1. Courses and Major
Pre-dentistry is not a major at UMD, but is a set of courses that most dental schools want incoming students to have. Schools may differ, so be sure to check those that you are interested in for their requirements.
Students do not have to obtain a BS degree to get into dental school, but many choose to get a degree in Biology or Cell Biology because these programs include most required courses. Be award that in last year's class at the U of M Dental School, only 3-4 accepted students did not have their degrees.
Many UMD students want to attend the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, which is the only program in the state of Minnesota. Follow this link for more specific UM admissions information. Follow this link for a list of other dental schools.
There were 987 applicants for the 2006/2007 entering class at UM
The average statistics for the accepted students are:
Overall GPA: 3.64 DAT Academic Average: 19.69
Science GPA: 3.59 DAT Perceptual Ability: 19.26
DAT Total Science: 19.50
2. Dental Admissions Test
After you finish the organic chemistry and general biology sequence here at UMD, you can take the DAT (Dental Admissions Test). The American Dental Association (ADA) administers and has information on the DAT at this link: DAT. You must take the DAT prior to applying for dental school.
3. AADSAS
The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) administers the AADSAS (Associated American Dental Schools Application Service), through which you must apply to dental school no matter where you want to go (it's nice, because you only have to fill out one application to apply to many schools). Just as with med schools, you can apply to as many dental schools at the same time as you want.
Other resources
1. Dental School Application Manual from Temple University has excellent advice on all aspects of applying to dental school.
2. Dental School Application Process from MIT - short succinct list of steps.
2. Dr. Dana Vaughan's Pre-dental training at UW Oshkosh has savvy advice on resources and how to successfully jump through many hoops on your way to dental school. Keep in mind that some of the advice and all course numbers are specific to UW-Oshkosh. Caution: some of the external links are out of date - follow the links on this page.
How to be a competitive applicant