Free Dental School Letter of Intent Template

A dental school letter of intent is a letter an applicant sends to a single dental programme, after interviewing, stating that it is their first choice and that they will enrol if admitted.

It is a commitment rather than an application document. The school already has your file; what the letter adds is certainty about what you will do if they offer you a place.

Timing is what makes it useful. Admissions committees build a class over months, and knowing that a strong candidate will definitely accept helps them decide between applicants they rate similarly.

Not every school wants one. Some invite letters of intent openly, some accept updates but not commitments, and a few ask applicants to send nothing further after interview.

Send a dental school letter of intent only when you have interviewed and have a clear first choice. Typical moments include:

• Shortly after an interview at the school you most want to attend.
• After being placed on a waitlist or hold, where updates are accepted.
• When you have new academic results or experience to report.
• When another school’s deposit deadline is forcing a decision.
• Where the school has explicitly invited letters of intent.

Do not send one before interviewing. A commitment from someone the committee has not met carries little weight, and it can read as a substitute for the preparation the process is actually assessing.

Timing within the cycle matters too. A letter arriving while a committee is still actively building its class is more useful than one sent after most offers have gone out, so send it once you are sure rather than saving it for a decisive moment that may never come.

A dental school letter of intent should be short. Half a page to one page is right.

Your Details and Reference

Give your full name, the application cycle, and your applicant or reference number.

The Commitment

State plainly that this school is your first choice and that you will attend if offered a place.

Why This School

Name what is specific to them: clinical training model, patient population, community programmes, research, or facilities you saw on interview day.

What You Would Contribute

Say briefly what you would bring to the class, without restating your application.

Anything New Since You Applied

Report new grades, hours, certifications, or experience the committee has not seen.

Reference to Your Interview

Mention the visit and anyone you spoke with, which grounds the letter in a real encounter.

Signature and Contact

Sign, date, and give a phone number and email you monitor daily.

This is the point that matters most, and it is a question of integrity rather than strategy.

A letter of intent is a promise. Sending it to more than one school means promising the same thing to people who talk to each other, and dentistry is a small profession where that becomes known.

If you are enthusiastic about several schools, send letters of continued interest instead. Those reaffirm your interest without claiming a commitment, and there is nothing wrong with sending several.

Be sure before you write. If a school admits you on the strength of your letter and you go elsewhere, you have taken a place from another applicant and left a poor impression with a faculty you may meet again.

Tip: Wait until you have finished interviewing before committing, unless a deposit deadline forces your hand. A first choice named in October sometimes is not the first choice by January.

A dental school letter of intent takes about twenty minutes. Document Genius walks you through each section with simple questions.

1. Confirm the School Accepts One

Check their guidance or ask the admissions office directly.

2. Open With the Commitment

Say in the first two lines that they are your first choice.

3. Name What Is Specific to Them

Point to things you could not say about any other school.

4. Add Anything New

Include results or experience gained since you applied.

5. Keep It to One Page

Cut anything already in your application.

6. Send It to Admissions and Wait

Address it correctly, send once, and do not follow up repeatedly. Start yours now and have it ready today.

Applicants often write because another school’s deadline is approaching, and that is a legitimate reason.

Say so plainly and politely. Telling a school you hold an offer elsewhere with a deposit due, and that they remain your first choice, is a normal and reasonable thing to write.

Do not overstate the pressure. Inventing or exaggerating a deadline is easily checked and damages you if it is.

Understand what a deposit commits you to. Whether it is refundable, and what holding multiple places means under the rules your application service and schools operate, varies and can carry consequences.

Ask the admissions office rather than guessing. They handle these questions constantly and would far rather advise you than untangle a problem afterwards. Requirements also change between cycles, so treat their current guidance as the authority.

A letter of intent lands on top of a file the committee has spent months assembling, and writing as though it were your first contact wastes the opportunity.

They already hold your grades, test scores, hours, and references. Restating any of it tells them you had nothing new to say, and a page of repetition reads worse than three well-chosen sentences.

They also remember the interview, at least in outline. Referring to a specific conversation, a facility you were shown, or a question you were asked places you in their memory far more effectively than praise of the school in general.

What they do not know is what has happened since, and what you will do if admitted. Those two things are the entire job of the letter.

Tip: Read your own application before writing. If a sentence in your draft already appears there, cut it and use the space for something the committee has not seen.