DMD Admissions:
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do you give tours of UFCD?
- Are there enough patients in Gainesville for the dental students to become competent beginning dentists?
- Do dental students have to find their own patients to treat?
- Can dental students treat patients they "find on their own?"
- What DAT scores and GPA's are the Admissions Committee looking for?
- When should I apply to dental school?
- When should I take the Dental Admissions Test (DAT)?
- Why doesn't UF have my DAT scores yet?
- When did the AADSAS application deadline change from January 1 to December 1?
- What does the December 1 deadline mean?
- When will I hear from UF regarding my application?
- I only want to apply to the University of Florida College of Dentistry. Do I have to apply through AADSAS?
- How many students do you accept in your DMD class?
- What kind of letters of recommendation should I send?
- Should I wait to send my application to AADSAS until I have the DAT, my transcripts and all of my letters?
- I cannot complete all of the required prerequisites before I enroll in dental school. Can you make an exception for me?
- Do you accept transfer students in the DMD program?
- What information does a transfer student need to send to the college?
- I read that UF dental students must lease their dental instruments from the college. I want to purchase my instruments instead. Can I do that?
- If I have a dental hygiene degree do I still have to take all of the prerequisites?
Do you
give tours of UFCD?
Tours of the school are offered
as part of our Annual Pre-dental Forum. For  more information about our Pre-dental Forum, click HERE.
A tour of the dental school
is also a regular part of our admissions process. Every student invited
for an interview is escorted on a tour of our facilities as part of our
interview day activities. Regretfully, we cannot offer individual tours
of the college at other times. The University of Florida, http://virtualtour.ufl.edu/,
has a virtual tour of the main campus at their web site, in addition to
links to the Gainesville area. Back to top.
Yes. Gainesville is not a major
metropolitan area and it may seem that there would be more of an issue
identifying dental student patients than in a large city. The facts are
that the University of Florida Health Science Center is a major referral
center for health care treatment in this region and attracts a large patient
base from both Gainesville and surrounding counties. The College of Dentistry
continues to have waiting lists of patients interested in becoming dental
student patients. We have more patients who would like to be treated than
our dental students can possibly treat. Back to top.
No, dental students do not have
to find their own patients. UFCD faculty screen potential patients, accepting
patients appropriate for student treatment only after a clinical examination
and interview. Dental students are assigned patients  appropriate
to their level of experience. In other words, patients with simple dental
needs are assigned to beginning clinical students and patients with more
complex needs are assigned to upper level students. Patients are also assigned
to students based on the patients the student already has in their family
of patients. On average, a Junior level student will have about 15 patients
assigned to her/him for dental care and a Senior student will have about
25 patients assigned. Back to top.
Dental students are permitted
to treat patients they have self-identified, providing the patient has
dental needs appropriate to the student's level of experience and that
the patient would be accepted into the student program using our patient
screening guidelines. Basically, students are given dental patients by
the school but are not prohibited from treating patients they identify,
so long as the patient has appropriate dental needs. Back to top.
High GPA's and DAT scores are
not a guarantee of admission. While high scores will not hurt your application,
grade point averages and test scores are only part of the characteristics
the Admissions Committee is looking for.
Click Here
for MORE information about the Fall 2005 entering class. The
class entering Fall 2005 had an overall average GPA of 3.53, a science
GPA of 3.45, an average Academic Average score on the DAT of 19 and a
PAT average score of 18. Back to top.
Apply early in the application
cycle for your application to receive the fullest consideration. This means
that you should send your application to AADSAS in the summer a year
before you plan to enroll in dental school. Example, for the class
enrolling in Fall 2006, you should apply to AADSAS in the summer of 2005.
Waiting until the application deadline is a poor strategy and does not
strengthen your chances of being accepted. Back to top.
Take the DAT late in the spring
a
year before you plan to apply to dental school. For example,
take the DAT in late spring 2005 if you are applying for the class entering
Fall 2006. You must wait a minimum of 90 days to retake the exam
if you are not satisfied with your scores. Taking the DAT in late
spring will allow you to retake it and still have your new scores available
in late November when the Admissions Committee is making decisions about
the entering class.
Be sure you have completed
the courses that are covered on the DAT before taking it.
Back to top.
Applicants
must separately request that DAT scores be sent to schools. AADSAS does
not do this automatically. If you apply to UF through AADSAS, but do not
request to have the DAT send your scores to UF, then we will not receive
your official scores.
Back to top.
In 2004,
due to an overwhelming number of applications, it was decided to shorten
the AADSAS application deadline by 1 month. December 1 is the deadline for AADSAS applications starting in 2005. Back to top.
December 1 is the last date that
applications can be received at AADSAS. We do not accept applications received
at AADSAS after December 1. Be advised you should not wait until December
1 to apply. You will be competing for far fewer spots in the entering class
and your chances of being accepted decrease accordingly. Remember,
AADSAS can take up to 12 weeks to process and disburse applications, so
timing is a big issue. Back to top.
December 1 is the earliest
that AADSAS schools can notify applicants about their status. While
we do not select all of our class in December, we do send out the bulk
of our acceptances during the month of December. We continue to interview
applicants in January and February, but they will be competing for a smaller
number of places in the class. Back to top.
Yes. We only accept applications
for our DMD program through AADSAS.
Back to top.
We enroll approximately 80 DMD
students each fall.
Back to top.
You will need either 3 individual
letters of recommendation or one composite letter from the pre professional
committee at your school. To strengthen your application, 2 of the letters
should be from college level science professors who know your work well.
The third letter can be either from another professor or from a dentist
or other person who knows you and your accomplishments. If you are invited
to send a Supplemental Formal Application, we will also send you a clinical
observation form and a research form for your use in documenting your activities.
Use these forms to provide us with additional information about your clinical
and research activities. Back to top.
Apply to AADSAS as early as possible.
Request letters and transcripts to be sent to AADSAS at the same time you
send in your application to AADSAS. Be sure to request the DAT to send
your scores to all of the schools you are applying to, including the University
of Florida. Back to top.
The prerequisites are required
because our dental school curriculum assumes you already have mastered
the prerequisite course material. If you have not taken the  prerequisite
courses, you will be at a disadvantage in the dental classes. You must
complete the prerequisite courses before you will be permitted to enroll.
Back to top.
We accept
transfer students in good standing, currently enrolled in an accredited
dental school in the upper 50% of their dental class on a case-by-case
basis
providing space is available in the appropriate class. Individuals must
be either a US citizen or a Permanent Resident Alien. Transfer candidates
must be of high moral and ethical character. Preference will be given to
residents of the state of Florida. Candidates must be prepared to take
the National Dental Board Examinations with the class in which they enter. Candidates transferring after the 4th semester must have successfully completed
Part I of the National Board Examination. Click
here for more information.
Back to top.
Applicants need to supply a UFCD
transfer application, UF formal application Part I- Registrar's office
copy, official DAT transcripts, official pre-dental college transcripts,
official transcripts from current College of Dentistry. Application packets
must be completed at least 45 days prior to the beginning of the entering
term. Qualified candidates will be invited to Gainesville, Florida for
an interview. Students applying for advanced clinical standing may
be required to take a supplemental written and practical examination. Pre-dental
college and DAT materials will be evaluated and expected to meet the minimum
standards of the entering class to which the transfer candidate is applying. Back to top.
No.  Since
the instrument leasing program began several years ago, both students and
the college have come to the realization that instrument purchasing is
not a significant advantage to the student, and this option will no longer
be available beginning Fall 2003. Back to top.
If I have a dental hygiene degree do I still have to take all of the prerequisites?
Yes. For the 2006 cycle, we had over 1300 applications for 80 spots in the class. With competition at an all time high, it is in your advantage to complete all of the required courses that other students have to take. It will benefit you not only in admissions, but in being successful in the dental school curriculum. Back to top.
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