have low DATs it’s going to be difficult.

I think of those three as the major gates: dental experience, academic performance, and DAT scores. One doesn’t compensate for the other.

You mentioned that some universities really like to see research in the applicants because they’re research-oriented programs. Is it necessary for other dental schools? [23:25]

I think for dental schools that are aimed as public service dental schools, it’s not that important, especially if they’re not conducting a lot of research themselves. If you haven’t done any research, it’s okay. It’s not a deal killer. Just pick your dental schools wisely.

What is the role of supplemental or secondary applications in the dental school admissions process? [24:01]

Each school gets to tailor make them. There are many commonalities, but each school might have a unique question. Some of the common questions are, “What did you do during the COVID pandemic?” You might separate that into what was happening in your personal life, what was happening in your professional life, and what was happening in your academic life. In the medical school world, I’ve seen that secondary question almost from every school.

Another popular one is, “ How will you contribute to the diversity of our school? ” There’s a way to break that down into two different parts, if not more. One is, growing up, have you experienced discrimination or oppression? Are you part of a minority group? Did you witness minority groups having a difficult time? Then also, how will you contribute to the diversity of the school? If you are from a minority background, mention that. Then also, talk about your cultural competence. How much exposure have you had to other groups, other socioeconomic groups, and other ethnic groups?

That’s really important because to be a well-functioning dentist, you really do have to have the ability to communicate and make people comfortable even if they’re not part of mainstream culture. A lot of trust can be lost by patients when someone who’s clumsy does not treat them well in a dental setting, or any health profession setting.

What advice would you have for a dental school applicant who’s invited to interview? [26:23]

Practice, practice, practice. It’s really important to practice. Not many of us were born with an interview gene. So you have to develop the skill. How do you develop the skill? You practice under many different circumstances. There are many standard questions you should be able to answer. For example, “Why do you want to be a dentist?” If you say, “Oh, that’s an interesting question. Let me think about that.” That’s not going to go very well in an interview.

You should know why you want to be a dentist. Saying, “ I want to help people ,” is not a very deep answer. You have to dig deep and think about what is it about dentistry that fits you and your particular personality, style, and needs. That’ll be different for everybody. Just as an example, one thing might be, “I really like to relate closely to patients. I like to see their lives improved.” That could be used as one of many reasons for a medical school interview, or a dental school interview.

But there can be very unexpected questions. You also have to practice fielding weird questions, or questions that you would never anticipate. You can’t anticipate every question. You can anticipate maybe 20 or 30 standard questions, and you should practice, practice, practice those. Then learn to be flexible and agile so that when you get hit with that zinger question, then you’ll be able to handle it. 

One thing that’s important is to be able to say, “I don’t know.” If somebody asks you, “What are the main proteins in the inner membrane of the mitochondria?” Maybe you know. Maybe you don’t. If you don’t, you can say, “You know, I studied that in my Biochemistry and Intro to Bio class, but I’m not remembering any of those proteins right now.” It’s okay. You don’t have to know everything.

Do you have any suggestions for dental school re-applicants? [29:24]

Yes, dental schools are pretty forgiving of re-applicants. When I work with pre-medical students who are re-applicants, after around the third time of applying, their application is pretty tarnished no matter what. 

When you reapply, you actually should improve your application, not just reflexly reapply. What happens often is that you don’t realize you’re not getting in until the end of the cycle, so you don’t have a lot of time.

Unless you were already preparing ahead of time for reapplication, you really haven’t had a lot of time to do anything. That’s where the gap year comes in. It’s okay. In fact, I think dental schools really respect the idea of taking an extra year, or even two years, to get everything together and to realistically assess what went wrong. Maybe you didn’t have enough dental experience. Maybe your application was not written very well. Maybe you didn’t have a letter from a dentist. There are lots of things that could be deal-breakers in a dental school application.

You need to get help from somebody else because it’s really hard to know from one’s self what the problem was. You can call a dental school. Sometimes they’ll tell you. Of course, you’re welcome to work with us. We have a Rejection Review package that’s rather reasonably priced. You can do that. Definitely find out what went wrong, and then address each of those points specifically. 

If you didn’t have enough upper-division Bio electives, then take a bunch. If you didn’t have enough dental experience, go get more dental experience. If you didn’t write your application well, then rewrite it. 

I had a student at San Francisco state many years ago who applied to dental school, who was fantastically prepared, but decided to be a rugged individualist and apply on their own without any advice from anybody, and didn’t get in. They had a phenomenal application, they just didn’t point out how many disadvantages they had, because they were sort of embarrassed about them. As soon as we recalculated things, and I encouraged them to talk about their disadvantages and challenges, they got into seven or eight dental schools.

What do you advise for applicants planning to apply this spring and for those who are planning to apply in 2023 or later? [32:42]

For the people that are applying soon, you should start looking at the AADSAS website. You should start looking at all the things that are required from the schools. I was just looking on the AADSAS website today, and they’re not showing a lot of dental school information right now, but they will. Also, you can search each school’s website and see what they want. There are websites out there that consolidate the information in terms of all the requirements for each of the dental schools.

For the people ready to apply now, I would get going on it. One of the early things to do is to arrange your letter writers , to give them time. You don’t have to choose your schools so quickly, but you do need to pay attention to the prerequisites. You have to make sure you really do meet all their requirements. As we mentioned before, don’t assume that you can finish a requirement after you hand in your application. Schools will likely not look at that.

For the person who’s looking a year ahead, that’s a much less tense situation and you’ve got a whole year or maybe a little longer to plan, but you need to still know “What are my goals? What do I have to complete in order to be a viable applicant in a year from June?” You just have more time and more space, but the ideas are the same. You still need to have your letter writers at some point. You still need to take the DAT.

With the year ahead you’ve got some time to take the DAT, and I would say in preparing for the DAT to practice. Take many, many practice tests to train essentially like an athlete. Get up at the same time in the morning that you would take the DAT. Spend as much time taking the DAT on a computer. It’s just more leisurely, but it’s very easy to say “Oh, I’ve got a year. I guess I’ll just wait a while.” It’s better to get going now.

I would say to make sure you take all your science classes at a four-year university, not a community college. You can take English and Public Health, classes like that, at a two-year university or college. Take all your science courses at a four-year university.

How do dental schools look at people who take the DAT more than once? [36:16]

Again, dental schools are very forgiving, more so than medical schools. I’ve seen people apply six or seven times to dental school and finally get in.

I was amazed to see that, but the people who have done that have learned perhaps slowly what they needed to finally get in. I think dental schools are impressed with persistence as long as you’re a viable applicant. If you’re just completely out of reality, then yes, you’ll never get in. If you’re really sincerely trying, and realistically trying, you can try multiple times. That includes taking the DAT multiple times.

What do you wish I would have asked you today? [37:09]

Maybe what it’s like being a dentist?

This is stereotype but I think dentists have a certain personality. They really like their edges square and their Is dotted and Ts crossed. They get great satisfaction out of doing that with your teeth and giving you a perfect smile. If your personality runs in that direction, it can be tremendously satisfying. Also, if you have an artistic side and you’re good with your hands, it can be very satisfying. I think it’s really good to get to know dentists, and hopefully, you will get to know a number of dentists in your process of applying to dental school.

I think their personalities in general are a little different from the personalities of physicians. Again, these are stereotypes, but I think it’s an interesting thing to think about.

One rumor that I think is not true, but I’ve heard countless times, is that dentists have a high suicide rate. When I actually looked at the data, it’s not true. Don’t worry about that. It’s not going to make you suicidal to be a dentist. 

However, being a dentist can be hard on your body because your body has to assume some unnatural positions to lean over a patient, and also the drill gives off very high-frequency sound. Those of you who studied Physics know the higher the frequency, the higher the energy in the waves that are being carried. The high-frequency sound, even though it doesn’t sound that loud, actually has a lot of decibels. You can really hurt your hearing as a dentist. Those are some of the occupational hazards of being a dentist.

Applying to dental school?

For help preparing for your interview or with any part of the dental school application process, you are welcome to contact me and my colleagues at Accepted. I have helped many students get accepted into dental schools over the years. It would be an honor to assist you.  

Related Resources:

• Application Trends to Watch in 2021, and a Look Back at 2020 , a podcast Episode 400
• How to Get into Dental School , podcast Episode 464    
• Why Should I Spend Money on an Accepted Admissions Consultant?
• Dental School Personal Statement [Sample Essay]

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17 Easiest Dental Schools to Get Into – 2024

August 5, 2024

Easiest Dental Schools to Get Into – Wouldn’t it be great if getting into dental school were as easy as brushing your teeth? Unfortunately, earning your spot in a dental program will never truly be that easy. Even before applying, there are required undergraduate courses, letters of recommendation , job shadowing, GPA, and standardized tests to consider. Ultimately, what can make the process of applying to dental school less frustrating is applying to programs where you have a better chance of acceptance. To clarify, this means that what makes the application process “easier” is largely relative. For some prospective students, the easiest dental school to get into might still be a reach for others.

For example, one important requirement for dental school is passing the Dental Admissions Test (DAT). This test is graded on a scale from 1-30. Earning a score of 19 is typically considered to be an average competency on a national basis. So, if you’re applying for dental school, a 19 should be the minimum score to aim for.

To help you choose the easiest dental schools to get into based on your specific qualifications, we have compiled a list of 20 programs to help you sift through each of the requirements. We have separated the categories by the easiest dental schools to get into domestically and internationally.

This list is based on program average undergraduate GPA scores, required DAT scores, additional standardized test scores as needed, and other required technical standards.

For reference, some of the best dental schools generally require higher undergraduate GPA and DAT scores than the programs listed below. This is not to say that other dental programs have relaxed standards—they still require a high level of academic rigor–but they may be less selective in their admissions process.

Easiest Dental Schools to Get Into – Domestic

 1)  lincoln memorial university – harrogate, tennessee.

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.3
• Non-science GPA : 3.2
• DAT Score : 19+
• Required Undergraduate Courses : General Biology; Inorganic (General) Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Psychics; English.
• Acceptance Rate: 27%

As part of the admissions process, students must submit three letters of recommendation. They must also complete 60 observation/shadowing hours in a general dentist’s office. As well, the prospective candidate must complete an interview with the LMU-CDM Admissions committee.

Additionally, students can apply to this program as high school seniors through a Direct Freshman Entry program. In this pathway, students can complete both their Bachelor of Science and DMD degree in eight years.

If applying for this route, students will need to meet the following qualifications:

• ACT score of 25+
• SAT score of 1250
• Cumulative GPA of 3.7+
• Complete an interview
• Complete a 1,000-word essay to answer: How have you arrived at this career goal?
• Submit two letters of reference

** As a general note, most required STEM-based undergraduate courses require 6-8 semester hours of each subject. English typically requires 6 semester hours. However, it’s always a good idea to double check these course requirements for each program.

2)  University of Utah – Salt Lake City, Utah

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.0
• DAT Score : Minimum of 17 in every section
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Anatomy; Biochemistry; Physiology; Microbiology; Biology; Chemistry, general; Chemistry, organic; English; Psychics; Microbiology lab (1 semester hour)
• Acceptance Rate: 25%

Before applying, students must complete at least 80 hours of job shadowing. It is recommended that students shadow a minimum of four different dentists. Additionally, students must complete three letters of recommendation. Two letters must come from science instructors. The final letter may come from a college/university committee, a non-science instructor, dental professional, supervisor or employer, or clergy member.

Easiest Dental Schools to Get Into (Continued)

3) oregon health & science university – portland, oregon.

• DAT Score : Average of 21
• Required Undergraduate Courses: General biology (with labs); general chemistry (with labs); Organic chemistry (with labs); Psychics (with labs); Biochemistry (lab not required but highly recommended); English
• Acceptance Rate: 10% (in-state); 46% (out-of-state)

Students will be required to submit two letters of recommendation from basic science faculty and one letter of recommendation from a dental professional.

A minimum of three years (90 semester credit hours) must be completed at the time of application from an accredited US or Canadian university. Prior to application, students must also have completed a minimum of 50 clinical observation hours in a dental setting. Of the 50 hours, 25 hours must be in a general practice setting.

4) East Carolina University – Greenville, North Carolina

• Undergraduate GPA : Average 3.67
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Biological Sciences; General/Inorganic Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; General Psychics; English; Mathematics
• Acceptance Rate: ~25%

This is one of the easiest dental schools to get because only residents of North Carolina can apply for this program. While the applicant pool is still competitive, it might not be as large.

A person must physically be in the state of North Carolina for 12 months before they can claim residency for tuition purposes. Additionally, a person must intend to make North Carolina their permanent home indefinitely and not only for the purpose of attending the university.

Applicants must also participate in a pre-matriculation course through Exam Master, to help fill in the gaps during their first year of dental school. This course should be completed prior to application.

Three letters of recommendation are required. Two must come from a pre-health committee (if applicable) or from a biology and chemistry professor. The final letter must be from a (non-relative) dentist who is either currently practicing in or has retired from North Carolina.

5) University of Detroit Mercy – Detroit, Michigan

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.0 minimum; GPA of 3.5+ to be competitive
• DAT Score : 20 or better to be considered competitive
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Inorganic/general chemistry (with lab); Organic chemistry (with lab); General biology (with lab); Physics (with lab); English; Biochemistry (4 semester hours if no lab available); Microbiology (4 semester hours if no lab available)
• Acceptance Rate: 23%

In this program, student will need to submit two letters of recommendation from science faculty within the disciplines of biology (non-environmental), chemistry, physics, or mathematics (including statistics). Strong preference is given for letters from biology and chemistry professors. The final and third letter of recommendation must come from a general dentist who can confirm the prospective student has spent a minimum of 60 hours shadowing.

Letters of recommendation must be completed with a date and an official letterhead. They must include both an original signature with a typewritten name beneath, including the recommender’s professional title. Because this program requires specific letter of recommendation guidelines , it is important to follow these steps diligently.

6) California Northstate University – Elk Grove, California

• BCP (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) GPA: 3.1
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Human anatomy; Biology (with lab); Inorganic/general chemistry; Organic chemistry (with lab); Physics; Biochemistry; English
• Acceptance Rate: N/A

As part of the admissions process, students must complete the CASPer test . This test is a situational judgement test which asks what you do in a specific situation to determine behavioral tendencies.

Applicants must also plan to submit three letters of recommendation. While these letters do not have to be from anyone specific, the applicant should choose people who can speak to their character and life experience. In general, it is recommended these letters come from former professors in STEM-based areas.

7) University of Mississippi – Jackson, Mississippi

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.5 average pre-dental
• DAT Score : 19 average
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Humanities or English; Inorganic chemistry (with lab); Organic chemistry (with lab); Physics (with lab); General biology or Zoology (with lab); Microbiology (with lab); Mathematics (College algebra and trigonometry or higher level); Biochemistry
• Acceptance Rate: 29%

For entrance into this program, strong preference will be given to students who have completed a baccalaureate degree from a US or Canadian fully accredited college or university. The School of Dentistry does not require any particular undergraduate major.

New and effective as of June 2024, students must complete a minimum of 70 clinical showing hours with at least 4 dental providers. Plus, prospective students must also complete 100 hours of community service, with at least 30 of these hours with vulnerable/disadvantaged populations.

Additionally, it is also important to note that preference will be given to residents of Mississippi.

8) University of New England – Biddeford, Maine

• Required Undergraduate Courses: English; Biology (with lab); General chemistry (with lab); Organic chemistry (with lab); Physics; Anatomy (with lab); Microbiology (lab); Biochemistry (no lab required); Additional 12 semester hours in Biology, Chemistry, Calculus, or Physics. Students must earn a C or better in each of these required courses. “C minus” is not acceptable.
• Acceptance Rate: 28%

Students must complete at least 30 hours of dental showing experience before applying to the program.  Additionally, while it is not required, it also strongly encouraged to demonstrate community service volunteer hours before applying.

As part of the application process, students must also submit two letters of recommendation. One letter must come from a science professor. The second letter is recommended to come from a practicing dentist. However, committee letters are accepted in place of the two required letters.

In addition, students will be asked to complete a personal statement.

9) University of Minnesota – Minneapolis, Minnesota

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.62 average; Minimum 2.5 required to apply
• BBCP (Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Physics) GPA : 3.54
• Science GPA : 3.56
• DAT Score : 20.36 overall average
• Required Undergraduate Courses : General biology or Zoology (with lab); General chemistry (with lab); Organic chemistry (only one lab required); Biochemistry; Physics (with lab); Mathematics (college algebra or higher level); English
• Acceptance Rate: 38%

To apply for this program, students must submit three letters of recommendation. Two of these letters must come from science or math professors in lecture or lab courses. A letter from a TA is also acceptable. The third letter must be from an employer or supervisor from a volunteer, work, or research position.

Students must complete a minimum of 50 hours of showing in general dentistry. Applicants are highly encouraged to shadow more than one dentist and in different practice settings. Required hours need to occur outside of a family’s dental practice.

Additionally, students will also be asked to submit a statement of purpose.

10) Howard University – Washington, DC

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.0+
• Science GPA : 2.8 minimum
• DAT Score: 18-Total Science; 20 Reading Comprehension; 18 Academic Average
• Required Undergraduate Courses: English Composition and Literature; Inorganic chemistry (with lab); Organic chemistry (with lab); Biochemistry; Human anatomy (with lab); Physics; Electives (22 semester hours)

All applicants must have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Online coursework is not acceptable for the required prerequisite coursework. Students must submit two letters of recommendation. One letter must be from a college professor, and the second letter must be from an employer.

In addition, students will be asked to answer the following questions as part of their personal statement:

• Why have you chosen dental hygiene as your professional career?
• Why do you want to attend Howard University for your education goal?
• Why should the Dental Hygiene Admissions Committee select you?

11) University of Louisville – Louisville, Kentucky

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.6 average
• BCP (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) GPA : 3.46 average
• DAT Score: 20 average
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Biology; General chemistry (with labs); Organic chemistry I and II (with labs); Physics; Biochemistry. In these required courses, students must earn a C minus or better.
• Acceptance Rate: N.A.

All applicants are required to complete the CASPer test as part of their evaluation process. In addition, three letters of recommendation are required. However, it is up to the student’s discretion to determine from whom these letters come from.

At the time of application, students must have completed a minimum of 40 hours of dental observation and shadowing in a general dentistry setting. It is recommended that applicants consider observing in a variety of general dentistry settings.

13) University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) – Kansas City, Missouri

• Science & Math GPA: 3.0 minimum; 3.4 and above preferred; 3.7 average for accepted students
• DAT Score: 16 minimum; 17 and above preferred; 20 average for accepted students
• Required Undergraduate Courses: General biology; Anatomy; Physiology; Biochemistry; Chemistry I & II; Organic Chemistry I &II; Physics I & II; English Composition I & II; One of the following courses: Cell biology; Histology; Microbiology; Molecular biology
• Acceptance Rate: 13%

At the time of application, students must have completed a minimum of 100 hours of ongoing dental shadowing/work experiences in 3+ practices. Additionally, students must have completed a minimum of 100 hours of ongoing community service in 3+ organizations.

It is important to note that the school’s first obligation is to qualified students who are residents of Missouri. However, students from Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Hawaii will also have preferred consideration.

14) Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health – Mesa, Arizona

• Undergraduate GPA : 2.75 minimum; 3.0 and above recommended
• Science GPA: 2.75 minimum; 3.0 and above recommended
• DAT Score: 19.5 average
• Required Undergraduate Courses : General biology (with lab); General chemistry (with lab); Organic chemistry (with lab); Human physiology; Biochemistry; Physics (algebra-based, with lab); English composition; Human anatomy

While it is preferred that students hold a bachelor’s degree, they may apply after completing a formal minimum of three years of college or university work from a regionally accredited school in the US.

Students will submit two letters of recommendation. One letter must be from a science faculty member OR predental committee member. The other letter must be from a dentist. Additionally, if students choose, they can submit a third letter from a community service supervisor.

15) Augusta University – Augusta, Georgia

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.67 average
• DAT Score: 21 average
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Biology (with lab); Chemistry (with lab); One year of advanced chemistry (Organic chemistry with lab or biochemistry with or without lab); Physics (with lab); English
• Acceptance Rate:

Prospective applicants have two options for submitting letters of recommendation.

Option one: The first letter should be a composite committee letter, written either by one person or a group of people on behalf of an institution or office. The second letter should come from a dentist whom the applicant has shadowed.

Option two: The first letter should come from a science faculty member, advisor, or department chair. The second letter should come from a dentist whom the applicant has shadowed. In this option, the applicant must also submit an additional two letters which can come from: an academic advocate, another dentist, or supervisor.

Easiest Dental Schools to Get Into – International

16) university of puerto rico – rio piedras, puerto rico.

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.46 average
• DAT Score: Must score 15 or higher on each section; 16 or higher on each section to be competitive
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Spanish; English; Biology or Zoology; Physics; General chemistry; Organic chemistry; Social Sciences and Conduct (Sociology, Psychology, Political Science, Economics, Anthropology or Ethics). All required courses must earn a minimum grade of C to be accepted.
• Acceptance Rate: 36%

Preference for this program will be given to applicants who are residents of Puerto Rico. Space for non-resident candidates is limited and only fully bilingual applicants will be considered. Fluency is considered as the ability to write, read, and speak the language.

17) Dalhousie University – Halifax, Nova Scotia

• Undergraduate GPA : 3.7 GPA (on 4.3 scale) to be competitive, or A- average
• DAT Score: Must score 15 on all components; average of all best scores of 19 or better
• Required Undergraduate Courses: Introductory biology (with lab); Introductory chemistry (with lab); Introductory physics (with lab); Organic chemistry (with lab); Introductory biochemistry; Introductory microbiology; Human physiology; Writing; Humanity and/or social science courses (12 credit hours)
• Acceptance Rate:  13%

If the applicant is invited for an interview, they will be required to provide letters of recommendation, or confidential evaluations. At least one reference should be from a university instructor. The other two references should be from non-relatives with whom the applicant has worked or volunteered with.

18) University of British Columbia – Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Undergraduate GPA : Minimum 2.8 for all college/university work
• DAT Score: 22.3 average
• Required Undergraduate Courses : English; Chemistry; Biology; Organic chemistry; Biochemistry
• Acceptance Rate: 15%

International applicants to this program must fulfill any Canadian immigration student vias requirements at the time of entry. Additionally, the program allows for up to three seats to be reserved each admissions cycle for Indigenous applicants. Requests for deferrals are not accepted.

Easiest Dental Schools to Get Into – In Review

No matter which program you choose, hard work and determination are necessary not only to gain admittance but also to succeed in dental school. From DMD to DDS programs , dental schools require disciplined and attentive students. But enrolling in the program shouldn’t feel like pulling teeth! If you enjoy the sciences and have a passion for helping people, then dentistry could be the perfect path for you.

You may also find the following blogs to be of interest:

• 25 Easiest Medical Schools to Get Into
• 25 Good Safety Schools
• Medical School Acceptance Rates 
• How to Become a Dental Hygienist 
• Best Colleges for Pre-Med Students 
• Dental School Admissions

Meghan Dairaghi

With a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing, Meghan has served as a writing tutor at the University of Missouri St. Louis and Maryville University. Additionally, Meghan has held editorial roles at River Styx and Boulevard, and was a prose reader at Farside Review . Most recently, her work has been featured in Belle Ombre , Flypaper Lit , and Mag 20/20 , among others, and she was nominated for the Mary Troy Prize in Fiction. 

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Dental Hygiene

Earn a degree in dental hygiene from a nationally recognized university. The Ohio State University has the only dental hygiene program in Ohio that is affiliated with a dental school.

The Ohio State University offers you all the benefits of an education at a Big Ten university with the professional learning environment at a highly regarded dental college. Our four-year program will prepare you for practice and licensure as a Registered Dental Hygienist and provide a background of current research to help you provide the best quality care to your patients. You will also engage in community service and outreach activities as part of a well-rounded education.

Entry Level

Degree completion, master's program.

Piper Sullivan

As one of the largest public dental colleges in the United States, Ohio State offers broad and unique opportunities for hygiene students. The highly regarded program provides a dynamic, evidence-based learning experience, led by renowned faculty in diverse environments. Specifically, the advantage and opportunity of working with pre-doctoral students and residents in one comprehensive, progressive dental college topped my list of reasons why Ohio State's dental hygiene program was a good fit for receiving my hygiene degree.

Entry Level Dental Hygiene Program

Office of admissions.

  614-292-3361

[email protected]

614-292-0813

Baccalaureate Degree Completion Program

Division of dental hygiene.

  614-292-2228

[email protected]

Master of Dental Hygiene Program

Schedule an appointment, current dhy and pre-dhy students.

Students should plan to meet with an academic advisor by scheduling appointments in advance. It is common for an academic advisor to be booked with appointments for a few weeks during certain times in the semester (i.e. registration).

To schedule an appointment:

• Visit OnCourse
• Call our office at 614-292-2228

Non-DHY students

Steps for current Ohio State students that are interested in declaring the DHY pre-major:

• Have a minimum 2.7 or higher cumulative OSU GPA
• Have earned 12 hours or more of graded OSU credit (excluding terms of enrollment through post-secondary enrollment programs such as Academy)
• To schedule an appointment: Visit OnCourse – Select Explore/Declare a major or call our office at 614-292-2228

Students interested in declaring the DHY pre-major it is recommend you complete a minimum of 4 hours observing a dental hygienist to ensure you are really interested in the profession.

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Indiana University School of Dentistry

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Get specialty dental care

Some dental problems require special care from an oral health professional with specialty training. The Indiana University School of Dentistry is home to several specialty care clinics where you can receive treatment from licensed dentists who are receiving specialty training in a specific area of dentistry.

Contact Patient Services

Call 317-274-7433 to reach Patient Services.

Email:   dsps@iu.edu

School of Dentistry specialty care clinics

Endodontics (root canals).

Endodontists focus on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and injuries of the dental pulp and related tissues inside the teeth. They frequently perform root canals.

Patients in the Graduate Endodontics Clinic are treated by licensed dentists who are receiving specialty training in endodontics.

Graduate Endodontics Clinic

• Phone: 317-274-5311
• Email:   dsendo@iu.edu

Operative dentistry (veneers)

Procedures such as veneers are performed in the Graduate Operative Clinic. Treatment is provided by licensed dentists who are receiving specialty training in these types of procedures.

Graduate Operative Clinic

• Phone: 317-274-5333
• Fax: 317-278-2818

Oral and maxillofacial surgery (extractions, dental implants, orthognathic (facial deformity) surgery, TMJ disorders)

Oral & maxillofacial surgeons perform surgical procedures of the mouth, jaws, and face. These include wisdom tooth removal, surgical extractions, biopsies of mouth lesions, dental implantology, orthognathic (facial deformity) surgery, repair of facial fractures, cleft lip and palate repair, facial cosmetic surgery, and the surgical management of temporomandibular (jaw joint) disorders.

The department also offers specialist care in Hospital and Special Care Dentistry, as well as Orofacial Pain and Dental Sleep Medicine. These services are provided by highly trained faculty specializing in these areas of expertise.

Predoctoral Oral Surgery Clinic

• Phone: 317-274-8300

Oral Surgery Resident Clinic

• Fax: 317-274-0965

Orthodontics (braces)

Orthodontists address issues related to the alignment of the jaw and teeth using methods such as braces and appliances.

Patients in the Orthodontics Clinic are treated by licensed dentists who are receiving specialty training in orthodontics.

Orthodontics Clinic

• Phone: 317-274-8573
• Fax: 317-278-1438
• Email:   dsoofg@iu.edu

Pediatric dentistry (dentistry for children)

Pediatric dentists work with infants, children, and adolescents. The school’s two pediatric dentistry clinics accept patients up to age 14.

Patients in the Predoctoral Pediatric Dentistry Clinic receive care from students who are studying to become dentists. Patients in the Postgraduate Pediatric Dentistry Clinic are treated by licensed dentists who are receiving specialty training in pediatric dentistry.

Predoctoral Pediatric Dentistry Clinic

• Phone: 317-274-8111

Postgraduate Pediatric Dentistry Clinic

• Phone: 317-944-3865

Periodontology (bone or gum disease)

Periodontists focus on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and injuries of the tissues that support the teeth, such as the gums.

Patients in the Graduate Periodontology Clinic are treated by licensed dentists who are receiving specialty training in periodontology.

Graduate Periodontology Clinic

• Phone: 317-274-7297
• Email:   ds-peradg@iu.edu

Prosthodontics (dentures, dental implants)

Prosthodontists treat problems related to missing teeth through the use of artificial replacements such as bridges, dentures, and dental implants.

Patients in the Graduate Prosthodontics Clinic are treated by licensed dentists who are receiving specialty training in prosthodontics.

Graduate Prosthodontic Clinic

• Phone: 317-278-1840

Making an appointment

To make an appointment at one of the school’s specialty care clinics, you must get a referral from a dentist who has treated you. This can be a dentist in private practice or a student dentist in one of the school’s Comprehensive Care Clinics .

Referrals from private practices

To get a referral to a School of Dentistry specialty care clinic from a dentist in private practice, have your dentist contact the appropriate clinic directly.

Referrals from School of Dentistry Comprehensive Care Clinics

If you are a current School of Dentistry patient, your student dentist can help you get a referral to a specialty care clinic.

If you’ve never been a patient at the School of Dentistry, you must undergo an initial screening exam at the school before you can be referred to a specialty care clinic.

Read our policies

Notice of privacy practices.

Read the School of Dentistry’s Notice of Privacy Practices.

Read about patient rights under HIPAA, a federal law that protects the privacy and security of health information.

Notice of Nondiscrimination

Read the School of Dentistry’s Notice of Nondiscrimination.

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School of dentistry students lead participation in 2024 national agd meeting.

Last month, eight UW School of Dentistry students traveled to Minneapolis, MN to participate in the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) national meeting and e-Poster competitions. The group received honorary recognition from the national AGD for having the most attending participants and presenters in the country.

Along with top-end involvement, the students took home multiple first place finishes. Fourth-year student Delbert Oxborrow won first place in Systematic Literature Review and Dr. Amr Abouzeid, a recent prosthodontics residency graduate, took first in Clinical Innovation Case Studies. Oxborrow’s win marks the second consecutive year at UW student won in the Systematic Literature Review category, following in the footsteps of Tyler Youn, another current D4.

“The UW Student Chapter of the Washington AGD is a great pillar of education, leadership, social connections and motivation for research in the hectic life of a dental student,” said Dr. James Newman, the UWSOD AGD Chapter Director, who accompanied the students on the trip. “Each quarter we provide high quality continuing education on relevant topics such as TMD diagnosis and treatment, cosmetic dentistry possibilities, 3-D printing and digital scanning.”

Some students who attended were winners of the annual William Howard Competition, hosted by the Washington AGD, including Youn and fellow fourth-year students Teddy Dong, and Jin Jung. Other students, such as Justin Lee, Jo Song, and Owen Tam, participated for the first time. First-year student Zhiyuan Yang also joined the older students on the trip to present his research project for the first time at the AGD.

Because of the unique challenges and rigorous commitment of dental school, it can be difficult for students to find time to participate in research projects, particularly at the national level. That’s why support from School of Dentistry faculty like Dr. Newman, along with other notable involved individuals Drs. John Yae, Daniel Chan, Alireza Sadr, and Martin Anderson, are crucial to students’ success.

“We hope more UWSOD students are inspired to expand their interests, build strong bonds with faculty mentors, and shape their careers according to their dreams,” said the students in a takeaway message from the conference they put together to share with their peers. “To achieve these exceptional goals, the UWSOD, AGD Chapter, and WA AGD provide outstanding resources for any UW dental student willing to work hard and excel. We want you to remember that opportunities are abundant, but it’s up to you to grab them and get ready to shine!”

The students would also like to thank Washington AGD’s Dr. Tim Hess and CEO Valerie Bartoli for their support.

“The department of restorative dentistry is supportive of enhancing the students’ experience in the dental profession through organized dentistry and research activities,” said Dr. Chan, former Chair of the UW Department of Restorative Dentistry. “I believe that this is the best way to prepare students to be lifelong inquirers and learners.”

To sign up for the Washington Academy of General Dentistry, or to learn more about the organization, visit their website here .

Embracing Challenges, Celebrating Successes: Annual GSDM Professional Ceremony Welcomes DMD 28 and DMD AS 26 Classes

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Check out our Professional Ceremony 2024 album on Flickr to see more photos .

The temperature in Boston on Friday, August 2, soared above 90 degrees, but that didn’t prevent the newest members of the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine community from celebrating the official start of their dental educational journey during this year’s Professional Ceremony.   

During the ceremony, students from the Doctor of Dental Medicine Class of 2028 and the Doctor of Dental Medicine Advanced Standing Class of 2026 recited the professional oath for the first time and received a Boston University pin to commemorate their entry into the school. The annual ceremony is the culminating event of the school’s predoctoral matriculation week, which introduces new students to GSDM and sets them up for a successful academic experience.   

In his opening remarks, GSDM Dean Cataldo Leone said the incoming classes are an “impressive” cohort with strong academic credentials and prior life experiences.   

Students in the DMD Class of 2028 come from six countries, including the United States, and from 24 states. Almost a third of the DMD Class of 2028 are first generation college students. Students in the DMD AS Class of 2025 come from 30 different countries, including the U.S. The average age at application for the DMD AS students was 34 years, which, Leone noted, signals the time they have already devoted to a dental career.   

“You have done very well in your educational careers to date and passed a rigorous admissions process, during which thousands of applications from highly qualified individuals are reviewed,” Leone said. “Only one out of 20 applicants actually make it to the seats you are now in. That means you are the most highly qualified among the highly qualified. Congratulations!”   

Dr. Calabrese, GSDM associate dean of students, said the incoming students set a record for being the most engaged group during GSDM’s Predoctoral Matriculation Week. He said that he hopes to see this early enthusiasm remain throughout the academic year.   

“I wish you all my heartfelt congratulations on your matriculation and the best of success in your journey through your dental education at the Goldman School of Dental Medicine,” Calabrese said.   

Dr. Karen Antman, Boston University Medical Campus provost and Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine dean, welcomed the students and their loved ones to Boston, the Boston University Medical Campus, and the study of dental medicine. She said GSDM is an integral institution of the Boston University Medical Campus, collaborating closely with the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and School of Public Health.   

“We have about 4,000 faculty and about 4,000 students in the schools of Dental Medicine, Medicine and Public Health.
That’s a one-to-one ratio, so there’s lots of people to help you along,” Antman said. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy. If it was easy, anybody could do it. Dental medicine is a very exact discipline, but you’ll have plenty of places to go if you need help and please ask for help if you do.”  

Dr. Christine Chiao, GSDM clinical assistant professor of pediatric dentistry, delivered this year’s keynote address. Chiao has been a member of the GSDM community since 2015—first as a student, then a postdoctoral resident, and currently as a faculty member. Chiao is a quintuple Terrier, holding an undergraduate degree Master of Public Health, a DMD, a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Dental Public Health, and a second CAGS in Pediatric Dentistry, all from Boston University.  

Chiao told the students that they are entering the field of dentistry at a time of “remarkable change” in the midst of a rapid evolution in healthcare delivery, technology, and artificial intelligence. These innovations will heavily influence the next generation of dentists, including those in the crowd, she said. Chiao urged the students to approach these changes with curiosity, adaptability, and tenacity.   

“As you start this new chapter, remember that you are joining a community of passionate and dedicated professionals who are here to support you,” Chiao said. “While you are here, embrace the challenges and celebrate the successes. Be thoughtful, be engaged, [and] make the most of every day here.”   

In Leone’s closing remarks, he said success in any professional school–including dental school–requires commitment, diligence, and hard work. He added that he and his fellow GSDM faculty have grand expectations of the incoming students and are eager to begin a promising academic year.   

“Whether you realize it or not, you have entered into a contractual relationship,” Leone said. “The faculty pledge to teach you all that they must, and you are pledging to learn all that you can, all in a collegial, respectful, and supportive environment. Let’s go on this incredible journey together. ”   

For photos from the event, see our Professional Ceremony 2024 Flickr album.    

Want to know more about Predoctoral Matriculation Week? Check out our “ Sights and Sounds: GSDM Predoctoral Matriculation Week 2024 ” photo essay and our “’Behind the Scenes’” of Predoctoral Matriculation Week” article with Erica Stocks, GSDM student affairs director.  

By  Rachel Grace Philipson

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Wisconsin Business World, ITU AbsorbTech: Award cash prizes in essay contest

MADISON  – Wisconsin Business World, an affiliate of WMC Foundation, announced the three winners of its essay contest on Monday. The program, sponsored by ITU AbsorbTech, encourages high school students to research and write about a Wisconsin company. 

Wisconsin Business World’s contests center around the theme, “Business is a Force for Good.” For the essay contest, students were prompted to describe a Wisconsin-based company, their product or service, and why they are a ‘Force for Good.’ Students described how the company of their choice supports their employees, families, and communities.

“Wisconsin companies do more than just provide a service or a product,” said Senior Director of Wisconsin Business World Michelle Grajkowski. “Businesses have the ability to impact their communities through career opportunity, philanthropy, and even economic influence. We want students to see the power of entrepreneurship and the free market.”

The winners of Wisconsin Business World’s Essay Contest:

Layna Wry  – 9th grade – McDonell Area Catholic School

Justin Hong – 11th grade – Brookfield East High School

Nicholas Ivanov – 11th grade – Nicolet High School

Winning students featured Olsen’s Ice Cream in Chippewa Falls, Sendik’s Food Markets in Milwaukee, and Snap-On in Kenosha. Many other impactful businesses, large and small, from across the state were featured by other contest applicants.

“Wisconsin businesses are the backbone of our state,” said ITU AbsorbTech President & CEO Jim Leef. “This essay contest pushes students to see the full scope of impact – from serving as great places of employment and providing great products and services to acting as community cornerstones and supporting great social causes. Layna, Justin and Nicholas researched and wrote about some great hometown companies, demonstrating their ability to see far beyond a finished product. Congratulations!”

Each of the winning essay writers was awarded $500. Wisconsin Business World will host a similar essay contest next spring.

Wisconsin Business World – a program of WMC Foundation – educates students on business, entrepreneurism and the free market through its statewide competitions, Summer Camps, one-day programs, online curriculum and classroom presentations. The Business World message is simple — Business is a Force for Good. For more information about Wisconsin Business World and its programs,  click here .

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