When it comes to the ADEA GoDental^® Recruitment Event, absence certainly made hearts grow fonder. Back after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the one-day workshop and fair held on March 19 saw a flood of college students who were eager to learn more about the 50-plus dental schools in attendance and about the dental school admissions process in general, as well as network with their peers and with dental admissions officers.

This year’s event also saw two new schools among the many booths in Hall G: California Northstate University College of Dental Medicine and Kansas City University College of Dental Medicine. “The ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event has been connecting aspiring dentists with dental schools and careers in dentistry for more than 10 years,” said Carolyn Booker, Ph.D., ADEA Chief of Educational Pathways. “The dental professions offer incredible career opportunities and through this event, we are honored to help guide and advise the next generation of dental professionals.”

Since 2010, the ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event has provided more than 2,000 students interested in dentistry with information about how to successfully navigate the dental school application process; offered keynote speakers with powerful messages about perseverance, passion and commitment to careers in dentistry; and facilitated thousands of positive, informative conversations between dental school admissions officers and potential applicants.

This year was no exception. At the 2022 ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event, students learned valuable tips about how to protect their well-being during the dental school application journey from keynote speaker Juliette Daniels, Ed.D., Assistant Dean of Student Services and Enrollment Management at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. They were also able to ask questions of a panel of dental school admissions officers about how to put their best foot forward in their ADEA AADSAS^® (ADEA Associated American Dental Schools Application Service) application. And during the workshop, students heard from current dental students about how they are championing social justice and promoting oral health equity at their schools.

A Worthy Time Investment

Lor Dabaj, a student at The Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry, Temple University post-baccalaureate program who attended the event, said she has always been interested in the health field, did some shadowing and determined she really liked dentistry. “I like working with my hands and a combination of that was the best,” Ms. Dabaj said. She attended the fair to “learn more about different schools and connect as well as meet other people and learn more information to be prepared for future events.”

Monday Udosen, a Junior at Morgan State University and Biology major who also attended the event, found this year’s panel with dental school admissions officers particularly useful. 

“The first discussion where the administrators of the schools were breaking down the different types of criteria and requirements for the school, I thought that was really good and it kind of eases my anxiety,” Mr. Udosen said. He said he appreciated that they want to know candidates more as individuals during the admissions process.

“They want to understand you as a person, your personality and see who you are as a person, which is very interesting to me because I always thought they were really strict on getting this done and these are the standards, but now I can see from the perspective of what it actually takes to get into dental school and to become a dentist,” Mr. Udosen said. 

Sarah Lowman, D.D.S., M.P.H., of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry, said the 2022 event was her first time participating as the College’s Co-director of Admissions. She said meeting so many students at the Recruitment Fair “was fantastic.”

“Especially because for the last few years, we have done our interviews virtually and I think that we all have been a little bit hungry for that face-to-face connection and experience, and I think today we have really been able to reconnect and the energy here has been incredible,” Dr. Lowman said.

View the full photo album on ADEA GoDental’s Facebook.