UF Dental School Interview: Format, Dates, Questions

UF lists four parts of a typical interview day:

• The interview: the open-file panel described above.
• Presentations from staff and faculty.
• Lunch with dental students and faculty.
• A student-led tour of the College of Dentistry and the Academic Health Center.

UF asks for business professional dress and reminds applicants to be professional at all times, which includes lunch and the tour. It also says not to memorize answers. Know your stories well enough to tell them naturally instead.

The order matters at UF, because each step is an invitation:

1. ADEA AADSAS application. UF's deadline is October 1 for everything, including DAT scores and three letters. The school says its most successful applicants are complete and verified by August 1, and that it receives over half of its applications by the end of July.
2. Supplemental application, by invitation only. It costs $30, and invitations can come any time from June to December. Without a completed supplemental you can't be interviewed.
3. Interview invitation by email. Not everyone who completes the supplemental is invited.
4. Interview, July to December.
5. Offers no earlier than December, then rolling. You get 30 days to respond to an offer made before February 1, and 15 days from February 1 to May 15. Holding a seat takes a $200 non-refundable deposit.

Because interviews end in December and decisions roll after that, an application finished in summer has more interview dates to compete for than one finished at the October 1 deadline. ADEA's own AADSAS page lists December 15, 2026 as this cycle's acceptance notification date. UF's pages say only "no earlier than December".

Florida first, with room for others

UF is a public school and gives preference to Florida residents. Its out-of-state page says about 10% of each entering class of 93 can be out-of-state students, and that many more offers go to out-of-state applicants than that. In the 2026 entering class, 85 of 93 students were Florida residents. If you are from another state, expect to be asked why Florida, and have a real answer.

Community care

UF's Why UFCD page describes the UF Statewide Network for Community Oral Health, started in 1996, with UF-owned dental centers in Gainesville, Hialeah, Naples, St. Petersburg and Wildlight/Yulee. Students rotate through these and affiliated centers, and UF says almost all of the patients treated live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. A course called Putting Families First teaches community-based family health and teamwork through home visits.

Questions about access to care and working with patients who have little money are a natural fit for this school. Know what you have actually seen.

Research and professionalism

UF's program highlights say its research enterprise ranks sixth among US dental schools in NIH funding. The same page notes that every DMD class since September 11, 2001 has written and signed its own code of conduct. If you have research on your application, the open-file panel can ask about it in detail. Be able to explain your project and your role in plain words.

• Reread your AADSAS application line by line. Open file means every activity, hour count and course grade can become a question. Have a one-minute story for each major experience.
• Prepare your journey to dentistry. UF names it as a focus. Your answer should move from first exposure to what you learned in shadowing to why dentistry fits you, not medicine or another field.
• Know what each experience taught you. UF suggests keeping a journal of what you learned. If you didn't, write one now from memory before the interview.
• Practice answering a panel. With three or four interviewers, look at the person who asked, then include the others as you finish. Keep answers to about two minutes.
• Have a Florida answer. Residents can speak to where in Florida they want to practice. Out-of-state applicants need a specific reason for UF.
• Prepare two or three questions about the community rotations or the clinics, for the panel or for students at lunch.

1. Print your AADSAS application. Ask a friend to circle five things and ask about them in any order.
2. Answer each in under two minutes. Record it on your phone.
3. Have the friend add a follow-up to every answer, the way a second panelist would.
4. Watch the recording. Mark any answer that didn't start with the point or didn't say what you learned.
5. Redo the weakest three, then repeat the whole drill two days later with a different friend.

Practicing alone? Confetto's dental school interview prep runs AI mock interviews that ask follow-up questions based on what you actually said and give rubric-based feedback afterward.

Is the UF dental school interview MMI?

No. UF describes one open-file interview with three to four Admissions Committee members. Its DMD admissions pages don't mention an MMI as of November 2026.

Is the UF dental interview virtual?

No. UF says the DMD interview is conducted in person.

How long is the UF dental school interview?

About 20 to 30 minutes for the interview itself. The day also includes presentations, lunch and a tour.

When does UF send dental interview invitations?

By email, to applicants who completed the supplemental, for interviews between July and December.

When does UF send acceptances?

No earlier than December, and on a rolling basis after that.

Applying to other dental schools? See our guides to the NYU College of Dentistry and University of Michigan School of Dentistry interviews, or UF's dental school acceptance rate and class stats.

Sources: UF College of Dentistry UFCD Interview, Offers of Admission, ADEA AADSAS and UFCD Supplemental, Out-of-State Applicants, Why UFCD and DMD Program Highlights pages, and ADEA's Apply to ADEA AADSAS page.

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

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