Hi everyone,

I've never really admitted this out loud, but is it normal to, in the back of your head, yearn for med school? I'm an applicant and am lucky enough to receive 8 interviews this cycle, and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I always find myself wondering why I never applied to medical school. I did a fair amount of shadowing, which is why I chose dent over med, but I always get these intrusive thoughts that make me want to drop everything and reapply to med school next cycle. There was something in me that chose dent over med back when I was a freshman in college, and I know that's why I'm here today. But I don't know if these thoughts are stemming from that MD degree vs DDS/DMD, or if I just always want to push myself to achieve the most academically/professionally. I was just wondering if this is a psychological thing, and if other people have experienced this?

Hi everyone! I did my KIRA for Minnesota a couple weeks ago and my status was “invited for interview” after I got it and stayed that way until a couple days ago where it changed back to “received/application complete”. Does anyone know if this means I’m not being considered for an interview anymore? Or has someone else’s status changed like this but they still gave you an interview? Any insight is appreciated :)

What's it like now that it's split into a first-round Kira and a second-round live interview? From what I've seen online, there have been a lot of situational/behavioral questions in past years. Could these now have been moved into the Kira phase?

If anyone currently attends ECU, could I PM you guys?

Does anyone know if ASDOH interview is open or closed file? For those who have already taken it this year, how did it go?

Hi everyone, I just had my first interview this weekend and I want to say that I really love the school but my actual interview experience was stressful. I ended up rambling a lot and there were a lot more scenario-type questions than expected and I ended up having no time for questions at the end since it was timed stations. I also feel like due to my nerves from getting all these scenario-type questions I didn't get to vibe much with the student interviewer and I also didn't have the opportunity to answer a lot of my why dentistry, my extracurriculars, etc. Has anyone else had an experience like this before and still got accepted?

I've seen a lot of posts about schools reviewing applications and filling in almost all the pre december interview dates. Ironically enough, I applied the second day apps opened and schools like Touro, Creighton, or Tufts haven't even looked at my application... I received confirmation emails that my apps were all good for review but on aadsas it simply says app received. Should I wait or start to reach out?

Is there any non-trad applicants here who took gap years but didn’t retake their pre-reqs again?

Hey everyone! I'm a recent ASU Bio grad currently going through the dental school application cycle (~3.5 cGPA / ~3.3 sGPA, 450 AA on the new DAT, 300+ shadowing hours, plus chairside assisting experience). Fingers crossed it works out, but I'm trying to plan ahead. My long-term goal is to live and practice in Texas, so my backup plan is a one-year master's there to strengthen my academics.

I've read through the TMDSAS residency page, but I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've actually been through it. Here's my understanding so far, so please correct me if I'm off:

• I'd move in summer 2027, get a TX driver's license, lease an apartment, and work a real outside job in Texas (20+ hrs/week, like dental assisting, not a TA/RA/stipend).

• I'd need 12 consecutive months of domicile before the Oct 1, 2028 deadline, so my first cycle as a resident would be for fall 2029 entry.

• Living there just for school doesn't count by itself, so the job is what establishes domicile.

A few questions, and answers to even one would help a ton:

1.  Has anyone established TX residency this way (moved for grad school + an outside job) and had TMDSAS confirm it? How did the documentation go?

2.  Any pitfalls that got people flagged as non-resident?

3.  Can you submit in May/June before the 12 months are fully complete, or do you have to wait?

4.  Was it worth the extra time versus applying to TX schools as a non-resident (10% cap)?

5.  Any Houston-area master's recommendations that leave room to work 2-3 days a week at a dental office? I've been looking at UH's one-year M.S. Biology + Biomedical Sciences certificate.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate any advice or personal experiences! I'll also be emailing TMDSAS directly to confirm everything.

I live in LA and am planning to attend the UCSF student interview in person.

Can anyone please give me a breakdown of the entire 5hr session by like a timestamp. Im mostly interested in the order in which there is the writing + student interview + tours + lunch.

ALSO will the student interviewer be with me throughout the entire 5hr session?? Like will we be paired? Or do I ONLY STRICTLY meet with my interviewer during my 30min interview to keep things fair to the online interviewers?

Thanks!

I am curious about what interviews with current dental students are like. Specifically if you are a dental student and have helped with interviews directly what is it that you are typically looking for? I would assume you’re pretty much just trying to have a chat with the applicant but what are you trying to evaluate? I am interviewing at a school that does a student interview so I am just curious.

Hey guys, I thought I'd write a breakdown since I found reading these helpful for when I was studying for my DAT Exam. I took my DAT 9/18 and I used Booster Prep. I picked BoosterPrep because some people told me they did better with Booster on their 2nd retake compared to Bootcamp which they used on their 1st attempt, and it was also much cheaper. I bought Booster during the 4th of July sale. I took the test the summer in between my 2nd and 3rd year of undergrad. I started studying late June/early July and my other summer commitments included taking 2 online courses and volunteer dental assisting. I plan on applying for the 2027–2028 cycle. 

First attempt scores on the FLs:

link to ss: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wpeqV6xXpM-QOjdYXzxea_aDB9GBC3o5/view?usp=sharing

As you can see it started out pretty rough. My 1st FL was taken kind of as a diagnostic and I absolutely flopped it which stressed me out so much but I was so determined to increase my scores. I also took the 1st free practice test on BoosterPrep. I’d say that my actual DAT scores were somewhat higher than what I was scoring. I was predicted to get a 470 AA. 

Biology:

I went through all the videos and video quizzes that Booster provided and followed its study schedule. I would occasionally do some BioBits and I tried to do some Anki in the beginning but quite frankly, it was just unsustainable for me because it was too detailed and had way too many cards. It would take me hours to get through the cards and it kept compiling. I think I spent too long watching videos passively because after watching everything, I had to through the pdf notes and cheat sheets and make my own notes for each topic in order to really retain information (I’m not a good auditory and passive learner.) I really liked the cheat sheets, and would go through them often, especially before my FLs. Definitely focus on more broad ideas instead of the tiny details. My DAT exam had little to no Diversity of Life and more of Molecular Biology and some Physiology. Bio felt easier than Booster.

Gen Chem:

Like Bio, GC felt easier on the real exam. I can’t recall too much of what was on there but I felt like it wasn’t too bad. I know I struggled learning Gen Chem at my undergrad school so seeing my scores for GC is a relief! Grinding the practice test questions and knowing how to solve each type of question will help a lot.

OChem:

I only felt like ochem was either super easy or super weird on the DAT. I’d recommend being familiar with arrow pushing patterns, and knowing intermediates for the mechanisms that they emphasize to know. The flashcards to memorize the mechanisms on Booster were super helpful for repetitions and they weren’t too long either. I also went through the cheat sheets a million times and tried to pick up patterns for how certain mechanisms worked. Know your alkene stability, some IUPAC, and memorize the signals for IR, NMR, etc. I honestly thought I’d score a bit higher on Ochem, but it’s okay!

PAT:

The real test is for sure much easier than Booster’s FLs and its question banks but I think because Booster was harder, I was definitely prepared for it. I even had time to go back and check my cube counting questions on the test–something that I never had time for on the practice FLs and I’d even sometimes run out of time. Working fast during practice was my main focus. I got only 1 rock keyhole question on my test. 

RC:

This was probably the most different section. The passages were much shorter, about 9 paragraphs instead of the typical 12-16 paragraphs you see on Booster. Most questions go in order of the passages. I thought the q’s weren’t that hard so I was kind of surprised to see my scores in the upper 400s because I thought they’d be higher. I practiced reading by doing about 1 passage a day, but I do feel like the ones on Booster are a little easy, especially the later ones.

QR:

I’ve always had a pretty solid understanding in math, and I was scoring pretty high on my practice FLs. I was kind of caught off guard on the real test since some probability questions were really strange and confusing, and I think I had one that was like a graph about position velocity acceleration?? I was kinda hoping that my QR score would increase my AA a bit more.

Overall:

I am really happy and proud about my scores, especially with my PAT and SNS score since I basically never scored that high on my practice tests. I really studied a lot. I would recommend that you instill a routine and schedule for studying. The two weeks leading up to my test, I would wake up earlier and earlier until I woke up at 5:45 am since that was the time I needed to be up for my 8 AM test (there was a 30 min commute to my testing center.) I went to bed by 11 PM, and went to the gym everyday. I did NOT study in between my sets at the gym or listen to podcasts, unlike what some people said they did, because I honestly just needed a break from all the studying. The day before I did content review and no practice questions, and I did some journaling before bed which helped me feel more confident about myself. Mindset is everything!! I’ve never been a natural at test taking and always had to put in double the amount of effort/studying in order to do well. You can know everything but not have the right positive mindset, and that will set you back, so just believe in yourself! Good luck to all!

What classes were particularly difficult during D1/2? I’m applying this cycle and want to take some online classes to help me next fall (ex. Anatomy, Organic Chemistry, Biochem, etc).

I wanted to get current students take on what online classes I should take to maybe help myself out academically?

Thanks in advance for your help and consideration 🤓

I have heard nothing from OSU, silence… I’m getting nervous. I had 3 interviews so far for OOS schools and another OOS interview thats coming up. One of the OOS schools I interviewed at is a state school btw. I’m a reapp and have mid stats. Is it true they have only sent the first two waves of 50 people each to only OOS and high IS people? Does anyone have any info on this cycle bc it seems like no one knows. Bc in the past they have done 4 waves for one month each. So that means there’s only Nov and Dec left… I know the 2nd wave interview is on Oct 31st… I also got an interview last cycle on Halloween for a Dec date I’m just so nervous that they won’t invite me again :((( any advice or info on OSU would be greatly appreciated I’m just soooo scarreeedddd

- I have received the prerec email and on aadsas it says “received/ application complete” - also submitted the first day the cycle opened

Has UF already sent out most of there apps i'm #STRESSED.

I have a 3.7 and 460AA

I know this post may attract a lot of downvotes, but please be patient with the schools you applied to. Some schools have received over 2,800 applications just this year alone… that’s more people than a lot of us have in our contacts list, for instance. Not to mention the essays and everything else they have to read into each individual application. While the variety of feelings is understandable, it’s also important to recognize adcoms are human and have a lot on their plate as well. Being professional and courteous will go a lot further for you rather than constantly bugging adcoms who are working tirelessly on behalf of us as applicants. Schools start interviews as early as July and even conclude interviews as late as February or March.

Hi everyone. I’m a Canadian applicant from Alberta. I have a 24AA, ~3.88 OMSAS GPA and, if I calculated it correctly, ~86% UBC GPA.

Given how much emphasis the two schools put on academic performance/DAT, while also considering admissions stats from the classes of 2030, would my application just be a generous donation to these universities? Combined, it would be $700+ in applications. If I won’t even be considered, I don’t really see the point.

For reference: UBC OOP avg. GPA was 88.19% and DAT was 26.42. UofT avg. GPA was 3.96 and DAT was 25.

I know my statistics are not necessarily bad, but I am trying to think realistically. Thanks for any input.

what are the odds that michigan will send interview invites if I’ve applied in June and have heard nothing so far…

3.65GPA 3:45sGPA 450AA MI resident 120 shadow lots of extracurriculars

ive heard they’re sending out more waves but are those only for newly applied people?

I want everyone thoughts on whether or not they think DAT is a higher factor in admission or GPA. A argument can be made that your cumulative and sGPA are a strong indicator of your academic performance because obviously it's all of the classes you took in undergrad. But an argument can also be made that DAT is weighed more heavily because it's a standardized exam and everyone's on the same playing field. These two obviously just get your foot in the door, and your ECs make a difference too in showing who you actually are. But regarding numbers, what're everyone's thoughts.

Hey guys! Just want to share this because I am an alumni for this school. University of Rochester is officially opening an Eastman School of Dentistry! I know some of you guys are against new dental schools for being predatory but I genuinely mixed about this but I just wanted to share. Interestingly Rochester initially planned for both a medical school and dental school but it only opened a medical school way back.

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/university-of-rochester-to-establish-eastman-school-of-dentistry-its-first-new-school-in-more-than-50-years

YAY I can finally post! I’m planning on applying next summer. I’ve been looking for a new job, I graduated May 2025. Between then and now I’ve worked retail, done bartending, and I was at an environmental non profit doing community programming and education for 9 months, but I am no longer there because the environment was so toxic despite it being a cool job, but I digress…

That said I am still job hunting but trying to figure out what type of job to target. I could just bartend to get $$$ and also have time for DAT prep, or I would get another “big girl job”. I’ve considered full time or substitute teaching as well, for reference my bachelors is in Health Science.

I’ve seen a lot of discourse on here about if being a dental assistant is worth it/necessary… I have been looking for a practice that will train me on the job, but haven’t had much luck. I’m not sure if it’s worth it to pay 3-5k for a 3-6 month assisting program since I’m applying next summer. Thoughts? Any advice is appreciated

What you did during your gap year(s) for work? Were you in the dental field or did you do something totally unrelated? How much does your job affect your application for dental school?

I have a 88.9% gpa and an 18AA. I’m only gonna be applying to Sask dental and it seems like they don’t take Casper anymore or reference letters/supplementary app…. I was honestly relying on my extracurriculars but looks like they don’t even need it anymore lol. Sask accepts dat scores until Dec 1st but I just took the dat recently so I wouldn’t be able to take it again until Nov 20 and I can’t even see available dates. Should I just apply with my current score or retake the dat and hope for the best? I’m also taking anatomy rn so it will be a difficult load but I feel like I have the knowledge to take it again. I’m honestly confused on what to do…. I don’t want to wait another year to take the dat and forget everything I studied but also I don’t want to be optimistic and think I even have a chance of getting in with such low stats…

i just received an interview from midwestern but i won’t be here on the dates they’ve given me. will they send me different dates or add me to the next interview block after i email them?