Kentucky Dental School Interview (UKCD): Panel Format and Dates

What happens on the interview day

UKCD says the interview lets its committee get to know you beyond your application. It is a real conversation with a mixed panel.

• Panel format. Each candidate has a traditional interview in conversation style.
• Who is on it. Members of the Admissions Committee, faculty, staff and dental students.
• 12 candidates a day. Interview days run from late August to early December until every slot is filled.
• Interview packet. Once your session fills, you get directions, airport and hotel information, restaurant tips and financial aid information.
• Tour included. UKCD is not giving separate tours for the rest of 2026, so invited applicants get a tour on their interview day.

How offers are decided

UKCD follows ADEA's traffic rules, so no provisional or final acceptance comes before December 15. It does not publish how much the interview counts.

• Email at midnight. Candidates get an email at midnight and a phone call during the day with the decision.
• Updates welcome. Between your interview and the decision, you may send updates and letters of intent.
• Waitlist. If you are not admitted, you may be waitlisted or declined. Waitlisted candidates can keep sending updates.
• Deposit. $250 for Kentucky residents and $1,000 for out-of-state applicants, nonrefundable and applied to tuition.

How you get an interview

The Admissions Committee invites applicants to interview, and only complete files are considered. UKCD says many more applicants are interviewed than there are seats.

• $75 fee. Requested by email after your AADSAS application is verified. A fee waiver can be requested.
• Service. UKCD wants a commitment to direct service, such as tutoring, helping seniors, volunteer EMT work, coaching or mentoring.
• 50 hours of shadowing. Required this year, mostly in general dentistry plus some specialty hours.
• Three letters. Two from science faculty who taught you in class (or a committee letter), and one from a dentist you shadowed. A fourth is optional.
• Mixed backgrounds. UKCD seeks students from a wide range of urban, rural, economic and cultural backgrounds.
• DAT can come later. UKCD encourages applying early even without a DAT score, so it can do a first review.

Dates for 2027 entry

UKCD reviews on a rolling basis, and its admissions office meets every two weeks to make decisions.

• June 2, 2026 (passed). First day to submit an AADSAS application.
• Mid-July 2026 (passed). Interview invitations began.
• September 1 and October 15 (passed). The preferred and final application dates on UK's DMD program page.
• Late August to early December. Interview days. UKCD's page gives the months without a year.
• December 15, 2026. Earliest date for an acceptance.
• July 2027. All prerequisites must be finished by matriculation.

How to prepare

UKCD calls a caring attitude central to dentistry and wants graduates who are socially responsible leaders. Build your answers around service.

• Direct service. Pick one or two service stories where you worked face to face with people, and say what changed for them.
• Rural and underserved care. Think about access to dental care in rural Kentucky and what one dentist could do about it.
• Your dentist's letter. Be ready to talk about the dentist you shadowed and what you learned about the profession from them.
• Conversation, not a speech. Practice short answers that invite a follow-up, since the panel is a conversation.

Practice questions

Questions in the style of a Panel interview station, written for applicants to University of Kentucky College of Dentistry (UKCD). They are practice questions, not the school's own. Open one for what a strong answer does.

Frequently asked questions