This post is for any and everyone who is seriously considering dental school. You’ve looked into it, read a little, watched some youtube videos and decided “Yes I wanna be all up in people’s mouths for the rest of my life.”
Well congrats on this revelation. I’m here to tell you it’s very possible and it’s a lot of work. You don’t need a 4.0 or a 30AA on your DAT, but you will need persistence and a kick ass application. Without further introduction, here are 7 steps you’ll wanna take when applying for dental school.
1. Find out which schools you want to apply to and take their pre-requisites
If you are in undergrad, take these classes asap or as late as humanly possible. The more you can get out of the way early the sooner you can relax buuuut if you have a particular class that plagues your mind (for me that was orgo lab and biochemistry) you can take those after or while you submit your application so those grades don’t get calculated into the science gpa that schools see when they look at your application.
2. Take a ton of other science and non-science classes you’re good at
Obviously make sure you get your major and minor classes done but make sure you’re getting the best possible grades you can.
Take at least one extra class a semester (until you submit your application) that you know will result in an A, these should be related to your major but tbh it doesn’t really matter. Just make sure you will get an A and bonus points if it’s online because we love low commitment things right?!
The point is to pad your gpa so when you make a C or two in your core sciences it doesn’t tank your overall gpa.
3. Join a few clubs, get volunteer hours, and spend as much time in a dental office as possible and maybe get into a pre-dental summer program
The point of this step is to make yourself more interesting. You can’t be boring and a dummy. Doing this also gives you a reason as to why your grades aren’t top notch. (You were obviously busy changing the world through your service and exploration.)
Get leadership roles in whatever you do
Build relationships with your professors, the dentist you shadow, and the supervisors of whatever clubs or organizations you choose to get involved in. These are going to be the people you pester for letters of recommendation, and you want to bother people who actually know and like you.
I know there are programs for freshmen and sophomores, but if you don’t get accepted to those (like me) apply for others before your senior year or the summer after you graduate. Most of them have mentors, a community service component, review classes for the sciences and, most importantly, free access to a DAT prep class. This leads me to the next step DAT preparation. BIG yikes.
4. Study up and take the DAT
Okay so for me this was the absolute worst few months of my entire life (lol little did I know actually being in dental school would also try and ruin my life.) However, there is no way around it and you have to do it. I’m not going to go into detail on this post but I will have a more detailed post about exactly what my DAT process looked like.
For now I will say to take a class, watch a ton of youtube videos, study whatever material you have access to, choose a test date, and DO NOT CHANGE that date. It’s expensive and allows you to procrastinate, which is not the goal right now.
5. Fill out your application!
FYI: If you have Texas residency, then you will go through TMDSAS to apply to TX schools, but then you also have to fill out the AADSAS one as well if you choose to apply out of state.
The application is long and tedious because you have to enter every class you’ve ever taken, submit official transcripts for every university you’ve ever attended, enter all of the stuff you did in step 3, aaaaand write your essays.
This is your application and it should paint the most outstanding glorious picture of you, which is why the essays are so important. If you know someone who is very gifted in the writing department bother them nonstop until they deem your essays perfect. This is exactly what I did (just ask my sister) and on both of my interviews my essays were brought up in the most complimentary way.
Now, I am NOT telling you to be untruthful on your application but I AM telling you no one is going to be picking through your activities and volunteer experiences fact checking everything. With this in mind remember that anything you write in this application can be brought up during your interview and you don’t want to look stupid trying to remember the untruths you wrote on there. Keep it simple.
There is a section of the app where they ask “Is there anything else you want the admissions committee to know about you?” So I don’t know exactly what’s supposed to go here but whatever you write in there shouldn’t be found ANYWHERE else in your application. They already read all that, so don’t be repetitive. I used this space to kind of explain dips in my grades or classes I’d withdrawn from. (I know people say Ws look really bad on your transcript, but I had two and repeated orgo lab and here I am.)
6. Letters of Recommendation
Get them done ASAP and I really truly mean this because there’s nothing worse than trying to get in contact with your recommender the day the application closes (this was me with not 1 but 2 of the letters.)
But yeah you should have no trouble figuring out who you will ask to write these letters because in step 3 you built those close relationships and it’s not awkward for you to ask for this small (but very important) favor. The lazy, but highly intelligent, recommenders may tell you to write your own letter, and this is a good thing. It allows you to explain your relationship with this person and how it has grown and evolved while highlighting what you want to stand out about your experience with them. You get to brag about yourself and then have the recommender co-sign this love letter about yourself.
Don’t forget to thank your recommenders. I wrote little thank you cards and included Starbucks gift cards. It’s not required to do this but it also wasn’t required for these people to take time out of their busy lives to help out a wannabe dentist (just saying).
7. Gear up for interview season!
Okay so you paid your million dollars in application and secondary fees and pressed submit. Congrats! Now we begin the waiting game hoping for interviews. Because most dental school applicants are sciencey majors, we have little to no experience when it comes to interviews. Obviously we were too busy learning the Krebs cycle and how mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
This is the time to turn to your business and communication major friends and bother them for mock interviews and interpersonal skill advice. They will probably make fun of you, but they’ll also be happy to help.
In the meantime you should focus on passing the rest of your prerequisite classes and save up as much money as possible because plane tickets and hotel rooms are not free. This might be an obsolete suggestion considering the times, but saving money is never a bad thing regardless.
In conclusion…
The moral of this story is that in order to apply for dental school you need an application that eloquently sequences every single accomplishment that supports why you will become an amazing dentist.
Build sincere relationships, because you will need a lot of help along the way.
Be thoughtful and thorough throughout your application because you NEED these people to like you.
Save up some money and airline points for the interview process, and if you don’t get any interviews the first time, reup with maybe a post bac program, a higher DAT score and more experience under your belt then apply the next cycle. You can do this and there’s absolutely no shame in not getting accepted the first time around.
If you still have questions send me a message! I’d love to help.
peace and blessings,
Joi the DS
2 responses to “How to Apply to Dental School”
Well said, “Joy bells”!!
Joi! I love your blog!! It’s so well written, organized & full of great info. I tried to comment on your time management post…I am supposed to be studying for boards rn, buuuuut am binge reading your posts instead hahaha. FYI my giant aloe vera plant has a TON of babies that I’ll be separating soon & you’re more than welcome to one (or five) if you want! =D