Valuable Advice to Applicants

The following advice is very important and cannot be overemphasized. Where possible and appropriate, it is highly recommended that you follow the recommendations given.

Apply Early

Many dental schools, including VCU, have a rolling admissions acceptance policy that works to the advantage of the earlier candidates. VCU is one of those dental schools where earlier receipt of the application by the Admissions Office increases the chance for an interview and an earlier evaluation by the Admissions Committee.

Apply to AADSAS Prior to Taking DAT's

The belief that a candidate can not apply to AADSAS prior to taking the DAT is a common misconception. The AADSAS application has a section where it requests the candidate’s DAT scores. Consequently, candidates often think this section must be filled out in order to complete the application successfully. This is not the case; the candidate should just leave this section blank if they have not yet taken the examination.

As a convenience to the applicant, we allow a testing center copy of the DAT scores to be faxed to our office, however official scores need to be forwarded. This saves considerable time for us in evaluating your application.

Our fax number is (804) 828-5288. Once all required materials are submitted we will evaluate the application file.

Retaking the DAT and Taking a DAT Prep Course are Both Fine

Retaking the DAT does not penalize candidates. Remember that the scores the candidate receives are the results of how the candidate performed on that given day. Many candidates often take their DAT a second and occasionally a third time. VCU uses the one single exam with highest set of scores in their evaluation of the candidate. Please note that previous scores are not eliminated from your file. There is now a limit of three (3) DAT exams and the time interval between retaking the exams is 90 days.

Letters of Recommendations

VCU will accept a minimum of three letters of evaluation, two from science professors, plus one from a dental practitioner who knows the candidates' professional abilities through direct observation via shadowing or volunteer work. AADSAS will process the four (4) letters of recommendations and committee letters and send copies of them in your application folder to all the schools to which you apply.

VCU will accept more than 4 letters. Additional letters should be sent directly to our office by the person writing the recommendation. If an evaluation/recommendation form is needed, we recommend using the VCU School of Dentistry form, though the use of this form is optional.

The pre-health office of each undergraduate college or university has its own distinct method of handling letters of recommendations. One method is to have a pre-health advisory committee that interviews the candidate for dental school and then writes a letter from the committee. This committee letter often is accompanied by individual letters from faculty who taught the candidate, or from dentists who can attest to their dental knowledge and experience.

A second method is to give the responsibility of requesting and collecting individual letters of recommendations to the candidate. A third and relatively new method that some institutions now are using is to employ the services of a private company that receives the letters, evaluates and packages the information received, and then sends them on to their destination. All stated methods above are accepted by VCU.