How to Apply to Dental School
(AADSAS)
By Ian Marion, Jeffrey Lee
updated by Travis Wu and Kent Levan
General Tips
Keep good records of your dental
observations, awards, extracurriculars,
leadership, research, work experience,
DAT scores, Community service
 Go to the Career Resource Center and
ask for help developing your resume
 Extremely helpful when filling out your
app because all the info is in front of you
 APPLY EARLY: JUNE 3rd
 SUBMIT EARLY! (as close to June 3rd as
possible)

Where to begin…..?
First, go to www.adea.org
 Under the “For Students” section, click the
hyperlink called AADSAS to set up an AADSAS
account.
 After you setup your account, with your
username and password, you will be given an
AADSAS ID number.

◦ This is located at the upper right hand corner of your
homepage.
◦ Important to have this written down for
communicating with dental schools and ADEA
Home page
Every time you log onto your account, a
checklist will appear.
 Used to determine what areas of your account
are filled
 There are also other tabs such as: My Profile,
Print, Status, Instructions.

◦ These tabs will be extremely useful throughout the
application cycle
◦ In each section, there are instructions on how to fill
out that individual section
Colleges Attended
Enter every college institution attended
 For every college, a transcript matching form
must be printed, filled out, and submitted with
your transcript
 Different schools have different policies on how
to order transcripts
 This will be done multiple times throughout the
application cycle

◦ For summer and fall course work; any coursework
after submitting application
Coursework
In addition to transcripts you have to
enter your courses and grades into
AADSAS
 You need the course name, number, grade
and AADSAS equivalent. Special
classifications, such as honors, are also
included
 You have to include all coursework,
including summer sessions and AP scores
counted for college credit.

Coursework pt.2
You have to enter coursework by
sessions
 You add courses to each session
 Make sure all of the grades entered into
AADSAS match the grades on your
transcripts
 You should have an idea of the courses
you plan to take the following terms and
enter them into AADSAS (classified as
Planned/In Progress)

DAT Scores
If you have taken the DAT you just enter
the scores in
 If you have not taken the DAT you can
enter an approximate date
 When you take the test make sure to
send official score reports to schools that
you wish to apply to
 Apply for DAT here:
http://www.ada.org/dat.aspx

Background Information
This section should be filled out
completely to the best of your abilities
 Manual Dexterity (600 characters):

◦ Limited in describing how you use your hands
◦ Talk about something, don’t leave it blank
◦ i.e: building models, drawing, painting, video
games
Background Info (cont’d)

Remaining questions:
◦ Family connections to dentistry
◦ Educational Programs to prepare for dental school
 Preclinical Simulation Course, Kaplan DAT course
◦ Education issues: suspension, poor grades/academic
interference
◦ Previous applications to dental school? Interested in
other health professions? (Probably don’t say anything
unless you’ve done something concrete)
Awards, Honors, Scholarships

Enter college accomplishments over
other accomplishments
◦ Higher priority is given to these awards
◦ Mention as many things as possible, don’t be
shy
Dentistry Experience
Name of supervisor
 Position Title
 Brief Description of Activities/experience
 Total hours
 From Date A to Date B
 Anything that exposes you to dentistry

ECs/Volunteering

List activities in order of importance
◦ High school and/or college
◦ However, college is more relevant
◦ Know dates, total hours, average weekly
hours, position, organization
◦ Good place to show leadership experience/
community outreach
Work Experience
Start and End Dates
 Total Hours
 Brief Description of work
 Include Military Service

Research Experience
Who your researching with
 What you did?
 Hours
 Position Type
 Start and End Dates
 If you can, get a letter of recommendation
from your principal investigator.

Evaluators Pt. 1
Ask EARLY ! (That means all you 2+3’s out there:
GET IT DONE NOW!!!!!)
 Get to know your professors, treat them out to
coffee, talk to them about your goals and reasons
for being a dentist, etc.

◦ Imagine if you were writing your own evaluation; what
would you want to know to write a good one for
yourself
Can be done online or on paper
 For paper form, a matching form must be given to
the evaluator

Evaluators Pt. 2
Make sure the LOE is waived for all letters
 Think now about who you want to write it and
don’t just choose professors for classes that
you’ve done well in
 Make sure that each evaluator is actually writing
it when they said they would. They are human
and can sometimes be forgetful or swamped
with work.
 Allow AADSAS a couple weeks to process

Personal Essay Pt. 1
Brainstorm first
There is no one way to write the essay but
make it personalized and interesting
 Relate all past/present activities to how it will
help you become a great dentist
 Be concise (4500 character limit w/ spaces)
 Make sure to proofread it multiple times


Personal Essay Pt. 2
“Address why you desire to pursue a dental
education and how a dental degree contributes
to your personal and professional goals.”
 Get feedback from others who are good at
editing essays
 Try to get a rough draft finished early
(preferably before apps start) to give ample
time for all your editors to really pick it apart
and make it that much better
 Make sure to read and know everything about
your personal statement before your interviews

School Designations
Add schools that you want to consider
your application
 Apply to multiple schools

◦ Initial fee: $217
◦ Fee per school drops with each additional
school (+$68 for each additional school)
◦ Worth it to consider other schools outside of
California; the outside world is not that scary
◦ Be aware that almost all dental school will
require an additional application fee
“Status” Tab
AADSAS updates every time they receive
official documents (Transcripts, LOE
forms)
 Check this often to ensure that all of your
information is reaching AADSAS
 Once your application has been received
by schools they will update your status
here

Things to Remember

Most sections can not be changed after you
submit the application
◦ Apply early, but not before your application is as
complete as it can be
◦ If you completed all other sections but just need
to wait until you finish your DAT’s, submit the
application anyway and then update the
application later.
◦ Submitting early can put you on the school’s
radar earlier than submitting after every single
section is completely finished though they won’t
give you a yes or no until you do finish
everything
Things to Remember
◦ It takes about a week to fill out the
application(unless you have everything already
prepared ahead of time)
◦ It takes a few weeks for AADSAS to process
the application, so expect a delay
◦ AADSAS periodically reopens to allow you to
update coursework and send updated
transcripts, do this as soon as possible
Additional Resources
Student Doctor Network Pre-Dental
forums:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdis
play.php?f=17
 www.predents.com
 They can help you gauge your
competitiveness and answer questions
about schools

DAT and Suggested Study Material


Most often you are taking the DAT the same summer
you are applying (time management)
Format
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦

90minutes: 40 Bio questions, 30 Chem, 30 Ochem
60 minutes: PAT
Break 15 minutes
60 minutes: Reading Comp
45 Minutes: 40 Qualitative Analysis
Suggested study materials:
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
DAT Destroyer (Study 3-4 times, know the solutions cold)
DAT Achiever
Topscore DAT
Crack the DAT PAT
Kaplan?
Questions??
If you know people who have filled out
the application (like us), ask for help
 ianm87@gmail.com
 jeff.hy.lee@gmail.com
 travis-wu@hotmail.com
 k_levan@u.pacific.edu
