GPR/AEGD Letter of Intent: Dental Match Rules 2027

GPR/AEGD Letter of Intent: Dental Match Rules 2027

In the 2027 Dental Match you may tell a program you intend to rank it. You may not tell it where. National Matching Services (NMS), which runs the Match, writes: "it is prohibited to make statements like 'I will rank you first' or 'You are at the top of my list'." Phase I rank lists (GPR, AEGD, ortho, perio, prosth, anesthesiology) are due November 16, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Phase II (OMS, pediatric dentistry) is due January 13, 2027.

The dental residency Match is not the physician Match. If you adapt a physician residency template, check its last line: a sentence like "I will rank your program first" is the exact example the Dental Match prohibits. This page quotes the rule, sets it beside the NRMP's, and shows one constructed letter that breaks it and one that does not. The residency letter of intent rubric reads a draft against the communication rule you paste above it.

Every NMS page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026, for the Match for positions beginning in 2027. The NRMP agreement was checked the same day.

The Dental Match rules, verbatim

The NMS applicant interviews page sets the communication guidelines:

"You may freely discuss any matter with a residency and both you and the residency may express a high level of interest in each other."

"An applicant may voluntarily inform a residency that they intend to rank the residency. Similarly, a residency may voluntarily inform an applicant that it intends to rank the applicant. However, neither the applicant nor the residency may ask or prompt the other side for this information."

"Furthermore, neither applicants nor residencies may solicit or disclose information about rank positioning. For example, it is prohibited to make statements like 'I will rank you first' or 'You are at the top of my list'."

The Rules of Participation add the commitment rule and the consequence:

"applicants may not make any commitments to, or require any commitments from, any participating program prior to the release of the Match results."

"The Match results constitute a binding commitment from which neither the applicant nor the program can withdraw."

"Violations of the policies of the Match will be reported to the appropriate sponsoring organizations. Even if both parties agree to a release from the Match result, the sponsoring organizations may decide to impose penalties on those who violate the policies, such as cancellation or denial of memberships in the sponsoring organizations, barring participation in future matches, and reporting the violations to the dental school or to other Match participants."

In plain terms, a letter may do three things: show high interest, say you intend to rank the program, and give reasons. It may not name a rank position, promise to attend, or ask where you stand.

Dental Match vs NRMP: the sentence that changes

The NRMP's 2027 Match Participation Agreement for applicants, section 6.4, says: "Applicants may voluntarily communicate their interest to a program(s); however, applicants may not solicit verbal or written statements from a program(s) implying a commitment to rank the applicant." On rank position, the NRMP agreement binds programs, not applicants: section 6.5 says programs are not authorized to "Request that applicants reveal their ranking preferences." It has no clause barring an applicant from volunteering one. The Dental Match bars both sides, and it names the sentence.

Our view: leave every position word out of a Dental Match letter: "first", "top", "top three", "number one", "rank you highly". Say "I intend to rank your program" and spend the rest of the letter on reasons. The basis: the rule bans disclosing "information about rank positioning", and its two quoted sentences are examples ("For example"), not the full list. "One of my top choices" still tells the program where it sits.

The countercase: the rule governs programs in the Match. Some GPRs are not. The ADEA PASS page for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences GPR lists "Match Participating" as "No". For a program like that, the question is not wording. The NMS rules say that if you want to accept a position at a program outside the Match, you "must submit a withdrawal from the Match and must not submit a Rank Order List for the Match."

2027 Dental Match dates

From the NMS schedule of dates and the applicant rankings page. Days of the week are our check.

Three rules sit under the table. First, "all of your interviews must be completed before the Rank Order List deadline." Second, "Applicants who match in Phase I are not eligible to submit a Rank Order List in Phase II." Third, you can change a certified list "until the Rank Order List deadline", but you must certify it again.

On November 7, 2026, nine days remain before the Phase I deadline (our arithmetic). A letter sent to a Phase I program after November 16 cannot reach a list that is already final.

Should you send a dental residency letter of intent?

NMS publishes no data on whether letters change program lists, and we found no published survey of dental program directors on the question. So decide on what you can check. Run these five steps for each program:

1. Is the program in the Match? Check the NMS participating programs list or the program's ADEA PASS page. If not, the rules above do not apply to that program, and accepting its offer means withdrawing from the Match.
2. Did the program tell you how it wants post-interview contact? If it asked for no letters, send none. NMS publishes no per-program instructions, so this comes from the program's emails or interview day.
3. Do you have a reason only this program earns? Something you learned on interview day, tied to something you need from the year. If you have only praise, send a thank-you note instead.
4. Is it before that phase's deadline? November 16, 2026 for Phase I; January 13, 2027 for Phase II.
5. Will you rank the program? Write "I intend to rank" only if you will. NMS allows that sentence. It does not allow a position.

If all five pass, send one letter of under 250 words by email to the program director. NMS sets no length limit; the 250 words is our recommendation.

What a compliant dental residency letter says

Constructed example: a letter that breaks the Dental Match rule

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant letter. Context (invented): a fourth-year dental student, Keziah Mwangi, interviewed at Lakeview Regional, a hospital GPR invented for this page.

Dear Dr. Sato,

Thank you for the interview on October 30. I loved meeting your residents and touring the hospital. [1] Lakeview is my number one choice and [2] I will rank you first. [3] Could you let me know where I stand on your list?

Sincerely, Keziah Mwangi

• [1] "number one choice" discloses rank position.
• [2] "I will rank you first" is the sentence NMS names as prohibited.
• [3] asking where she stands solicits positioning, which "neither applicants nor residencies may" do.

The praise in the second sentence breaks no rule. It is just interchangeable with any program.

Constructed example: the compliant revision

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant letter. The letter below is 138 words.

Dear Dr. Sato,

Thank you for my interview on October 30. I am writing to tell you that I intend to rank Lakeview's General Practice Residency, and why.

Two things from the day settled it. First, your residents described taking emergency department consults for dental trauma in their first months, with an attending on site. My oral surgery rotation gave me extractions but never a hospital consult, and that is the gap I want this year to close. Second, Dr. Varga described the weekly operating room block for patients with special needs. At our school's special care clinic I treated adults with autism under nitrous oxide, and I want to learn to manage the same patients under general anesthesia.

Since my application, I passed the INBDE on October 15.

Thank you again for your time.

Sincerely, Keziah Mwangi

Why it works: the intent sentence uses the words NMS allows ("intend to rank"). No sentence gives a position or asks for one. Each reason joins a feature she learned about on the day to a gap from her own training, and the update is dated and new. Both reasons are GPR reasons: hospital consults and the operating room are what CODA's GPR standards require ("providing care in the operating room"). An AEGD letter would argue from different features; the GPR vs AEGD personal statement guide shows how the reasons differ.

Rank list: the only strategy NMS gives

The rankings page is blunt:

"The Match Algorithm is designed such that it cannot be gamed or manipulated."

"The only strategy is to rank your choices in order of your true preferences, without considering how you expect to be ranked by any program."

It also says "Rank all programs to which you applied that would be acceptable" and "Do not rank any program that you consider unacceptable". A letter does not change how the algorithm treats your list. Write your list from your preferences, then send letters that match it. Because the result is a "binding commitment", tell a program you intend to rank it only if you would go there.

Thank-you emails after GPR and AEGD interviews

A thank-you note is not a letter of intent, and the same rule covers it: no position words. Our recommendation: two or three sentences, sent within a day or two, naming one thing from the interview. NMS sets no rule on timing or length.

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant email. Context (invented): an AEGD interview at Northfield Community Health, a program invented for this page.

Subject: Thank you for the AEGD interview

Dear Dr. Pellegrini,

Thank you for the interview yesterday. Hearing how your residents follow one patient from the emergency visit through the final restoration made your continuity model concrete for me. I would welcome a year building plans like that under supervision.

Best regards, Ola Nordin

For the interview itself, see the GPR and AEGD interview questions page, which covers what to say if someone raises ranking.

Questions about dental residency letters of intent

Can I tell a GPR program it is my first choice?

No. NMS prohibits disclosing rank position and gives "I will rank you first" as its example. You may say you intend to rank the program.

Can a program tell me it will rank me?

Yes. NMS: "a residency may voluntarily inform an applicant that it intends to rank the applicant." It may not tell you your position, and you may not ask.

What do I say if an interviewer asks where I will rank them?

Neither side "may ask or prompt the other side for this information," so the question itself breaks the rule. The GPR and AEGD interview questions page has a one-line reply you can use in the room.

Does the rule apply to orthodontics and oral surgery?

Yes. The communication guidelines cover every program in the Dental Match. Ortho, perio, prosth and anesthesiology rank in Phase I with GPR and AEGD. OMS and pediatric dentistry rank in Phase II.

Is a dental residency letter of intent the same as an NRMP one?

No. The structure is the same: reasons, update, interest. The commitment sentence is different. For the physician version, see the 2027 NRMP residency letter of intent guide. Your faculty evaluators fill in the ADEA PASS Professional Evaluation Form; send them that guide with your request.

Get a free review of your residency letter

Get a free Quick Review of your residency letter against GradPilot's residency letter of intent rubric. The rubric is written for NRMP letters, so paste the NMS communication guidelines above your draft: it checks the letter against the instruction you supply, whether your reason for the program comes from what you learned there, and whether any sentence asks about ranking. For the PASS statement itself, use the dental residency personal statement rubric.

More dental residency guides:

• GPR vs AEGD personal statement guide: how the two programs' prompts and reasons differ.
• ADEA PASS personal statement guide for 2026–2027: how PASS statements and program limits work.
• Orthodontics residency personal statement mistakes: the specialty statement, with constructed examples.
• The dental residency personal statement review page, and more guides in the medical school essays hub.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• National Matching Services, Applicants: Interviews (Match for positions beginning in 2027): communication guidelines, the "I will rank you first" prohibition, interviews before the deadline.
• National Matching Services, Rules of Participation (2027): no commitments before results, binding results, penalties, withdrawal for non-Match positions.
• National Matching Services, Schedule of Dates (2027): Phase I and Phase II dates and times, confirmation letters.
• National Matching Services, Applicants: Rankings (2027): ranking strategy, certification, deadlines.
• National Matching Services, Participating Programs (2027): program types in each phase.
• NRMP, 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Applicants, sections 6.4 and 6.5: the physician Match communication clause and the bar on programs asking for ranking preferences.
• ADEA PASS, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences General Practice Residency (page updated October 13, 2026): Match participation listed as "No".
• Commission on Dental Accreditation, Accreditation Standards for Advanced Dental Education Programs in General Practice Residency (revisions implemented July 1, 2025): operating room training.