At a glance: requirements & format
Sourced from Touro College of Dental Medicine's International Dentist Program admissions page and the ADEA CAAPID program listing. Confirm anything decision-critical with the TCDM Admissions Office before you spend money.
- Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) — you enter the accredited D.D.S. curriculum with advanced standing at the third year
- 24 months of didactic and clinical training; classes begin in May
- 5 students per cycle — the program size published on the ADEA CAAPID listing, flagged as an estimate
- March 5 — the ADEA CAAPID listing shows the application open date as March 5, 2027
- August 1 — the CAAPID application and the $100 program fee must both be in by this date; the ADEA listing's 2027 dates do not line up with its own May 3, 2027 start date, so confirm the cycle year with the Admissions Office
- Yes — bench test and interviewing are part of the TCDM IDP application process, conducted in the Fall/Winter of the application year; selected candidates receive the details directly
- One interview of roughly 30 minutes, one-on-one with a faculty or committee member, open file; both virtual and on-campus formats have been used — confirm yours when invited
- Required if English is not your native language — 4.5 on the new scoring model (90 on the old conversion) or higher is considered competitive; the score must be within two years of the program start date; IELTS and MyBest Scores are not accepted
- Pass NBDE Parts I and II if the scores are not more than three years old, or pass the INBDE; applicants who have passed NBDE Part II or the INBDE are given preference. Official scores go to ADEA CAAPID and you must self-report them in the portal
- Not considered — completion of the ADAT plays no part in the review of your IDP application
- ECE or WES — a course-by-course evaluation submitted through your ADEA CAAPID application
- Three, submitted only through ADEA CAAPID (do not send them to the school) from academic faculty or dental professionals who can attest to your skills and attributes
- None — there is no separate supplemental application form; the only direct-to-school item is the $100 application and processing fee
- $100 USD application and processing fee, paid directly to the program by the August 1 deadline — not to ADEA CAAPID; TCDM emails the payment instructions after you apply
- New York (Touro Dental Health in Hawthorne, Westchester County) or New Mexico (Albuquerque) — you may select the campus for your clinical years
- No fixed notification date is published — selected candidates are emailed bench test and interview details during the Fall or Winter of the application year
- May 3, 2027 — the ADEA CAAPID program start date; classes begin in May for international dentists joining the third-year curriculum
- TCDM Admissions Office, 19 Skyline Drive, Hawthorne, NY 10532 — admissions.dds@touro.edu, (914) 594-2638
Requirements change — verify before you spend money
The $100 program fee, the TOEFL band, and the Fall/Winter bench and interview logistics are all set by the program rather than by ADEA, and the CAAPID listing for this cycle shows dates that do not align with its own May 3, 2027 start date. Before you pay the fee, pay ETS, or book travel to Hawthorne, email admissions.dds@touro.edu or call (914) 594-2638 and confirm the current cycle's requirements and dates in writing.
How the Touro IDP advanced standing evaluation actually works
Touro runs a file-first, hands-second sequence with a hard money gate in the middle. The CAAPID file and the $100 program fee decide whether you are reviewed at all; the bench test then measures what no transcript can, and the 30-minute open-file interview settles the remaining question of fit. Each link can end your cycle, and the second and third are only offered to selected candidates.
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Stage 1: The file gate — a complete CAAPID application plus $100 paid straight to Touro
Everything starts with the file, and Touro's version of the file contains one item most programs do not have: a $100 USD application and processing fee paid directly to the program, not to ADEA CAAPID. You apply through the ADEA CAAPID portal by August 1, TCDM then emails you instructions for the fee, and that fee is due by the same August 1 deadline. Alongside it go three Letters of Evaluation submitted through CAAPID, an ECE or WES course-by-course credential evaluation, official NBDE or INBDE scores reported to CAAPID and self-reported by you in the portal, and a TOEFL score if English is not your native language.
Read the order of operations as a filter rather than as paperwork. The program states that you must have every requirement listed for your application to be reviewed by the admissions committee, so a missing letter or an unsubmitted board score does not lower your ranking — it removes you from the pool. The direct-to-school fee raises the stakes further: it is money you cannot pay from the CAAPID checkout screen, which means an applicant who stops paying attention after hitting submit exits the cycle without ever being told why.
The $100 goes to Touro, not to CAAPID
ADEA CAAPID will not collect it for you, and the payment instructions only arrive by email from TCDM after you submit. Pay the $100 directly to the program before the August 1 deadline, keep the receipt, and email admissions.dds@touro.edu if those instructions have not arrived within a week of your submission.
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Stage 2: The bench test — Touro's hands-on instrument
Touro requires a bench test. The ADEA CAAPID listing's bench test field reads Yes, and the program's own admissions page states plainly that bench test and interviewing are part of the TCDM IDP application process, with the practical details released only to selected candidates. Both the bench and the interview take place in the Fall or Winter of the application year, so the invitation arrives weeks — not months — before you are expected to perform. Touro publishes no procedure list, no material list and no time limit in advance; that information comes with the invitation, including which of the two exercises runs first.
What the bench measures is the thing a file cannot: whether your hands still produce acceptable work after time away from a US-style preclinical setting. The International Dentist Program places you into the third year of the D.D.S. curriculum, where you treat patients at the on-site Touro Dental Health clinic during that first year, so the committee is buying confidence that you can cut a prep and finish a restoration under observation. Because the invitation window is short, your preparation has to be running before the email arrives.
Start typodont work in the summer, not after the invitation
Plan on roughly four to eight weeks between invitation and bench day. Secure typodont access now through a simulation lab, a dental supplier or a colleague's practice, then drill the US preclinical standards for operative and prosthodontic preparations — taper, reduction depth, margin quality — in timed sessions. Ask the program in writing what the bench day provides and what you must bring.
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3
Stage 3: The interview — one conversation of about 30 minutes, open file
The interview is a single conversation of roughly 30 minutes with one interviewer, typically a faculty member or a member of the admissions committee. It is open file: your interviewer has read your CAAPID application, and questions tend to start from something you wrote rather than from a fixed script. Both virtual and on-campus formats have been used, so confirm which one applies to your invitation before you book travel to Hawthorne. The tone is consistently described as conversational rather than adversarial.
Understand what those 30 minutes are actually for. Your file has already established whether you are academically admissible and your hands have already answered the dexterity question, so the interview resolves the last item: in a cohort of about five students, whether you have a specific reason to be at Touro. That is why a commitment question outranks any generic ethics prompt here — an answer that would survive swapping in another school's name reads as a wasted seat.
Anchor your why-Touro answer in published facts
Name what is genuinely distinctive: entry into the third year of the D.D.S. curriculum, a cohort of about five, the choice of the New York or New Mexico clinical campus, and the Touro Dental Health clinic where you treat patients in your first year. Then tie one of those facts to your own career plan. Specific beats enthusiastic in a five-seat cohort.
What Touro's admissions committee is really evaluating
Touro publishes requirements rather than a ranked rubric, so treat the five criteria below as the things its stages are built to measure — each one maps to a stage or a published policy you can prepare against.
Clinical dexterity, demonstrated live
The bench test is Touro's hands-on instrument and the CAAPID listing says Yes to it. It measures whether you can produce acceptable operative and prosthodontic work in a proctored setting, not whether you can describe it, and the details are only released to selected candidates.
Board exam currency and preference
Pass NBDE Parts I and II with scores no more than three years old, or pass the INBDE. Applicants who have passed NBDE Part II or the INBDE are given preference, and you must both self-report the result in the CAAPID portal and arrange official score reporting to ADEA CAAPID.
English proficiency on a clock
If English is not your native language, the TOEFL is required, and only 4.5 on the new scoring model (90 on the old conversion) or higher is considered competitive. The score must fall within two years of the program start date, and IELTS and MyBest Scores are not accepted as substitutes.
A specific reason for a five-seat cohort
The program size is published as an estimate of five. With that few seats, the decision turns on whether you want this program rather than any program — third-year entry, the New York or New Mexico campus choice, and the integrated Touro Dental Health clinic are the facts to build that answer on.
Readiness to practise in the United States
The IDP exists so internationally educated dentists can earn a US degree and sit for licensure. That means a student visa before matriculation and documentation of a financial commitment covering two years of study, and it means your answers should show a plan for practice rather than an intention to collect a credential.
Touro dental advanced standing interview questions (with coaching notes)
The open-file conversation is short, so the questions below are grouped by the four things it measures. Practise every answer aloud against a timer — reading them is a different skill from delivering them in a 30-minute window.
Motivational & background
4 questionsTell me about yourself and your dental career.
How to answer
Build a 90-second arc: where you trained, what your practice or clinical work has looked like, what pushed you toward US licensure, and why Touro's IDP is the vehicle. The interview is open file, so the trap is reciting facts the interviewer already read instead of narrating them with emphasis.
Why do you want to be a dentist?
How to answer
Anchor the answer in one concrete moment — a patient you helped, a case that changed how you work — then connect it to what you want to do in the US. Generic passion language collapses under a follow-up question; the trap is an answer with no scene in it.
Why Touro?
How to answer
Name published facts: third-year entry into the D.D.S. curriculum, a cohort of about five, the choice of the New York or New Mexico campus, and treating patients at Touro Dental Health in your first year. Then attach one fact to your own plan. Any answer that survives swapping in a different school fails here.
How will you handle the transition to the U.S. dental system?
How to answer
Break the transition into three named parts — clinical protocols and materials, regulatory and insurance frameworks, and patient communication norms — then say what you have already done on each, such as US CE courses, observerships or reading state licensure requirements. The trap is answering only with 'I adapt quickly'.
Behavioral
4 questionsTalk about a conflict you experienced at work, and how you resolved it.
How to answer
Pick one real dispute with a colleague, employer or patient, then give the barrier, what you actually said, the outcome, and what you changed afterwards. Keep the focus on your reasoning rather than the drama. Blaming the other party, or a story that never resolved, sinks the answer.
What is your biggest achievement, and why does it matter?
How to answer
Choose something with a measurable outcome — a practice you built, a complex case sequence, a public health programme, an academic result — and spend half the answer on why it mattered to someone other than you. The trap is an achievement with no evidence attached, or one that is really just a role description.
What are your greatest strengths as a candidate, and what is your biggest weakness?
How to answer
Give one strength with a proof point from clinical practice, then a real weakness already under management — delegating, slowing down under time pressure, asking for help — and state what you changed. Disguised strengths such as perfectionism read as evasive in an open-file interview.
How do you handle stress and pressure?
How to answer
Answer with your system, not your temperament: how you triage a full clinic day, what you do when a case goes wrong, who you call, how you protect sleep and study time. A Touro cohort of five and a two-year accelerated curriculum mean the committee is testing whether your system already exists.
Ethical & scenario
4 questionsHave you ever been in an ethical dilemma? What was it, and how did you resolve it?
How to answer
Choose a genuine dilemma with competing goods — a patient who could not pay, a colleague cutting corners, pressure to overtreat — and walk through how you identified the obligation, who you consulted and what you documented. Naming your jurisdiction-specific duty as a dentist is the signal; improvising quietly is the trap.
How would you manage a patient whose expectations do not match your diagnosis?
How to answer
Show two things at once: clinical integrity on the diagnosis and pragmatism on the plan. Describe presenting the evidence, offering staged or alternative options honestly, documenting the discussion, and respecting an informed refusal. Never present a substandard option as an equivalent one.
You notice a colleague's charting does not match the treatment that was actually delivered. What do you do?
How to answer
Treat it as an integrity issue with a sequence: verify your understanding, raise it privately with the colleague first, escalate to a supervisor or compliance channel if the record is inaccurate or the pattern continues, and keep the patient's interest as the constant. Silence framed as loyalty fails this prompt.
A patient cannot afford the treatment you have diagnosed. How do you handle it?
How to answer
Answer in order: secure the diagnosis, sequence the treatment so the urgent parts come first, present the financial options including payment plans or a referral to a lower-cost clinic, and document the conversation. The trap is quietly downgrading the plan so it fits the budget and calling that patient care.
Open-file & bench-day prompts
5 questionsTell me something about you that is not on your application.
How to answer
Open file means everything written has already been read, so this is a genuine test of what you add in person. Have one specific, relevant detail ready — a teaching role, a language you treat patients in, a hobby that shows discipline — and keep it to 60 seconds rather than turning it into a second CV.
Do you actually want to come to Touro, or are we a backup?
How to answer
Answer directly and without defensiveness: say where Touro sits and why, using the two-campus structure, the small cohort and third-year entry as concrete reasons. Never dodge into 'all programs are great'. Treat the question as a fit check, not an accusation.
How many programs did you apply to, and where does Touro sit on that list?
How to answer
Answer honestly and briefly, then immediately spend your time on why Touro ranks where it does for your goals. A defensive or evasive number damages credibility; a candid number with a specific reason behind it is the strongest version of this answer.
What do you think you will contribute to our program?
How to answer
Move past 'a diverse perspective' and name something you have already done that a five-person cohort would notice: mentoring in a subject you are strong in, running study sessions, a community outreach programme, a research or digital-dentistry skill. Tie it to the evidence, not to an intention.
Do you have any questions for us?
How to answer
Always have three prepared and ask two: how the bench day is structured and what you should bring, how campus selection for the clinical years works, how IDP students integrate with the D.D.S. class. Do not ask what a simple website search would answer — that is the fastest way to look unprepared.
Want feedback on your answers — not just the questions?
Practice these questions freeYour Touro advanced standing preparation timeline
Work backwards from two fixed points: the August 1 deadline and the May 3, 2027 start. The two things that wreck this cycle most often are a TOEFL score that falls outside the two-year window measured from the program start, and a $100 program fee nobody realised had to be paid outside the CAAPID portal.
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Now, before the March 5 application opens
- Check whether your TOEFL score is valid — Touro measures the two-year window from the program start date, not from your interview date
- Confirm NBDE Parts I and II are no more than three years old, or that your INBDE pass is on record
- Start the ECE or WES course-by-course credential evaluation — both are accepted, and neither is fast
- Line up your three Letter of Evaluation writers: academic faculty or dental professionals
- Book a TOEFL retake if your current score falls below 4.5 on the new scale or its 90-point equivalent on the old one
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March 5 to mid-June — build the file inside CAAPID
- Complete the ADEA CAAPID application in full and submit the three Letters of Evaluation through the portal only
- Self-report your NBDE or INBDE scores in the CAAPID application — the committee cannot see a pass you do not report
- Arrange official NBDE or INBDE score reporting from the ADA to ADEA CAAPID
- Arrange official TOEFL score reporting to ADEA CAAPID
- Draft your personal statement around the transition to US practice rather than around your CV
- Confirm your ECE or WES evaluation has been submitted and received
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The last two weeks before August 1
- Watch your email for TCDM's instructions on paying the $100 application and processing fee
- Pay the $100 directly to the program before August 1 — CAAPID does not collect it for you
- Keep the payment receipt and the email chain in one folder
- Verify all three letters and the credential evaluation show as received in CAAPID
- Re-check that every listed admission requirement is in before the deadline, because the committee only reviews complete files
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Summer — prepare the bench before any invitation arrives
- Secure typodont access through a simulation lab, dental supplier or colleague's practice
- Drill US preclinical operative and prosthodontic preparations: taper, reduction depth, margins, finish lines
- Run timed sessions so you are working at exam pace, not practice pace
- Practice with the instruments and materials a US dental school bench day typically uses
- Hold four to eight weeks of runway in your calendar for an invitation-to-bench window
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Invitation — schedule the bench test and interview
- Reply to the TCDM invitation promptly and confirm the date and location in writing
- Ask whether your interview is in person in Hawthorne, New York or virtual — both have been used
- Ask what the bench day provides (instruments, typodont, materials) and what you must bring
- Book refundable travel to Hawthorne with a full-day buffer either side
- Request the details in writing if anything in the invitation is ambiguous
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Bench day and interview day
- Arrive early and confirm attire expectations — a lab coat is often provided, but ask
- Work methodically on the bench and keep your setup organised rather than racing the clock
- Reset mentally between the bench and the interview — they are separate evaluations with separate observers
- Re-read your CAAPID application and personal statement the night before the interview
- Have a why-Touro answer built on the third-year entry, the two campuses and the small cohort
- Prepare two genuine questions about curriculum, clinic rotations or campus selection
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After the evaluation, before the May 3, 2027 start
- Send a brief thank-you note through the TCDM Admissions Office
- Decide your clinical campus preference: New York (Hawthorne) or New Mexico (Albuquerque)
- Gather documentation of a financial commitment covering two years of study — enrollment cannot be finalised without it
- Begin the student visa process well before matriculation
- Confirm deposit and pre-matriculation requirements with admissions.dds@touro.edu or (914) 594-2638
Touro dental advanced standing interview — frequently asked questions
What is the format of the Touro dental advanced standing interview?
The International Dentist Program evaluation has three parts. Every applicant must complete the ADEA CAAPID application plus a $100 application and processing fee paid directly to the program by August 1. Selected candidates are then invited to a bench test and an interview, both conducted in the Fall or Winter of the application year. The interview itself is one conversation of roughly 30 minutes, one-on-one and open file.
Does Touro require a bench test for IDP applicants?
Yes. The ADEA CAAPID listing's bench test field reads Yes, and Touro's admissions page confirms that bench test and interviewing are part of the TCDM IDP application process. Details are released only to selected candidates, and the bench is conducted in the Fall or Winter of the application year. Prepare before the invitation arrives.
How long is the interview, and who interviews me?
One interview of roughly 30 minutes with a single interviewer, typically a faculty member or an admissions committee member. It is open file, meaning the interviewer has read your CAAPID application and expects you to know your own materials. Applicants describe the tone as conversational rather than adversarial.
Is the Touro interview in person or virtual?
Both formats have been used. The bench test is necessarily on campus, but the interview may be held in person in Hawthorne, New York or virtually. Confirm which applies to your invitation in writing before you book travel, and ask whether both activities fall on the same day or on separate days.
What TOEFL score does Touro accept?
If English is not your native language you must take the TOEFL. Touro considers 4.5 on the new scoring model, or 90 on the old conversion, or higher to be competitive. The score must be obtained within two years of the program start date, and the program does not accept IELTS or TOEFL MyBest Scores as substitutes. Report scores to ADEA CAAPID.
Do I need the INBDE or the NBDE, and does the ADAT count?
You need National Board passage: NBDE Part I and Part II with scores no more than three years old, or the INBDE. Applicants who have passed NBDE Part II or the INBDE are given preference for admission. Official scores must go to ADEA CAAPID and you must self-report them in the portal. The ADAT is not considered in the review.
What is the deadline, and is there a supplemental application or fee?
The application opens March 5 and the deadline is August 1. There is no separate supplemental application form, but a $100 USD application and processing fee applies, and it is paid directly to the program rather than to ADEA CAAPID. TCDM emails the payment instructions after you apply, and the fee is due by the same August 1 deadline.
How many students are in the Touro IDP class?
The program size is published on the ADEA CAAPID listing as five, flagged as an estimate. That is a very small cohort, so every seat is contested and the interview weighs fit heavily. Confirm the current intake with the TCDM Admissions Office, and ask how IDP students integrate with the D.D.S. class.
When do finalists hear about the bench test and interview?
Touro publishes no fixed notification date. Selected candidates receive bench test and interview details during the Fall or Winter of the application year, so the invitation can arrive with only a few weeks of runway. Keep your contact details current with ADEA CAAPID and treat bench preparation as ongoing work rather than something you start after the email.
Practice the Touro interview out loud
Knowing the format gets you about halfway. The other half is delivering a 90-second structured answer when the interviewer opens your file and asks about something you wrote a year ago. Our AI interview practice scores your structure and delivery instantly, so you can run the reps before the 30 minutes that count.
Applying to other programs this cycle? The AI interview practice tool lets you rehearse any school's questions with instant feedback, our MMI preparation guide covers the multiple-mini-interview format used by a growing share of programs, and our dental school interview guides break down each program's format and requirements.