VCU Dental School Interview: 30-Min Panel and Wax Carving

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The VCU School of Dentistry interview is an in-person day in Richmond from about 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. that includes a 30-minute interview with two faculty members and a hands-on session where you carve a tooth out of wax, per VCU's Interview Day page. Interviews run from mid-September through February for a maximum class of 95 students (60 Virginia residents and 35 non-residents) chosen from 2,200 - 2,500 applications, according to VCU's DDS FAQ.

What the VCU dental school interview looks like

VCU School of Dentistry holds its Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) interviews in person at its campus in downtown Richmond, Virginia (520 North 12th Street). The day starts around 8:45 a.m. and wraps up around 3:15 p.m., with a light breakfast and lunch provided.

The core evaluation is a standardized 30-minute personal interview with 2 faculty and 1 candidate. VCU's Selection Process page notes that invited candidates meet with faculty and student members of the Admissions Committee, and the 2026-27 VCU Bulletin states that the interview evaluates your motivation, your knowledge of and interest in the dental profession, and any extra context you want to add to your application.

During the interview day, you also carve a tooth out of wax, and VCU invites you to bring samples of your own psychomotor activities to show your interviewers. You are held to the VCU Honor System starting on your interview date through your final status decision and enrollment, and VCU cannot accommodate guests such as spouses or relatives on interview day.

To rehearse the 30-minute panel conversation out loud, Confetto, an AI mock interviewer for dental, medical and other healthcare program interviews, runs panel and traditional mock interviews with follow-up questions on your experiences. Start your free week.

If you are also applying to VCU's MD program, the two schools run separate processes. See our VCU Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine interview guide for the medical school's virtual MMI.

VCU School of Dentistry interview day overview (2026-27)

Component	What VCU School of Dentistry states
Time and meals	Around 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., with light breakfast and lunch provided
Interview structure	30-minute standardized interview (2 faculty and 1 candidate), plus interaction with student committee members
What the interview assesses	Motivation, knowledge of and interest in dentistry, and additional information for your file
Dexterity activity	Carve a tooth out of wax on site
Psychomotor samples	You may bring paintings, small carvings, or short videos of playing a musical instrument
Campus sessions	School tour, lunch with current dental students, curriculum overview, financial aid presentation

Dates, deadlines and the VCU portal for 2026-27

VCU interviews by invitation only from mid-September through February, with a holiday break from the second week of December until the first week of January. Because admissions is rolling and time intensive, VCU's Application Process page notes that the majority of applicants invited to interview complete their application before September 1.

Three of VCU's official pages list slightly different dates and fees for the current cycle. Plan around the earliest date on each step so nothing holds up your file.

VCU School of Dentistry does not update application statuses in ADEA WebAdmit. Once VCU receives your AADSAS application, the school emails you instructions to log into the VCU School of Dentistry Applicant Status Portal, where you pay the application fee and check your status.

2026-27 VCU DDS application and interview timeline across official sources

Step or milestone	Date or detail	Official source
ADEA AADSAS opens	May 12, 2026 (first day to submit is June 2, 2026)	ADEA AADSAS Important Dates
Priority application target	Before September 1 (majority of interviewees finish before Sept. 1)	VCU Application Process, VCU FAQ, VCU Bulletin
Interview season	Mid-September through February (break from 2nd week of Dec. to 1st week of Jan.)	VCU FAQ
DAT deadline	November 1	VCU Application Process
Application submission deadline	December 1 on the Application Process page, January 1 on the FAQ and 2026-27 Bulletin	VCU Application Process, VCU FAQ, VCU Bulletin
VCU application fee	$85 on the Application Process page, $80 in the 2026-27 Bulletin (paid in the VCU portal)	VCU Application Process, VCU Bulletin
Supplemental application	No supplemental application required per the FAQ (Bulletin notes qualified applicants may be asked for additional information)	VCU FAQ, VCU Bulletin
First acceptance notifications	December 15 on the Application Process and ADEA pages (December 1 in the Bulletin), then early spring	VCU Application Process, ADEA AADSAS, VCU Bulletin
Tuition deposit to hold a seat	$800 nonrefundable deposit	VCU Bulletin

How VCU selects candidates: residency, stats and psychomotor skills

VCU is Virginia's only dental school and a state-supported public university, so it gives admissions preference to Virginia residents. Out of a maximum DDS class size of 95 students, 60 seats are for Virginia residents and 35 seats are for non-residents. By our calculation from VCU's FAQ page, which reports 2,200 - 2,500 applications a year, those 95 seats equal about 3.8 to 4.3 seats per 100 applications, with about 63.2% of the class reserved for in-state students (60 of 95) and 36.8% for out-of-state students (35 of 95). If you are comparing how those odds fit into your broader school list, see our guide on how many dental schools should I apply to.

Through a holistic review, the Admissions Committee evaluates academic performance, DAT scores, psychomotor skills, commitment to service, and potential as a lifelong learner with intellectual curiosity. There is no minimum GPA or DAT cutoff, but admitted students have an average overall GPA of 3.7, an average science GPA of 3.6, and a DAT Academic Average score of 430-440. For how these numbers compare across programs, check our overview of dental school requirements.

Before you apply, VCU strongly encourages 100-150 hours of general practice shadowing in addition to any specialty shadowing. Your AADSAS file needs either one committee letter or three letters of recommendation: at least two from life-science professors and one from a dentist practicing in the US or Canada who has observed you directly through shadowing or volunteering.

DAT rules: Best set of scores used within 3 years of application, with a maximum of 3 attempts listed on the Admission Requirements page. The Canadian DAT (CDAT) is accepted without the manual dexterity section.
Psychomotor skills: Evidence of the hand skills dentistry requires, evaluated through your activities, the samples you bring, and the interview day wax tooth carving.
Service and curiosity: Service activities involving direct interaction with other people, plus potential as a lifelong learner.
D1 course pathway for non-accepted applicants: Each year, VCU invites a small number of applicants who are not accepted into the freshman class to take selected courses alongside the D1 class, and their performance plays a central role in consideration for the following cycle.

What to know about VCU's mission, CARE values and clinics

VCU's mission statement is "Educating tomorrow's oral health leaders in a community of service by utilizing emerging technologies and innovative research to provide comprehensive oral health care for all." On its DDS program page, the school summarizes its Culture of Care with the acronym CARE: Compassion, Accessibility, Respect, and Excellence, and its 2022-2027 Strategic Plan lists five pillars: Patient-centered Care, Community and Service, Collaboration, Respect and Integrity, and Innovation.

Rather than repeating those words in your 30-minute panel, connect your shadowing and volunteering stories to the specific clinical and research programs VCU runs in Richmond and across Virginia:

Service-learning across Virginia: Fourth-year students take a 4-credit Clinical Service-learning course (DENS 762), and VCU collaborates with 14 to 15 community practices and clinics across the state (the DDS page lists 14 community practices, while the About page lists 15 community clinics). The school logs more than 100,000 patient visits each year, and patient volume grew significantly after Virginia expanded Medicaid in July 2021 to include adult dental benefits.
Early clinical readiness and Urgent Care: Students take Foundations of Effective Interpersonal Skills and Clinical Skills in D1, enter D2 Clinical Dentistry courses in their second year, and rotate through the D3 and D4 Urgent Care Clinics alongside Clinical General Practice Dentistry.
Dr. Roger Wood Special Care Clinic and Teledentistry: VCU runs dedicated clinical services for patients with special health care needs (including a D3 course in Special Care Dentistry, PEDD 730) as well as teledentistry and orofacial pain rotations.
Digital dentistry and the Philips Institute: The curriculum includes Advanced Restorative and Digital Dentistry Lecture and Lab (DENS 662 and 663), and biomedical and translational studies run through the Philips Institute for Oral Health Research, often in collaboration with the NCI-designated VCU Massey Cancer Center.
Outcomes: About 94% of VCU DDS students pass their clinical board exams on the first try, and about 97% of graduating students who apply to advanced education and residency programs are accepted.

How to prepare for the wax carving, psychomotor samples and 30-minute panel

Use this six-step preparation plan in the two weeks before you travel to Richmond:

1. Pick and pack your psychomotor sample. Choose one or two small items that fit in a bag or download a short instrument video to your phone so you do not rely on campus Wi-Fi. Be ready to explain how you learned the skill and how you fix mistakes.
2. Practice working with your hands before wax carving. Carve a bar of soap or a candle stub at home using a basic tooth diagram so removing material in small increments feels familiar and you stay composed under the clock.
3. Audit your 100-150 general practice shadowing hours. Write down three specific patient interactions you observed in a general dentist's office, focusing on how the dentist explained a treatment plan, managed patient anxiety, or handled an unexpected clinical complication.
4. Prepare your "additional information" statement. Prepare a brief explanation for any academic dip or an update on what you have accomplished since submitting AADSAS.
5. Rehearse a 30-minute panel pace. Keep your answers concise so both faculty members have room to ask follow-up questions, and make eye contact with both interviewers when you speak.
6. Read the VCU Honor System before you arrive. Treat every interaction with students at lunch, tour guides, and staff as part of your evaluation.

VCU dental school practice questions (written by our team)

Our team wrote the practice prompts below to match the areas VCU evaluates. For more general prompts to drill after these, see our guide to dental school interview questions.

Motivation and shadowing: What did you see during your general practice shadowing hours that showed you the hardest part of a general dentist's day?
Why VCU: As Virginia's only dental school, VCU partners with community clinics across the Commonwealth. How does our clinical service-learning model fit the kind of dentist you want to become?
Psychomotor skills: Did you bring a sample of a psychomotor activity today? Walk us through how you made it and what it taught you about working on a small scale.
Wax carving reflection: During the wax carving exercise today, what was the hardest adjustment you had to make, and how do you handle frustration when a physical task does not go right on the first try?
Service with others: Tell us about a service activity on your application where you worked directly with someone whose background or health literacy was very different from yours.
Lifelong learning: Dentistry changes rapidly with digital workflows and new materials. Tell us about a time your intellectual curiosity led you to learn something outside of a class requirement.
CARE values (Accessibility): After Virginia expanded adult Medicaid dental benefits, clinic demand rose sharply. If a patient arrives at the Urgent Care Clinic after years without care and feels embarrassed about their teeth, how do you build trust right away?
Ethics and the VCU Honor System: You are bound by the VCU Honor System starting today. Tell us about a time you noticed a peer cutting a corner or making an error that no one else saw. What did you do?
Application context: Is there anything not fully captured in your AADSAS application that you want the Admissions Committee to know about your readiness for our curriculum?
Out-of-state fit (for non-residents): With 35 non-resident seats in a class of 95, why did you apply to VCU in Richmond, and how would you contribute to our Virginia patient community?

Attire, parking and Richmond travel logistics

VCU's Office of Admissions is at 520 North 12th Street, Suite 309, Richmond, VA 23298, on the VCU Health Sciences Campus. Men should wear suits or sport coats with ties, and women should wear suits or dresses. VCU notes that blue jeans, miniskirts, shorts, flip-flops, and tennis shoes are not recommended, and advises wearing comfortable walking shoes for the school tour.

Parking by car: Park in the 8th Street Parking Deck at 659 North 8th Street for $17 per day. Uber and Lyft are readily available in downtown Richmond.
Flying into Richmond: Richmond International Airport (RIC, 1 Richard E Byrd Terminal Dr.) has two terminals and is 15 minutes from the School of Dentistry.
Arriving by Amtrak: The school is 6 minutes from Richmond Main Street Station (1500 E Main St.) and 15 minutes from Richmond Staples Mill Station (7519 Staples Mill Rd.).
Hotels: When booking a downtown Richmond hotel, ask whether the hotel offers a VCU visitor rate and a shuttle to and from the School of Dentistry.
Questions or updates: Contact the Office of Admissions at (804) 828-9196 or denadmit@vcu.edu.

VCU DDS admissions requirements, prerequisites and costs at a glance

Every requirement below comes from VCU School of Dentistry's admissions pages and the 2026-27 VCU Bulletin, checked November 3, 2026. Verify your prerequisite checklist in the VCU Applicant Status Portal so no missing course holds up an offer.

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VCU School of Dentistry admissions facts and prerequisites (2026-27)

Category	Official VCU requirement or statistic
Minimum college credits	At least 90 semester hours (145 quarter hours) from an accredited US or Canadian institution, with at most 60 semester hours from a community college, contingent on completing a qualifying bachelor's degree
Required science prerequisites	8 semester hours (12 quarter hours) each of General Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physics (all with lab and lecture), plus 3 semester hours (4 or 5 quarter hours) of Biochemistry
Required non-science prerequisites	3 semester hours (4 or 5 quarter hours) each of Math/Statistics and English
Strongly recommended courses	300/3000 level and above biology (such as anatomy, physiology, microbiology, immunology, histology, genetics, embryology), behavioral sciences, and courses involving psychomotor skills
Grading and credit age rules	C or better required on the Admission Requirements page (C- minimum noted in the Bulletin). No pass/fail except spring/summer 2020. Prerequisites preferred within 5 years and other courses within 10 years. AP/IB accepted if on official US college transcript
Letters of evaluation	1 committee letter OR 3 letters (at least 2 life-science professors and 1 US/Canadian dentist). Extra letters beyond 4 in AADSAS may be emailed by the writer to denadmit@vcu.edu
International and transfer policy	International and Canadian students are accepted. Transfer students are not accepted
Curriculum and financial aid	193.5 minimum credit hours (July to June). FAFSA school code 003735. Federal Unsubsidized Loan up to $47,167/year ($224,000 aggregate max) at 7.05% interest (1.057% fee). Graduate PLUS at 8.05% interest (4.228% fee). Health Profession Student Loan at 0% interest in school and for 12 months after

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

Why do you want to train at VCU School of Dentistry, and how have your hands-on and clinical experiences prepared you for our curriculum?

Example answer (written by us, invented applicant)

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented. "I want to train at VCU because it is Virginia's only dental school, and the way you combine early clinical care in Richmond with fourth-year service-learning across 14 community practices matches how I want to practice general dentistry. During my 130 hours shadowing a general dentist in Roanoke, I watched how much time he spent calming anxious patients who had waited years for care until Virginia expanded adult Medicaid dental coverage. One afternoon, a patient came in with a fractured premolar and told us he was terrified of needles. Watching the dentist slow down, explain the radiograph in plain words, and restore the tooth in one visit showed me how immediate and personal general dentistry is. For the hands-on side, I brought a small basswood relief carving in my bag today. I have carved wood for 4 years, and working with a 2-millimeter gouge taught me that you cannot rush depth or symmetry. Once you take too much material off a margin, you cannot put it back, so you learn to check your angles under good light before every cut. I am excited to bring that patience to the preclinical restorative labs here and to care for patients across Virginia in the Urgent Care and service-learning clinics."

Why this answer works: It answers both parts of the prompt concisely, connects a real moment from the 100-150 general practice shadowing hours VCU recommends to Virginia's 2021 Medicaid dental expansion, and naturally introduces the psychomotor sample VCU invites candidates to bring.

VCU dental school interview FAQ

What is the VCU dental school interview format?

The VCU School of Dentistry interview is an in-person day in Richmond from about 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. You complete a standardized 30-minute interview with two faculty members and one candidate (with student committee members also participating per the Selection Process page) and carve a tooth out of wax.

When does VCU School of Dentistry interview applicants?

Interviews run by invitation only from mid-September through February, with a holiday break from the second week of December until the first week of January. VCU notes that most applicants invited to interview complete their application before September 1.

Should I bring anything to the VCU dental interview?

Yes. VCU invites you to bring samples of your psychomotor activities to the interview, such as paintings, small carvings, or short videos of yourself playing a musical instrument.

Does VCU School of Dentistry prefer in-state applicants?

Yes. As a public university and Virginia's only dental school, VCU gives admissions preference to Virginia residents, allocating 60 of its 95 maximum class seats to Virginia residents and 35 seats to non-residents.

Does VCU Dental School require a supplemental application and fee?

VCU's FAQ states that the school does not require a supplemental application, though you must pay a non-refundable application fee ($85 on the Application Process page, $80 in the 2026-27 Bulletin) through the VCU School of Dentistry Applicant Status Portal after submitting ADEA AADSAS.

What should I wear to the VCU dental school interview?

VCU requires professional attire: suits or sport coats with ties for men, and suits or dresses for women, paired with comfortable walking shoes for the campus tour. Blue jeans, miniskirts, shorts, flip-flops, and tennis shoes are not recommended.

Sources, checked November 3, 2026:

Confetto isn't affiliated with Virginia Commonwealth 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.