At a glance: requirements & format
Sourced from Howard University College of Dentistry's own International Dentist Program page and the ADEA CAAPID program listing for Howard (last updated March 11, 2026). Confirm anything decision-critical with the College of Dentistry Office of Academic Affairs before you spend money.
- Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) — you enter the third-year (D3) class and join all D3 and D4 programming
- 24 months, full time and in person; the program may extend beyond two years if you cannot meet every graduation requirement on schedule
- Up to 10 students per cycle (ADEA CAAPID estimate); confirm the current intake with the Office of Academic Affairs
- March 5, 2026 through ADEA CAAPID
- July 31, 2026 — boards must be completed, scored and passed before this date, and only complete applications are reviewed
- Two interviews are typical, each roughly 30 minutes, one-on-one and open file, conducted virtually by invitation
- Flagged as Yes on the ADEA CAAPID listing — the hands-on evaluation is the summer calibration and competency assessment on preclinical manikins in the simulation laboratory, and an unsuccessful performance rescinds the acceptance
- 100 or higher total on the internet-based test to be considered; no waiver is given and paper-based scores are not accepted — report through ADEA CAAPID and send the original score report directly to the program on request
- Pass NBDE Parts I and II, or the INBDE in their place; NBDE Parts I and II must have been passed within the last five years of your application date
- A detailed evaluation by ECE or WES, submitted to ADEA CAAPID; if you are admitted, official transcripts from your original dental school go directly to the program
- Three Letters of Evaluation submitted through ADEA CAAPID, on institutional letterhead with the evaluator's official signature — the program prefers one from the dean of the dental school you graduated from
- Required, and submit exactly one — supplemental material may be requested after the program reviews your ADEA CAAPID application, and a 2 x 2 color photograph is sent to the program after you are contacted for a scheduled interview
- $200.00 non-refundable Howard University application fee, in addition to the fees CAAPID charges; only complete, paid applications are reviewed
- Certified funds only — cashier's check or money order payable to Howard University College of Dentistry (Suite 128), mailed with your ADEA CAAPID ID number and first and last name written on the instrument; cash and personal checks are returned and delay your file
- If you are scheduled for an interview you must bring the official TOEFL score report, and the official NBDE or INBDE scores; no updated CV is accepted unless it is specifically requested at the interview
- Interview invitations are issued only after a complete application is reviewed; Howard publishes no fixed notification date, so keep your email current and add donotreply@webadmit.org to your contacts because communication by email is preferred
- May 1, 2027 — orientation falls on the Wednesday after University graduation in May and the class start date is the Monday after orientation week
- Office of Academic Affairs, Attention: International Dentist Program, Howard University College of Dentistry, 600 W Street NW, Suite 128, Washington, DC 20059 — (202) 806-0442 or hucd_aaffairs@howard.edu, with email preferred over telephone
Requirements change — verify before you spend money
The $200.00 supplemental fee is non-refundable, the certification format for it is strict, and the listing and the program page do not even agree on where your board and TOEFL scores are sent — one route runs through ADEA CAAPID, the other directly to the program. Before you mail certified funds, book a TOEFL retake, or pay a credential evaluator, email hucd_aaffairs@howard.edu or call (202) 806-0442 and get the current rules confirmed in writing for the cycle you are applying in.
How the Howard dental advanced standing interview actually works
Howard runs three instruments in a fixed order: a documents gate, a virtual interview, and a manikin calibration. Nothing is scored until your file is complete, so the July 31 deadline behaves like a switch rather than a slope — an incomplete file is never read. Only then does the interview happen, and only after selection does the simulation laboratory decide whether the acceptance stands. Prepare the chain in that order and you stop spending effort on stages you may never reach.
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Stage 1: The complete-file gate — CAAPID, certified funds, and the July 31 deadline
Everything Howard evaluates before an interview is paperwork, and the list is long: the ADEA CAAPID application itself, a TOEFL total of 100 or higher with no waiver available, passage of NBDE Parts I and II or the INBDE completed, scored and passed before the deadline, a detailed credential evaluation from ECE or WES, three Letters of Evaluation on institutional letterhead with the evaluator's official signature, your 2 x 2 photograph obligation later in the process, and a non-refundable $200.00 application fee paid with certified funds. The fee is mailed to the Office of Academic Affairs in the College of Dentistry, and the program reviews only applications that are complete and paid.
This stage measures document discipline rather than dental knowledge, which is exactly why strong applicants fail it. The program states that only complete applications meeting the deadline and the listed requirements are reviewed, and that the dental board examination must be passed before July 31 — so a late INBDE result is not a small delay, it is the end of your cycle. The order matters because the fee instrument itself is a professionalism test: certified funds, your name and CAAPID number on the face, one supplemental application and no more.
Certified funds only, and only one supplemental application
Cash and personal checks are returned, which means your file stalls until a replacement instrument arrives. Send a cashier's check or money order payable to Howard University College of Dentistry (Suite 128), write your ADEA CAAPID ID number and your first and last name on it, and mail it with buffer time to 600 W Street NW, Suite 128, Washington, DC 20059. Do not send a second supplemental application to correct anything — the program explicitly asks for one.
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Stage 2: Two virtual interviews — roughly 30 minutes each, one-on-one, open file
The interview stage is two conversations, not one. The pattern documented for Howard is two interviews of about 30 minutes each, one-on-one with a single interviewer, conducted virtually rather than on campus, with the file open in front of the person asking the questions. Open file means your personal statement, your board history, your letters and the clinical detail you listed are all live inputs: interviewers start from your own material and press on the specifics, which is why generic preparation collapses under the second interview.
What the two interviews measure is consistency and spoken English under pressure. There is no campus visit and no bench session at this point, so the video call carries the whole live signal — and because two different interviewers usually run the two conversations, a story that changes shape between them is visible to the committee later. Answer the second interview as if the first one is being read back to you, because in practice it is.
Build one fact sheet and use it twice
Write down the numbers you will say out loud — years in practice, procedures performed per week, the patient population you served, the name of the procedure you are strongest in — and hold the account identical across both interviews. The trap is embellishing in interview two because interview one felt thin; the two interviewers compare. Rehearse with a phone camera at the real 30-minute length so you learn where your answers drift.
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Stage 3: The documents that decide your interview slot
Between selection for interview and the interview itself, Howard asks for things that are not in CAAPID. After the program contacts you for a scheduled interview, you send a 2 x 2 color photograph directly to the program — not to CAAPID — with your printed name and your ADEA CAAPID number on the back. If you are scheduled for an interview you are required to bring the official TOEFL score report and the official NBDE or INBDE scores, and the program states that no updated CV will be accepted unless it specifically asks for one at the interview.
This stage exists because Howard verifies rather than trusts. The scores it asks you to produce are the same scores it has already seen through the application service, and the photograph is an identity check before a virtual interview that would otherwise be unverifiable. It also sets the tempo: the program says supplemental material may be requested after it reviews your CAAPID application, and it prefers email over telephone, so an unread inbox is a dropped file.
Whitelist the program's email domain now
Howard states that communication by email is preferred over telephone and asks applicants to add donotreply@webadmit.org to their contacts so correspondence is not filtered. Do that the day you submit, check the spam folder weekly through the autumn, and keep the mailing address and telephone number for the Office of Academic Affairs on hand for anything urgent: (202) 806-0442.
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Stage 4: Selection, then the bench calibration that can rescind the offer
Howard selects up to 10 candidates after the interview process, and the offer is conditional. During the summer session, May through July, each selected candidate is evaluated and calibrated across clinical procedures using preclinical manikins in the simulation laboratory. Performance is judged by the department chairs, the admissions committee and the dean; if the candidate's performance is deemed unsatisfactory, the acceptance is rescinded. Only a candidate who clears that assessment is admitted to the D3 class.
This is the stage that separates Howard from programs where the interview is the last hurdle. A flagged bench test means the acceptance is a probationary seat, and the summer months are a supervised audition of your hands and your receptiveness to correction. Treat the calibration as an exam session you register for in advance: the procedures you will be asked to perform sit at the core of US predoctoral requirements, and the instructors scoring you are the same faculty who will supervise your clinic years.
Rebuild your hand skills on a manikin before May
Book simulation-lab or typodont time at home in the months before your start date and drill the preparations, restorations and isolation protocols that are standard in US predoctoral curricula — not the technique you were taught in your own dental school. Ask the Office of Academic Affairs what the calibration covers and which instruments are provided, then buy or borrow the rest. Arriving fluent in the program's rubric is worth more than arriving fast.
What Howard's admissions committee is really evaluating
Howard publishes requirements but not a ranked rubric, so read these as the six things the three-instrument chain is built to measure. Each one maps to a stage above, which means each one is something you can prepare rather than hope for.
Board passage before the deadline
NBDE Parts I and II or the INBDE must be completed, scored and passed before the July 31 deadline, and NBDE Parts I and II are only considered if passed within the last five years of your application date. This is a gate in stage 1, not a score the committee weighs.
English at the hundred-point floor
The TOEFL requirement is a total of 100 or higher, with no waiver granted and no paper-based results accepted, and internet-based scores only. Because Howard requires a complete file, a slow or short TOEFL score removes you from review entirely rather than damaging your ranking.
Document discipline and verifiable credentials
The detailed ECE or WES evaluation, three Letters of Evaluation on institutional letterhead with an official signature, and a preference for the dean's letter are all verified against the file. Stage 3 repeats the verification by requiring original board and TOEFL reports at interview.
Open-file interview consistency
Two one-on-one conversations of roughly 30 minutes, virtual and open file, test whether the person speaking matches the person written. The committee runs more than one interviewer so it can compare accounts — the specific danger is a detail that grows between interview one and interview two.
Mission fit with Howard's community
Howard is the only dental school in the District of Columbia and frames its work around service to underserved communities and its C.A.R.E. values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence. Your answer on serving a diverse, high-need patient population is read as a fit judgement, not as a warm-up question.
Manual dexterity under calibration
The flagged bench test converts your acceptance into a conditional one: satisfactory performance on preclinical manikins in the simulation laboratory across the summer session, judged by the chairs and the admissions committee, is what actually admits you to the D3 class. Hand skills are scored after selection, not before.
Howard dental advanced standing interview questions (with coaching notes)
These prompts are grouped by the four things Howard's chain measures: your motivation, your behaviour under load, your judgement on ethical ground, and your readiness for the simulation-laboratory calibration. Practise every answer out loud at the real length of an interview — roughly 30 minutes, one-on-one, with no feedback between questions.
Motivational & background
5 questionsTell me about yourself.
How to answer
Give a 90-second arc: where you trained, the clinical work you have actually done, why you are moving to US licensure, and why a 24-month D3 pathway is the right vehicle. The trap is reciting your CV in order — the interviewer already has your file open.
Why dentistry — and why now, after a dental degree in another country?
How to answer
Separate the origin story from the decision to restart: an early reason you chose the profession, then a concrete trigger for pursuing a US D.D.S. rather than a specialty or a different country. 'Better technology and higher pay' is the answer that ends the question badly.
Why Howard University College of Dentistry?
How to answer
Name what is structurally true — the D3 entry point, the 24-month timeline, the manikin calibration in the simulation laboratory, the DC patient base and Howard's service mission. Then connect one of those to something you have already done with an underserved population.
How do you feel about training and practising in a diverse setting?
How to answer
Answer with a case, not a value statement: a patient whose language, beliefs or finances shaped how you delivered care, and what you changed because of it. The committee is listening for whether diversity means a slogan to you or a clinical variable you already manage.
What do you expect your life to be like as a D3 in a 24-month program?
How to answer
Show that you have modelled the load: clinic hours, didactic content assessed in English, board-style exams and the calibration running alongside. Name the one thing you will protect (sleep, study blocks, family logistics) and how. Candidates who answer 'busy but I'll manage' sound unprepared.
Behavioral
4 questionsHow do you handle stress?
How to answer
Describe a mechanism with evidence, not a mood: how you triage when multiple deadlines collide, what you stop doing first, and one period when that system held. The trap is claiming you do not get stressed, which reads as low self-awareness in a program built on assessment pressure.
Describe a difficult situation where you faced adversity and how you overcame it.
How to answer
Choose one concrete situation — a failed procedure, a family or financial shock during training, a licensing setback — and spend the bulk of the answer on the specific actions you took and what changed after. A story without a correction is only a complaint.
How do you study — alone or in groups — and how will that hold up here?
How to answer
Be honest and then adapt it: say which mode you use for which subject, and how you will build a study group in a cohort of up to ten who are all being calibrated together. Answering 'alone, always' signals you will not use the class as a resource in a small, high-stakes cohort.
Give me three adjectives that describe you.
How to answer
Pick three that you can defend with a proof point each, and choose at least one that matters clinically — methodical, teachable, steady under pressure. Avoid three synonyms for hard-working, and be ready for the follow-up question that asks you to justify any one of them with a situation.
Ethical & scenario
4 questionsHow do you define integrity?
How to answer
Define it operationally — doing what you said you would do when nobody is checking, including in charting, billing and infection control — then give one small example from your own practice. Abstract answers about honesty without a clinical instance are the ones interviewers let drop.
A classmate is cheating on a competency assessment. What do you do?
How to answer
Work out loud through the ladder: address it directly first, document what you observed, then escalate to faculty because a competency assessment protects patients, not just grades. Say what you would not do — stay silent to keep the peace — and acknowledge the social cost of the choice.
Describe a time you were treated unfairly in training or practice, and how you handled it.
How to answer
Pick a professional grievance: a grade you believed was wrong, a supervisor who dismissed you, a colleague who took credit. Show the sequence you followed — facts first, then the appropriate authority — and one thing you would do differently. Bitterness is the trap; resolution is the signal.
A patient in the clinic declines the treatment you recommend, for reasons you disagree with. What do you do?
How to answer
Walk through informed refusal: confirm they understood the diagnosis and the risk, document the conversation, offer the alternatives that remain honest, and keep the door open for revisiting it. Never propose a substandard version as if it were equivalent, and never treat persuasion as your job.
Simulation-lab calibration prompts
4 questionsYour acceptance is conditional on passing the summer calibration. How will you prepare for it?
How to answer
Answer with a plan and a timeline: which procedures you will drill on a manikin before May, how you will source the instruments, and how you will get feedback rather than practice blind. 'I will work hard' is not a plan when the assessment is judged by department chairs.
Describe a procedure you would need to relearn to meet US standards of care, and how you would close the gap.
How to answer
Name one honestly — isolation, rubber dam, materials, or a preparation design your school taught differently — and describe how you would retrain: supervision, literature, and repetition with correction. Claiming your technique already meets every standard destroys your credibility with clinicians asking the question.
An instructor in the simulation laboratory corrects your technique in front of your peers. How do you respond?
How to answer
Show the order of operations: accept the correction, change the technique in the moment, thank the instructor, and follow up privately if you need the reasoning. The evaluation is your coachability — a calibration room is a shared learning space, and defending your technique in front of the group reads as a risk.
Suppose you fail a component of the calibration in the summer session. What is your plan?
How to answer
Acknowledge that the program can rescind an acceptance for unsatisfactory performance, then show a remediation instinct: request the rubric, identify whether the failure was technique or judgement, practise with supervision and ask to be reassessed. The trap is arguing that the assessment was unfair.
Want feedback on your answers — not just the questions?
Practice these questions freeYour Howard dental advanced standing preparation timeline
Work backwards from the July 31, 2026 application deadline and the May 1, 2027 start date. The two things that break Howard cycles are a board exam or TOEFL score that lands after the deadline, and a non-refundable fee instrument mailed too late or in the wrong form.
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16-20 weeks before the July 31 deadline
- Confirm your NBDE Parts I and II or INBDE result is passed, scored and on record — NBDE Parts I and II must be within five years of your application date
- Book the TOEFL iBT and target a total of 100 or higher; there is no waiver and no paper-based result is accepted
- Order your detailed credential evaluation from ECE or WES and have it sent to ADEA CAAPID
- Request your three Letters of Evaluation, on institutional letterhead with an official signature, and ask your dental school dean for one of them
- Start sourcing the official board and TOEFL score reports you will need to produce if you are interviewed
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8-12 weeks before the July 31 deadline
- Complete the ADEA CAAPID application and submit it — the program reviews only complete files
- Draft your personal statement around your move to US practice and the D3 entry point, not around a chronological CV
- Obtain the $200.00 application fee in certified funds: a cashier's check or money order payable to Howard University College of Dentistry (Suite 128)
- Write your ADEA CAAPID ID number and your first and last name on the face of the instrument — cash and personal checks are returned
- Have your dental school send official transcripts to the program if you are admitted, and keep an electronic set for yourself
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Final 4 weeks before the July 31 deadline
- Mail the certified fee to the Office of Academic Affairs, Attention: International Dentist Program, 600 W Street NW, Suite 128, Washington, DC 20059, with delivery buffer before July 31
- Verify in the CAAPID portal that every letter, transcript and score has actually been received rather than merely requested
- Submit exactly one supplemental application — do not send a second to correct anything
- Add donotreply@webadmit.org to your email contacts and check spam weekly through the autumn
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August to autumn — interview season
- Watch your email and the CAAPID portal for an interview invitation and reply promptly; email is the program's preferred channel
- Send the 2 x 2 color photograph directly to the program after you are contacted for a scheduled interview, with your printed name and ADEA CAAPID number on the back
- Prepare to produce the official TOEFL score report and official NBDE or INBDE scores — do not send an updated CV unless it is specifically requested
- Leave the telephone number (202) 806-0442 for the Office of Academic Affairs within reach for anything time-critical
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Interview preparation (same window as the invitation)
- Test your camera, microphone, lighting and internet connection on the platform the program names, not five minutes beforehand
- Rehearse two 30-minute one-on-one blocks out loud, with no feedback between questions, so you can hold structure without prompts
- Write one fact sheet with your real numbers — years in practice, chairside volume, patient populations — and use identical figures in both interviews
- Prepare a specific why Howard answer built on the D3 entry, the simulation laboratory and the DC patient base
- Re-read the CAAPID application you submitted, because the interviewer is reading it while you speak
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After the interview, before the May 1, 2027 start
- Send a short thank-you note through the program office, not to an individual interviewer's personal address
- Respond immediately if the program requests supplemental material or a photograph
- Arrange visa and financial documentation early if you are moving to Washington, DC for a May start
- Block out orientation logistics: orientation falls on the Wednesday after University graduation in May and the class starts the Monday after orientation week
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May-July 2027 — the summer calibration session
- Book manikin or simulation time before you arrive and drill core predoctoral preparations, restorations and isolation protocols
- Ask the Office of Academic Affairs in advance which procedures the calibration covers and which instruments are supplied
- Treat every session as scored: performance is judged by the department chairs, the admissions committee and the dean, and an unsatisfactory result rescinds the acceptance
- Plan the rest of your life around the summer session — the D3 year only begins once you clear the calibration
Howard dental advanced standing interview — frequently asked questions
What is the Howard dental advanced standing interview format?
Howard University College of Dentistry interviews by invitation after a complete CAAPID file is reviewed. The pattern documented for the program is two one-on-one interviews of roughly 30 minutes each, open file, conducted virtually rather than on campus. Selection follows the interviews, and the acceptance is conditional on the summer calibration and competency assessment.
Does Howard require a bench test for advanced standing applicants?
The ADEA CAAPID listing for Howard flags a bench test, and the program's own description places the hands-on evaluation in the summer session from May through July, when each selected candidate is calibrated across clinical procedures on preclinical manikins in the simulation laboratory. If that performance is unsatisfactory, the acceptance is rescinded. Confirm the current cycle's details with the Office of Academic Affairs.
Is the Howard interview in person or virtual?
The documented interview format for Howard is virtual, one-on-one, with the interviewer working from an open file. Howard publishes no on-campus interview day, and the in-person element arrives later as the summer calibration session in the simulation laboratory, which is a scored assessment rather than an interview.
What TOEFL score does Howard accept?
Applicants whose dental degree is international must take the TOEFL with a total score of 100 or higher to be considered, no waiver is given, and only internet-based scores are accepted. The requirement is published as scores submitted through ADEA CAAPID, with the original score report provided directly to the program on request and the official report brought to any scheduled interview.
Does Howard have a TOEFL school code or an exemption?
Howard does not publish a departmental TOEFL school code or any exemption route on its International Dentist Program page, and it states plainly that no waiver will be given. Because the reporting route through CAAPID versus directly to the program is described differently in different sources, email hucd_aaffairs@howard.edu before your test date and confirm where the score must be sent for your cycle.
Which board examination and credential evaluation does Howard require?
Pass the NBDE Parts I and II or the INBDE in their place, with NBDE Parts I and II passed within the last five years of your application date and the examination completed, scored and passed before the July 31 deadline. You must also submit a detailed credential evaluation from either ECE or WES to ADEA CAAPID, and official transcripts from your dental school go directly to the program if you are admitted.
How many letters of recommendation does Howard require?
Three Letters of Evaluation, submitted through ADEA CAAPID. All must be written on institutional letterhead with the evaluator's official signature, and the program prefers that one of them comes from the dean of the dental school from which you graduated, which is why that request should be made first.
What does Howard charge and how do I pay?
There is a non-refundable $200.00 Howard University application fee on top of the fees ADEA CAAPID charges, and an application is not considered complete until it is paid. Send certified funds only — a cashier's check or money order payable to Howard University College of Dentistry (Suite 128) — with your ADEA CAAPID ID number and name written on it. Cash and personal checks are returned and delay your file.
How large is the class and when does it start?
The ADEA CAAPID listing shows a program size of up to 10 students per cycle, flagged as an estimate, and Howard says up to 10 candidates are selected after the interview process. The program starts May 1, 2027, with orientation on the Wednesday after University graduation in May and the class start on the Monday after orientation week.
When do Howard finalists hear back after applying?
Howard publishes no fixed notification date. Interview invitations are issued only after your complete application clearing the July 31 deadline has been reviewed, and the program states that supplemental material may be requested after that review. Keep your email current, add donotreply@webadmit.org to your contacts, and use hucd_aaffairs@howard.edu or (202) 806-0442 if you have heard nothing and need to confirm your file status.
Practice the Howard interview out loud
Understanding the file gate, the two virtual interviews and the calibration gets you to the room; the room is decided by how you sound under pressure with no feedback between questions. Our AI interview practice scores your structure, pace and specificity instantly, so you can run the reps on the questions this program actually asks before the interview that counts.
Interviewing anywhere else this cycle? Our MMI preparation guide covers the multiple-mini-interview format some dental schools use, and the AI interview practice tool lets you rehearse any program's prompts with instant feedback. If you are still fixing your school list, our dental school interview guides break down each program's format, requirements and bench-test policy.