Dec 07, 2024  
2014-2015 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2014-2015 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Pre-Dental - Minor


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The pre-dental minor prepares students who are interested in applying to dental school. Most dental schools require a strong undergraduate background in the sciences as well as substantial clinical experience. Although students in any undergraduate major may apply to dental school, in a typical year, most of students accepted to dental school programs complete undergraduate majors in the biological sciences (the percentage of undergraduates with majors in the biological sciences that enrolled in dental schools in 2009 outnumbered the average percentage of enrollees in all other disciplines combined by nearly a factor of 12). In addition to academic excellence at the undergraduate institutions, many dental schools include additional criteria such as community service, extracurricular activities, pre-dental experience, and research in their evaluation of potential candidates. Pre-dental students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.4 and perform a minimum of 160 hours of community/pre-dental clinical service. Interested students should contact the Chief Health Care Professions Advisor, B.W. Witz, Ph.D., to develop an appropriate course of study for their four years of college.

Required Courses for Pre-Dental - Minor


The Nazareth College Pre-Dental Medicine Program was structured using a compilation of requirements listed by dental schools at the following institutions: SUNY Stonybrook, SUNY Buffalo, University of Pennsylvania, and Case Western Reserve University. The following courses (52 credit hours) are required for a Pre-Dental minor.

Elective Courses for Pre-Dental - Minor


In addition to the required 52 credit hours, the following courses are highly recommended for Pre-Dental minor students:

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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