Oct 05, 2024  
2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Pre-Dental - Minor


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The pre-dental minor enhances the competitiveness of students interested in applying to dental school. The American Dental Education Association (ADEA) recommends that interested students, regardless of the major chosen, should select courses that emphasize critical thinking, professionalism and ethics, communication and interpersonal skills, and health promotion.

This 18-credit minor is highly interdisciplinary and was developed for students preparing for professional or graduate training in a health care specialty. The courses were specifically selected to focus on the desired  core competencies for dental students.  This minor is particularly suited for students with a natural science major (such as Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences, Biology, or Chemistry) who wish to take a suite of integrative courses that will provide them with perspectives from the social sciences and humanities. In addition, some courses for the minor will provide them with useful skills or experiences that will make them more competitive in professional school applications. Students not majoring in the sciences should meet with the pre-health advisor as early as possible during their program at Nazareth to ensure all the prerequisites are completed.

The Health Professions Advisory Committee (HPAC) is dedicated to all of our pre-dental minors and organizes workshops in personal statement and interviewing practices and conducts formal interviews as part of the comprehensive composite letter preparation for students applying to dental school. The (HPAC) Chair acts as the program director, oversees the minor programs and advises students in both individual and group sessions.

Pre-dental students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 and a minimum grade of C- or higher in all minor coursework. Students must also perform a minimum of 200 hours of community/pre-dental clinical service. Interested students should contact the program director/HPAC chair to develop an appropriate course of study for their four years of college.

Pre-Dental Minor Courses


Students must complete a minimum of 18 credits for this minor. Six of these credits are listed below and are required. Two additional credits are very highly recommended. Also required is at least 200 patient care or clinical hours, which can include (but is not limited to) shadowing, volunteering, and working in the dental field.

Pre-Dental Minor Electives


Students must complete a minimum of 12 elective credits. Please note that eligibility for enrollment includes completion of prerequisites noted in the course descriptions. 

Courses Required for Dental School Application


This section lists the science and math courses that are required prerequisites to gain entry to dental schools. Although not required to complete the Pre-Dental Minor, students must complete these courses to be eligible to apply to dental school.

Students should discuss their individual plans and goals with the Pre-Health Advisor and should contact individual dental schools for specific prerequisite information. However, the American Dental Association indicated that required courses generally include:

Additional Information


Students wishing to apply to U.S. dental schools (58 of 61 schools) must do so through the American Association of Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS); application preparation should begin on or around May 15th of the junior year. Applicants also must take the Dental Admissions Test (DAT), typically in late spring of the junior year or in the early summer before the senior year. The average cumulative GPA of enrollees in U.S. dental schools is typically over 3.5/4; the average Dental Admissions Test (DAT) score is typically above 19/30.

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