This profile is the Advanced Standing (international) pathway.
It is for dentists who already earned a dental degree outside the U.S. and apply through ADEA CAAPID. It is not the four-year predoctoral program, and it is not a residency. See the same school's four-year DDS/DMD profile
Every line below is read from a published record — the program's own entry or its admissions page. No acceptance rates or average scores appear here, because no board publishes them per program.
Hands are weighted as heavily as paperwork here — a bench test is part of selection, so preparation has to include a practical station, not just exams.
Official ADEA CAAPID recordExams they list as required: NBDE, INBDE, TOEFL.
Official ADEA CAAPID recordCredentials are only accepted through Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), World Education Services (WES) — an evaluation from anyone else does not count.
Official ADEA CAAPID record
In their own words: “The Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists (ASPID) at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC (HOSD USC) is designed to teach qualified dentists from other countries the…”
Program website
One of the larger intakes in this pathway at 34 seats, which usually means a wider interview pool.
Official ADEA CAAPID recordShorter than most: 24 months to the degree, which cuts both time and total tuition compared with the typical program.
Official ADEA CAAPID recordLater deadline than most (July 31, 2026) — useful as a second-wave application if an exam retake pushes your timeline.
Official ADEA CAAPID record
Every figure on this page is taken from this program's own entry in the official ADEA CAAPID directory, last updated July 13, 2026. Verify anything for yourself:
The Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists (ASPID) at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC (HOSD USC) is designed to teach qualified dentists from other countries the knowledge and skills found in the United States. The program can be completed within two years. The first year is devoted to technical and academic procedures and the second year to clinical training as necessary to achieve graduation qualifications. A Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.) is awarded at completion of the program. All graduates are eligible to take the clinical board examination required for licensure in the United States.
- Degree awarded
- D.D.S.
- Program length
- 24 months
- Class size
- 34
- Application opens
- March 5, 2026
- Application deadline
- July 31, 2026
- Program start
- May 3, 2027
- Bench test
- Yes
- Supplemental application
- No
- Supplemental fee
- Yes
- U.S. citizens / green card only
- No
Required exams
Transcript evaluation
Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), World Education Services (WES)
National board notes
- Applicants must pass NBDE Part I and Part II or the Integrated National Board Dental Exam (INBDE) to be eligible to apply to our ASPID program. ADEA CAAPID collects both self-reported results and official results when requested by the applicant.
TOEFL instructions
- Non-U.S. citizens or non-permanent residents are required to provide TOEFL iBT scores. These scores should be self-reported directly in the ADEA CAAPID application, and there is no need to submit official score reports at this stage. You will only be asked to submit official score reports later if specifically instructed to do so.
- Additional TOEFL Score Requirements:
- A TOEFL score of 5 or higher is preferred, though scores below 5 will be taken into consideration.
- Legacy TOEFL scores of
- 100 or higher
- are preferred. These scores were used prior to the introduction of the new 1-6 scale in January 2026.
- TOEFL Home Edition is
- not accepted
Letters of evaluation
- THREE LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION ARE REQUIRED
- Please submit one letter from the Dean of your dental school , one letter from a dental school faculty member/clinical instructor, and one letter from a dentist you have worked with
- We strongly recommend letters written within the past two years
- 1Step 1: Complete Online Application
- 2HOSD USC participates in ADEA Centralized Application for Advanced Placement for International Dentists (ADEA CAAPID®). All applications must be submitted online, directly to CAAPID.
- 3Applicants who have earned a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. college or university should submit official transcripts from that program electronically to Corey Berry at cberry@ostrow.usc.edu. Although not required, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Advanced Dental Admission Test (ADAT) are considered. With the exception of official GRE scores and/or graduate program transcripts, supplemental materials are not to be sent to the HOSD USC.
- 4Applicants must include a CV as part of their application.
- 5Step 2: Submit Your Processing Fee
- 6Submit a non-refundable application fee to the HOSD USC after submitting the ADEA CAAPID application. A confirmation email from HOSD will be sent along with payment instructions.
- 7The USC application fee is $150. You must pay online by visiting our online payment portal.
- 8Step 3: Visit the USC Campus for an Interview
- 9If selected as a competitive applicant, an onsite interview will be required. This interview is by invitation only and includes a Bench Test.
- 10The purposes of the interview are to:
- 11Evaluate each applicant’s methods and skills;
- 12Determine each candidate’s artistic ability;
- 13a group interview evaluation session; and
- 14Evaluate interpersonal skills, critical thinking and English communication ability.
- 15All offers of acceptances are conditional and contingent upon successful completion of all currently enrolled courses/programs, receipt of official transcripts from the dental school attended and any U.S. college or university attended as well as TOEFL and NBDE scores. Non-U.S. citizens or non-permanent U.S. residents must provide TOEFL scores, which are self-reported via the ADEA CAAPID application.
- 16Only
- 17accepted candidates will complete a “Certification of Studies” evaluation for USC through the International Education Research Foundation (IERF). IERF is not required for the general application.
- 18Please visit IERF’s USC web page for general information. Failure to fulfill these responsibilities will result in any offer of acceptance being rescinded without notice.
- 19IERF is not an application requirement. If accepted to the program, students will be instructed at that time to complete IERF.
- 20Step 4: Apply for Your Student Visa
- 21USC will assist ASPID candidates in obtaining student visas to study at HOSD USC.
- 22Once you have been officially accepted to USC, we will issue a form I-20, “Certificate of Eligibility,” which you must present when you apply for a visa at the U.S. consulate or embassy in your home country.
- 23In order for an I-20 to be processed, you must present to the USC Office of Graduate and International Admissions a notarized statement documenting that you have the financial resources for your first year at USC (approximately $95,000). This document must be verified by a bank stamp or the U.S. consul.
- 24If you wish to include a spouse and/or dependent(s) on your visa, you will also be required to provide their:
- 25Full names,
- 26Dates of birth,
- 27Country of citizenship,
- 28Country of birth and
- 29Relationship to you.
- 30Note that it is university policy to accept only those candidates who have the personal financial resources to pay for graduate study. Foreign students, with the exception of permanent residents, are typically ineligible for financial assistance through the university or U.S. banks.
This program does not publish a tuition figure in the CAAPID directory, and we refuse to print a guess next to a number as consequential as this one. Tuition, instrument kits, fees and living costs in Los Angeles change every cycle.
Open the cost-of-attendance page on the program's own site for the current figure, and budget separately for the 24 months you will be enrolled.
Open program websiteCorey Berry
Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC
Advanced Standing Program for International Dentists (ASPID)
925 W 34 Street, 201
Los Angeles, CA 90089
213-740-2851
- Official ADEA CAAPID directory entry
https://programs.adea.org/CAAPID/programs/herman-ostrow-school-of-dentistry-of-usc
Fields taken from here: program length, class size, application open date, deadline, start date, bench test, supplemental application, required exams, transcript evaluator, TOEFL and letter instructions
- Program's own website
https://dentistry.usc.edu
Fields taken from here: tuition and cost of attendance, curriculum detail, contact details
Verification history
No manual re-check has been logged since the source page itself was dated July 13, 2026. Administrators log every re-verification and it appears here.
Every account below was read straight off Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC's own website, so you are following the real feed and writing to the real office — nothing here is a look-alike page.
Videos & links about this program
Official campus walkthroughs, admissions info sessions and program pages posted by the administration — each with a short written summary of what it covers.
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