The Path to Dental School

All schools require that you have experience in the dental profession.

As a guideline, we quote University of Missouri-Kansas City's dental school: “It is strongly suggested that candidates observe in a minimum of five different dental offices, including general dentists (3 minimum) and specialists (2 minimum). Students should log a minimum of 100 hours of dental office observation.”

At your first meeting, the Predental Advisor will provide you a list of clinicians in Northwest Arkansas who welcome students for unpaid shadowing opportunities.

The American Dental Association mandates that all predental students take the DAT in the computerized test format. You can get all current information about the test from the American Dental Association. 

It is recommended that the DAT be taken the spring of your application year or earlier. Preparation should begin after completing the required introductory biology, general chemistry, and organic chemistry coursework. (Physics is not on the test). 

You may take the test only three times, and you must wait 60 days between each attempt.  

The dental school at the University of Tennessee-Memphis states: “Do not apply until you are satisfied with your DAT score. We receive applications each week and make interview decisions based on when the application is first sent to us.”

PREPARING FOR THE DAT:

Preparation materials for the DAT can be obtained from a variety of sources such as the Kaplan preparation course, books, or online programs. Students should take as many practice tests as possible (always on a computer) and review all wrong answers. Please review the program information packet provided by the Predental Advisor to learn more about signing-up for the DAT.

Predental students who have done well on the DAT and been admitted to dental school recommend:

• DAT Bootcamp: https://bootcamp.com/dat 
• Crack the DAT: https://app.crackdat.com/
• DAT Booster: https://boosterprep.com/dat 
• Chad's Math: http://chadsvideos.com/
• Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

RECOMMENDED BOOK PURCHASES:

• ADEA Official Guide to Dental Schools: http://www.adea.org/officialguide/
• Getting into Dental School: ASDA’s Guide for Predental Students: https://www.asdanet.org/

WEBSITES THAT ARE USEFUL:

• The American Dental Association provides information about testing and admissions.
• The American Student Dental Association is a good organization to join.
• The American Dental Education Association has many links to sites about dental schools, application procedures, the AADSAS unified application process, testing, etc.

You will apply to dental school one year prior to the time you wish to begin.

If you are pursuing your degree on a four-year timeline, you will begin the application process in January of your junior year. At this time, the Predental Advisor will hold a mandatory meeting of all students applying to dental school, where the information necessary to prepare your predental committee letter of recommendation will be distributed.

All committee letters will be written between March and May, so it is mandatory that you start this process early. It can take up to one month for you to collect all the materials needed for the committee letter.

Texas residents will apply to Texas schools through the TMDSAS application system (from May 1 - October 1). Residents of all other states and those pursuing schools outside of Texas will apply through the AADSAS application system (from June 1 - September 30 - note that individual program deadlines vary). It is recommended that you not submit your application until you are satisfied with your DAT scores. 

Please email Dr. Paul (kspaul@uark.edu) for access to the complete program information packet. Students are encouraged to join the Predental Society RSO through HogSync.