Creighton Dental School Interview: Format, Dates, Questions

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The Creighton University School of Dentistry interview is mandatory, by invitation only, and consists of two required parts, per Creighton's Dentistry Admissions Requirements page: a virtual one-on-one interview with an admissions committee member and a mandatory in-person presentation and tour at the School of Dentistry in Omaha. Fall interviews run from September to November, with a spring season in January and February if needed.

What the Creighton Dental School interview looks like

Creighton splits its Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) interview into two required activities. You must complete both to be considered for acceptance: a virtual one-on-one interview with a member of the Admissions Committee and a mandatory in-person presentation at the School of Dentistry in Omaha, Nebraska.

During the Omaha presentation, you hear from the Office of Student Affairs about the student support system, learn how the DDS curriculum educates students to become dentists, and take a guided tour of the School of Dentistry. Because Creighton does not schedule general dental school tours for the public, per its Graduate Visits page, this visit is when invited applicants see the clinics and facilities.

Check your invitation email or contact dentaladmissions@creighton.edu to confirm the length of the virtual conversation, whether your interviewer has read your ADEA AADSAS file, and which part you schedule first. Prepare as if your interviewer has read every line of your application so you can speak in detail about your shadowing, service, and background.

To rehearse a one-on-one committee interview out loud, Confetto, an AI mock interviewer for dental and healthcare program interviews, runs conversational mock sessions with follow-up questions on your own experiences. Start your free week.

Creighton School of Dentistry interview format (2026-27)

Component	What Creighton says
Who interviews	Mandatory for acceptance, by invitation only
Part 1: Virtual interview	Virtual one-on-one interview with one member of the Admissions Committee
Part 2: Omaha visit	Mandatory in-person presentation at the School of Dentistry: Office of Student Affairs, DDS curriculum overview, and school tour
Fall interview season	September to November
Spring interview season	January to February, with March notifications
Contact	dentaladmissions@creighton.edu or 402.280.2695

2026-27 dates, deadlines, and decision timeline

Creighton encourages applicants to submit through ADEA AADSAS as soon as the cycle opens. Processing usually takes 4 to 6 weeks once ADEA AADSAS receives your application, fee payment, and official transcripts.

Under ADEA Traffic Guidelines, dental schools notify applicants of provisional or final acceptance no earlier than Dec. 15 of the academic year prior to matriculation. Offers made between Dec. 15 and Jan. 31 carry a minimum 30-day response period, while offers on or after Feb. 1 carry a minimum 15-day response period. After March 1, dental schools report candidates holding positions to ADEA AADSAS, and applicants holding multiple seats get a minimum 15-day notice to affirm or withdraw.

Accepted students pay a non-refundable $500 enrollment reservation deposit, credited toward first-semester tuition, and must complete background investigations and drug screening analyses before matriculating. Admitted applicants applying for financial aid should submit the FAFSA using Creighton's Title IV code (002542) by February 1.

2026-27 application and interview timeline (Fall 2027 entry)

Date	Milestone
May 12, 2026	2026-27 ADEA AADSAS application opens
June 2, 2026	First day to submit 2026-27 ADEA AADSAS application
June	Creighton SOD supplemental applications are sent to verified ADEA AADSAS applicants
September to November	Fall interview season
November 15, 2026	Creighton SOD Dental Admission Test (DAT) deadline. Valid test window for Fall 2027 entry is June 1, 2023 to November 15, 2026
December 1	Creighton SOD ADEA AADSAS application deadline
December 15	Creighton SOD supplemental application and documents deadline. Also the earliest dental school acceptance notification date (Dec. 15 per ADEA Traffic Guidelines)
January to February	Spring interview season
February 1	Priority FAFSA deadline for admitted applicants using code 002542
March	Spring acceptance notifications. March 1 is also when ADEA AADSAS schools report applicants holding seats

Requirements, supplemental fee, and selection factors

Every verified ADEA AADSAS applicant to Creighton is invited to complete the supplemental application. All supplemental credentials, including a personal photograph and required letters of recommendation, must arrive by December 15. An incomplete application after this deadline will not be reviewed by the Admissions Committee. Note a fee difference across official pages: Creighton's Dentistry Admissions Requirements webpage lists a $100 application fee, while the 2026-2027 Creighton University Catalog lists a non-refundable $70 supplemental application fee.

Applicants must meet mandatory DAT minimums on the 3-digit scale: 370 in Academic Average (AA), 360 in Perceptual Ability (PAT), and 380 in Survey of Natural Sciences / Total Science (SNS). Creighton accepts the Canadian DAT and prioritizes your most recent DAT score. Enrolled students score well above the cutoffs: as of August 2026, Creighton's Class Profile reports mean DAT scores of 440 AA, 450 PAT, and 450 Total Science, alongside a 3.75 mean undergraduate GPA and 3.68 mean science GPA across 117 first-year DDS students (from 3,386 applications).

For the Fall 2025 entering class, Creighton reported 2,791 verified ADEA AADSAS applicants, 254 acceptances, and 118 matriculants, or about 9.1 acceptances per 100 verified applicants and 46.5 matriculants per 100 acceptances, by our calculation from Creighton's Class Profile. See our breakdown of Creighton University School of Dentistry acceptance rate and class stats for multi-year trends, or check our guide to dental school requirements.

Beyond GPA and DAT scores, the 2026-2027 Catalog and admissions page list the requirements and subjective factors that shape holistic review and your interview:

Dental shadowing: At least 65 hours of shadowing with a general dentist or specialists.
Service to others: A documented history of service to others.
Manual dexterity and perceptual ability: Activities that build hand skills, such as fine arts, woodworking, or knitting.
Letters of recommendation: One pre-health committee letter (strongly encouraged if available) or three individual letters: two from science instructors and one from a non-science instructor or mentor (employer, spiritual leader, or dentist).
Academic prerequisites: At least 64 semester hours (96 quarter hours) excluding physical education and military science, including 8 semester hours each (with lab) of General Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and General Physics, plus 6 semester hours of English. The admissions webpage also lists 3 semester hours of Biochemistry (no lab required) as a prerequisite, while the catalog lists biochemistry alongside anatomy, physiology, and histology as advanced courses completed by successful students.
International applicants: Applicants required to submit a Form I-20 must demonstrate English proficiency with a minimum TOEFL score of 90 or IELTS band score of 7, unless waived by completing an undergraduate or graduate degree at an accredited US or Canadian institution.
Personal background and community ties: Recommendations from Creighton community members (faculty, alumni, current students), residence in compact states, character and maturity, being a first-generation college student, overcoming economic or educational disadvantages, or speaking a language other than English at home.

Residency rules and the four state dental compacts

Creighton is a private university with no general Nebraska residency requirement. As of August 2026, the 117 first-year DDS students come from 30 states and four countries (the United States, Canada, India, and Mexico), led by Minnesota (16), Nebraska (13), Idaho (10), and South Dakota (9). If you are building your school list, read our guide on how many dental schools should I apply to.

Creighton maintains formal dental education compacts with four states: New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho. Residence in a compact state is a selection factor in the catalog, and residents accepted into their state's compact program receive partial tuition remission. Compact applicants use the same ADEA AADSAS and supplemental process as all other applicants:

New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming compact students: Complete all four years at Creighton in Omaha.
Idaho Dental Education Program (IDEP) students: May take their first year at Idaho State University in Pocatello (where course outlines, objectives, and laboratory projects are nearly identical to Creighton's) and spend the remaining three years at Creighton in Omaha. Confirmation deposits paid to Creighton by IDEP students are applied to first-year tuition at Idaho State University.

Mission fit: how to answer 'Why Creighton Dental?'

Tie your shadowing and service experiences to the specific courses, clinical hours, and outreach programs from Creighton's catalog, experiential learning pages, and news releases:

Whole-person care and Interprofessional Education (IPE): First-year students take Mindfulness and Wellbeing (CPD 119), which integrates the Jesuit charisms of 'care of the whole person' and 'men and women (people) for and with others.' They also take Compassion Science (CPD 129) and 4 years of Comprehensive Person-Centered Care starting with GDP 121. Every health sciences student completes IPE 500, three IPE Passport activities, and ethics courses in D2 and D3 (IPE 530, IPE 531, and IPE 532). For how Creighton frames these values across health sciences, see our Creighton University School of Medicine interview guide.
Heavy clinical volume and early digital dentistry: In the 238-credit DDS curriculum, Field/Clinic instruction runs 16 clock hours in D1, 16 in D2, 1,204 in D3, and 1,404 in D4 (out of 688, 800, 1,622, and 1,556 total clock hours per year). D2 students train in CAD/CAM restorations, CBCT, and hand-held radiology before the 'Investiture of the White Coat' ceremony. D3 students take Prosthetic Digital Design (PRS 305), covering 3D printing and milling workflows. In D3, students also manage their own family of patients across seven half-days per week with a 6-to-1 student-faculty ratio.
Omaha safety-net, rural, and global outreach: Creighton serves 4,300 Omaha-area pediatric patients annually and creates over 300 dentures for people experiencing homelessness. It also provides free screenings, sealants, and fluoride varnish to about 2,500 children across roughly 20 North Omaha schools through the Healthy Smiles Program. Every D4 student spends 2 weeks at a public health dental clinic across Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, or Missouri. Students can also join six annual Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC) teams treating 1,200+ patients in the Dominican Republic or travel to St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Rural Health Transformation Grant and After-Hours Clinic: In June 2026, Creighton received a $4.625 million Rural Health Transformation Grant ($925,000 a year over five years). The grant supports rural student rotations and its After-Hours emergency room diversion clinic. That clinic has treated more than 2,500 patients from 90 Nebraska counties over two years.

How to prepare for both parts of the Creighton interview

Use this six-step checklist in the two weeks before your virtual interview and mandatory Omaha presentation:

Audit your 65+ shadowing hours: Pick three patient encounters from your log involving treatment planning, anxious patients, or financial barriers, and review what the dentist said and did.
Choose one 'service to others' story: Pick a sustained volunteer commitment and focus on one person you helped and what it taught you about access to care.
Prepare a manual dexterity story: Be ready to explain how you built hand skills through fine arts, woodworking, knitting, instruments, or crafts, and how you handle detail-heavy mistakes.
Draft a two-part 'Why Creighton?' answer: Pair one clinical feature (1,204 D3 clinic hours, managing a family of patients seven half-days a week, or D2 CAD/CAM training) with one outreach program (Healthy Smiles, the After-Hours Clinic, or the two-week D4 Senior Service-Learning rotation).
Test your virtual setup: Check your camera, lighting, and microphone, and practice speaking in concise blocks so your interviewer has room for follow-ups.
Bring two questions to Omaha: Ask about specific catalog details during the presentation, such as D1 Community Dentistry Field Experience (CPD 110 and CPD 112) sites or how students work with patient navigators in the After-Hours Clinic.

Creighton Dental School interview questions to practice (written by our team)

Our team wrote these 10 practice questions around Creighton's selection criteria and DDS curriculum. For more general prompts, see our guide to dental school interview questions.

1. Motivation and fit: Why do you want to train at Creighton University School of Dentistry, and which specific part of our Omaha clinical or outreach program fits your goals?
2. Service to others: Our catalog lists a history of 'service to others' as a primary selection factor. Tell me about a service experience where you worked with people facing barriers you had not experienced yourself.
3. Shadowing reflection: Across your 65 or more hours of dental shadowing, describe one moment where a dentist had to change a treatment plan because of a patient's financial, medical, or personal situation.
4. Whole-person care: In your first year here, you will take courses in Mindfulness and Wellbeing (CPD 119) and Compassion Science (CPD 129). What does 'care of the whole person' look like when a patient comes in with severe dental pain after avoiding the dentist for five years?
5. Manual dexterity: Tell me about an activity outside the classroom, such as fine arts, woodworking, instruments, or crafts, where you ruined a piece of work you spent hours on. How did you respond?
6. Rural and safety-net access: Every fourth-year Creighton student spends two weeks at a public health clinic in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, or Missouri, and our After-Hours Clinic serves patients from 90 Nebraska counties. What do you think is the hardest barrier to overcome in rural or safety-net dental care?
7. Interprofessional teamwork: Creighton requires three Interprofessional Education Passport activities with students from other health professions. Tell me about a time you worked on a team where someone from a different background disagreed with your approach.
8. Dental ethics: In third year, you manage your own family of patients across seven half-days a week. If a patient asks for an elective esthetic procedure that you believe is not in their best long-term oral health interest, how would you handle the conversation?
9. Resilience and maturity: Tell me about an academic or personal setback you faced during college and what you changed afterward.
10. Compact and regional ties (for compact or out-of-state applicants): Where do you see yourself practicing five years after graduation, and how will a DDS from Creighton prepare you for that community?

Example answer: 'Why Creighton School of Dentistry?'

Here is one worked example in Creighton's one-on-one Admissions Committee interview format. The question and example answer were written by our team, and the applicant is invented. See the practice box for the full response, or rehearse your own answer out loud with Confetto. Start your free week.

Creighton Dental dental school practice question (written by us, not Creighton Dental)

Why did you choose to apply to Creighton University School of Dentistry, and how do our clinical and community programs fit the kind of dentist you want to become?

Example answer (written by us, invented applicant)

I applied to Creighton because I want to graduate ready to practice full-scope general dentistry in a community clinic, and Creighton backs its Jesuit mission of service with heavy clinical volume. For the past two years, I volunteered as a clinic assistant at a rural free health fair in my home state, where I watched patients drive two hours just to get an extraction that could have been prevented years earlier. That experience made me want a school where community dentistry is built into all four years, not treated as an occasional club activity. At Creighton, Community Dentistry Field Experience starts in the fall of D1, and every D4 student spends two weeks in a public health clinic across the five-state region. I also read about the After-Hours emergency room diversion clinic and the Rural Health Transformation Grant supporting rural rotations across Nebraska. Pairing that safety-net mission with 1,204 clinic hours in D3, where I would manage my own family of patients seven half-days a week with a 6-to-1 student-faculty ratio, is exactly the preparation I need to serve patients who do not have easy access to care. (Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented.)

Why this answer works: It opens with a clear career direction and one concrete volunteer experience. It then connects that experience directly to verified Creighton features (D1 Community Dentistry Field Experience, the two-week D4 Senior Service-Learning rotation, the After-Hours Clinic, 1,204 D3 clinic hours, and the 6-to-1 student-faculty ratio) without sounding scripted.

Creighton Dental dental school interview FAQ

What is the Creighton Dental School interview format?

Interviews at Creighton University School of Dentistry are mandatory, by invitation only, and consist of two required parts: a virtual one-on-one interview with a member of the Admissions Committee and a mandatory in-person presentation at the dental school in Omaha. During the in-person presentation, you learn about the Office of Student Affairs and the DDS curriculum and take a tour of the School of Dentistry.

When does Creighton Dental School interview and send acceptance decisions?

Creighton's fall interview season runs from September to November, with a spring interview season in January and February and spring acceptance notifications in March. Under ADEA Traffic Guidelines, dental schools notify applicants of provisional or final acceptance no earlier than Dec. 15 of the academic year prior to matriculation.

How much is the Creighton Dental School supplemental application fee and when is it due?

Creighton's Dentistry Admissions Requirements webpage lists a $100 supplemental application fee, while the 2026-2027 Creighton University Catalog lists a non-refundable $70 supplemental application fee. The supplemental application, fee, personal photograph, and required letters of recommendation are due by December 15, and incomplete applications after that date are not reviewed.

What are the minimum DAT scores and shadowing hours for Creighton Dental School?

Applicants must achieve minimum DAT scores of 370 in Academic Average (AA), 360 in Perceptual Ability (PAT), and 380 in Survey of Natural Sciences / Total Science (SNS), and complete at least 65 hours of dental shadowing. For comparison, the August 2026 Class Profile reports enrolled student averages of 440 AA, 450 PAT, 450 Total Science, and a 3.75 overall undergraduate GPA.

Does Creighton Dental School prefer in-state applicants or specific states?

Creighton is a private school that enrolled 117 first-year DDS students from 30 states as of August 2026, including 13 from Nebraska. However, Creighton has formal dental education compacts with New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho, and residence in a compact state is a selection factor that provides partial tuition remission for students accepted into their state's program.

Sources, checked November 3, 2026:

Confetto isn't affiliated with Creighton University. Everything here about the school comes from its public pages, checked in November 2026.

Formats and dates can change between cycles, so go by your invitation email.