Colorado Dental Schools

DENTAL SCHOOLS IN COLORADO THAT OFFER INTERNATIONAL DENTAL PROGRAMS OR ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL GRADUATES WITH ADVANCED STANDING.

DENTAL SCHOOLS IN COLORADO THAT OFFER INTERNATIONAL DENTAL PROGRAMS OR ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL GRADUATES WITH ADVANCED STANDING.

The University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine
International Student Program (ISP)

The Advanced Standing International Student Program (ISP) accepts 40 internationally-trained dentists each year and has accepted students from over 50 different countries. They process reviewing a number of factors including academic credentials, TOEFL score, community engagement, letters of recommendation, and an invitation-only interview.

Admission Requirements

• ​Dental degree from an international dental program accredited by the respective country (Provisional degrees are not accepted)
• Pass Part I and 2 of the National Dental Board Exam OR the ​Integrated National Board Dental Exam (INBDE)
• TOEFL Score of 94 or better (No exceptions are made regardless of native language or courses taken)

How to Apply Step-by-Step Guide

STEP 1: Submit the following documents directly to ADEA CAAPID

CAAPID Application 

Applications must be completed and submitted online through the CAAPID Application (Reapplicants should use the same login information from previous CAAPID applications and should not create a brand new CAAPID application), and must include the following reports:

• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Report - Applicants are required to score a 94 or better on the TOEFL. Your TOEFL report must be sent directly to CAAPID at code B451. Your application will not be processed and you should not pay your fee until CAAPID has received your official scores. If you send a score report to the CU School of Dental Medicine, it will not be used. Updates to TOEFL should also be made through CAAPID. No exceptions are made to the requirement including if you have gone to school in an English speaking country or if you are a citizen. 

• Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) Reports – Official ECE course-by-course evaluations are required to be sent to ADEA CAAPID. All international schooling during or after your Bachelor degree (specialties, master’s degrees, etc.), except for schooling in Canada or the US, needs to have a course-by-course ECE evaluation. All materials should be sent to ECE at one time for creating one cohesive ECE report with all schooling. You are required to submit your transcripts with all attempts for courses included. If your ECE does not have a Comprehensive GPA, it will not be considered. Reports do not need to be sent to the University. WES evaluations are not accepted. 

• National Board Dental Examination (NBDE) Reports – Official reports must be sent to CAAPID using these directions. Applicants are required to pass the NBDE Part I to apply. Part II is encouraged, but not required. INBDE will also be accepted. If Part II has been taken, official scores should be submitted in the same manner stated above before the deadline to be considered part of the application. Paper score copies will not be accepted.

STEP 2: Submit the application fee directly to the CU Office of the Registrar

Application Fee 

Once your eligibility has been confirmed by the University, you will be notified to submit an application processing fee of $85 via credit card or echeck. Checks or credit cards unable to be processed will be charged a $35 bounced fee. The applicant must send a new $85 deposit plus the additional $35 in order for their application to be processed. Please do not submit recommendations or documents of any sort until this step has been completed and you have been notified by the University that you can submit materials.

STEP 3: Submit the following supplemental documents via the candidate portal

Once your application fee has been received, you will be notified to submit the following documents through the candidate portal. Please do not submit any documents outside of CAAPID until instructions are provided. Please be patient and wait to hear from the University as we need to manually check applications before we can allow access to the candidate portal. All documents must be uploaded to our candidate portal. Please be sure that these are submitted with the top facing up as any other direction will be rejected. 

• Photo - Include a 2x2 color photo. Please make sure that your file only contains a 2X2 image and is not scanned as a part of a large page as a small photo will be rejected. You should view the image once you have scanned it to see if the size is 2X2 prior to sending. 

• Resume** – Include your name, email, telephone number and details on all dental, work, school and community leadership experiences. It is very important to list length of time and the amount of hours completed at each experience. Resumes should not be longer than 4 pages. Must upload a pdf. □ Dental Degree BDS-DDS** - Applicants are required to possess and submit a notarized copy of your BDS/DDS dental degree (you may also submit other dental degrees, but they must be submitted with the BDS/DDS degree together in one file) from the international institution(s) you attended. If the degree is in a language other than English, it must be accompanied by a notarized translation from an official translator. Thus, both the translation and the original degree must both be notarized. Provisional degrees are NOT accepted. 

• US/Canadian School Transcripts** – If you have attended any school in the United States or Canada after completing your dental degree, you are required to send an official transcript from all institutions even if you did not complete a degree. Order the transcripts to yourself and upload it to the candidate portal. Please do not submit certificates of completion or just your graduate degree certificate. 

• CU Board of Regents Questionnaire - A signature from the applicant is required on this form attesting to any history of felony or misdemeanor convictions with explanations provided if needed. 

**Originals of these documents will be requested if invited for an interview.

STEP 4: Submit the following documents directly to the CU Dental ISP Admissions Office

Due to COVID-19, the University will be changing its letters of recommendation process. Candidates will need to have an electronic form filled out by each recommender. The link for recommender’s to use is:

 
https://ucdenverdata.formstack.com/forms/isp_recommendation 

Recommendation Requirements

• One (1) recommendation from the dental school where you obtained your bachelor degree. It does not need to come from the Dean. If a dental professional no longer works at the dental school you attended, we will still accept a recommendation from them to cover the dental school recommendation requirement as long as they provide an explanation about how they know you and from what school.

• Two (2) additional recommendations of applicant’s choosing.

All recommendations must include the following items to be considered in your admission application. Please clearly communicate and discuss the below requirements with your recommender when you ask them for recommendations as those that do not meet our requirements will need to be replaced: 

• Original signature of the recommender – there will be a place for them to sign with their mouse. 

• Date of signature 

• Contact information of the recommender including physical address, email address and phone number (this should not be generic school contact information, it should be a direct link to your recommender)

Recommendation Suggestions 

• You may submit up to 5 recommendations, but only the 3 most valuable recommendations will be considered. 

• Recommendations that give an in-depth description of the applicant’s current or recent clinical dental skills and accomplishments, dental knowledge base, patient management skills, work ethic, personality, personal skills, character and reliability are considered the most valuable. 

• It is important for the admission committee to get a sense of all your dental experiences, both US and non-US, from your recommendations. Thus, those from faculty, internship/preceptorship leaders, health profession employers, and observerships are suggested. 

• Recommendations that highlight different aspects of you and show you are well-rounded are also valued. 

• Recommendations from organized bench prep groups are not considered particularly valuable. 

• Recommendations should not be plagiarized. This means, they should be original wording from recommenders and not use templates, wording found on the internet or words/phrases candidates provided to them. Plagiarized recommendations may cause your application to be denied. If you have questions about your recommendations in relation to this statement, please contact the ISP office. 

Recommendations Waivers

A waiver is required for each recommendation to confirm or deny if you viewed the recommendation. Waiving your right to view a recommendation allows your recommender to provide a candid evaluation of you. If you viewed the recommendation for any reason, you should NOT waive your right to the recommendation. 

The waivers (one per recommendation) will be submitted through the candidate portal, and the recommendations must be submitted via the link provided directly from your recommender. 

CAAPID Letters 

CU Dental does not accept CAAPID letters. All recommendations must be sent through the link provided above

STEP 5: Application Status and Credential Updates

Once your application has been received, an email confirmation stating the status of your application will be sent. Please do not contact the office regarding status updates unless it has been at least 2 weeks since you submitted everything in steps 1-4 above. If your status changes, you will be notified via email. 

The ISP Office will only accept the following updates after initial submission of supplemental documents: 

• Update experience. Please do not send new resumes. Prior to the application deadline, you may update NEW experiences (do not submit experiences that already appear in your resume even if they have continued over a longer duration) in the candidate portal by clicking on the “Add Experience” button once you log in. 
• Transcripts from education programs that are 6 months or longer 
• New degrees received (this does not include certificates) 
• NBDE Part II/INBDE passing scores (Send to CAAPID with an email to sdmisp@ucdenver.edu stating that you have seen the update reflected in CAAPID) 
• Updated Official TOEFL Score (sent to code B451 with an email to sdmisp@ucdenver.edu stating that you have seen the update reflected in CAAPID)
• Recommendations (we will not accept more than 5 total over the course of the cycle). You will need to submit new waivers in the portal for each of these recommendations. 

Those who have received an interview decision of either Invited or Waitlisted can submit the following until a final admission decision has been made: 

• Update experience. Please do not send new resumes. Prior to the application deadline, you may update NEW experiences (do not submit experiences that already appear in your resume even if they have continued over a longer duration) in the candidate portal by clicking on the “Add Experience” button once you log in. After the deadline, we will only take Recommendations for experience updates. We will not review new recommendations from experiences that were 6 months or less. 
• Transcripts from education programs that are 6 months or longer 
• New degrees received (this does not include certificates) 
• NBDE Part II/INBDE passing scores (Send to CAAPID with an email to sdmisp@ucdenver.edu stating that you have seen the update reflected in CAAPID) 
• Updated Official TOEFL Score (sent to code B451 with an email to sdmisp@ucdenver.edu stating that you have seen the update reflected in CAAPID) 
• Recommendations (we will not accept more than 5 total over the course of the cycle). You will need to submit new waivers in the portal for each of these recommendations. 

Those who have received an interview decision of Not Invited will not be able to submit updates. Please note that admission is not on a rolling basis, therefore, applicants will receive their final notice of decision either after an application has been reviewed, after the application deadline or after the interview process is complete. Admission decisions are based on the candidate’s overall fit for the ISP program at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine. This includes, but is not limited to communication with the program staff and faculty and admission committee, evaluation of the CAAPID and University of Colorado supplemental application/documents, an evaluative inperson interview, evaluation of a bench exam, application components from previous cycles and submission of an ethically sound application. On occasion, the University might extend early admission offers to those who have been accepted elsewhere and/or when ideal candidates are identified. As stated above, interviews invitations will be extended on a rolling basis, so it will be beneficial to finish you application as early as possible. Your application will be reviewed and placed in order of receipt once all steps in our process are complete. Please note that completing a CAAPID application does not place you in this order. You must receive an application complete email from our office in order to be placed in our review process.

STEP 6: Interview and Bench Test

The cost for the interview is $400 and are an invite-only basis. Should the candidate need to travel for one or both, they are responsible for his/her own visa, travel and expenses. Candidates will be provided with detailed information on how to submit the interview fee, prepare for the test and plan their travel to Colorado with their invitation. Interview invitations will be extended on a rolling basis. Early and complete applications are encouraged.

as per 
School of Dental Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus