FAQ Group: AADSAS

Do Canadian students applying to dental school in the United States convert their GPA to OMSAS or the ADEA ADDSAS scales?

There are a few Universities in Canada which strictly award percentage grades with no letter grade or conversion scales on the official transcript. Fortunately, AADSAS defaults to using the OMSAS (Ontario Medical School Application Service) conversion scales for Canadian applicants IF there is NO conversion scale provided on your transcript.

OMSAS is a Canadian scale listing all major Universities in Canada and how their grading schemes convert to OMSAS GPA. Use this scale when entering your grades in the ADEA AADSAS application. Try contacting the University registrar to ask if they can attach the OMSAS tables and write a small letter indicating that they recognize the conversion. Likewise, try contacting AADSAS to see if they will write a note on your application reminding verifies to use the OMSAS scale. This should help minimize any conversion errors on AADSAS’s behalf.

Canadian students applying to dental school in the United States are strongly recommended to review their GPA following “verification” by AADSAS. You will have less than a week (sometimes only a day or two) from the time you receive your GPA verification notification to confirm AADSAS has done the proper conversion.

OMSAS scale for major Universities in Canada: http://www.ouac.on.ca/docs/omsas/c_omsas_b.pdf

I’m using interfolio, do I choose paper delivery or electronic delivery on AADSAS? Would I still need to provide the email address of my letter writers?

From my understanding you select paper but interfolio sends them electronically. This is due to the fact that interfolio needs the matching forms which are not generated when you select electronic since the instructions are sent to the letter writer directly. I believe you will still have to input the letter writers into AADSAS, then upload the matching forms to interfolio. Interfolio will then electronically deliver the letters to AADSAS. You can view the status of the letters via the “Evaluations” link on the right hand side. I would recommend not providing an email even though the letter is to be mailed physically. I am not sure if aadsas will attempt to send a matching form via email to the writer.

 

More information: http://help.interfolio.com/entries/24065501-ADEA-AADSAS-Applicant-FAQ

How Expensive is Applying to Dental School?

Applying to dental school can easily total over $5,000 dollars. Be sure to budget for these expenses. I recommend reviewing a full breakdown of expenses to expect during the application cycle. Use the page to estimate your expenses based on the number of schools you plan on applying for. Be sure to add a cushion for any unexpected situation.

Will AADSAS automatically get my DAT scores from last year?

AADSAS will automatically match your scores within the first few days of opening your application. Make sure the dentpin you give AADSAS matches the one you used to register for the DAT. AADSAS will distribute them to all the schools you apply to IF you have selected at least one AADSAS school when registering for your DAT.

Additionally, when you select dental schools on your DAT application that participate in a standardized application service (ADEA AADSAS or TMDSAS), the Department of Testing Services will report your official scores to the application services. If your DAT application has no dental schools selected, then you have not granted permission to the Department of Testing Services to release your official scores and your official scores will not be forwarded to the standardized application services.”

Source: http://www.ada.org/en/home-ada/education-careers/dental-admission-test


It is always recommended to check every box on the page when applying to take the DAT because it is free the first time around. Checking at least one school that participates in AADSAS meets the requirements and forwards your score to the centralized server. Sending score reports afterwards are $33 dollars per school. 

You will have to pay for a score report so that it appears on your AADSAS. The DAT score needs to be on the application when its sent out to dental schools. 


http://www.ada.org/en/education-careers/dental-admission-test/dat-score-report-request
If you did not already send your DAT scores to the school you end up attending, you MAY have to pay to have your DAT scores sent there once admitted. This can vary from school to school.

Is the AADSAS academic update mandatory?

Academic Update is not mandatory, but not completing it can appear suspicious to dental schools. Think about it if you were in their shoes.