Decline a Dental School Acceptance: Email Templates

Decline a Dental School Acceptance: Email Templates

To decline a dental school acceptance, email the school's admissions office yourself, the day you decide. Once your AADSAS application is verified, AADSAS will not withdraw it for you: its help center says to "Contact your programs directly". The email needs three sentences, and none of them is an apology.

The hard part is mechanics, not wording. Three mistakes to avoid: waiting for AADSAS to pass the message on, holding a seat past March 1 without meaning to, and sending a deferral request to a school that says it does not take them. This page gives four constructed emails and the rules behind each.

Every ADEA, Liaison and school page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. Deposit refund rules are on the holding multiple dental school acceptances page.

Withdraw through AADSAS or through each school?

The ADEA AADSAS help center page on refunding and withdrawing your application splits it by status:

The statement AADSAS asks for is: "I authorize ADEA AADSAS to withdraw my application from the 2026-2027 application cycle. Furthermore, I understand that no refunds can be granted for applications that have already been submitted." The withdrawal section adds: "If you have already submitted your application, we cannot issue any refunds."

If your application is verified, every decline below goes to the school, not to AADSAS.

Template 1: decline an acceptance

Send it to the admissions address on your offer letter, from the email you used in AADSAS.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (42 words without the subject line)

Subject: Declining offer of admission, DMD Class of 2031, Nkechi Obi-Lawson, AADSAS ID 1234567

Dear Admissions Committee,

Thank you for offering me a place in the DMD Class of 2031. I am writing to decline the offer, as I have accepted a seat at another school. Please release my place to another applicant.

Sincerely, Nkechi Obi-Lawson

Why it is built this way: the subject line lets staff find your file without opening the email, the second sentence is the decision, and the third asks them to act. Naming the other school is optional. A sentence about the deposit is not needed; the school's own terms decide what happens to it.

Template 2: leave a waitlist

Florida's waitlist page (written for the 2026 entering class) says: "Should you decide to withdraw from the waitlist, written notification via email is required." Columbia asks waitlisted applicants to reply "within seven (7) days" just to stay on its list.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (36 words without the subject line)

Subject: Withdrawal from waitlist, Tomasz Wierzbicki, AADSAS ID 7654321

Dear Admissions Office,

I am withdrawing from the waitlist for the DMD class entering in August 2027, as I have committed to another program. Thank you for your consideration throughout this cycle.

Best regards, Tomasz Wierzbicki

Template 3: cancel an interview you no longer need

Cancel the day you commit elsewhere. Kentucky's admissions page says it sends invitations on a rolling basis "until all interview days are filled (12 candidates per day)", so a seat you give back can go to someone else.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (39 words without the subject line)

Subject: Cancelling interview on January 22, 2027, Lena Ortiz

Dear Admissions Office,

I need to cancel my interview scheduled for January 22, 2027, and withdraw my application. I have accepted an offer from another dental school. Thank you for the invitation and for your time.

Sincerely, Lena Ortiz

Template 4: ask to defer (and who says no)

A deferral request is a different email, and two schools below answer it on their own pages before you send it. ADEA's deferral process page says a deferred applicant "has received an acceptance notice and approval for the deferral directly from the program." It also lists what carries over: your Personal Information, Academic History and Supporting Information sections do; the "Program Materials section", "Document uploads or evaluations" and "Essay/personal statement" do not.

Two school policies to read first:

• Penn: "Penn Dental Medicine does not consider requests for deferral." (DMD admissions)
• UIC: "Requests for deferred entrance into our college are for exceptional circumstances only." (how to apply)

Our view: ask only when the school's page leaves the door open and you have a reason with an end date, such as a fixed military or family obligation. Without both, accept or decline.

The countercase: a school whose page says nothing about deferral may still consider one. Ask the admissions office whether it does before you write the full request.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. (89 words without the subject line)

Subject: Deferral request, DMD Class of 2031, Samuel Adeyemi, AADSAS ID 2468024

Dear Admissions Committee,

Thank you for my offer of admission to the DMD Class of 2031. I am writing to ask whether I may defer my enrollment by one year. My mother's surgery is scheduled for May 2027, and I am her only caregiver through her recovery, which her doctors expect to take nine months. I would enroll in August 2028 and can provide documentation. If deferral is not possible, I will accept my seat for this year. Could you tell me the process and deadline?

Sincerely, Samuel Adeyemi

The request names one reason, one end date, a fallback answer, and a question the school can act on.

Timing: March 1 and the seat you release

ADEA's guidelines for extending offers have schools report "by March 1 the names of candidates who hold a position in their entering class", and say schools "will have the option of rescinding an offer of admission to candidates who are holding positions at multiple institutions." March 1, 2027 is a Monday.

Our recommendation: decline before March 1, and as soon as you know. Your deposit does not come back by waiting, and the seat you release is the one a waitlisted applicant is waiting for. Columbia fills from its waitlist in "March - April". If you are holding a seat while you wait on a school you prefer, send that school a letter of continued interest and keep the seat until it answers. When offers can arrive and how long each stays open is on the December 15 ADEA rules page.

Questions about declining a dental school offer

Do I have to give a reason when I decline?

No. None of the five school pages we checked asks for one. "I have accepted a seat at another school" is enough, and you can leave even that out.

Can I decline through the AADSAS portal?

Not once you are verified. The help center says to "Contact your programs directly".

Will declining now hurt me if I reapply to that school later?

None of the five school pages we checked says anything about it. Florida says reapplicants are "strongly encouraged to show substantial improvement in all areas of the application", which is about the new application, not the old decline.

Do I get my deposit back?

At the five schools in our dental deposit table, the deposit is called non-refundable. Pitt's page adds exceptions set out in your offer letter.

Review the writing you send next

If you are declining one seat to wait on a school you prefer, the next letter you write goes to that school. Get a free Quick Review of your letter of intent against GradPilot's letter of intent and interest rubric, the closest rubric for a dental letter, which reads for a specific reason to attend and a commitment stated at its true strength. If you have news to report, use the update letter rubric.

More dental guides for this stage:

• Holding multiple dental school acceptances: March 1 and deposits.
• Dental school letter of intent: one school, and a constructed sample.
• The medical school essays hub for the rest of the dental guides. If money is the reason, ask for more aid first before you release the seat.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• Liaison, ADEA AADSAS Applicant Help Center, Refunding/Withdrawing Your ADEA AADSAS Application (2026-27 cycle): withdrawal by status, authorization statement, no refunds.
• ADEA, ADEA Applicant Deferral Process: approval by the program; what transfers.
• ADEA, Guidelines for Dental Schools When Extending Offers of Admission and Scholarships (revised January 2022): March 1 report and rescinding.
• University of Florida College of Dentistry, Waitlisted Students (2026 entering-class page): written withdrawal; reapplicants.
• Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, Apply (no year stated): seven-day waitlist reply; March–April waitlist use.
• University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, DMD Admissions (no year stated): 12 candidates per interview day.
• Penn Dental Medicine, DMD Admissions (2026-27 cycle): no deferrals.
• UIC College of Dentistry, How to Apply to the DMD Program (2026-27 cycle): deferral for exceptional circumstances only.