Holding Multiple Dental School Acceptances: Deposits

Holding Multiple Dental School Acceptances: Deposits

You can hold more than one dental school acceptance until March 1, 2027. On that date each school reports who holds a seat in its class. After March 5, ADEA tells each school which of those applicants also hold a seat elsewhere, and the school gives you at least 15 days to keep its seat or give it up.

The rule is not the hard part. The money is. All five schools in the deposit table below call their deposit non-refundable, and Pitt fills its seats in the order deposits arrive. So the real question is not whether you may hold two seats. It is which deposit you are willing to lose, and how long you can wait before choosing.

Every ADEA and school page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. Your offer letter sets your own deposit amount and due date, so read it the day it arrives. The December 15 ADEA rules page covers when offers start and how long each one stays open.

Until March 1: what the ADEA guideline says

ADEA's Guidelines for Dental Schools When Extending Offers of Admission and Scholarships set out the process in five steps:

"Dental schools participating in ADEA AADSAS will report to ADEA AADSAS by March 1 the names of candidates who hold a position in their entering class."

"After March 5, ADEA AADSAS will report to each institution the names of candidates in their entering class who are holding acceptance(s) at additional institutions. (Only names are reported with no other additional information.)"

"Dental schools with candidates holding multiple positions on March 1 of the year of admission will contact such candidates and give them a minimum 15-day notice to affirm their position in the class or to withdraw their position."

"Notification times may be shortened after April 15."

"Dental schools will have the option of rescinding an offer of admission to candidates who are holding positions at multiple institutions."

The applicant agreement you signed says the same thing from your side. ADEA's CAS policies and applicant release statements say: "Beginning March 1 of each year, if you hold offers at more than one school, your status will be disclosed to all other schools that you designated to receive your application materials and may result in offers being changed or revoked".

Three things follow from the text:

• Before March 1 nothing is reported. The guideline sets no penalty for holding two seats before that date.
• Schools learn that you hold another seat, not where. "Only names are reported."
• After March 1 the school decides. A school may give you 15 days to choose, and it has "the option of rescinding". March 1, 2027 is a Monday, and the 15-day minimum from that date runs to Tuesday, March 16 (our arithmetic). Your school may send its notice later than March 1.

Deposit table: five dental schools

Each row comes from the school's own admissions page:

Penn's schedule matters most if you hold two seats. A Penn seat held past March 1 costs $2,000, not $1,000 (our arithmetic: two deposits of $1,000). Penn also says "all deadlines will be strictly enforced."

If you hold Penn and one other school, March 1 is two deadlines at once: the second Penn deposit and the ADEA report. Decide before it, not after.

The Pitt rule: a deposit deadline that is not a seat

Pitt's page puts it plainly:

"Seats for the incoming class will be filled in the order in which deposits of individuals who have been offered admission to the University are received (i.e., seats are filled on a rolling basis upon receipt of your deposit)."

And: "if the class is filled prior to that date, submission of the deposit by the due date does not guarantee enrollment". An admitted applicant who pays after the seats fill goes on a "deferred enrollment list" and moves into the class only if a seat opens. Pitt refunds the $2,000 to anyone on that list who is never offered a seat, but not to someone who is offered one and declines.

Our view: at a school with this rule, the due date in your letter is the latest you can pay, not a safe time to pay. If Pitt is a seat you want, pay early. If it is a backup, know that waiting can cost you the seat itself, not only the deposit.

The countercase: this is Pitt's rule, not ADEA's. Kentucky, Florida, Penn and UNC describe no deposit-order rule on their pages, so read your own letter before you assume it.

Which seat to release, and when

Run this in order once you hold two offers.

1. Write down every deadline. Each offer's response date, each deposit date, and March 1, 2027. Penn adds a second deposit on March 1.
2. Write down the money at risk. The deposit you would lose at each school, from the table or your letter.
3. Compare the real costs. Cost of attendance for all four years, your residency status at public schools, and any scholarship in writing.
4. Ask what you still need to know. Clinic model, curriculum, location. Use the second-look day or an email to the admissions office to close those gaps.
5. Release the seat you will not take as soon as step 4 is done. Do not wait for March 1 to force it. Columbia fills from its waitlist in "March - April", and Pitt moves people off its deferred list when someone "chooses to forego their deposit in favor of attending another school". A seat you let go goes to someone else.
6. If you are waitlisted at a school you prefer, keep your best held seat and tell that school. A letter of continued interest is the document for it.

The email itself is three sentences: how to decline a dental school acceptance has it, with the AADSAS withdrawal rule.

Constructed example: two offers, costs left as variables

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's offers. Context (invented): Ingrid Solberg holds an offer from an in-state public school (School A, $500 deposit) and a private school (School B, $1,000 now plus $1,000 on March 1). She is waitlisted at School C.

Ingrid's rule: she compares B minus S with A. If School B is not worth that difference to her, she releases it before March 1 and loses $1,000; if she waits and releases it after March 1, she loses $2,000. If School C admits her later, she releases whichever seat she holds and loses that deposit. Every number here is a placeholder. The point is that School B's second deposit date, not the ADEA report, is her real deadline.

Scholarship offers follow the same clock

The same guideline covers scholarships:

"Applicants should be given the opportunity to make decisions related to scholarship offers in alignment with the applicant response periods noted for acceptance."

That sentence is about time, not amount. It does not say when a school must make a scholarship offer. Our recommendation: if a scholarship would decide your choice, ask the school in writing when scholarship decisions go out and whether that date falls inside your response window. If you need to ask for more aid, the dental school financial aid appeal letter covers that letter.

Questions about holding dental school seats

Can a dental school rescind my acceptance for holding another seat?

Yes, after March 1. The guideline gives schools "the option of rescinding an offer of admission to candidates who are holding positions at multiple institutions", and the applicant agreement says holding offers "may result in offers being changed or revoked".

Are dental school deposits refundable?

At the five schools in the table, the page calls the deposit non-refundable. Pitt's page adds two exceptions: terms in your offer letter, and a refund if you sit on its deferred enrollment list and are never offered a seat.

Will the other school know where I am holding a seat?

Not from ADEA's report. The guideline says "Only names are reported with no other additional information."

Can I hold a seat and stay on a waitlist?

The ADEA rules count seats you hold, not waitlists you are on. Columbia asks waitlisted applicants to reply "within seven (7) days" to stay under consideration, and Florida's waitlist page, written for the class entering in fall 2026, says "Historically, most waitlisted candidates who receive offers of admission are notified by the end of July." Keep the held seat until the waitlist school admits you.

Review the writing you send next

If you are holding a seat while you wait on a school you prefer, 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 that school and a commitment stated at its true strength. If you have news to report instead, the update letter rubric checks that the letter names what changed and what the change adds.

More dental guides for this stage:

• Dental school acceptance on December 15: response windows by offer date.
• Decline a dental school acceptance: the release email and the AADSAS withdrawal rule.
• Dental school acceptance rates by GPA and DAT, and the medical school essays hub for the rest of the dental guides. If one of your seats is at a Texas school, read the Texas dental April 15 cutoff too.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• ADEA, Guidelines for Dental Schools When Extending Offers of Admission and Scholarships (revised January 2022): March 1 and March 5 reports, 15-day notice, April 15, rescinding, scholarships.
• ADEA, ADEA CAS Policies and Applicant Release Statements: Disclosure of Status from March 1.
• University of Kentucky College of Dentistry, DMD Admissions (no year stated): deposit amounts and terms.
• University of Florida College of Dentistry, Offers (no year stated) and Waitlisted Students (written for the fall 2026 entering class): deposit, end-of-July waitlist offers.
• Penn Dental Medicine, DMD Admissions (2026-27 cycle): deposit schedule and enforcement.
• University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, DMD Admissions Process: deposit, deposit-order seats, deferred enrollment list and refund.
• UNC Adams School of Dentistry, DDS Admissions (2026-27 cycle): $500 non-refundable deposit.
• Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, Apply (no year stated): waitlist months and seven-day reply.