PRE-DENTAL TRAINING at OSHKOSH

Is this career right for me?

Dentistry is a demanding career. It requires excellent interpersonal skills, fine motor coordination, attention to detail, and high academic ability.   Like doctors, dentists can also be faced with life-or-death situations and must keep cool in a crisis.  There are several resources you should exploit fully before committing yourself to pre-medical training.

• Contact the UWO Counseling Center for personal guidance and recommendations, understanding that the person you are as a college freshman is not the person you'll be upon entrance to dental school. 
• Study the web site for the American Dental Association (ADA; http://www.ada.org).  From the ADA home page, click on "Education and Careers" and then scroll down to see "Dental Education" and "Dental Students". 
• Study the web site for the American Dental Education Association (ADEA;   http://www.adea.org/).  Click on "Student Applicant and Advisor Information".
• Take every opportunity to visit with a practicing dentist and find out his/her perception of the career and its future. 

Admission to Dental School requires demonstrated ability in several ways.  The Admissions Committee will examine your college transcripts (especially the GPA of admissions requirements). They will also need to see your score on the Dental Admission Test or DAT.  More about this test a little later.  They will also be looking for some experience on your part, perhaps volunteering with your family dentist or other activity.

Dental School often means over $100,000 of school debt, but there are excellent financial aid programs to assist you. 

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Dental Schools, Majors & Study Plans, the DAT

Dental schools admit students from a wide variety of majors, not just biology.  However, dental schools also routinely require undergraduate coursework in biology, chemistry, physics, and math for their successful applicants. Therefore, a Biology or Chemistry major might be the path of least resistance, so to speak.   

To best plan your undergraduate coursework, you must have an idea of the Dental schools to which you will apply (you can always change your mind later). To see a list of every Dental school in the US, go visit http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/programs/schools/us.asp.   Most have web sites linked to this master site, so you can go directly to each of them to find out about their admission requirements. 

Each dental school has slightly different entrance requirements.  Most require at least two or three years of college, but completion of an undergraduate degree is increasingly recommended.  There is only one dental school in Wisconsin, at Marquette University.  More on this school below.

To learn everything you need to know about the Dental Admissions Test (DAT), go visit this web site: http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/dat.asp.   It is designed to measure general academic ability, comprehension of scientific information, and perceptual ability. The DAT is taken using a computer so you need to be comfortable with a keyboard and mouse.  It can be taken most any day of the year but should be scheduled about a year before you plan to start dental school.  Students tell us that working with the DAT practice books is invaluable.   DAT prep classes are also available.

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Rounding out your application

Grades and DAT scores are not the whole story; far from it.   There are other aspects to Pre-Dental training that must be planned just as carefully as your coursework.

• Volunteer or clinical experience

Part of your application will be your volunteerism and exposure to the dental profession. This stuff can't be found in the classroom, but it's part of your schedule nonetheless.  It can come at any time, but you might need to concentrate on your studies in fall and spring, so on the Sample Study Plan given below, volunteer work has been put into the Summer slot. 

An excellent way to gain this experience is to "shadow-a-dentist".  Contact the human resources official of a dental clinic near you, and explain that you are a pre-dental student seeking a shadow opportunity.  If you have already spoken with a particular dentist and gotten his/her agreement, so much the better.  Shadowing a dentist involves dressing nicely and showing up promptly with a clipboard, pencil, and paper.  You will follow the dentist through his/her day, making notes to yourself as you learn about the practice of dentistry.  You might do this one afternoon a week, or daily for a week, or whatever.  The important thing is to get the experience.  Don't be shy; call around; shadow!

What if you just haven't had time to get the appropriate kind of experience?   There is no harm, and sometimes much good, in waiting to file your application to dental school until your senior year at UW Oshkosh.  That means you'd have a year off (the "5th year") after graduation waiting to hear.  In a good economy, you may well be able to get a job with your Bachelor's Degree that will provide you with valuable experience prior to beginning dental school.  You could also take a course here and there, to bolster your record (but be sure to get good grades).

• Personal essay

You should start a "pre-Dent journal" today. Whenever you read an article, see a program, hear a speaker, or experience an interaction with a patient or clinician (especially one whom you are shadowing), make a note of the date, what happened, who was involved, and how it made you feel about becoming a dentist.  These personal stories can be a powerful part of your application, particularly in the personal essay, in which you are usually asked to explain why you want to become a dentist.   You can't say, "The body is fascinating and I want to help people."   That's far too generic to be of any use.  You want to stand out from the crowd.  A vivid and unique story can do that for you.

These journal entries come in very handy at the interview when you are asked, "What kinds of experiences have you had that make you think you'd be a good dentist?"  If you write things down as they occur, you don't have to rely on your memory to come up with specifics. 

In the personal essay, also be sure to include a sentence at the end which lists the courses you plan to complete prior to beginning dental school.

• Recommendation letters

You will probably need three (3) recommendation letters for your application. Think carefully before asking someone to write a rec letter.  Weak letters are worse than none at all.  Instead of asking, "Would you write me a letter?", ask: "Would you be able to write me a strong letter?"  Try to pick people who can say more than "This student got an A in my class."   If you have worked with a dentist in any capacity (volunteer, shadow, paid position, etc.) and have had a good relationship, be sure to ask that dentist. 

Give letter writers AT LEAST two weeks prior to the deadline; some are so busy, they may need considerably more advance time.  Provide each of them with the form to fill out (if any) and stamped, addressed envelopes.

• Organizing the application

Dental school applications can be lengthy documents.  Therefore, nearly all U.S. dental schools use the centralized application service called the AADSAS (Associated American Dental School Application Service).  To get up-to-date information on using this application service, visit the AADSAS web site at http://www.adea.org/AADSAS/AADSAS_Main_Page.htm.     You might expect to invest a few hundred dollars in your dental school application (DAT fee, AADSAS fee, application fee to each dental school).  Apply as soon as you can after June 3 of each year, for admission 12-15 months later.

Sloppy applications give a bad impression.  Take the time to do it right.

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Advisors: Who and Where

Advising Office

Dr. Vaughan (Halsey 249, Dept. of Biology, vaughan@uwosh.edu, 424-3076)

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Specifics About Wisconsin's Only Dental School:

The state of Wisconsin has one dental school, at Marquette University.   Students are also urged to apply to two or three other schools.  You should familiarize yourself with the "Admissions" information on all dental school web sites.   It is your responsibility to know each school's entrance requirements as early as possible in your undergraduate education.  Meanwhile, here is some basic information about Marquette.

• Applicants are accepted for each fall during the preceding December so be sure to have all materials submitted and DAT scores reported in plenty of time.
• You must complete at least 90 semester hours of undergraduate coursework prior to starting dental school.  Required courses include:

  English ....................6 semester credits (UWO's ENG 101 + composition course)
  General Chemistry .......8 semester credits (UWO's CHEM 105 + 106)
  Organic Chemistry .......8 semester credits (UWO's CHEM 235 + 335)
  Biology or Zoology ......8 semester credits (UWO's BIO 105 plus another, e.g. 230)
  Physics ....................8 semester credits (UWO's PHYS 107 + 108)
  Electives ..................52 semester credits (esp. ethics, psych, communication skills, etc.)
  Total ......................90 semester credits

• Although one course of botany may be applied to fulfill the biology requirement, eight semester hours of zoology/biology are recommended, and all courses in chemistry, biology and physics must include laboratory work. 

• Additional courses in biology and biochemistry (CHEM 305, take after Organic Chem series is completed) are strongly recommended to furnish a broad foundation, and courses in mathematics are suggested in preparation for physics and advanced chemistry.

• For a detailed sample study plan that satisfies Marquette's requirements and recommendations, click here.

• Class Profile for the year 1999-2000:
  Number of Applicants: 1,967
  Size of Class: 76
  Men: 46 (60%)       Women: 30 (40%)
  Average Age: 24
  Range of Ages: 21 - 36
  Mean Total G.P.A.: 3.38
  Mean Science G.P.A.: 3.27
  Mean DAT Scores: Acad. Avg.: 17.07   PAT Avg.: 16.82
  Percentage with Bachelor Degrees: 77%
  Percentage with 3-4 years of college: 23%
  Home States or Countries: WI, CA, AZ, MN, UT, WA, NV, ID, SD, NE, MI, FL, MA, OK, MO, AK, MT, IL, TX, GU, Korea.  
• During that same year, about 1/3 of those enrolled in Marquette's dental school were WI residents.

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A Sample Pre-Dent Course of Study:

You do not have to be a Biology major to be a pre-dent, but you will need to take quite a bit of Biology and Chemistry to satisfy the entrance requirements of most dental schools.   Also, having had a solid biology education prior to med school makes dental school itself a bit easier.  Therefore, many pre-dents elect some kind of Biology major for their undergraduate work.  It is often possible to get a minor in Chem or Psych at the same time.  Here is some general advice that applies to all.

The sample schedule below is one of many, but is in fact a plan often used by my pre-dents. For best results, get your math and communication classes (i.e. ENGL 101 and SPEECH 111) underway as soon as possible, because they will help you to be a better student in your other courses.   Putting them off just hurts your study skills.  Get your Inorganic Chemistry underway in good time (CHEM 105 + 106) because you will need to complete Organic Chemistry (CHEM 235 + 335) before attempting the DAT.  

Pre-dent students are encouraged to spread out their classroom effort (which tends to help the GPA) by planning to take a Winterim course whenever possible.   Not many science courses are offered in Interim, but many Gen Ed courses are.

To get a Bachelor's degree in Biology at UW Oshkosh, you must complete a Physiology course. The choices are: Animal Phys BIO 319, Plant Phys BIO 345, and Microbial Phys BIO 450.  Note: Human Phys BIO 212 will no longer count toward the Biology major.  The topics covered in Animal Phys are usually on the DAT in some form and will certainly be a big part of dental school, so most pre-dents choose BIO 319. 

Sample Schedule: Biology Major with Liberal Arts Emphasis ("the blue sheet")

You will need to take at least 11 Gen Ed courses to get your Bachelor's degree. Suggested slots for those are shown, but there is a lot of flexibility in the schedule.  A list of Gen Ed courses that are particularly appropriate for pre-meds is given below this chart.

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The 11 (eleven) Gen Eds you must complete for your UW Oshkosh Bachelor’s Degree:

Early Civ OR Modern Civ; must choose one.

Non-Western Culture course (3 credits).  STAR reports lists menu of choices.

Ethnic Studies course (3 credits).  STAR reports lists menu of choices.

Humanities (Lit, Art, Drama, Lang, Philos, Ethics, Music) (4 x 3 credits).  STAR reports lists menu of choices.

        Strongly recommend Ethics for pre-health professionals.

        If you have Spanish already, don’t miss SPAN 231 Spanish for Med Prof!

Social Sciences (Psych, Hist, Soc, Anthro, Econ, Geog, Poli Sci, Relig) (4 x 3 credits). STAR reports lists menu of choices.

        Strongly recommend Soc, Psych, Econ, and Relig for pre-health professionals.

Especially appropriate BIO 300+ electives to consider:
ComparAnat 308
Bact 309
Virol 315
DevelBio 316
Cell/Dev Lab 317
Mycol 321
Immunol 341
Parasit 354
AdvCell Molec 372
Immunol/Virol Lab 374
Neuro 444

CHEM 305 Biochemistry is strongly recommended; its prereq is the year of OChem.

Your BIO 300+ electives may include a BIO 446 Independent Study for 1-3 credits.  All you need is a BIO faculty member willing to supervise your efforts and then to evaluate them.  Ind Study may be lab research with your faculty mentor or even a "super" term paper on a topic agreeable to you and the sponsoring faculty member.  An Ind Study can reflect your particular interest in medicine.   There is a form to fill out (obtained from the Biology office) and a simple contract to write up with your chosen faculty mentor.

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If you don't get in the first time: Study your rejection letter for any insights on the weakness of your application, then TELEPHONE the Admissions Office and politely ask to speak to someone about the particular weaknesses that kept you out of the running this time.   Don't just passively listen to the dental school official; ask "What action would you recommend to improve my chances for success when I re-apply?" Take careful notes on your conversation.  Develop an action plan to address your shortcomings.   This may mean additional coursework with "A" grades, or additional volunteer experience, or another shot at the DAT.  

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Last updated 01/17/08.