OU Dental School Interview: Dates, Selection & Prep

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The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry sends DDS interview invitations beginning in August (early fall), conducts interviews from September through November, and communicates acceptances on December 15 for its 60-student class, according to the OUHSC Course Catalog and the OU DDS program page. Admitted students average a 3.7 GPA and competitive DAT scores for entering students have averaged between 19-21 in recent years, and you must be ready to reflect on at least 100 hours of dental shadowing across three or more offices and 100 hours of community service.

Dates and timeline

The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry (OUCOD) runs a compact fall interview season. All interviews finish before December, so applying early in the summer matters.

Confirm the exact format, schedule, and location (whether on the Oklahoma City campus or virtual) in your interview invitation email from the Admissions Team. If you are invited to campus in Oklahoma City, the college is at 1201 N. Stonewall Ave., with complimentary visitor parking in the Stonewall Garage (P4) when you bring your parking ticket inside for validation. A courtesy shuttle also runs Monday through Friday from 7:45 A.M.-4:45 P.M. between the first floor of the Stonewall Garage and the south main entrance.

One specific interview-day rule to check before you arrive: if you are using a university-designated writing-intensive course to satisfy the 6-semester-hour English prerequisite instead of standard English composition, OU's Prerequisite Course Listing states that a course description is required at the time of your interview.

To rehearse your answers out loud before your date, Confetto, an AI mock interviewer for dental, medical, and other healthcare interviews, lets you practice with follow-up questions on your own experiences. Start your free week.

OU College of Dentistry DDS admissions timeline (Source: OUHSC Course Catalog and OU DDS program page)

Milestone	Timeline
ADEA AADSAS application opens	Mid-May
First day to submit AADSAS application	Early June (June 1)
Interview invitations begin going out	August (Early Fall)
Recommended application submission	First week of September
Application deadline	September 30
Interviews conducted	September through November
Acceptances communicated	December 15 (Mid-December)

What OU College of Dentistry looks for in applicants

As Oklahoma's only Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) program, OU College of Dentistry enrolls a class of 60 students each year. Across all four years, the college has 224 dental students, 92 dental hygiene students, and 39 residents taught by more than 140 full- and part-time faculty and supported by more than 130 staff.

OU splits its admissions requirements into academic metrics and subjective criteria. Once you are invited to interview, those subjective criteria become the blueprint for what you need to show in the room.

Notice the wording on shadowing: OU explicitly says you should be able to reflect on these experiences and describe how they impact you. Listing what procedures you saw is not enough. Be ready to talk about how a general dentist explained a treatment plan to an anxious patient, or how two different offices handled team communication.

OU DDS academic profile and minimums (Source: OU DDS program page and OUHSC Course Catalog)

Metric	Admitted Class Average / Competitive Range	Required / Suggested Minimum
Class size	60 students	Not applicable
Overall GPA	3.7 average (admitted class)	2.5 minimum
Math and science GPA	Evaluated alongside overall GPA	2.5 minimum (required on DDS page, recommended in catalog)
DAT scores	19-21 average in recent years	16 on 2-digit scale, and on 3-digit scale: AA 350, SNS 360, BIO 360, GCH 360, OCH 370, PAT 340, QR 360, RC 320 (suggested minimums pending final regents approval)

Dental shadowing (100 hours minimum): Must take place across at least 3 different offices, with at least 2 in a general dental environment, and cover a variety of specialties and dental environments. Shadowing must be observation without associated responsibility and must be outside of places of employment (if you have dental assisting hours, contact the Office of Admissions for clarification). You must be able to reflect on these experiences and describe how they impacted you.
Community service (100 hours minimum): Hours must reflect a variety of opportunities and show engagement in different types of communities.
Personal attributes (OUHSC Course Catalog): Quality communication, problem-solving skills, time management, personal character, and motivation.

Mission, PEAK values, and Oklahoma clinical training

In 1954, the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents authorized the creation of a college of dentistry specifically to respond to the needs of underserved areas of rural Oklahoma. Founding dean William E. Brown, D.D.S., was recruited in 1969, the college opened in 1972, and the first DDS class of 24 students graduated in spring 1976.

Today, the college is part of the University of Oklahoma Health Campus (the Harold Hamm Health Campus in Oklahoma City), which has seven health professional colleges (Allied Health, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Graduate Studies) serving about 4,000 students in more than 70 degree programs. For how the medical school next door interviews, see our University Of Oklahoma College Of Medicine interview guide.

The college's core values form the acronym PEAK. They stand for Professionalism (ethical conduct, patient care, interprofessional collaboration, and leadership) and Excellence (in patient care and safety, education, research, community service, faculty, staff, and facilities). They also include Accountability (holding ourselves accountable to the mission, vision, and values) and Knowledge (providing the highest level of education and training). Its Strategic Plan 2025 - 2030 rests on three pillars: cultivating the next generation of healthcare professionals through the integration of education, research, and patient care, addressing health disparities across Oklahoma, and cultivating a culture rooted in core values to achieve access, opportunity, compassion, and respect for all.

When you answer "Why OU?", connect your goals to how the four-year DDS curriculum works:

Mission: "To provide outstanding patient care and dental education to continuously improve the health of Oklahomans and those we serve."
Vision: "Transforming the health of Oklahomans and the future of dentistry through the power of science, technology and research."
First-year clinical start: Dental and dental hygiene students begin patient interaction and clinical experiences during their first year across three comprehensive care clinics.
Oklahoma City and Tulsa locations: The DDS program is offered in Oklahoma City, with years 3 and 4 offered in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
Built-in service outreach: Curriculum service opportunities include the Oklahoma Mission of Mercy, Kids' Day (which provided free cleanings, fillings, and crowns to 109 children), and senior externships (4.5 credit hours in spring of year 4). The college also partners with the Oklahoma Dental Foundation on a mobile dental clinic in Guymon and participates in events like Full Court Smiles (which delivered $82,315 in free dental care to 259 Oklahoma City Public Schools third- and fourth-graders).
Digital and laser technology: Students train with intraoral scanning, digital workflows (Digital Dental Technology I and II courses in the curriculum), and clinical laser technology for pain relief, bleeding control, and bacteria removal.
Dual degree and specialty exposure: The catalog lists a Dual Degree D.D.S./M.B.A. option, and the college houses postdoctoral programs in Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD), Graduate Orthodontics, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Pediatric Dentistry (at Oklahoma Children's Hospital OU Health), and Graduate Periodontics.

Practice questions and two-week prep plan (written by our team)

Our team wrote the practice prompts below around OU's subjective selection criteria, its PEAK values, its curriculum in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and the questions dental admissions officers recommend on the ADEA GoDental blog. For more general prompts across dental programs, read our guide to dental school interview questions.

To prepare in the two weeks before your interview, start in the first week by writing down one patient interaction or team moment from each of the 3+ dental offices you shadowed (at least 2 general dental) and your community service sites, with one sentence on how each impacted you. Tag your stories against OU's subjective traits: quality communication and problem-solving skills, time management, personal character, and motivation. In the final week, rehearse a concise "Why OU?" answer naming two curriculum features, run timed mock interviews out loud with unscripted follow-ups, re-read your invitation email, pack the printed English course description if you used a writing-intensive course, and plan to validate your Stonewall Garage (P4) parking ticket if interviewing on campus.

Practice speaking for 60 to 90 seconds per answer so you leave room for follow-up conversation:

Motivation and shadowing: You shadowed in at least three dental offices, including two general dentistry practices. Compare two of those offices. What did you notice about how the dentists communicated with patients or ran their teams?
Why OU: As Oklahoma's only DDS program, our mission centers on improving the health of Oklahomans and reducing disparities in access to care. How do your background and career plans fit that mission?
Community service: Tell us about one of the communities you served during your 100+ community service hours. What barrier did people in that community face, and what did your time there teach you?
Early clinical care and locations: At OU, dental students begin patient interaction in the first year, and years 3 and 4 are offered in Oklahoma City and Tulsa with a senior externship. How do you handle stepping into hands-on clinical settings early?
PEAK Values (Professionalism and Accountability): Tell us about a time you saw someone cut a corner or a time you made a mistake that affected a team. How did you handle it?
Problem-solving and time management: Our first-year fall curriculum includes Human Physiology, Biochemistry, Preventive Dentistry, Dental Morphology Lecture and Lab, and Behavioral Sciences. Walk us through how you manage heavy academic workloads or solve a problem when your first plan fails?
Communication (Technical Standards): Our technical standards require students to explain alternative treatment solutions clearly to patients. Imagine a patient needs a crown but asks to pull the tooth because of cost. How do you approach that conversation?
Motor skills and emerging technology: Dentistry requires fine motor coordination under stress and learning tools like intraoral scanning and laser technology. How have you developed your manual dexterity and learned new tools from scratch?
Rural access and service: OU was authorized in 1954 to serve rural Oklahoma and builds the Oklahoma Mission of Mercy and Kids' Day into the curriculum. What keeps dentists from practicing in rural towns, and how do you build trust with an anxious patient at a busy event?
Questions to ask the committee (from ADEA GoDental): How would you describe the relationship between students and faculty in the comprehensive care clinics, and how involved are students with learning practice management before graduation?

Application steps, prerequisites, and DAT rules

OU College of Dentistry uses a two-step application process through ADEA AADSAS and its own supplemental application. For how these compare across schools, see our guides on dental school requirements and how many dental schools should I apply to.

Step 1 goes to ADEA AADSAS (available June 1, advisable by the first week of September, final deadline September 30): your AADSAS application, official transcripts from each college or university attended, and letters of recommendation on official letterhead (one letter from a dentist, plus a Pre-professional Advisory Committee recommendation, which is preferred, or two letters from science instructors). You do not need to wait for letters or DAT scores before submitting AADSAS.

Step 2 goes directly to OU College of Dentistry: the online Application Supplement and Fee, plus your DAT scores. OU accepts the unofficial Exam Report you receive on test day if you email it to the Admissions Team while official scores process, and you can email the Admissions Team with updates to observation hours or contact information.

Coursework rules: you need at least 90 semester hours from an accredited college or university (with at least 75 completed before applying). By our calculation from the OU DDS prerequisites table, the required courses below total 52 semester hours. Applicants who completed their bachelor's degree more than two years before expected attendance are advised to pursue academic activities or employment in the oral health field.

DAT, TOEFL, and technical standards: OU accepts your highest DAT score (valid for 3 years from the exam date). The DAT Suggested Minimums (2-digit / 3-digit scale, pending final approval by the OU Board of Regents and Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education) are Academic Average (AA) 16 / 350, Survey of the Natural Sciences (SNS) 16 / 360, Biology (BIO) 16 / 360, General Chemistry (GCH) 16 / 360, Organic Chemistry (OCH) 16 / 370, Perceptual Ability Test (PAT) 16 / 340, Quantitative Reasoning (QR) 16 / 360, and Reading Comprehension (RC) 16 / 320. Any applicant born outside the U.S. (including U.S. Territories, Permanent Residents, and Naturalized Citizens) from a country where English is a second language must submit official ETS TOEFL scores to OUHSC Admissions and Records (minimum 587 paper-based, 240 computer-based, or 88 internet-based), unless waived via an English-speaking high school diploma or U.S. bachelor's degree. Foreign credentials require an Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) course-by-course evaluation. In the OUHSC Course Catalog, students must also meet technical standards in five areas: Sensory and Observation, Cognitive, Motor Skills, Communication, and Behavioral Skills.

Ready to practice your interview answers out loud? Confetto asks follow-up questions on what you actually say and gives rubric-based feedback after every session. Start your free week.

OU College of Dentistry prerequisite coursework and policies (Source: OU DDS program page and Prerequisite Course Listing PDF)

Subject	Semester / Quarter Hours	Lab, AP, and Special Rules
Biology	16 semester / 24 quarter	Minimum 2 labs required, 4 completed labs preferred. Online labs accepted. AP credits NOT accepted (use upper-level biology courses).
General / Inorganic Chemistry	8 semester / 12 quarter	Labs required. Online labs accepted. AP credits NOT accepted (use upper-level chemistry courses).
Organic Chemistry	8 semester / 12 quarter	Labs required. Online labs accepted. AP credits NOT accepted (use upper-level organic chemistry courses).
Biochemistry	3 semester / 5 quarter	Lab is not required. AP credits NOT accepted.
Physics	8 semester / 12 quarter	Labs required. Online labs accepted. AP credits NOT accepted (use upper-level physics courses).
General Psychology	3 semester / 5 quarter	AP credits accepted if the degree-granting institution awarded college credit toward the bachelor's degree.
English (Composition or Writing Intensive)	6 semester / 10 quarter	AP credits accepted if awarded toward the bachelor's degree. University-designated writing-intensive courses satisfy this requirement, but a course description is required at the time of interview.

OU dental school practice question (written by us, not OU)

You shadowed in at least three dental offices before applying, and our mission focuses on improving the health of Oklahomans across all communities. Tell us about one moment from your shadowing that changed how you think about access to dental care, and how it shapes what you want to do at OU.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented.

Example answer (written by us, invented applicant)

During my 2nd general dentistry shadowing experience in a small town outside Tulsa, I watched the dentist treat a retired farmer who had driven over 1 hour with a fractured molar. The dentist explained the options for a root canal and crown versus an extraction in plain language, then paused and asked what worried him most. The patient admitted it was not the cost, it was having to ask his daughter to take 3 separate days off work to drive him back. Instead of pushing the multi-visit plan or jumping straight to an extraction, the dentist coordinated with the lab and his front desk to combine the build-up and digital scan into a single extended visit. That moment showed me that access to care is not just about what a patient can pay, it is also about distance, time, and listening before prescribing. It is a major reason I want to train at OU. Starting clinical experiences in the 1st year, learning digital workflows like intraoral scanning, and taking part in outreach like the Oklahoma Mission of Mercy and senior externships will prepare me to deliver efficient, comprehensive care to rural Oklahoma patients.

Why this answer works: This answer works because it directly fulfills OU's requirement that applicants reflect on how their shadowing impacted them rather than reciting a list of procedures. It shows communication and problem-solving in a general dental setting, and it connects naturally to verified features of the OU DDS curriculum: first-year clinical exposure, intraoral scanning and digital workflows, the Oklahoma Mission of Mercy, and senior externships.

OU dental school interview FAQ

When does the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry send interview invitations and hold interviews?

According to the OUHSC Course Catalog and the OU DDS program page, interview invitations begin going out in August (early fall), and interviews are conducted from September through November. Acceptances are communicated on December 15.

What GPA and DAT scores are competitive for OU dental school?

The average GPA of the admitted DDS class is 3.7, and competitive DAT scores for entering students have averaged between 19-21 in recent years. To be eligible, applicants need a minimum 2.5 overall GPA, a 2.5 math and science GPA, and suggested minimum DAT scores of 16 on the 2-digit scale (and on the 3-digit scale: AA 350, SNS 360, BIO 360, GCH 360, OCH 370, PAT 340, QR 360, and RC 320).

How many shadowing and community service hours does OU College of Dentistry require?

OU requires a minimum of 100 hours of dental shadowing across at least 3 different offices, with at least 2 in a general dental environment, completed outside of places of employment. You also need a minimum of 100 hours of community service showing a variety of opportunities and engagement in different types of communities.

What do I need to bring to the OU dental interview if I took a writing-intensive course for English?

If you are using a university-designated writing-intensive course to satisfy the 6-semester-hour English prerequisite, OU's Prerequisite Course Listing requires you to provide a course description at the time of your interview.

Does OU College of Dentistry accept AP credit or online labs for prerequisites?

Online labs are accepted for prerequisite science courses, and while 2 biology labs are required, 4 completed biology labs are preferred. Advanced Placement (AP) credits are accepted for English and General Psychology if your degree-granting institution awarded college credit toward your bachelor's degree, but AP credits are not accepted for any science prerequisite.

Sources, checked November 3, 2026:

Confetto isn't affiliated with the University of Oklahoma. 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.