Dental

Part of your pre-dental journey will be to cultivate knowledge of your future profession, develop proficiency in various skills, and demonstrate a compassionate approach to dental care. The application will ask you for experiences relevant to your application.  

These experiences can be broken down into the following categories:

Start here with our Experiences Resources Guide

FIU organizations that may provide resources or networking opportunities to find experience in the above topic areas:

• FIU Pre-Dental Society
• Smiles For All
• Alpha Epsilon Delta Honor Society
• American Dental Education Association
• American Dental Association

For an extensive list, please refer to Panther Connect.

Other resources:

• FIU Center for Student Engagement

All applicants must take the Dental Admissions Test (DAT) to be considered for admission.  

What is the DAT?

The Dental Admissions Test is administered to understand the skill levels of applicants seeking admission to dental school. Dental schools use information concerning candidates’ DAT performance to inform admissions decisions.

While all dental schools require applicants to participate in the DAT Program, DAT results are just one factor considered in evaluating applicant admission potential. Validity studies have shown that test scores in conjunction with academic performance are useful in predicting success in dental school. The relative importance of these predictors in the admission process is determined by each dental school. 

An important update regarding the DAT: Starting March 1, 2025, the American Dental Association (ADA) will implement a new scoring system for the DAT. The current 2-digit score reporting scale (1 to 30) will be replaced by a 3-digit reporting scale (200 to 600). To help you understand these updates, please review the DAT FAQs & New Score Reporting Scale.

More information can be found on the Dental Admission Test website. 

 When should you take the DAT to be considered competitive? 

Based on whether or not you want to take a growth year, the ideal timeline to take your DAT should be:

• Straight through: spring semester of junior year
• One-growth year: summer of junior to senior year
• Two growth years: summer after senior year
• Multiple growth years: no earlier than 2 years before application

Students are highly encouraged to have an DAT score report prior to starting the application process. Not having a score report will put students at a disadvantage when applying since their application will not be considered complete.

Test Preparation

• Coursesaver
• DAT-Prep.com
• Kaplan
• Princeton Review
• Scholarware

Pre-dental students are encouraged to apply to different types of dental schools. 

The Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS) administered by the American Dental Education Association (ADEA).

Application Resources

• ADEA Official Guide to Dental Schools
• AADSAS Fee Assistance Program

(Note that, if you’re applying to dental schools in Texas, you’ll need to submit those applications through the Texas Medical & Dental Schools Application Service (TMDSAS), which has its own timeline.)