At a glance: requirements & format
Sourced from UT San Antonio School of Dentistry's IDEP admissions pages and the ADEA CAAPID program listing (last updated May 26, 2026). Confirm anything decision-critical with the IDEP office at IDEP@uthscsa.edu or 210-567-1411 before you spend money.
- Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) from UT San Antonio School of Dentistry — graduates qualify to challenge state or regional board examinations
- 29 months — a six-month hybrid introductory course of online distance learning plus hands-on training taught by specialists, then integration with traditional third-year D.D.S. students for two years of multidisciplinary clinical training and more than 2,000 hours of on-site patient care
- 20 students admitted to the IDEP class that starts January 4, 2027
- March 5, 2026, through ADEA CAAPID
- June 9, 2026 — every item on the checklist (ECE evaluation, TOEFL, INBDE or NBDE, three evaluations, transcripts, CV and the supplemental fee) must be received by this date
- Phase 1 of the interview process — an asynchronous recorded virtual interview through Kira Talent, offered after an initial review of your file; the platform charges the applicant a fee of roughly $40 to $50
- Phase 2 — by direct invitation only, conducted in person at the School of Dentistry in San Antonio across sessions running July through September; candidates are notified by email or phone at least three weeks before their scheduled date
- Yes — a hands-on dental skills test is administered during the same in-person phase as the interview. The CAAPID listing for this program shows Bench Test: Yes, and the non-refundable skills testing fee is $385, due by the deadline stated in your interview invitation email
- One candidate at a time, no group interview, roughly 31 minutes on average with two to three faculty interviewers on the panel; most candidates describe the conversation as closed-file, with the committee working from its own prompts rather than reading your application back to you
- Required and never waived — minimum iBT scaled score of 92, or 4.5 on the new scoring scale that began January 2026. The Home Edition is accepted, MyBest Scores are not accepted under any exception, the score must be no more than two years old at the June 9, 2026 deadline, and ETS must send the official report electronically to ADEA CAAPID
- Required — a PASS on the INBDE, or on National Board Exams Parts I and II. The ADA reports the official score electronically to ADEA CAAPID, and passing National Board results do not expire under ADA policy
- Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) course-by-course evaluation only, sent electronically to ADEA CAAPID, with a minimum comprehensive GPA of 2.50 for the dental degree — only the comprehensive grade average is accepted, not the best result, and no other evaluation service is accepted
- Three electronic evaluations submitted through ADEA CAAPID — at least one must come from the dean or a faculty member of a dental school or dental post-graduate program you attended, and every reference must supply a contact phone number and be willing to be contacted by the admissions committee
- No separate supplemental application document — the supplemental requirement is the administrative fee paid directly to the UT San Antonio IDEP program, and it is linked to your CAAPID ID
- The ADEA CAAPID fee plus a non-refundable $150 UT San Antonio IDEP supplemental administrative fee, paid after you complete your CAAPID application and by the June 9, 2026 deadline; it is not applied toward tuition or other fees
- Selected candidates are notified by email or phone at least three weeks before their scheduled interview date, and receive detailed instructions and preparation tips only after they confirm the invitation — no earlier than three weeks before the session
- January 4, 2027 — accepted students must meet educational, financial and immigration commitments before matriculation, including a non-refundable $5,000 placement holder fee paid with a signed Statement of Intent by the reply date
- IDEP Office, UT San Antonio School of Dentistry — IDEP@uthscsa.edu, 210-567-1411, Mail Code 7897, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229
Requirements change — verify before you spend money
The TOEFL band moved to the new 4.5 scale from January 2026, the skills testing fee is published as subject to change, and interview invitations can arrive on as little as three weeks' notice. Before you book a TOEFL retake, pay the $385 skills testing fee or buy flights to San Antonio, email IDEP@uthscsa.edu or call the IDEP office at 210-567-1411 and confirm the current-cycle requirements and your scheduled date in writing.
How the UT San Antonio dental advanced standing interview actually works
IDEP runs a complete-file gate, then a recorded screen, then a hands-on day in San Antonio. The Kira Talent virtual interview is the only instrument standing between your file and a plane ticket, and the in-person phase pairs a roughly half-hour conversation with the dental skills test the CAAPID listing flags as required. Read the sequence as a narrowing filter: 800 to 1,300 applications arrive each cycle, 20 seats exist, and there is no interview you can request.
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Stage 1: The Kira Talent virtual interview — the screen nobody else hears
Once your file is complete and has cleared an initial review, the program may invite you to a virtual interview through Kira Talent. This is an asynchronous recorded screen: prompts appear on screen, you get a limited preparation window, and your recorded answers are submitted for review without an interviewer present. The platform itself charges a fee — typically between $40 and $50 — which you cover, so a Kira invitation is a small financial commitment before anyone has met you.
The screen exists for a specific reason. Your TOEFL score has already proven English proficiency on paper at the 92 scaled score threshold; Kira proves it live, under a clock, with no one nodding back at you. After the recorded interview is submitted, your application moves into holistic review, and that review is what decides who is invited to San Antonio. Treat this as the highest-leverage 20 minutes of your cycle: the effort-to-reward ratio here is better than anything you will do on the bench.
Rehearse for the missing feedback, not for a perfect answer
On a recorded screen, rambling costs more than a debatable opinion. Pick four prompts from the Kira list below and record answers on your phone at the real time limit, then watch them back without captions. Train a three-beat structure — position, proof, close — until it lands in 60 to 90 seconds on its own, because there is no interviewer cue to rescue you.
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Stage 2: The in-person invitation — three weeks of notice and hard paperwork
Only complete, eligible applications are scored, and the program states that scoring is rubric-based, holistic and blinded. Invitations to the interview and skills-testing phase go out by email or phone at least three weeks before your scheduled date, with sessions held in person across July, August and September. Detailed instructions and preparation tips arrive only after you confirm the invitation, and no earlier than three weeks out.
Three items are mandatory for that day, and two of them can cancel your interview outright. You owe the $385 non-refundable skills testing fee, a 2x2 inch photo when the program asks for it, and your official foreign dental school transcripts — the university may email a signed, sealed, scanned copy directly to idep@uthscsa.edu with a filename beginning with your last name and first name and containing the word transcript, or you bring a closed, sealed envelope to the interview. If the transcripts do not arrive by one of those routes, the program cancels the interview immediately and refunds nothing.
Keep a sealed transcript envelope ready from day one
The program has filled last-minute interview openings in the past, and it says so openly. Request the certified transcripts from your dental school the week you submit your CAAPID application, keep one sealed envelope in your possession, and have the university email a stamped copy to idep@uthscsa.edu as a backup. A missing transcript cancels the interview on the spot, with fees already paid kept by the school.
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Stage 3: The closed-file interview — one candidate, two to three interviewers, about thirty minutes
The conversation itself is a single one-on-one interview, not a group session, running roughly 31 minutes on average with typically two to three faculty interviewers on the panel. Most candidates describe the format as closed file: the committee works from its own prompts rather than walking through your application with you. That reading fits the program's published process, where complete files are scored on a blinded rubric before anyone reaches the room.
Sequencing tells you what those thirty minutes are for. Your ECE evaluation, TOEFL score and INBDE result have already answered whether you are academically and linguistically admissible. The interview answers a different question: whether the person in the room can represent a Texas public dental school to patients, peers and faculty. Because the prompt set is fixed, your preparation is fully in your hands — you are rehearsing content, not trying to guess what the panel already knows about you.
Build answers that work with nothing in front of you
Closed file means you cannot point at your CV and you cannot rely on the panel having read your personal statement. Rebuild your best three stories — one clinical, one ethical, one about resilience — so each is self-contained in about 90 seconds with the setting, your action and the result spoken aloud. Then test them on someone who has never seen your application.
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Stage 4: The bench test — the same in-person trip, a separate score
The CAAPID listing for this program reads Bench Test: Yes, and the interview phase is administered as an interview and skills test in the same in-person visit. The program does not publish the task list publicly; it sends detailed instructions and preparation tips to invited candidates after they confirm, which means the people who prepare well are the people who read that email line by line and ask the IDEP office direct questions about instruments, materials and timing.
What you can control is the standard version of the exercise: a timed, supervised manual dexterity and restorative task assessed on preparation quality, margins, anatomy and cleanliness rather than on speed alone. The sequencing matters here too — the skills test comes after a conversation that already assessed your judgement, and it is the only part of the whole process that measures your hands. Build a weekly typodont block into your preparation from the week you submit, and treat the $385 fee as the price of a rehearsal you cannot repeat.
Both fees are non-refundable, and one of them is subject to change
The $385 skills testing fee is non-refundable and is not applied toward tuition, and the $150 supplemental application fee is the same. The program publishes the skills fee as subject to change, so confirm the current amount with the IDEP office before you pay it. Plan travel you can cancel: your session date is set by the program, not by you.
What the UT San Antonio IDEP committee is really evaluating
UT San Antonio publishes its requirements but not a ranked rubric, so treat these six criteria as the things the four stages are built to measure. Each one maps to a stage you can prepare for this cycle rather than to generic interview advice.
A file that is complete by June 9
The program reviews only applications that meet every requirement by the June 9, 2026 deadline, whatever your CAAPID status page says. Stage 2 never happens for an incomplete file, so the deadline is a gate, not a target — and the $150 supplemental fee is part of completion.
Academic performance through ECE
Only the ECE course-by-course evaluation is accepted, and the dental degree must show a comprehensive GPA of 2.50 or above; the best-result calculation is not used. This is the number the committee sees first, and it is set before you ever reach the Kira screen.
English proficiency, tested twice
TOEFL iBT at 92 scaled, or 4.5 on the new scale, with no MyBest Scores and a two-year freshness limit, is the paper gate. The Kira Talent screen is the live gate. Scoring 92 and then speaking in fragments on camera is the most common way strong applicants lose this program.
Manual dexterity under supervision
The bench test is the only instrument that measures your hands, and it is scored during the same in-person phase as the interview. Because the task list is released to invited candidates, your preparation window runs from submission to your session date — not from the day the invitation arrives.
Holistic blinded rubric scoring
The program states that all complete, eligible applications are scored with a rubric-based, holistic and blinded review, against a pool the office puts at 800 to 1,300 applications a year for 20 seats. That is why every published requirement is worth finishing properly: partial strength does not offset a missing item.
Service to Texas communities
The 29-month pathway is built on more than 2,000 hours of on-site comprehensive patient care plus on-site and off-site specialty and community outreach rotations. Expect questions about access to care, rural patients and midlevel providers, because the program's clinical model is a public-school mission you are joining.
UT San Antonio dental advanced standing interview questions (with coaching notes)
These prompts are grouped by the four things this process measures. The first three categories are the questions that recur in the closed-file conversation; the fourth mirrors the recorded, time-pressured Kira Talent format. Say every answer out loud — reading them is not the skill being tested.
Motivational & background
4 questionsTell me about yourself and your dental training.
How to answer
Build a 90-second arc: where you trained, what your clinical practice looked like, what pushed you toward US licensure, and why a 29-month pathway fits. The trap is reciting your CV in order — the committee wants the logic connecting your choices, not a chronology of dates.
Why do you want to be a dentist?
How to answer
Anchor it in something only you can claim: a specific patient outcome you produced, a public-health problem you saw close up, or a skill you discovered you had. 'I like helping people' fails against every other applicant in a pool of 800 to 1,300.
Why UT San Antonio's IDEP specifically, and why now?
How to answer
Name structural facts: the six-month hybrid preparatory course before clinical integration, the 2,000-plus hours of on-site comprehensive care, the community outreach rotations, and the public-school mission in South Texas. Generic praise of San Antonio's weather signals you never read the program page.
Do you have plans to specialize?
How to answer
Give a straight answer with a path: general dentistry in a defined setting, or a specialty you can explain the route into after the D.D.S. The trap is naming a specialty you cannot connect to this curriculum — the panel is listening for a plan, not a title.
Behavioral
4 questionsWhat will you bring to the incoming class?
How to answer
Choose one concrete contribution and prove it with something you already did: mentoring colleagues on non-US clinical systems, running a study group in a subject where you are strong, or outreach in a language you speak. Three unconnected strengths dilute the answer; one supported claim sticks.
How will you handle the high volume of study material and the stress of dental school?
How to answer
This is a load-bearing question: you will join third-year D.D.S. students who have two more years of US curriculum behind them. Describe your actual method — spaced repetition, study groups, exam blocks — and give one period when the system was tested and held.
If you were not admitted this cycle, what would you do?
How to answer
Answer without self-pity and without bluffing. Name the specific weakness you would fix — a TOEFL retake, a higher ECE comprehensive GPA outcome, more clinical hours — and the timeline you would run. The panel is testing whether rejection produces a plan or a collapse.
Are you ready to accept criticism of work you believe is good?
How to answer
Answer with a real instance: a faculty member or specialist who corrected a restoration or a diagnosis you were confident about, and what you changed afterwards. On a bench-test program, defensiveness about your own technique is the trait the panel is screening out.
Ethical & scenario
3 questionsA colleague's clinical work is unsafe and patients are being affected. What do you do?
How to answer
Work the escalation ladder out loud: address the immediate patient risk first, then raise it privately with the colleague, then go to a supervisor or the appropriate office if nothing changes. The trap is either staying loyal and silent, or announcing it in front of patients.
Access to care in rural and underserved Texas — what should dentistry do about it?
How to answer
Show you know the landscape: shortages in rural and border communities, the midlevel provider debate, and school-based or community outreach models. Take a position, support it, and connect it to the outreach rotations this program actually runs and the state you would practise in.
A patient with poorly controlled diabetes presents with advanced periodontal disease. How does that change your plan?
How to answer
Demonstrate clinical reasoning with escalating risk: systemic control and medical coordination before elective surgery, a staged periodontal plan, and clear communication about healing and infection risk. The trap is treating it as a purely local problem and proposing a full-mouth plan on day one.
Kira Talent prompts
4 questionsAnswer on camera: given your clinical background, how are you preparing for a US dental curriculum?
How to answer
Frame it as a gap you have already closed: what you studied, how you calibrated to US standards through reading, CE or shadowing, and where you expect to struggle and how you will handle it. On a timer, the structure matters more than the detail — one gap, one method, one outcome.
Answer on camera: how will you add to the class culture at UT San Antonio?
How to answer
Pick one concrete contribution — a study group, a language you can use in community clinics, mentoring on foreign-trained workflows — and tie it to something you have done rather than something you intend to start. Recorded answers reward a single clear idea over a list.
Answer on camera: what do you do when the workload spikes and stress builds?
How to answer
Give a specific routine with evidence it already works: how you triage, what you protect, who you ask for help. 'I just push through' signals a plan you have not tested; this prompt is scored on structure and self-awareness under a clock.
Answer on camera: is there anything else you want the committee to know?
How to answer
Use it rather than repeating your file: one thing that explains your record — a gap year, a repeated exam, a move between countries — stated in two sentences and closed with what changed. The trap is filling the time with a summary of what you have already said.
Want feedback on your answers — not just the questions?
Practice these questions freeYour UT San Antonio dental advanced standing interview preparation timeline
Work backwards from the June 9, 2026 deadline and the July-through-September interview window. The three things that most often sink an IDEP cycle are a TOEFL score that is too old or too low, transcripts the university never sends, and a Kira screen recorded in one take without a single rehearsal.
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14–16 weeks before the June 9, 2026 deadline
- Order your ECE course-by-course evaluation — UT San Antonio accepts only ECE, and the dental degree must show a comprehensive GPA of 2.50 or higher
- Book a TOEFL iBT date if your score is below 92 scaled or 4.5 on the new scale, or if the test will be more than two years old at the deadline
- Request that ETS send your official TOEFL report electronically to ADEA CAAPID, not to the school
- Ask the ADA to report your INBDE or NBDE Parts I and II PASS result electronically to ADEA CAAPID
- Line up three evaluators, at least one of them the dean or a faculty member from your dental school or post-graduate program, and confirm each will give a phone number and take the committee's call
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8–10 weeks before the June 9, 2026 deadline
- Complete the ADEA CAAPID application in full, including personal statement, CV, diplomas, licenses and any US hygiene or assistant license
- Select UT San Antonio IDEP early in your CAAPID school list so the application guides you through this program's own requirements
- Start a weekly timed typodont block now — your skills-test window opens the moment you submit, not when the invitation lands
- Draft a why-this-program answer built on the six-month hybrid prep course and the 2,000-plus patient-care hours
- Book a mock interview with someone who has never read your application
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By June 9, 2026 — the completion gate
- Pay the non-refundable $150 UT San Antonio IDEP supplemental fee only after your CAAPID application is submitted, because the payment is linked to your CAAPID ID
- Confirm in CAAPID that TOEFL, INBDE or NBDE, the ECE evaluation and all three evaluations are received and uploaded
- Request the official foreign dental school transcripts from your university in certified form, with a certified English translation if the original is not in English
- Ask your university to email a signed, sealed, scanned copy to idep@uthscsa.edu with the filename starting Lastname_Firstname_Transcript
- Watch for the program's acknowledgement email confirming your application is complete — its absence usually means something is missing
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Kira Talent phase — after the initial review
- Read the Kira Talent platform instructions and pay the roughly $40 to $50 applicant fee the platform charges
- Record practice answers on your phone at the real time limit and review them without captions
- Test your camera, microphone, lighting and internet connection the day before, not five minutes before
- Rehearse a three-beat structure — position, proof, close — until it lands without thinking
- Re-read your personal statement and CV so your recorded answers agree with your written file
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At least three weeks before your in-person session
- Answer the invitation immediately when the program calls or emails, since your date is assigned from the sessions running July through September
- Pay the $385 non-refundable dental skills testing fee by the deadline stated in the invitation email and confirm the current amount with the IDEP office
- Submit the required 2x2 inch photo when the program requests it
- Confirm your transcript route — university email to idep@uthscsa.edu or a sealed envelope you carry — and tell the program which you chose
- Book refundable travel to San Antonio and arrive the day before, not the morning of
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Interview and skills-test day
- Carry your sealed transcript envelope plus photo identification, and bring the 2x2 inch photo if it was not already submitted
- Re-read the instructions and preparation tips the program sent and note exactly what instruments and materials are provided
- Run your 90-second answers for tell me about yourself, why dentistry and why this program out loud in the car or hotel
- Prepare three genuine questions about the hybrid prep course, rotation sites and clinic structure
- Plan a buffer for San Antonio traffic and check in early — a late arrival is on you, not on the program
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After the decision, before the January 4, 2027 start
- Respond to the official letter of acceptance by the reply date, with the signed Statement of Intent and the non-refundable $5,000 placement holder fee
- Meet every educational, financial and immigration commitment the program requires before matriculation
- Complete the Texas residency classification questions and, only after official acceptance, the Office of International Services documentation
- Confirm FAFSA eligibility if you are a US citizen or eligible non-citizen, and arrange funding for the remainder
- Keep a sealed copy of your transcripts and diplomas ready — you will need them again for registration
UT San Antonio dental advanced standing interview — frequently asked questions
What is the UT San Antonio dental advanced standing interview format?
It is a two-phase process. After an initial review of complete applications, selected applicants record an asynchronous virtual interview through Kira Talent. Candidates who pass that holistic review are invited in person between July and September for a roughly 31-minute interview — one candidate at a time with two to three interviewers, most often closed file — plus a dental skills test in the same visit.
Does UT San Antonio require a bench test for IDEP applicants?
Yes. The ADEA CAAPID listing for this program shows Bench Test as Yes, and the interview phase is administered as an interview and skills testing phase. The non-refundable dental skills testing fee is $385 and is due by the deadline stated in your interview invitation email; the program sends the task details and preparation tips to invited candidates after they confirm.
What is the Kira Talent virtual interview, and is everyone required to do it?
Kira Talent is the asynchronous recorded interview platform the program uses as its first interview phase. It is not open to everyone: the program invites applicants after an initial review of complete files, and the platform charges the applicant a fee of roughly $40 to $50. Recorded answers feed a holistic review that determines who is invited to the in-person interview and skills test.
What TOEFL score does UT San Antonio IDEP require?
A minimum iBT scaled score of 92, or 4.5 on the new scoring scale that began in January 2026. The Home Edition is accepted, MyBest Scores are not accepted under any exception, and the score must be no more than two years old at the June 9 application deadline. ETS must send the official report electronically to ADEA CAAPID rather than to the school.
Which transcripts do I need at the interview, and what happens if they do not arrive?
You must submit official foreign dental school transcripts, including post-graduate programs, with a certified English translation if the original is not in English. Your university can email a signed, sealed, scanned copy to idep@uthscsa.edu using the required filename format, or you can bring a closed, sealed envelope to the interview. If neither arrives, the interview is cancelled immediately and no fees are refunded.
How large is the IDEP class, and what are the deadline and start date?
The program admits 20 students to the class that starts January 4, 2027, out of a pool the office puts at 800 to 1,300 applications a year. The application opens March 5, 2026 and closes June 9, 2026, and only applications that are complete and meet every requirement by that deadline are reviewed and considered for interview.
When do interview invitations go out for UT San Antonio IDEP?
Invitations to the in-person interview and skills test are issued by direct invitation only, by email or phone, at least three weeks before your scheduled session date. Sessions run July through September. The program asks applicants not to call to check review status, and it recommends keeping a sealed transcript envelope ready because last-minute spots have opened in past cycles.
What fees will I pay before I am accepted at UT San Antonio?
Expect the ADEA CAAPID application fee, a non-refundable $150 UT San Antonio IDEP supplemental administrative fee due by June 9, 2026, and a non-refundable $385 dental skills testing fee due by the deadline in your interview invitation. None of these fees are applied toward tuition. On acceptance, a non-refundable $5,000 placement holder fee is required with your signed Statement of Intent.
Practice the UT San Antonio interview out loud
Reading about the Kira screen and the closed-file panel covers half of this. The other half is delivering a structured answer under a clock, with nobody nodding back at you, and then doing it again until it is automatic. Our AI interview practice scores your structure and delivery on the spot, so you can run the reps before the recording that counts.
Facing a video screen or a scenario-based circuit elsewhere this cycle? Our MMI preparation guide breaks down the multiple-mini-interview format, and the AI interview practice tool lets you rehearse any program's prompts with instant feedback. If you are still building your school list, our dental school interview guides compare each program's format and requirements.