Getting Into Dental School
Getting into dental school can be tough if candidates do not understand the process and what to look out for. This handy guide with tips and explanations provides useful information to examine during the application process. The dental school guide is broken down into sections that candidates should think about.
Undergraduate Work
Many people are well prepared with their undergraduate needs to fulfill application requirements. Each dental school will vary in their requirements but generally a heavy dose of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Organic Chemistry. For individuals with access to a prehealth professions advisor or board, this becomes a huge resource as they can help plan what courses to take and other preparations. Good grades in the prerequisites can increase the chances of an interview. The ADA survey shows that over 50 dental schools place the science GPA in the ‘very important’ category and 46 schools placed overall GPA as ‘very important’. Another important step during this time is to get hands on knowledge of the field and there are several ways to accomplish this. One is through the ADA mentoring program and the other is to seek a dentist to shadow during work for a week. It is good to understand what the dentist does entirely and be able to explain why it would make a good career for you.
During this time, it is also good to build up honors and extracurricular activities. For those with a dental related club they can join or even help lead, this becomes a strong positive on the dental school application. Imagine a reviewer seeing a candidate who was president of their school’s dental organization compared to one who did no extra work. The simple choice would be to go with the more focused and involved applicant. A good organization to join is the American Student Dental Association (ASDA). They provide plenty of information on dentistry from predental to international.
Dental Admission Test DAT
The Dental Admission Test is a key part in getting into dental school and high scores can be impress both the people scanning through applications and interviewers as well. It is a good idea to take the DAT early, around the 3rd year or earlier if applying without a baccalaureate degree. This allows for retaking the test in case of bad scores. The ADA 2008-09 survey shows that many dental schools ranked the academic average, total sciences, reading comprehension, and biology sections as ‘very important’ in the decision process. The average academic average for the same year was 18.8 with most dental schools with average marks above 18. It can help to compare the average DAT scores that the school accepted and try to beat equal or beat the mark. Some schools have minimum scores for the DAT so if your score is not at the minimum applying would be a waste of money.
Interviewing Skills
Interviewing skills can be extremely important as seen by the survey which shows 55 dental schools stating that the pre-admission interview is ‘very important’. It is good to practice with a prehealth advisor and sees what kind of questions the particular school will ask. Being prepared for the type of interview and types of questions will help it go more smoothly. A positive interview can be a beneficial factor in big for applicants with DAT or GPA scores below the average or those with less extracurricular activities.
Application and Materials
The application process is important and there are several variables here. First is the material that is needed for the application. Each dental school has its own requirements but most will need a resume with a personal statement and listing honors and extracurricular activity. Let an advisor critique this material. Also all transcripts need to be obtained and converted to predental GPA and letters of recommendation need to be requested. Applicants need to focus on the deadline for applying which varies with each dental school. The ADEA Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS) is a centralized application service with 55 participating schools. The AADSAS can really help with the application process and it takes submitting of the material only once to apply to many schools. Next are the fees. There is a fee for using the AADSAS, a fee for the application to each school and others fees that need to be considered. This means that the more dental training institutions a candidate applies to, the higher the fees will add up.
Choosing a Dental School
The majority of applicants choose more than one dental school to apply to as it increases the chances of being accepted. However some do not stretch out to dental schools that are out of their personal bounds rather it is in cost or distance. Applicants usually pick a school in their state and if there is not one present they seek out one closest. This helps to decrease the overall cost of dental education. Dental schools pick the majority of their students from their own states or surrounding states. Some dental schools have agreements with other states and will give first consideration to students from those states. The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry is an example that accepts students from Missouri and gives preferred consideration to applicants from Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Hawaii. Students going out of state can consider the cost of a private school compared to out of state tuition in a public school. The total cost of dental programs can range anywhere from around $50,000 to over $360,000. Other considerations are the facilities, number of patients each student is expected to work with, and how previous graduates fared.
For those applicants who are considering specialization, applying to a dental school that is already accredited in the specific program can reduce the burden of moving and lower the cost of many fees. Continuing education at the same school or even a school close by instead of moving across several states can be helpful to a lot of graduates.
