All dental schools
participating in ADEA AADSAS® have the option of requiring admitted
students to go through background checks. Many schools participate in background
checks and include them as part of their review process.
How it works: if you
are accepted to a dental school that participates in the background check
portion of the application, you will receive an email from the background check
company, Certiphi Screening, after you are notified of your acceptance. You
will fill out your information and consent to the background check. You may
have to pay for your background check, but you should check with the specific
school to find out the cost, as it varies from school to school.
Many dental schools
cite background checks as an important part of the admissions process for a
number of reasons:
- To ensure that you are a
trustworthy person. If for some reason your self-reported criminal
background on the ADEA AADSAS application does not match up with the background
check, this could mean you are not a trustworthy individual. Since much of
the dental profession is based on trust, this is an important quality that
many dental schools want their students to possess.
- To ensure you are an upstanding
citizen. Dentists are often leaders in their communities and mentors for
others. It is important to many dental schools that their students
continue to adhere to these standards.
- To ensure you have the ability
to become a licensed dentist after dental school. The licensure process
for dental school is rigorous and is also based somewhat on your criminal
background. Dental schools want to graduate students that all have the
ability to get licensed as dentists, so the background check is an extra
measure to ensure that will happen.