Application Support

The PMHSC Advisors are here to help!

Submitting a professional school application can be a daunting task. The advisors in the PMHSC are here to guide students through both the preparation and application process.  

Many of the dental schools in the United States and Canada use a centralized application called the American Dental Education Association's Associated American Dental School Applied Service.  It is more commonly referred to as AADSAS.  ADEA announces important application dates in the spring each year.  Dates include: 

  • The date the application opens (typically in mid-May) 
  • The first date an applicant can submit their application (typically the first week of June) 
  • Academic Update Periods (typically at the end of the summer and fall semesters) 
  • Cycle acceptance notification date (December each year) 
  • Close date (February each year) 

The AADSAS application will collect a lot of information from applicants.  That information is, in turn, shared with the dental schools an applicant indicates they would like to apply to.  The information collected is divided into four sections.  

  1. Personal Information 

  • Applicants are asked to include their demographics and their families; applicants are also asked about the experiences they've had, allowing them to work on their manual dexterity 

  1. Academic Information 

  • Collects coursework and accompanying grades and includes a place where an applicant can indicate their unofficial DAT score; it can take between 2-4 weeks for official DAT scores to be sent to dental programs 

  1. Supporting Information 

  • Collects information about an applicant's experiences outside of the classroom, includes a place for applicants to indicate their evaluators' names and provide a personal statement 

  1. Program Information 

  • This is where the programs an applicant plans to apply to are added; each program has the ability to customize the information they collect in this portion of the application such as prerequisite coursework or additional essay questions  

Application Support Resources 

Each year, the PMHSC offers an application overview workshop around the time the AADSAS application opens.  The workshop will cover general information about the application and offer tips for requesting transcripts and entering coursework.  Students who plan to apply to dental school are encouraged to attend this workshop.  Workshop dates and times are listed on the Workshop page of the PMHSC website. 

ADEA also provides application instructions through their Applicant Help Center.  This online, clickable database is divided into sections and is easy to navigate.  The PMHSC advisors recommend bookmarking this website for quick reference during the application process.