When I asked about the application process everyone told me "apply early" however, no one ever gave me a specific date (my crack head pre-dent advisor even told me that applying in october was okay). Let me tell you what "applying early" means. It means:
Prior to application: job shadow at several dentists 3-5 for ~40 hours (this number varies by school, but you must have shadowing on your application to be comptetitive-shadowing shows admissions commitees that you are serious about dental school), extended volunteer experience with organizations. Possibly research. Complete pre-reqs for dental schools (most schools will allow you to apply without finishing all pre-reqs if you will be able to complete them prior to matriculation into dental school)
When you are ready to apply:
1. take the DAT in the spring or early summer. (you can take the DAT almost any day of the year but you must register with the ADA first which you will need to do a few weeks before your test day)
2. (May-June) Start working on AADSAS online application. (this is filling in EVERY class you have ever taken. Send letters of recomendation--usually 3 or so. transcripts, and extracurricular activities.
3. (June-early july) Finish and send aadsas.
4. Anticipate AADSAS sitting on your application for 4-8 weeks before they send it out to any schools.
5. Once the schools get your AADSAS application they will contact you and let you know if you need to send them: application fees, secondary applications, or interview. (I wish I could give you a timeline when you could expect to hear back from schools, but I think it varies widely. Some schools will start looking at applications early in the summer, while others may let applications pile up until august until sorting through them). In my case, I heard back from schools about 2 weeks after they RECEIVED my AADSAS. (so I submitted AADSAS 8/16, schools got AADSAS 10/6, I received secondaries and interviews from schools 10/20)
6. (Nov 1st) many schools have application deadline around this time, although some will accept applications until March.
7. (Dec 1st) I believe there is some general agreement between schools that they do not send out acceptances before this day.
This is not the authoritative application procedure. I'm sure people will add to it. And also take this as what it is worth coming from someone who hasn't been accepted anywhere yet.
Good luck! 👍
