Pre-Dental Program

"My academic experience at EMU was strong. The courses were challenging but professors were easy to approach and willing to help me one-on-one. I feel fully prepared for my next journey because of EMU."

--Debbie Boese, '07, former biology major and current
dental school student at Virginia Commonwealth University

Read about other EMU alumni in the field!

During the past years, competition for admittance into dental school has significantly increased. To be a competitive applicant, note the following "suggestions". Successful applicants will complete all or most of them:

• All undergraduate majors are acceptable for dental school; however the required science courses need to be completed even if the student is not a science major. Consequently, it is easier to complete these requirements if one is a biology or biochemistry major.
  
  
• Follow the required course list for pre-medical students; it is important to take biochemistry as one of the elective courses. If you earn a C grade or lower in a class in any required science course, you must take it over and the resultant grade should be a B+ or higher, the second time. A science GPA of 3.25 is competitive; if your science GPA falls below 3.0 you should re-take some of the courses that have grades less than a B.
  
  
• Take the DAT (Dental Admissions Test) at the end of the junior year or when you complete these courses : General Chemistry I & II, Organic Chemistry I & II, two Mathematics courses, and the first four Biology courses.

  • Register for the test on-line

  • DAT exams are administered at approved testing centers. Seven such centers are located in Virginia; the nearest ones are in Roanoke and Lynchburg.

  • DAT scores are typically valid for three years.

  • A competitive score averages about 19; if any section is lower than 17, you should plan to strengthen that area via additional coursework and then re-take the DAT.
    
    
• Students need to demonstrate some level of involvement in dentistry which may consist of shadowing a dentist, volunteering at a clinic, or employment at a dental clinic. All of these options have similar weight. The experience(s) should reinforce the notion that you find dentistry exciting. Set up an Excel sheet to accurately track the time you spent in dentistry clinical activities.
  
  

Download the correct list of required courses for Pre-Dental:

• Biology majors
• Biochemistry majors
• non-science majors
• Involve yourself in some community volunteer work that relates to people. These experiences do not need to be "dental-related". You should document your time and specific experiences.
  
  
• Extra curricular activities during the undergraduate years are important and are noticed. They indicate your broader interests and experiences.
  
  
• Apply to dental school via the AADSAS (Associated American Dental Schools Application Service) which is a central applications service used by fifty-two of the fifty-six U.S. dental schools.

Related Links

www.adea.org

The American Dental Education Association web site will take you through all of the things you need to do for the application process. Everyone applies through AADSA so you must do this. The registration opens up on May 15, but it is a good idea to look at the site ahead of time because they give you a list of things you can be collecting for the application (writing a personal statement, references, and transcripts). You want to apply as early as possible.

http://www.dentalsite.com/dentists/densch.html

This web site lists all of the dental schools in the US and provides a link to each of those schools. From there, you can explore all the dental schools have to offer and what they expect of their dental applicants.