Updated October 26, 2026

UNC Dental School Interview (Adams): Format, Dates and Tips

What happens at the UNC Adams dental school interview, how you get one, and how it decides your offer.

For 2027 entry, UNC's October 1, 2026 application deadline has passed. Interviews run by invitation through November, and first offers go out in December. UNC Adams School of Dentistry invites selected applicants to a series of personal interviews with its Admissions Committee, in person for 2026-27. The interview evaluation, your academic record, activities and DAT are the basis for decisions.

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Key facts (2027 entry)

Next step: Interviews by invitation through November, then first offers in December 2026.
Format: A series of personal interviews with the Admissions Committee. UNC does not publish how many, how long they last or who is on them.
Online or in person: In person. UNC is planning in-person interviews for the 2026-2027 cycle, with details in the invitation.
When: By invitation from September to November. Invitations go out on a rolling basis.
How it counts: The interview evaluation, academic record, activities and DAT together are the basis for acceptance. UNC does not publish a weighting.
Deadline: October 1, 2026 for both the AADSAS application and UNC's supplemental application ($84). It has passed.
Recent admits: The most recently admitted class averaged a 3.72 GPA and a 460 DAT Academic Average.
Offers: First offers in December, then rolling. All applicants should hear by the end of March.

What happens on the interview day

UNC invites selected applicants to the school for a series of personal interviews with its Admissions Committee. More details come with the interview invitation.

Several interviews. The catalog calls it a series of personal interviews with the Admissions Committee. It does not give the number or length.
In person. UNC is planning in-person interviews for the 2026-2027 cycle.
September to November. Interviews are by invitation only and fall in these months.
No stations described. UNC's pages do not mention MMI stations or scenarios. Your invitation will say more about the day.

Be ready for several interviewers. A series of interviews means telling your story more than once. Keep it consistent, and let each conversation go where the interviewer takes it.

How offers are decided

The interview evaluation, your academic record, your activities and your DAT together decide acceptance. Offers are rolling until the class is full.

December. First offers go out, with an acceptance packet on the $500 non-refundable deposit.
End of March. All applicants should have a status update by then.
Provisional acceptance. Offers depend on finishing further requirements, including background checks.
Feedback. UNC can sometimes give application feedback from March to early May, as staff time allows.

How you get an interview

The Admissions Committee starts reviewing completed applications in June. It lists the skills and experiences it expects to see.

Academic ability. Finished prerequisites and an acceptable DAT. UNC prefers a GPA of at least 3.2 and a DAT Academic Average of 420, but sets no minimum.
Psychomotor ability. Shown by the DAT perceptual ability section and by hobbies and other activities that use your hands outside class.
Service and caring. Extracurricular and volunteer work with other people. UNC calls a caring attitude central to dentistry.
Lifelong learning. Experiences that show independent intellectual curiosity are favored.
Knowledge of dentistry. A firm grasp of what the profession is and the important issues it faces, from talking with and observing dentists and reading.
Shadowing. No minimum hours, but a strong focus on general dentistry is recommended. Multiple long-term experiences count more than short ones.

Letters and the supplemental

Three letters. One from a science professor, one from a professor in your major and one from a dental practitioner. A committee letter can replace the academic letters, but the dentist letter is still required. Four is the maximum.
Supplemental application. Emailed within 48 hours of your AADSAS submission. It costs $84, with no fee waivers, and includes a passport-style photo.
DAT age. Scores more than three years old are not considered.

Dates for 2027 entry

These dates come from UNC's admissions page for the 2026-27 cycle. UNC's catalog still lists November deadlines, but the admissions page names October 1, 2026, so go by the admissions page.

May 12, 2026. The AADSAS application opened.
June 2, 2026. First day to submit AADSAS. UNC's review began, and its supplemental opened in early June.
September to November. Interviews by invitation, running through November.
October 1, 2026. Deadline for AADSAS and the UNC supplemental application. It has passed.
December 2026. First offers of admission.
July 15, 2027. All prerequisite courses and degrees must be finished.
2028 entry. UNC has not posted dates for the next cycle.

How to prepare

UNC spells out what it looks for, so build your stories around its list.

Talk about your hands. UNC looks at hobbies that use psychomotor skill. Have one you can describe in detail, like an instrument, a craft or model building.
Know the issues. UNC expects you to understand important issues facing dentistry. Read up on access to care, costs and how practices are changing.
Show teamwork both ways. UNC wants applicants who can lead and be a productive team member. Prepare one example of each.
Know why UNC. UNC teaches the Advocate-Clinician-Thinker (ACT) curriculum and provides care to underserved people across North Carolina. Connect one of these to your own goals.

Ethics will come up. UNC calls good moral character an important prerequisite for dentistry. Practice talking through a hard ethical choice calmly.

Practice questions

Questions in the style of a Personal interviews (in person) station, written for applicants to UNC Adams School of Dentistry. They are practice questions, not the school's own. Open one for what a strong answer does.

Working with your hands often means turning a two-dimensional picture or set of instructions into a three-dimensional action. Tell us about a time you did this successfully outside of school.

Pick a specific hobby or task, describe the steps you took, and show how you checked your own work.

Tell us about a time you had to do a delicate task with your non-dominant hand. How did you train yourself to do it?

Focus on how you practiced and improved, which shows you can build hand skills deliberately.

You are shadowing a highly respected oral surgeon. During a procedure, they keep adjusting their mask with gloved hands and then going straight back into the surgical site. How do you address this, if at all?

Put patient safety first, and show how you would raise it respectfully given your role as an observer.

As a dentist, you will present treatment plans that patients often pay for out of pocket. How do you balance being a healthcare provider with the reality that you are also selling your services?

Show you understand the business side, then explain how honesty and the patient's needs guide your recommendations.

Tell me about a time a teammate on a group project quietly held back information or resources to make their own contribution look better. How did you handle it?

Describe how you raised it directly and fairly, and what the team did differently afterward.

Dental anxiety often comes from a fear of losing control. As a future dentist, how will you help patients feel in control while they're lying back in your chair?

Give concrete steps like explaining each stage and agreeing on a stop signal, and show real empathy.

Frequently asked questions

Is the UNC dental school interview in person?

UNC says it is planning in-person interviews for the 2026-2027 cycle. More details come with the interview invitation.

What is the UNC Adams interview format?

A series of personal interviews with the Admissions Committee. UNC does not publish how many interviews there are or how long they last.

When does UNC dental send interview invites?

On a rolling basis between September and November. The Admissions Committee starts reviewing completed applications in June.

How many shadowing hours does UNC dental require?

There is no set number. UNC strongly recommends exploring general dentistry and values multiple long-term experiences over short ones.

What GPA and DAT does UNC dental want?

There is no minimum, but UNC prefers a GPA of at least 3.2 and a DAT Academic Average of 420. The most recently admitted class averaged 3.72 and 460.

Sources

Official pages only, read on the date shown. Schools change their process every year, so check the school's own page before you apply.

UNC Adams School of Dentistry: DDS Admissions · read October 26, 2026
UNC 2026-2027 Catalog: Doctor of Dental Surgery, D.D.S. · read October 26, 2026
UNC Adams School of Dentistry: Doctor of Dental Surgery · read October 24, 2026