UNMC Dental School Interview: Dates, Selection & Prep

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The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) College of Dentistry conducts personal interviews with the admissions committee by invitation only from August to November, and sends first-round admission notifications in December, per UNMC's Dental Program Admissions page. For the incoming Class of 2029, UNMC accepted 56 students from 803 applicants, with an average GPA of 3.82 and an average DAT score of 21.8, according to the UNMC Class Profile.

What the UNMC dental interview is like and when it happens

UNMC's 2026-2027 catalog and admissions page describe the interview as a personal interview with the admissions committee for candidates under serious consideration. Interviews are by invitation only and are not granted at an applicant's request. Check your invitation email from the College of Dentistry Admissions Office for your schedule, format details, and arrival instructions.

While UNMC's main medical center campus is in Omaha, the College of Dentistry is in Lincoln, Nebraska, at 4000 East Campus Loop South on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus. The 2026-2027 catalog notes that the dental college is five minutes from the UNL city campus and 15 minutes from the Lincoln airport.

To rehearse your personal interview answers out loud before your date, Confetto runs AI mock interviews for dental school applicants with follow-up questions on your experiences. Start your free week.

UNMC College of Dentistry application and interview timeline (2026-2027)

Step	Timing and official detail
Take the DAT	May (recommended so results arrive before the Oct. 1 early deadline)
ADEA AADSAS opens	June 1
Submit AADSAS and $60 fee	June to October (early deadline Oct. 1 strongly encouraged. Final catalog deadline Feb. 1)
Interviews with the committee	August to November, by invitation only
First-round admission notifications	December
DDS program begins	August

How selection works and what UNMC says it values

In the 2026-2027 catalog, UNMC states that the College of Dentistry Admissions Committee bases its decisions on prior scholastic achievement, personality and emotional characteristics, motivation, industry, resourcefulness, and personal health. The catalog's Technical Standards add a second list of personal qualities assessed during admissions and education: compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interests, and motivation.

In the Behavioral section of those Technical Standards, UNMC writes that a student must be able to tolerate intellectually and physically taxing workloads, function effectively under stress, adapt to changing environments, and function in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical problems. It also specifies two concrete behaviors: managing apprehensive patients with a range of moods and behaviors in a tactful, congenial, personal manner, and accepting criticism and responding with appropriate modification of behavior.

For academic selection factors, UNMC's admissions page lists your overall GPA, science GPA, DAT scores (with special attention given to science scores, per the catalog), and campus, community, and dental career involvement such as shadowing. UNMC does not require a minimum GPA or DAT score on its admissions page, while the 2026-2027 catalog recommends DAT scores of 390 or above on all sections. Applicants with a low scholastic average may be evaluated on their last three or four semesters of college, where they should have included science courses with a suggested load of 14-16 hours per semester and shown significant improvement. If you are comparing coursework and testing across programs, see our guide to dental school requirements.

Compassion and managing apprehensive patients: have one story ready about calming someone who was anxious, scared, or frustrated.
Accepting criticism: prepare a specific example of a time you received direct feedback from a supervisor, instructor, or coach and changed your behavior.
Industry and resourcefulness: choose an experience where you solved a problem without a script or handled a heavy workload across school, work, and service.
Integrity and concern for others: bring a moment from dental shadowing or community involvement where you put a patient's or client's needs ahead of convenience.

Class of 2029 profile and residency preference

As a state institution, UNMC gives preference to legal residents of Nebraska, and it holds a dental education contract with Wyoming to accept a limited number of state-approved Wyoming residents. According to the College of Dentistry Programs page, 67% of all Nebraska dentists and 81% of rural Nebraska dentists are UNMC graduates. See our ECU School of Dental Medicine interview guide.

UNMC's pages state out-of-state representation in two ways depending on whether they describe one class or all enrolled classes. The admissions page says 40% or more of enrolled students come from across the country, while the Programs overview page reports that 78% of dentistry students are from Nebraska (with 38% from rural areas). In the incoming Class of 2029 profile, 40 of the 56 accepted students were from Nebraska and 16 came from eight other states. By our calculation from UNMC's Class of 2029 profile, that is a 7.0% overall acceptance rate (56 of 803), with 71.4% of the accepted class from Nebraska (40 of 56) and 28.6% from out of state (16 of 56). Thirty-three of the 56 students come from rural areas, and 23 are from urban areas. If you are weighing in-state and out-of-state odds across your list, read how many dental schools should I apply to.

Six of the 56 students in the Class of 2029 entered through UNMC's two rural pathway programs: the Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP, a cooperative program with Chadron State College, Peru State College, and Wayne State College) and the Kearney Health Opportunities Program (KHOP, with the University of Nebraska at Kearney). Both pathways recruit rural Nebraska residents who are committed to returning to rural Nebraska to practice. Selected students receive tuition scholarships or waivers while completing their undergraduate prerequisites. The programs guarantee admission to the UNMC College of Dentistry once students meet all requirements, including submitting a complete application no later than October 1.

UNMC College of Dentistry Class of 2029 profile

Metric	Class of 2029 figure
Applicants	803
Accepted students	56 (31 men, 25 women)
Overall acceptance rate (our calculation from UNMC Class Profile)	7.0% (56 of 803)
Average overall GPA	3.82
Average science GPA	3.76
Average DAT score	21.8 (catalog recommends 390+ on all sections)
Nebraska vs. out-of-state	40 from Nebraska (71.4%), 16 from 8 other states (28.6%)
Rural vs. urban background	Thirty-three from rural areas, 23 from urban areas (41.1% urban)
RHOP and KHOP pathway students	6 of the 56 incoming students

Mission fit and program specifics to know before you interview

From the 2026-2027 catalog, the mission of the UNMC College of Dentistry is "to continually improve the oral health of the people of Nebraska and beyond through a humanistic approach to education, extraordinary patient care, and innovative research." Its vision adds that the college will transform oral healthcare in Nebraska through education, collaborative research, community service, and integration with the healthcare team to achieve patient-centered care, and its values highlight community, compassionate care, collaborative learning, integrity, accountability, intellectual curiosity, passion, and respect for diversity.

When you answer "Why UNMC?", connect your background to the Lincoln curriculum and clinics. These six program facts come from UNMC's DDS program and curriculum pages:

Comprehensive care teams starting in D2: During the second half of the second year, students enter the patient care clinic on teams that provide patients with all the care they need, modeled on private practice.
Two three-week D4 extramural rotations: Fourth-year students complete two three-week rotations outside the college, one in a rural private practice with a dentist preceptor and one in a public health clinic.
Clinical and Virtual Simulation Lab and Digital Design Studio: First- and second-year students train on virtual dental trainers and use CAD/CAM technology, milling machines, and 3D printers in the Digital Design Studio (with Digital Dentistry I in the D2 summer term).
Every student conducts research: Every dental student completes a research project with faculty guidance, across areas such as biomaterials, bioregulation, oral cancer, and clinical trials through the Cruzan Center for Dental Research.
Nebraska's dental safety net: Students take part in outreach including children's dental health starter kits, the Special Olympics Special Smiles Program, and veteran dental care.
Board and licensure outcomes: Traditional DDS graduates posted a 98% first-time INBDE pass rate for the Class of 2026 (100% in 2025, 2024, and 2023) and a 100% pass rate on the CRDTS or ADEX clinical licensure exam for the Class of 2026. Among the Class of 2025, 57% went into practice, 31% entered advanced education residencies, 5% entered public health, and 5% entered military careers.

How to prepare and practice question

Use this five-step checklist in the two weeks before your interview to prepare your stories. For more practice prompts across motivation, teamwork, and ethics, see our guide to dental school interview questions.

We wrote the practice prompt below around UNMC's two three-week fourth-year rotations and the Technical Standards requirement to manage apprehensive patients in a tactful, congenial, personal manner. To practice answering questions like this out loud and get rubric-based feedback on your clarity and follow-ups, try Confetto. Start your free week.

Audit your AADSAS file so you can tell one specific story from every shadowing and service entry without reciting your resume.
Match one real experience to each of UNMC's behavioral standards: managing an apprehensive person tactfully, accepting criticism and changing behavior, handling a heavy workload, and acting with integrity.
Build a two-part "Why UNMC?" answer naming one Lincoln academic feature (such as D2 comprehensive care teams, student research, or the Digital Design Studio) and one state feature (such as the D4 rural and public health rotations or Special Smiles outreach).
Prepare your rural and public health perspective, knowing thirty-three of the 56 Class of 2029 students came from rural areas and every D4 student rotates in both a rural private practice and a public health clinic.
Practice speaking each answer out loud concisely so the committee has room to ask follow-ups.

Application steps, deadlines, prerequisites, and fees (2026-2027)

Every DDS applicant applies through ADEA AADSAS, which opens June 1 for the class entering the following August. Because it uses AADSAS, the College of Dentistry does not provide a separate supplemental application form of its own. After you submit AADSAS, UNMC emails you a link and instructions to pay a required $60 processing fee online. Do not wait for DAT scores, transcripts, or letters of evaluation before submitting AADSAS, as files are updated as materials arrive.

UNMC's admissions page lists October 1 as the early application deadline and encourages everyone to apply early (and October 1 is the strict deadline for RHOP and KHOP pathway applicants), while the 2026-2027 catalog lists February 1 as the final AADSAS application deadline with early submission prior to October 1 strongly encouraged. The catalog recommends two to three letters of recommendation submitted through AADSAS, and evaluations from a predental adviser or committee are appreciated.

Applicants must complete at least 90 semester hours at an accredited US or Canadian college, university, or community college, and are strongly encouraged to complete a four-year degree prior to matriculation. Courses graded Incomplete, Withdrawal, Audit, or remedial are not applicable. International applicants needing a Form I-20 must complete at least one academic year at an accredited US college or university, provide official transcripts and evidence of financial resources, and submit a TOEFL score of at least 575 paper-based or 95 internet-based with no section score below 20. If you are also applying to UNMC's MD program in Omaha, see our University Of Nebraska College Of Medicine interview guide.

UNMC College of Dentistry recommended predental coursework (first two years, 2026-2027 catalog)

Subject	Credit hours (semester)	Notes from the 2026-2027 catalog
English composition	6 hours (two 3-hour semesters)	Taken in first year
Inorganic (general) chemistry with lab	8 hours (two 4-hour semesters)	Taken in first year
General biology (life sciences) with lab	8 hours (two 4-hour semesters)	Taken in first year
Organic chemistry with lab	8 hours (two 4-hour semesters)	Taken in second year
General physics with lab	4-5 hours first semester, 4-5 hours second semester	Taken in second year
Humanities or social science electives	5 hours per semester in first year, 8-9 hours per semester in second year	Total first- and second-year grid is 64-68 credit hours
Suggested additional electives	Toward the 90+ semester hour minimum	Anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, comparative anatomy, embryology, genetics, histology, immunology, microbiology, physiology, psychology, scientific Greek or Latin, statistics

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

In your fourth year at UNMC, you will complete two three-week extramural rotations: one in a rural private practice and one in a public health clinic. Tell us about an experience where you worked with someone who was anxious or hesitant to seek care, and how that prepares you to care for patients across Nebraska.

Example answer (written by us, invented applicant)

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented: "While shadowing and assisting at a community health clinic in my college town, I met a man in his fifties who came in with a fractured molar after putting off dental visits for almost ten years. Before the dentist walked in, I noticed he was gripping the armrests and barely making eye contact. Instead of jumping straight into intake questions, I pulled my stool down to his eye level, introduced myself, and asked what had made previous dental visits hard for him. He told me he had a painful extraction in his twenties and was also embarrassed about how his teeth looked. I thanked him for telling me, explained that today we would start just by looking and talking through options, and promised we would stop whenever he raised his hand. Watching him relax taught me that dental anxiety is often half fear of pain and half fear of judgment. That is a big reason UNMC's fourth-year rotations in both a public health clinic and a rural private practice stand out to me. When patients drive a long distance in rural Nebraska or visit a safety-net clinic after years away, how we listen in the first two minutes determines whether they come back for follow-up care."

Why this answer works: It answers the prompt with a single concrete story, demonstrates the exact behavior UNMC names in its Technical Standards (managing an apprehensive patient in a tactful, congenial, personal manner), and ties that lesson directly to UNMC's two three-week D4 rotations in a rural private practice and a public health clinic.

UNMC dental school interview FAQ

When does the UNMC College of Dentistry interview and send decisions?

UNMC invites candidates under serious consideration to interview with the admissions committee from August to November. First-round admission notifications are sent in December for the class starting the following August.

Does UNMC Dental School have a secondary application or fee?

UNMC uses ADEA AADSAS and does not have a separate supplemental application form of its own. You are required to pay a $60 College of Dentistry processing fee online through a link emailed to you after you submit your AADSAS application.

When is the UNMC DDS application deadline?

The ADEA AADSAS application opens June 1, and UNMC strongly encourages applying by its early application deadline of October 1 (which is also the strict deadline for RHOP and KHOP pathway applicants). The 2026-2027 catalog lists February 1 as the final AADSAS deadline.

Does UNMC College of Dentistry accept out-of-state applicants?

Yes. Preference is given to legal residents of Nebraska and a contract exists for a limited number of Wyoming residents, but in the Class of 2029, 16 of the 56 accepted students (28.6%) came from eight other states, and UNMC notes on its admissions page that 40% or more of enrolled students come from across the country.

What GPA and DAT scores do accepted UNMC dental students have?

For the incoming Class of 2029, the 56 accepted students had an average overall GPA of 3.82, an average science GPA of 3.76, and an average DAT score of 21.8. UNMC does not require an absolute minimum GPA or DAT score, though its 2026-2027 catalog recommends DAT scores of 390 or above on all sections and notes that special attention is given to science scores.

Where is the UNMC dental school located?

Unlike UNMC's main campus in Omaha, the College of Dentistry is located in Lincoln, Nebraska, at 4000 East Campus Loop South on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus, about 15 minutes from the Lincoln airport.

Sources, checked November 3, 2026:

Confetto isn't affiliated with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 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.