At a glance: requirements & format
Sourced from Penn Dental Medicine's own PASS admissions requirements page and PASS program page and the ADEA CAAPID program listing (last updated March 14, 2026). Confirm anything decision-critical with the PASS admissions office before you spend money.
- Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) — CODA-accredited; PASS students must complete all competencies required in the four-year program
- 29 months (about two and a half years) — you matriculate in January and join the second-year class
- Approximately 20 students for the cohort entering January 2027, with approximately 100 candidates invited to interview
- March 5, 2026 through ADEA CAAPID — apply early, because Penn makes admissions decisions on a rolling basis
- June 1, 2026 — late or incomplete applications are not considered, and incomplete files are withdrawn from further consideration
- Required and by invitation only — Penn emails a link to the Penn Dental Applicant Portal after receiving your complete CAAPID application
- $75 non-refundable PASS supplemental application fee, paid in the Penn Dental Applicant Portal on top of the ADEA CAAPID fee
- In person at Penn Dental Medicine on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 a.m. start — program and financial aid overview, lunch discussion and a tour with current PASS students
- One-on-one and open file, roughly 35 minutes each, with more than one conversation typical across the day; confirm your schedule when the invitation arrives
- None — Penn states there is no bench exam, and the ADEA CAAPID listing shows the bench test field as No
- Required for every applicant trained at a non-US dental school, native speakers included; no minimum score, but serious consideration from iBT 5.0 on the new scale; the class entering January 2026 averaged 102; scores from July 2024 or later only; MyBest scores and waiver requests are not considered; IELTS not accepted; official scores go to ADEA CAAPID
- Passing NBDE Part I and Part II, or INBDE scores, required for consideration — official ADA scores must be sent to ADEA CAAPID, never to Penn Dental Medicine
- ECE course-by-course evaluation only, sent to ADEA CAAPID — WES evaluations are not accepted
- Three, all through ADEA CAAPID, on letterhead with an original hand-written signature: the dean or director of your dental school, a faculty member of the same institution, and a supervising dentist at a US or Canadian practice
- Only US citizens and US permanent residents are eligible to submit an application for admissions consideration — confirm your eligibility with the PASS office before paying any fee
- Interviews run June through July 2026; acceptances are extended on a rolling basis from summer into fall 2026 until the class fills, each carrying a $5,000 non-refundable tuition deposit
- January 2027 — PASS orientation and classes begin in early January 2027, after the January 2027 tuition and fee deadline
- Office of Student Admissions — PASS Program, Robert Schattner Center, 240 South 40th Street, Room 122, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6030; sdm-pass@dental.upenn.edu; 215-898-0558 (Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
Requirements change — verify before you spend money
Penn revises its PASS requirements between cycles: the cohort entering January 2027 carries a $5,000 non-refundable tuition deposit, the current requirements page restricts applications to US citizens and US permanent residents, and TOEFL scoring rules have shifted from a 90-plus band to the new 5.0 scale. Before you pay a fee, book a TOEFL retake or book travel to Philadelphia, email sdm-pass@dental.upenn.edu or call 215-898-0558 and confirm the rules for the cycle you are applying in, in writing.
How the Penn dental advanced standing interview day actually works
PASS runs a file-first, day-long evaluation with no bench exam anywhere in the chain. Four gates decide your outcome, and they happen in a fixed order: the supplement you can only start when Penn invites you, the interview invitation that goes to roughly 100 candidates, a full in-person day in Philadelphia, and a rolling decision that fills a class of about 20. Build your preparation around that sequence, because the first two gates are administrative and the last two are where the margin is decided.
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Stage 1: The supplemental application — by invitation only
Penn does not sell you an application. After ADEA CAAPID forwards your file to Penn Dental Medicine, the admissions office emails an invitation to create an account in the Penn Dental Applicant Portal, and only then can you complete the PASS supplemental application and pay the $75 non-refundable fee. Creating a portal account before that invitation arrives delays the processing of your application, so the most useful thing you can do in the weeks after you submit CAAPID is wait for the email and keep your contact details current.
What happens inside this stage is a completeness check running on two clocks. Penn notifies you once, by email, when your CAAPID file arrives and whether anything is missing; that scan can take up to two weeks, and there is no second warning. The letter validation process — the only route to repair a letter that breaks Penn's format rules — does not begin until the school holds a complete CAAPID application, a complete supplemental application and the fee. Every one of those steps sits on your side of the line, and the June 1, 2026 deadline closes the file whether or not you got there.
Do not open a Penn applicant portal account on your own
Penn's requirements page is explicit: creating an account in the applicant portal before receiving an invitation delays the processing of your application. Logging in early to start what you assume is the PASS supplemental application — or opening an application for another Penn Dental Medicine program — is the exact mistake that warning exists for. Wait for the email, then work inside the link it gives you.
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Stage 2: The interview invitation and the document set you must produce
Penn reviews complete files and emails interview invitations to approximately 100 candidates. These are personal interviews held in person at the school, and the invitation doubles as a materials deadline: you must supply a notarized copy of your dental school diploma, with a certified English translation if the original is not in English, plus either an original sealed official transcript or a notarized copy of it, again with a certified translation where needed. Penn asks for these either before or on the day of your scheduled interview and states plainly that the documents are not returned — once they reach the school they become the property of the University of Pennsylvania.
Timing is what makes this stage dangerous. Notaries, certified translation services and transcript reissues from a dental school on the other side of the world do not run on your schedule, and Penn's rolling clock starts before your appointment does. Candidates who arrive at the invitation holding a finished packet walk into interview day with nothing on their mind but the interview. Candidates who start the afternoon the email lands spend the run-up chasing couriers instead of rehearsing answers.
Build the document packet before the invitation
Have the notarized diploma copy and the certified translation done months ahead, and ask your dental school now what it takes to issue a sealed official transcript. You cannot send anything to Penn before you are invited, but you can be holding a complete packet when the invitation arrives. Documents from a previous application are not carried forward, so build the packet fresh for this cycle.
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Stage 3: Interview day — a full day at Penn, one-on-one, with no bench test
PASS interviews are conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the day opens at 8:30 a.m. with an overview of the PASS program and financial aid, followed by a lunch discussion and a tour of the dental school led by current PASS students. The personal interviews themselves are one-on-one and open file — the interviewer has read your application — running about 35 minutes, with more than one conversation typical across the day. There is no bench exam and no manual dexterity test, which Penn states outright, so nothing in this process rewards typodont drilling.
The sequencing is deliberate, and it is the part most applicants misread. Penn gives you the program before it questions you about it: you hear the financial picture, eat with students who are living the 29 months, and walk the clinics before you sit down. What the committee is scoring is named in its own criteria — your demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with patients in the clinical setting and to learn successfully inside an academic environment — which is why strong verbal skills are treated as a selection factor rather than a bonus.
Treat every hour of the day as scored
The lunch discussion and the student-led tour are staffed by people whose impressions travel back to the admissions office. Prepare questions you genuinely want answered, listen more than you present, and hold the same professional register you would use with a patient. The conversation that costs applicants most often is the casual one.
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Stage 4: The rolling decision, the deposit and the January start
Penn makes admissions decisions on a rolling basis until the class is full, with acceptances extended from summer into fall 2026 toward a projected cohort of approximately 20 for January 2027. Final decisions rest on the review of your application and the results of the personal interviews, decided by the members of the admissions committee. Admission starts a clock immediately: a $5,000 non-refundable tuition deposit is due within several weeks of your acceptance date, within 10 days of acceptance if you are accepted after September 1, and at the discretion of the admissions office after November 1.
Everything after the deposit is compliance rather than competition — a criminal background check before matriculation and proof of immunisation through Penn's Student Health Services — but the timing of your decision still shapes the outcome. Because seats are held only when a deposit is paid, a June interview and an August interview are not the same opportunity, and reapplicants rebuild the whole file from zero: a new CAAPID application, a new supplemental application and the fee.
Rolling means the class can be gone before interviews end
Penn interviews through June and July 2026 and extends offers from summer into fall, but a seat is only held once the $5,000 non-refundable deposit is paid. Submit your CAAPID application in April rather than the last week of May and you compete for the earliest, largest block of interview slots. The most recent cycle drew more than 1,790 applications, most of them well before the deadline.
What Penn Dental Medicine's admissions committee is really evaluating
Penn publishes more of its rubric than most CAAPID programs. Read these six criteria as the published policies the four stages are built to test — each one names the gate that measures it.
Clinical experience in the US and Canada
Penn states that priority goes to candidates with significant clinical experience in US or Canadian practice settings — shadowing paid or unpaid, dental assisting, hygiene work — and that general practice exposure is preferred over specialty exposure. This is the criterion your interview is most likely to probe, so bring specifics with dates and settings, not intentions for the future.
Verbal communication with patients
The requirements page names an applicant's demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with patients in the clinical setting as an important selection factor, and says successful candidates show strong verbal skills during the interview process. Interview day is the instrument; a strong file with a halting interview does not convert into a seat.
Board and academic readiness
Passing NBDE Part I and Part II, or INBDE scores, is required for your application to be considered, and Penn gives careful consideration to strong academic records. There is no published minimum TOEFL score, but serious consideration starts at iBT 5.0 on the new scale, and the class entering January 2026 averaged 102.
Letters that survive validation
Three letters only, on letterhead, with an original hand-written signature, from three specified evaluator types — and letters from US or Canadian dental school faculty do not satisfy the practice requirement. Additional letters are not accepted, so the file is fixed at three, and Penn will not begin repairing a defective letter until it holds a complete application and the fee.
Rolling decisions and interview timing
Penn begins making decisions on a rolling basis and continues until the class is full, with approximately 20 seats available. Applying early is a competitive move rather than a courtesy: the same interview performance lands differently in June than it does when most seats have already been claimed and deposited.
Fit with an integrated class
PASS students join the second-year class in January and take the entire curriculum alongside everyone else — Penn runs no special or separate teaching for the program, adding only a limited set of preclinical and laboratory sessions. The committee is selecting people who will integrate into an existing cohort rather than run alongside it.
Penn dental advanced standing interview questions (with coaching notes)
Penn publishes no question list, so the prompts below are grouped by what each part of the process measures: your record and motivation, how you behave under pressure, the ethical judgement US practice will demand of you, and the interview-day prompts that come with an open file and a student-staffed lunch. Say every answer out loud — reading them is not the same skill as delivering them in a room.
Motivational & background
5 questionsWhy dentistry?
How to answer
The most common opening question in dental interviews, and the answer that survives is personal and specific: one patient, one procedure, one moment you decided. Then link it forward to what you have done since — clinical years, a practice, US shadowing hours. A generic wanting-to-help-people answer, or an account of the plan your family had for you, is what sinks this one.
Why Penn Dental Medicine specifically?
How to answer
Name what only Penn offers: the January entry point straight into the second-year class, 29 months to the D.M.D., no separate teaching for PASS students, externships and the Selectives courses in years three and four, and the Philadelphia patient base. If your answer would still work with the school name swapped out, it is not an answer.
Tell me about yourself.
How to answer
Build a 90-second arc rather than a CV recital: where you trained, what you have practised, what pushed you toward US licensure, why Penn is the vehicle. The interview is open file, so the committee has already read your application — narrate your own story with emphasis instead of repeating the document.
What do you do outside of dentistry?
How to answer
Have a real answer ready. Hobbies show there is a life outside clinic, and interviewers use them to test whether you can hold an easy conversation. Pick two things you can talk about for a minute each and connect one to how you manage stress. Saying you have no time for anything else ends the conversation badly.
How have you changed since you came to the United States?
How to answer
Show adjustment rather than complaint. Choose a concrete shift: how you learned to explain treatment to a US patient, what a shadowing or assisting role taught you about the front-desk workflow, what surprised you about scope of practice. A cultural comparison that sounds like criticism of either system is the trap here.
Behavioral
4 questionsWalk me through a grade, a gap or a weakness in your record.
How to answer
Choose something real and already addressed — a difficult semester, a failed exam, a year away for work. Give the cause in one sentence, then spend the rest on the corrective action and the evidence it worked. Denial, or a disguised strength such as being a perfectionist, reads as evasive in an open-file interview.
What would you say are your weaknesses?
How to answer
Pick one weakness that actually matters in a clinical or academic setting and name the system you installed to manage it — time management, delegation, asking for help early. The follow-up is always a request for an example, so have one ready. Never name a weakness that touches patient safety or honesty.
Why should we select you over the other candidates we are interviewing?
How to answer
Answer with evidence rather than adjectives. Choose one thing you do at a level most applicants cannot match — clinical volume in a busy general practice, documented US assisting experience, research output, teaching — and one thing you will add to the cohort. Listing five strengths is the trap; the committee remembers a claim with a number or a story behind it.
Which other schools have you applied to, and where does Penn sit on your list?
How to answer
Be transparent and consistent, because your CAAPID list is visible to the committee. Say how many programs you applied to, what you are looking for, and give a specific reason Penn ranks where it does. Evasive answers signal that Penn is a fallback, and claiming it is your only application is not credible.
Ethical & scenario
4 questionsWhile shadowing in a US practice, a patient asks your opinion on treatment the treating dentist has already planned. What do you do?
How to answer
See the scope issue before the clinical one: you are not licensed in the United States and you are a guest in that practice. Support the treating dentist's plan or redirect the question to them, then raise any genuine concern privately afterwards. Answering the patient directly feels confident and costs you the relationship that produces your practice letter.
A patient refuses the treatment you have diagnosed and chooses an option you consider clinically inferior. What is your responsibility?
How to answer
Explain your recommendation, the clinical consequences of the alternative, and answer every question — then document the informed refusal and respect the decision. Patient autonomy is a foundational principle of US dental ethics, so an answer that ends with you declining to treat the patient fails the prompt outright.
You notice a colleague at a practice where you worked charting treatment that was never completed. What do you do?
How to answer
Separate the clinical question from the integrity question. If a patient's care or insurance record is affected, this is a reportable matter rather than a private disagreement: verify what you saw, raise it with the colleague or responsible clinician, and escalate through the proper channel if it continues. Silence is the wrong answer.
You are asked to perform a procedure during your PASS training that you have only done a few times. How do you handle it?
How to answer
Name the balance between patient safety and your own need for clinical hours. Ask for supervision, state plainly what you have and have not performed, and begin with the part you can do competently. The committee wants graduates who escalate early, so an answer that involves concealing uncertainty loses points.
PASS interview-day prompts
4 questionsIf you had a Class II amalgam patient in the clinic tomorrow, how well prepared are you for that?
How to answer
This is a readiness check, not a technique examination. Walk the case in treatment order — diagnosis, isolation, preparation, material, occlusion, follow-up — and be honest about what you would ask a supervising faculty member. Claiming fluency you do not have is the trap, because the committee has read exactly how much US clinical exposure you have.
What will you contribute to the second-year class you are joining?
How to answer
PASS students enter an existing cohort with no separate teaching, so answer as someone joining a team. Offer something concrete: a skill built in a high-volume practice, a language you can use with Philadelphia patients, a research or teaching thread, mentorship for younger classmates. A diverse perspective with no example behind it is the answer everybody gives.
What questions do you have for us?
How to answer
Never say none. Ask about what interview day has just shown you: how the added preclinical and laboratory sessions sit alongside the second-year curriculum, how externship sites are assigned, how PASS students are supported in subjects they have not studied in years. Bring three written questions and ask the two you cannot answer yourself.
Can you picture yourself here in Philadelphia for two and a half years?
How to answer
Answer with evidence that you have thought about the move rather than with enthusiasm: what you know about the neighbourhoods around the Schattner Center, how you would manage being away from your practice or your home, what you want to do in the city. Vagueness here reads as someone who applied to a ranking rather than to a school.
Want feedback on your answers — not just the questions?
Practice these questions freeYour Penn dental advanced standing interview preparation timeline
Work backwards from the June 1, 2026 application deadline and the January 2027 start. Penn's decisions are rolling, so every week you gain before the deadline is a week of interview slots you are competing for.
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12–16 weeks before the June 1, 2026 deadline
- Start the ECE course-by-course evaluation now — it must be sent to ADEA CAAPID and WES is not accepted
- Request your official ADA board scores be sent to ADEA CAAPID, never to Penn Dental Medicine
- Book a TOEFL iBT if your score predates July 2024 — waiver requests and MyBest scores are not considered
- Ask all three evaluators now for letters on letterhead with an original hand-written signature
- Build documented US or Canadian clinical experience — shadowing, assisting or hygiene hours Penn can verify
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8–10 weeks before the June 1, 2026 deadline
- Submit your ADEA CAAPID application well before the deadline — decisions are rolling and the most recent cycle drew more than 1,790 applications
- Re-check that your three letters match Penn's three evaluator types, since US or Canadian dental school faculty do not satisfy the practice letter
- Keep your current clinical experience going — your file is not frozen while you wait
- Watch for Penn's single email confirming your file arrived and listing anything missing, then keep your contact details current
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The supplemental gate, after Penn receives your complete CAAPID file
- Open the Penn Dental Applicant Portal only through the invitation email — creating an account early delays your application
- Complete the PASS supplemental application and pay the $75 non-refundable fee
- If a letter fails validation, send the portal request to your evaluator and have them submit directly — email and post are not accepted
- Confirm the file is complete before June 1, 2026, when incomplete applications are withdrawn
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Interview preparation, from late May onward
- Rehearse answers to why dentistry, why Penn and tell me about yourself until they sound conversational rather than memorised
- Finish the notarized diploma copy and certified English translation so the packet is ready on invitation day
- Study the PASS curriculum arc: January entry, second-year join, full integration in years three and four
- Prepare two or three specific questions about externships, the Selectives courses and the added preclinical sessions
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Interview day — June or July 2026, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 a.m.
- Travel to Philadelphia the day before and plan a traffic buffer for 240 South 40th Street
- Bring the notarized diploma, the sealed or notarized transcript and certified translations if needed
- Expect the full day: program and financial aid overview, lunch discussion, student-led tour, then your interviews
- Treat the lunch and the tour as evaluated conversation, and ask the students about clinical hours and chair time
- Confirm your interview schedule and what Penn asks you to bring as soon as the invitation lands
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After interview day — the rolling decision
- Send a brief thank-you note through the PASS admissions office at sdm-pass@dental.upenn.edu
- Watch your email from summer into fall 2026 — acceptances go out on a rolling basis until the class fills
- If accepted, be ready for the $5,000 non-refundable tuition deposit within several weeks, or within 10 days if accepted after September 1
- Start the criminal background check and immunisation documentation early — both are required before matriculation
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Before the January 2027 start
- Meet the January 2027 tuition and fee deadline
- Attend PASS orientation in early January 2027 and confirm the first day of classes
- Arrange Philadelphia housing near the Schattner Center and confirm your residency documentation is in order
- If you will be reapplying in a future cycle, plan on rebuilding the CAAPID application, the supplemental application and the fee — no documents carry forward
Penn dental advanced standing interview — frequently asked questions
What is the Penn dental advanced standing interview format?
It is a full in-person day at Penn Dental Medicine, scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays and beginning at 8:30 a.m. The day includes an overview of the PASS program and financial aid, a lunch discussion, a tour of the dental school with current PASS students, and personal interviews that are one-on-one and open file, typically around 35 minutes each. There is no bench exam at any stage.
Does Penn require a bench test for PASS applicants?
No. Penn Dental Medicine states there is no bench exam, and the ADEA CAAPID listing shows the bench test field as No for this program. Your application, board scores, TOEFL result and the interview carry the entire evaluation, so spend your preparation time on those rather than on typodont practice.
What TOEFL score does Penn require for the PASS program?
There is no published minimum. Penn gives serious consideration to applicants scoring 5.0 and above on the iBT new scale, and the class entering January 2026 averaged 102. Scores must be from July 2024 or later, MyBest scores are not considered, requests for a TOEFL waiver are not considered, IELTS is not accepted, and official scores must go to ADEA CAAPID rather than to Penn.
Do I need the INBDE or the NBDE to apply?
Penn requires passing official scores for either NBDE Part I and Part II, or the INBDE, for your application to be considered, and the requirement applies before interview invitations are issued. The official ADA score report must be sent to ADEA CAAPID; Penn asks that you do not send your board scores to the dental school directly.
Who is eligible to apply to the Penn PASS program?
Penn's current admissions requirements state that only US citizens and US permanent residents are eligible to submit an application for admissions consideration, and the ADEA CAAPID listing shows the same requirement. The residency language has changed between cycles, so confirm your eligibility in writing with the PASS admissions office before you pay any fee.
How many letters of evaluation does Penn require?
Three, and additional letters are not accepted. One must come from the dean or director of your primary dental school, one from a faculty member at that same institution, and one from a supervising dentist at a US or Canadian practice where you were employed, volunteered or observed. All three must be on letterhead with an original hand-written signature and submitted through ADEA CAAPID.
What is the application deadline and the supplemental fee?
The 2026-27 CAAPID cycle opened March 5, 2026 and closes June 1, 2026, and late or incomplete applications are not considered. After Penn receives your complete CAAPID file it emails an invitation to the Penn Dental Applicant Portal, where you complete the PASS supplemental application and pay a $75 non-refundable application fee.
How large is the Penn PASS class?
Penn anticipates a class size of approximately 20 students for the cohort entering January 2027, and approximately 100 candidates are invited to interview. Because decisions are made on a rolling basis until the class is full, applying early in the cycle changes your odds rather than just your paperwork.
When do Penn PASS applicants hear about interviews and acceptances?
Interview invitations go out by email to highly competitive candidates, and interviews are held in June and July 2026. Acceptances are extended on a rolling basis from summer into fall 2026 until the class is full, and each acceptance requires a $5,000 non-refundable tuition deposit within several weeks of the acceptance date.
Practice the Penn PASS interview out loud
Interview day at Penn is a full day of conversations, and the one-on-one open-file interview is where the margin gets decided. Reading about PASS prepares you for half of it. The other half is delivering structured answers about your clinical experience and your move to US practice without a script — our AI interview practice scores your structure and delivery instantly, for as many reps as you need.
Applying to more than one advanced standing program this cycle? Our MMI preparation guide covers the multiple-mini-interview format used by several CAAPID schools, and the AI interview practice tool lets you rehearse a full question set with instant feedback. Still building your school list? Our dental school interview guides break down each program's format, requirements and timeline.