DECEMBER
Go to
http://www.adea.org/AADSAS/default.htm and get yourself a username. Take a look around and see what you're going to need to complete the application. This will include information on your high school, your biography, your family, your grades (transcripts), the hours and locations where you shadowed a dentist, any other volunteer hours, research experience, awards/scholarships, etc.
JANUARY
Consider who you would like to write your letters of recommendation. Begin to review chemistry, organic, biology, trigonometry, statistics, etc. and get some DAT study materials for the PAT and reading sections.
FEBRUARY
Continue to study for DAT
MARCH
Continue to study for DAT
APRIL
Early in April go to the people that you would like to write you a letter and ask them if they would be willing.
Here are some tips to help them write you a good letter.
Start writing a personal statement. It can be up to
4500 characters,
including spaces Use a program like Microsoft word that has the character count feature.
MAY
Early in April go back to the people that you would like to write you a letter and let them know that you will get them the letter of recommendation matching forms in the middle of the month. Without being too pushy, let them know the importance of getting the letters in soon after you give them the matching forms
On May 10-12ish, go get an unofficial copy of your transcript. You will need this to copy your grades over to the AADSAS console.
On approx. May 16th, begin the AADSAS application. It will take a few hours to complete, if you don't have any questions or find that it asks something you do not have the answer for.
(I remember it asking what rank i was in high school. I had to go to my HS and find out because I didn't know. I believe they have since removed this question from the application)
Print the letter of recommendation matching forms. Give them to your letter writers ASAP. Consider
mailing the letters directly to the school as wel as AADSAS.
Print the transcript matching form(s) and take to each university you attended. They must be official trascripts, so that means they will most likely need to be mailed directly from the university to the schools. The fee for this is usually not much, ten dollars or so.
Consider giving the university express postage to mail the transcripts.
Once everything is complete on your application,
PAY AND SUBMIT ...then wait.
You could take your DAT at this time, though it's probably better to have taken it before you apply through AADSAS.
JUNE
Don't wait much longer if you have not taken the DAT. You're not likely to get an interview without the scores being in for the schools to look over, and first interview invites are coming soon.
AUGUST
The first interviews begin, depending on the school.
DECEMBER
1st offers for admission go out. Don't worry if you don't get in on the first round. The schools will continue to interview students for a couple of months. Typically classes are filled by the end of March or April, however there are always cases where they have last minute seats to fill.
