In the process of applying to schools, you should be very aware of how your GPA and DAT scores stack up to the rest of the competition. Everyone applying to dental school should read this. It is the ultimate guide to dental schools directly from the ADEA. Using this guide, I compared what my stats were to the average student and made an Excel file and ranked my top 20 schools based on stats alone.
I then cut schools based on factors such as desired location, mean science GPA and DAT of the previous class, school mission--and to be completely honest, how much money I had to spend on the application.
It is quite expensive to apply to dental school. To quote directly from ADEA.org,
"The ADEA AADSAS processing fee is $244 for the first dental school, and $90 for each additional school."
That's not all folks!
- Each school has their own supplemental fee attached that could be between $30 - $100+ per school.
- If you pass the initial assessment and receive an interview invitation (go you!), you'll need to pay for your own travel and lodging accommodations (along with suiting if you don't already have that in your wardrobe). Don't forget about the rental car/cab/uber fare, food, drinks and mad money for any sightseeing touristy stuff or emergency items that you forgot.
- If you get accepted into a school (go you!), you'll need to put down a deposit for a seat that could range between $500 - $5000 (I'm looking at you, NYU).
- Looks like you need a background check now, that'll be at least $75. All schools don't use the same background check company btw....
- Another possibility is getting accepted into a more than one school (go you!). Maybe one school let you know on Dec 1st and the other school let you know on March 1st. Check out the "traffic guidelines"--basically you only have a certain amount of days to make a final decision.
- Ahhhh you preferred that second school but already put a deposit down for the first school? That'll be another deposit please. No, you can't get your money back on that first school.
- Didn't get accepted this cycle and must reapply? Start over.
- Need to take the DAT again? That'll be another $430.
- None of the above is refundable by the way. For any reason. Don't even think about it! Well, you can think about it, but you won't be getting any money back.
I say all of the above to say, save your money.
